It began with an internet meme as its seed: Ninjas vs. Pirates. A blood feud of stock characters. It took root in the debate about genre vs. literary fiction.

Can a story populated entirely by genre characters have a literary conscience? Challenge accepted.

All The Seas And Rivers is a serialized tale of genre fiction at war, its title a nod to Chinese jianghu adventure, its narrator an homage to American hard-boiled mysteries, its content a commentary on literature itself. Grounded in trope, aspirations in the clouds. Let the storytelling storm begin…

CHAPTERS

1 – WELCOME TO THE WORLD

The Detective: “Hello, My Lovelies”
The Monk: “A Derailment is Always a Bad Thing”
The Gunfighter: “Haul Your Pretty Arses”

2 – BETTER JUDGEMENT

The Detective: “Trans-Continental Fop”
The Monk: “The Kitchen Car is Burning!”
The Gunfighter: “A Fistful of Dullards”

3 – THE BRIGHT SUN

The Detective: “In a Lovely Place”
The Monk: “Assassins”
The Gunfighter: “The Man With New Name”

4 – THE MYSTERIOUS MOON

The Detective: “Waterbreak”
The Monk: “The Night Sky Was Dark…”
The Gunfighter: “The Owe-Box Incident”

5 – A STAR IS BORN

The Detective: “The Girl in the Plain Brown Wrap”
The Monk: “There Was a Bird”
The Gunfighter: “Los Sietes Mortificandos”

6 – THE TOWER

The Detective: “High Rear Window”
The Monk: “There was a Juniper Grove”
The Gunfighter: “Done Some Love”

7 – “Strangers Off a Train“

8 – “Temperance”

9 – “The Game of the Name is Death”

10 – “The Hanged Man” (coming)