They are imprisoned until death, and their lives cannot get worse
. . . or so they think. But when an unlikely alliance forms against their
captors, the reformers risk losing what little comforts they possess.
Life Prison is a historical fantasy series about male desire and determination in Victorian prisons.
The series is part of the Turn-of-the-Century
Toughs cycle. ¶ Life
Prison genre/theme tags (with minor spoilers).
SERIES CONTENTS
All of these men have found their appointed places at Mercy Life Prison,
where it is easy to tell who your enemies are. But a new visitor to Mercy
is about to challenge decades-old customs. Now these men's worst enemies
may be hiding behind masks . . . and so may their closest allies.
VOLUME CONTENTS
Life Prison.
In
the unmerciful world of Mercy Prison, there is no rule but unending pain.
For Merrick, the arrival of his new guard provides hope that he may break
beyond the boundaries of his life prison. But appearances can be deceptive,
and Merrick does not yet recognize the danger this guard poses to his future.
¶ Buy or sample the e-book: Online preview of Life Prison |(HTML) |
|
¶ Read a shorter version of the story online:
¶ Data: 34,000 words | $3.99 | Published in September 2008.
¶ Reviews (may include spoilers): Amazon | Goodreads | Mllesatine (Deutsch) | Rainbow Reviews | Snuffylicious.
Coded Messages. One of them rapes
prisoners. The other wants to help prisoners. So why are they talking to
each other?
¶ Buy or sample the e-book: Online preview of Coded Messages | |
¶ Data: 3,000 words | 99¢ | Published in October 2008.
¶ Reviews (may include spoilers): Goodreads.
Milord. He was the model prisoner, respectful
to his guards and loyal to his fellow prisoners. What no one knew was that
he held the key to destruction.
¶ Buy or sample the e-book: Online preview of Milord | |
¶ Data: 10,000 words | $2.99 | Published in March 2013.
¶ Reviews (may include spoilers): Amazon.
Isolation. Being locked in a prison
cell can cause a man to re-examine his priorities. Especially when the
door never opens.
Upcoming. To receive notice of e-book publications and free fiction, subscribe to Dusk Peterson's e-mail list or blog.
Mercy's Prisoner: Epilogue.
Mercy's Prisoner: Historical Note.
Hell's
Messenger (Volume 2 of Life Prison)
It had seemed for a while that the plan would work: a bold conspiracy
by a group of idealistic prisoners and sympathetic guards to stop abuse
at Mercy Prison. Then betrayal occurs, and Tyrrell finds himself in a new
life prison, with new rules to be learned. No longer is he in a position
of leadership; now he is surrounded by men who question his most fundamental
values.
He has new allies as well: fellow prisoners who like what they see in
him, a healer who refuses to accept current conditions, and guards who
may or may not provide the help that the prisoners desperately need. But
Hell's messenger, Death, visits Compassion Prison, keeping his face hidden
until it is almost too late for Tyrrell to recognize his touch.
VOLUME CONTENTS
Trial. For fifteen years, he has striven to better the lives of his fellow prisoners. Now he must start all over again.
Tour. He has taken his first step to being accepted by the other prisoners. But what is the secret of the missing prisoners?
Initiation. In the magisterial republic's most notorious life prison, an assault in the dark may be the least that he has to fear.
Hell's Messenger: Historical Note.
Men and Lads / Lord and Servant. Two guards. Two prisoners. A multitude of problems.
As a tramp beats his dangerous way to a new destination on the Western Mippite Railroad, he is joined by a prison guard seeking guidance on a difficult prisoner. The guard's guidance must come from a man who is longing for a human bond . . . but who has a reputation to establish.
Meanwhile, a tramp and a lord may seem to make an odd pair. But Compassion Life Prison is an odd place to start with, and the tramp has his own perspective on life there.
This novella-sized volume contains two related side stories in the Life Prison series.
Men and Lads is a 2010 holiday gift story for Dusk Peterson's readers.
Includes major spoilers for Life Prison.
¶ Download or sample the e-book: Online preview of Men and Lads/ Lord and Servant |
¶ Read Men and Lads online:
¶ Data: 16,000 words + 8000 words | $3.99 | Published in January 2013.
¶ Reviews: None yet. If you have thoughts about the story, why not share your perspective with other readers by writing a review at your favorite social network, blog, or website?
Written in response to the 50 Darkfics challenge, which offers one hundred one-word prompts on dark themes, in order to inspire authors to write stories on those topics. The darkfic written for this challenge ranges from lightly humorous to suspensefully dramatic. See the 100 Darkfics page for the prompt table.
Stories may include major spoilers for the rest of the series.
Torture. When the High Seeker of the Eternal Dungeon visits a foreign prison, he discovers that his dark reputation has preceded him. So has the dark reputation of his dungeon. The host is eager to show him that matters are run very differently in Mercy Life Prison.
The High Seeker has his own suspicions about what he will find in that
prison, but even so, he is not prepared for what the prison has to teach
him about man's nature . . . and his own nature.
¶ Buy or sample the e-book: Online preview of Torture |
¶ Read the story online:
¶ Data: 2,000 words | 99c | Published in January 2013.
¶ Reviews (may include spoilers): Amazon.
Map of the area surrounding Compassion Life Prison (Fort Frederick).
Turn-of-the-Century Toughs, a cycle of historical fantasy novels that includes the Life Prison series. This page includes resources such as a chronology of major political events in the cycle.
Life Prison research. Blog entries by the author on research for the series.
Bibliographies for this series:
The Boer War and
Turn-of-the-Century Firearms.
Masculinity,
Crime, and Everyday Life in Victorian and Edwardian Times.
This
text, or a variation on it, was originally published at duskpeterson.com
as part of the series Life Prison. Copyright © 2002-2013 Dusk Peterson.
Some rights reserved. The text is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution Noncommercial License (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0).
You may freely print, post, e-mail, share, or otherwise distribute the
text for noncommercial purposes, provided that you include this paragraph.
The author's policies on
derivative works and fan works are available online (duskpeterson.com/copyright.htm).
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