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, a historical fantasy series about male desire and determination in Victorian prisons.

Parental supervision is strongly suggested for this series. Information (with minor spoilers) for parents, guardians, and visitors who control their own reading matter.

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CONTENTS

Resources.

Mercy's Prisoner: Life Prison, Coded Messages, Milord, Isolation, Curious.

Hell's Messenger: Trial, Tour, Initiation.

Side stories: Men and Lads | 100 Darkfics.

RESOURCES

Turn-of-the-Century Toughs, a cycle of historical fantasy novels that includes Life Prison.

Life Prison research. Blog entries by the author on research trips around Maryland.

Bibliographies for this series:

The Boer War and Turn-of-the-Century Firearms.

Masculinity, Crime, and Everyday Life in Victorian and Edwardian Times.

Mercy's Prisoner

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.

¶ Novel: 38,000 words so far | Genre tags (with minor spoilers) | Reviews.

E-BOOK EDITIONS

Life Prison (Kindle e-book).
Coded Messages (Kindle e-book).

Both stories included in Love in Dark Settings Omnibus (HTML e-book).

ONLINE EDITION

Each part of Mercy's Prisoner can be read on its own, as a stand-alone story.

Mercy's Prisoner 1: 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.

("Mercy's Prisoner 1: Life Prison" originated as a shorter novella. The earlier version of "Life Prison" is still available.)

Mercy's Prisoner 2: Coded Messages. One of them rapes prisoners. The other wants to help prisoners. So why are they talking to each other?

Mercy's Prisoner 3: Milord.

Mercy's Prisoner 4: Isolation.

Mercy's Prisoner 5: Curious.

Mercy's Prisoner: Historical Note.

Mercy's Prisoner: Back Matter. Credits, publication history, etc.

To receive notice of e-book publications, updated editions, and free fiction, subscribe to Dusk Peterson's e-mail list or blog.

Hell's Messenger

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.

¶ Novel: 70,000 words so far | Genre tags (with minor spoilers) |  Reviews.

E-BOOK EDITION

Included in Love in Dark Settings Omnibus (HTML e-book).

ONLINE EDITION

Each part of Hell's Messenger can be read on its own, as a stand-alone story.

Hell's Messenger 1: Trial. For fifteen years, he has striven to better the lives of his fellow prisoners. Now he must start all over again.

Hell's Messenger 2: Tour (Chapters 1-4) and Hell's Messenger 2: Tour (Chapters 5-7). He has taken his first step to being accepted by the other prisoners. But what is the secret of the missing prisoners?

Hell's Messenger 3: Initiation.

Hell's Messenger: Historical Note.

Hell's Messenger: Back Matter. Credits, publication history, etc.

To receive notice of e-book publications, updated editions, and free fiction, subscribe to Dusk Peterson's e-mail list or blog.

Side stories

A 2010 holiday gift story for Dusk Peterson's readers. Includes major spoilers for Mercy's Prisoner 1: Life Prison.

Historical Note to "Men and Lads".

¶ Novelette: 16,000 words | Genre tags (with minor spoilers).

100 Darkfics. Written in response to the 50 Darkfics challenge, which offers one hundred one-word prompts on dark themes, to inspire authors to write stories on those topics. The darkfic written for this challenge ranges from lightly humorous to suspensefully dramatic.

¶ Flash fiction and short stories.

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This text, or a variation on it, was originally published at duskpeterson.com as part of the series Life Prison. Copyright © 2002-2011 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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