Last Kiss in the Concrete Garden of Myth

Book excerpt: She knows what he will ask, but not how she will answer. A bird poops on a blue dragon. A gleaming white Tiger Pagoda stretches high above a city of bamboo scaffolding. The moment Jade steps into Hong Kong’s otherworldly Aw Boon Haw Garden, she knows she approaches a crossroads of her life. What love will the lifelong wanderer choose: the man, the road… or something else? If only Jade had gotten that extra cup of coffee to help her decide. “Last Kiss in the Concrete Garden of Myth” is a companion short story to the 2013 Rucksack Universe book The Martini of Destiny. As we journey through the mind and heart of the hero of 2014’s Forever the Road and 2019’s Cloud Fortress, Jade reminds us that how we live our love is not always what we expect. The Rucksack Universe series combines alternate history, speculative fiction, myth, adventure, globetrotting, and intrigue—all with well-poured pints of beer. Library Journal says Anthony St. Clair’s storytelling has “universe building reminiscent of Terry Pratchett,” and readers say they love the Rucksack Universe’s unique combination of “quirk, wit, travel, and magic.”