Excerpt: Black Poppy

At one time, Kiernan had detested Allegra. She’d always been remote and beautiful and more than a little bit of a snob, treating Kiernan like the hired help, instead of appreciating him as the only person that kept Ray out of jail and herself in nano luxuries. Then, she’d flopped in the big changeover from two dimensional films to virtual movies and he’d found that he enjoyed having her moping around, calling her stupid girlfriends, shopping endlessly to amuse herself because she had plenty of money and nothing better to do and even occasionally having a fling with some up and coming young virt actor who thought sleeping with her might get him a part. Most of all, he enjoyed the fact that Allegra loved her husband, who didn’t love her back. Kiernan could relate to that. He could, that is, if he cared to.