Lou Stant

An Extended Morphine Holiday Lou Stant

After recovering from open-heart surgery in an Indianapolis, Indiana hospital, a hack writer of obscure, historical non-fiction, finds himself in the back seat of a limousine next to Vladimir Putin. He presumes this to be a bizarre, neurological reaction to painkillers, but as he is swiftly spirited with Putin toward the Western United States, the unlikely odyssey takes on a bazaar complexity that leaves him questioning just how and why. He finds he has been catapulted into the surreal realm of 'time travel' toward a historical event in Tombstone, Arizona, circa 1881.

The writer offers blog-style commentary, as he struggles to ascertain why Putin and the CIA seem to be careening toward a show-down on the Western Frontier. Aiding him in lifting the veil from the mystery is his wife and research assistant Mira, with whom he is able to conspire while receiving further doses of morphine at the hospital.

Historical personages, including Wyatt Earp, Wild Bill Hickok, Billy the Kid and Judge Roy Bean, make extended appearances over the course of the insane excursion, as Lou and Mira feverishly work in tandem to unravel just what lies behind this lunatic junket to the 'Wild West'.