Swing Shift

Reports to write, forms to fill, coffee to drink, leads to run down.

Gus’s life was a tedium and boredom he’d grown comfortable with. One that he sought out after he’d come back from his tour of duty.

A detective in the paranormal investigations department. A job he could work day in and day out in relative peace. One cold and forgotten cup of coffee at a time.

It was an environment that made some sense to him. At least in comparison to civilian life where almost nothing did. On top of that, it gave him a chance to hide what he was from the rest of the world.

An apex predator that made the entirety of the paranormal world fear him. His very species was often killed as soon as they were found out.

By government and citizen alike.

He’s a Boogieman.

A name that made humans laugh, and vampires curse. It was a strange life to be sure.

Now though, Gus’s stable non-life is about to be kicked over. Whether he likes it or not, he’s about to be handed a case that’s going to mess up his already screwed up life.

Warning and minor spoiler: This novel contains graphic violence, undefined relationships/harem, unconventional opinions/beliefs, and a hero who is as tactful as a dog at a cat show. Listen at your own risk.

Swing Shift 2

Reports to write, forms to fill, coffee to drink, leads to run down. Gus’s life had been a tedium and boredom he’d grown comfortable with. One that he sought out after he’d come back from his tour of duty.

That was before Melody, a contractor, more or less blew his life up as if it were a building packed full of C-4. Then she pranced around the ashes of it like it was the end of the world and was conjuring up the end times herself. All while breaking in a rookie by the name of Vanessa into the PID. A gung-ho and eager young detective looking to prove herself. Then commandeering and recruiting a cleaning lady who turned out to be an elven dryad sorceress who viewed killing people as little more than emptying the trash can.

Gus had lived through it, though. Made it work for him and had come out of it without too many new scars. An adventure that he hadn’t wanted any part of...that involved the Fed being blown up, a stadium full of Paras all going into a feral rage, and breaking off a plot hatched by what felt like an organization that rivaled the Fed.

Which apparently was all in a day’s work, right up until they fired you for doing that work because you made the brass look bad.

Without a job, more people relying on him than ever, and no direction, Gus is going to have to put on his big boy pants and figure something out. And soon.

It’s a good thing that he’s a boogieman. Because, being an apex predator that made the entirety of the paranormal world fear him was something he could fall back on. He could lean into it and make it work for him.

He’d done it before when he was in the military. Made a name for himself out there in the bloody desert. He was "The Hunter". A name that the elven mothers now used to instill fear into misbehaving children. A name that grown men and women wouldn’t discuss in polite company. Except, despite Gus’s best intentions to get back to his stable nonlife, he’s going to get thrown right back into the fray. Whether he likes it or not, he’s about to be handed a new problem that’s going to mess up what little remained of his life.

Unfortunately, his past was going to catch up to him and meet up with his future.

Warning and minor spoiler: This novel contains graphic violence, undefined relationships/harem, unconventional opinions/beliefs, and a hero who is as tactful as a dog at a cat show. Listen to it at your own risk.

Swing Shift 3

Reports to write, forms to fill, coffee to drink, leads to run down, organized crime syndicates to break.

Gus’ life had been a tedium and boredom he’d grown comfortable with. One that he sought out after he’d come back from his tour of duty.

That was before Melody, a contractor, more or less blew his life up as if it were a building packed full of C-4.

Then helped him make a new life, which he himself ended blowing up.

A cushy new job with the FED, thrown out the window with a single gunshot.

All based on an assumption of who was working for who, and that he’d been on the wrong side of the equation.

And so ended his career in law enforcement after he became the assassin of a presidential candidate.

Now Gus is on to the next job - this time, working for his contractor and wife. The job they’re about to be given is a high-paying one.

The thing is, that the people they’re going up against? They’re just out to see the world burn. To send it screaming back down into the dark ages.

It’s a good thing that he’s a Boogieman.

Because being an apex predator that made the entirety of the paranormal world fear him was something he could fall back on even in this situation. To hunt, investigate, and watch from the shadows.

Wouldn’t be the first time he’d put his life on the line, either.

Unfortunately, for everyone involved, the long forgotten and primordial past was rearing its ugly head.

Gus knows he can certainly punch above his own weight class, but this case might just be the one that ends him.

Warning and minor spoiler: This novel contains graphic violence, undefined relationships/harem, unconventional opinions/beliefs, and a hero who is as tactful as a dog at a cat show. Listen at your own risk.

Swing Shift by William D. Arand

Swing Shift

Swing Shift 2

Swing Shift 3