These thoughts were part of a long train of ideas that passed through my mind that late evening. The sun began to rise and Svetlana reached out in her sleep. When she didn't find me there, she sat up.
"Ben?"
"Don't ever call me 'Benny' okay, honey?"
She blinked at me and nodded.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Thinking that maybe we should stop smoking," I said. "It's really not good for the baby, you know."
A NOTE ON THE AUTHOR
Walter Mosley is the best-selling author of more than twenty-eight critically acclaimed books; his work has been translated into twenty-one languages. His books include two popular mystery series, the Easy Rawlins series (beginning with Devil in a Blue Dress, which was adapted into a successful 1995 film starring Denzel Washington) and the Fearless Jones series, as well as literary fiction, science fiction, political monographs, and a young adult novel. His short fiction has been widely published, and his nonfiction has been published in the New York Times Magazine and the Nation, among other magazines. He was an editor and contributor to the book Black Genius and was guest editor for The Best American Short Stories 2003. He is the winner of numerous awards, including an O. Henry Award, a Grammy Award (for his liner notes to Richard Pryor's box set), and the PEN American Center's Lifetime Achievement Award. Walter Mosley was born and raised in Los Angeles and now lives in New York City.
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
Devil in a Blue Dress
A Red Death
White Butterfly
Black Betty
RL's Dream
A Little Yellow Dog
Gone Fishin'
Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned
Blue Light
Walkin' the Dog
Workin' on the Chain Gang
Fearless Jones
Futureland
Bad Boy Brawly Brown
Six Easy Pieces
What Next
Fear Itself
The Man in My Basement
Little Scarlet
47
Cinnamon Kiss
Life out of Context
Fortunate Son
Fear of the Dark
Killing Johnny Fry
This Year You Write Your Novel
Blonde Faith
Edited by Walter Mosley
Black Genius
The Best American Short Stories 2003
Maximum Fantastic Four
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2008 by Walter Mosley
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information address Bloomsbury USA, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Published by Bloomsbury USA, New York
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Mosley, Walter.
Diablerie : a novel / Walter Mosley.–1st U.S. ed.
p. cm.
ISBN: 978-1-59691-397-4 (hardcover)
1. Memory–Fiction. 2. Self-perception–Fiction. I. Title.
PS3563.O8845D53 2008
813’.54—dc22
2007018826
First published by Bloomsbury USA in 2008
This e-book edition published in 2010
E-book ISBN: 978-1-59691-861-0
www.bloomsburyusa.com