Half-Life tells the story of an ordinary couple who find themselves in the middle of an ordinary life: they're fundamentally unhappy, and afraid to admit it.
After all, they should be happy. They're living the expat life in old Europe, Yolanda's a promising artist, and Moses works in a challenging job damming Holland from the waters that threaten it. So what if they haven't had a real conversation in a year, or that it's been raining for two. It's just a phase—his muscle twitches and garbled speech, her migraines and skin rashes, not to mention his somewhat disconcerting habit of walking around while he’s still sleeping—it’s all part of life's precious balance. You take the good with the bad.
All seems manageable until
Join them in their comic, heartbreaking struggle to discover what or who might make their lives real again.
When Marty Drysdale first meets Chick, a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, he has an ounce of marijuana in the backseat of the limo he’s driving and a breaking-and-entering offense on his record.
He escapes that first meeting with just a traffic ticket as well as a major crush on the woman who is six inches taller, and whom he nicknames “Officer Beautiful.”
After just a month of knowing her, Marty asks Chick to marry him, and against all hope, she giggles and agrees. But Chick quickly grows frustrated with his laziness and oddities.
Then, one night, coming home from his latest job as a projectionist at a movie theater, Marty crashes his Flxible Flxette Buick limousine. In the shower of sparks, glass and twisted metal, he has an epiphany: he will film his own movie and prove to Chick that he’s a man worth having.
It isn’t long, however, before Marty finds himself pursued by a group of angry investors and other unintended victims of his latest scheme. He’ll have a lot of explaining to do if he wants to get out of his latest pinch and keep the woman of his dreams in Odd Jobs.
Or ask your local bookstore...
Calgary: Pages on Kensington
Duncan: Volume One
Selected Chapters
Author interview:
Karl Meade with Sara Dobie
Odd Jobs is a comic-caper love-story about a Mountie woman and layabout men, house and family, script-writers and cat-burglars. A modern tale of movie magic in the wrong hands: the Big Lebowski meets Elmore Leonard's niece.
Order Odd Jobs in print, listen to a podcast, or read a sample online.
"hilarious and touching..."
"impossible to keep a straight face..."
"a terrific writer..."
"...laugh-out-loud funny."
"Fantastic!"
"Love it!"
"... enjoyed this story tremendously... a wonderful sense of humor..."
"Wonderful. Getting better and funnier as it goes. Would definitely own this in print."
"I was hooked by the second chapter. Now with only 3 chapters to go, I have no idea what kind of twists the author will throw at our hero by the end. I would definintely recommend and look for more works by Karl Meade."
"What a ride! I simply loved it."
"... this book sure made me laugh... Odd Jobs is a must read!" - ReaderViews Review