Mercy's
Prisoner (Volume 1 of Life Prison)
They are imprisoned until death, and their lives cannot get worse
. . . or so they think. But when an unlikely alliance forms against their
captors, the reformers risk losing what little comforts they possess.
Life Prison is a historical fantasy series about male desire and determination in Victorian prisons.
The series is part of the Turn-of-the-Century
Toughs cycle. ¶ Life
Prison genre/theme tags (with minor spoilers).
SERIES CONTENTS
Mercy's
Prisoner (Volume 1 of Life Prison)All of these men have found their appointed places at Mercy Life Prison,
where it is easy to tell who your enemies are. But a new visitor to Mercy
is about to challenge decades-old customs. Now these men's worst enemies
may be hiding behind masks . . . and so may their closest allies.
VOLUME CONTENTS
Life Prison.
In
the unmerciful world of Mercy Prison, there is no rule but unending pain.
For Merrick, the arrival of his new guard provides hope that he may break
beyond the boundaries of his life prison. But appearances can be deceptive,
and Merrick does not yet recognize the danger this guard poses to his future.
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Coded Messages. One of them rapes
prisoners. The other wants to help prisoners. So why are they talking to
each other?
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¶ Data: 3,000 words | Published in October 2008.
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Milord. He was the model prisoner, respectful to his guards
and loyal to his fellow prisoners. What no one knew was that he held the
key to destruction.
Isolation.
Curious.
Mercy's Prisoner: Epilogue.
Mercy's Prisoner: Historical Note.
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Hell's
Messenger (Volume 2 of Life Prison)
It had seemed for a while that the plan would work: a bold conspiracy
by a group of idealistic prisoners and sympathetic guards to stop abuse
at Mercy Prison. Then betrayal occurs, and Tyrrell finds himself in a new
life prison, with new rules to be learned. No longer is he in a position
of leadership; now he is surrounded by men who question his most fundamental
values.
He has new allies as well: fellow prisoners who like what they see in
him, a healer who refuses to accept current conditions, and guards who
may or may not provide the help that the prisoners desperately need. But
Hell's messenger, Death, visits Compassion Prison, keeping his face hidden
until it is almost too late for Tyrrell to recognize his touch.
VOLUME CONTENTS
Trial. For fifteen years, he has striven to better the lives of his fellow prisoners. Now he must start all over again.
Tour. He has taken his first step to being accepted by the other prisoners. But what is the secret of the missing prisoners?
Initiation. In the magisterial republic's most notorious life prison, an assault in the dark may be the least that he has to fear.
Hell's Messenger: Historical Note.
A 2010 holiday gift story for Dusk Peterson's readers. Includes major
spoilers for Life Prison.
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¶ Data: 16,000 words.
100 Darkfics. Written in response
to the 50 Darkfics
challenge, which offers one hundred one-word prompts
on dark themes, in order to inspire authors to write stories on those topics.
The darkfic written for this challenge ranges from lightly humorous to
suspensefully dramatic.
Stories may include major spoilers for the rest of the series.
¶ Read the stories online:
¶ Data: Flash fiction and short stories.
Map of the area surrounding Compassion Life Prison (Fort Frederick).
Turn-of-the-Century Toughs, a cycle of historical fantasy novels that includes the Life Prison series. This page includes resources such as a chronology of major political events in the cycle.
Life Prison research. Blog entries by the author on research for the series.
Bibliographies for this series:
The Boer War and
Turn-of-the-Century Firearms.
Masculinity,
Crime, and Everyday Life in Victorian and Edwardian Times.
This
text, or a variation on it, was originally published at duskpeterson.com
as part of the series Life Prison. Copyright © 2002-2012 Dusk Peterson.
Some rights reserved. The text is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution Noncommercial License (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0).
You may freely print, post, e-mail, share, or otherwise distribute the
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