Mens Revelans by John A. Tures
from Seven Deadly Sins: a PUNK NOIR Magazine series
“Mr. Collington, I loved the novel Exit to Exodus, the plot, characters, and Christian imagery….” the male student began.
“Thanks,” I bowed to the Peach State College audience. “But is there a question?”
“Yeah. Who wrote it?”
My headache, which began shortly after the manuscript was published, now exploded in pain.
“I did,” I snapped. “Next question.”
A female student from the back of the auditorium shouted. “I did a text analysis of Exit to Exodus with Gordon Graham’s work. It’s a 70% match.”
I could feel the blood vessels rocketing to my brain. She would have to bring up that prima donna. Did she have a spy cam recording of me smothering Graham or stealing the new novel from his laptop?
“I learned from Graham,” I croaked. “He was like a mentor to me.”
“You were his rival, jealous of his success,” another author from the panel pointed out.
My skull was splitting, like a ball struck by a bat.
A professor stepped toward the mic.
I clutched my head in my hands. “Okay, you bastards! I killed Gordon Graham and stole his novel. You happy now?”
At least my headache dissipated, for a little while.
This story appears as part of Seven Deadly Sins, a PUNK NOIR Magazine series, originally published July 2025.
Bio
Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and raised in El Paso, Texas, John A. Tures began writing sports for the El Paso Herald-Post. In college, he worked for a radio station. He worked his way through graduate school at Marquette University in education outreach for the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. He earned his doctorate in political science at Florida State University, analyzed data on international politics in Washington DC, and is now a professor at LaGrange College in Georgia. He writes columns for a number of newspapers and magazines and has published more than a dozen short stories in various genres, from thrillers and mysteries to nonfiction and flash fiction.
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