The Sixteen Burdens

The year is 1939, and everyone who's anyone has descended upon the glamorous streets of Hollywood. It's a great place to be if you're an actor, singer, politician, or businessman. Not so much if you're Gray Studebaker, a young guttersnipe stuck selling movie-star maps on the street corner. But then Gray never wanted to be rich or famous-he'd be happy just being left alone by his tyrannical caretaker.

During a rash of celebrity kidnappings, Gray discovers the stars on his map are hiding unusual talents for which they are being abducted. When Gray tries to solve the crimes on his own, he finds himself caught up in a battle for power that stretches back to the beginnings of humanity.

The hunt begins for an ancient tool that can rescue celebrities the likes of Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks from an indestructible maniac who wants to steal their talents to create an invincible army. But Gray has a secret of his own, a mysterious disease that will either save the others or destroy them all.

"The Sixteen Burdens" is the story that inspired "Houdini's Last Trick," a 2015 finalist for the JukePop/Black Hills Press Summer Writing Project (available on Amazon December 2015). Original artwork in the book by artist Francesca Baerald.