James Baldwin - Blood Hound

BLOOD HOUND was also written during one of the most difficult periods of my life: my transition from female to male. When BLOOD HOUND was first being drafted in 2009, I was changing names, changing sex, and only really just coming to terms with the many traumatic events I suffered in the past. The book is very different to how it started out, and Alexi’s story is not my story, but the transformational aspect of this is definitely personal.

This novel could not have been written without the help of many people: Canth?, Stacy, Joey, Joey, Amanda, #The_Highway and House Whitebird crews, and the many fleeting inspirations that were given to me by friends, family, strangers and enemies.

Dragon Awards-nominated author James Osiris Baldwin is a transgender man from Australia who writes gritty LGBT-inclusive, dark fantasy and science fiction. He was the former Contributing Editor for the Australian Journal of Dementia Care and has also worked for Alzheimer’s Australia.

He currently lives in Seattle with his lovely wife, a precocious cat, and far too many rats. His obsession with the Occult is matched only by his preoccupation with motorcycles.

Contact James by email: author@jamesosiris.com.

View more books at: http://amazon.com/author/jamesosiris

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Copyright © 2015-2016 James Osiris Baldwin

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author or publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

For permission requests, please contact James Osiris Baldwin: author@jamesosiris.com

A huge thanks to Stacy Schonhardt and her excellent copyediting!

Artwork, layout and design by James Osiris Baldwin.

Gift Horses and the Dermal Highway setting are Copyright © 1980–2016 Canth Decided-Baldwin and are used with permission.

Literally just means ‘men’ in Ukrainian, but has a specific rural, blue-collar context. Used to refer to one’s brigada.

Organization. Along with ‘Bratva’ and ‘Brigada’, Organizatsiya is the self-identifying term for the ‘Russian Mafia’.

Krokodil—‘Russian heroin’—is a nasty homemade injectable drug made from oxycodone crushed, boiled and distilled. It is notorious for causing people to become violent, and creates huge gaping wounds and large patches of scaly skin from necrosis. It’s REALLY bad for your liver.

Bulgarian for ‘eat my dick’. Calling him a cocksucker, in other words.

A cell commander or the leader of a brigada, who answers to an Avtoritet . They are generally hands-on street commanders who lead small teams and directly supervise criminal operations. They also tend to do (and farm out) a lot of enforcement work.

Authority. The ‘ground commander’ or 4-star general of any given Organizatsiya. They effectively rule, but generally answer to a Pakhun or a board.

A slang term for non-magical people.

A rude Ukrainian term for ethnic Russian people.

The advisor to a Don of an Italian mafia.

‘Thief in Law’. The formal term for an old-school, prison trained Russian gangster. The title conveys prestige, but as of 1991 it was reserved for older Mafioso.

‘Advocate’. A senior advisor to the Avtoritet. Somewhat like a Consigliere in the Italian mafia.

The political reforms that broke down the Iron Curtain and opened up the USSR to the rest of the world, courtesy of President Boris Yeltsin.

Filled dumplings common in Eastern Europe. Ukrainian-style pelmeni usually have pork, veal, potato and cheese or sour cherry fillings.

Most Slavic people have several nicknames. Zmechik—Little Snake—and Charivchik—Little Wizard—belong to Vassily and Alexi respectively.

‘Asshole of the universe’. A poetically German way of saying ‘everything is shit’.

Russian Army special forces.

Blat’ is the Russian term for ‘face’ or ‘honor’: a very important concept in most Eastern European and Asian countries. Blatnoi are people who have ‘face’—who are socially important and able to leverage favors. Vassily maybe being a bit ambitious here.

Russian ‘gypsy’. Gypsy is a racist pejorative for Roma people; Alexi is inclined to describe Vassily’s Roma heritage in respectful terms.

The ultimate authority of an Organizatsiya. The Pakhun (literally ‘prince’) is generally a thief-in-law with great seniority. They are often involved in government and high-level corporate work, especially in gas and energy ventures. They may manage multiple Avtoritets and multiple criminal ventures and are rarely ever involved in street-level work.

‘Give it to the Black God’. A common Ukrainian curse, fairly mild, which is used like ‘Oh for God’s sake’ in English.

Ukrainian-style vodka, typically flavored with spicy peppers, fruit, or herbs.

God/My God. Very mild curses, kind of like ‘goodness me’.

There is quite a lot of Russian and Ukrainian slang and cursing to be found in Blood Hound and the future books in the series. This is a hyperlinked translation guide: just click the ‘Click to Return’ link to return to your place in the story.