Twitch and Die!

Letter to the Reader

Dear reader,

What you hold before you is a priceless artifact. The work of an American hero all but forgotten to history due to nothing less than the largest conspiracy of our day.

A year ago, I would have thought this total bunk, as I’m certain many of you do. Then again, I’ve found the truth rarely subtle (although sometimes invisible until it cracks its knuckles across your cheek). While the vast majority considers Brown’s writings nothing more than entertaining pulp fiction, a fervent minority of which I now ascribe considers these pulps as cunning attempts to preserve factual events in the face of a concerted effort to subvert them.

Little is known for certain about the original author. He was the great grandfather of David Mark Brown, IV, and founder of The Truth in History Society. He lived during the late 19th and early 20th centuries as a writer in what is now known as The Democratic Republic of Texicas.

Believed to be an orphan, Brown learned to support himself as a dime novelist by the age of 16. His body of work is thought to be extensive, with over three-quarters yet to be recovered. That’s where I come in. Despite the controversy, and indeed attempts on my life, I have undertaken the task of recovering, editing and chronologizing what has become known as the Lost DMB Files.

A copy of Twitch and Die! was given to David Mark Brown, II, on his twelfth birthday and preserved as a family heirloom to this day. I have made only minor edits to the original text and now present it to you in digital format. Due to the immediate relevance of Twitch and Die! (Lost file #26) to another short by the name of McCutchen’s Bones (lost file #25), I’ve made the editorial decision to bundle them together while maintaining their integrity as separate stories.

For the fullest experience, I recommend also reading Hell’s Womb and Get Doc Quick, Lost Files #22 and #24 respectively, which also detail the same plague and provide insight into the motives of the significant players involved. (But I had to draw the line somewhere.) I will leave it up to the reader’s good judgement whether to explore the remaining “lost” files or not.

Originally published as part of a serial entitled, Reefer Ranger Rides Again, McCutchen’s Bones appeared in a pared down manner with names and places altered to avoid undue scrutiny from the powers it laid bare. McCutchen, a controversial historical figure to say the least, appeared as McCormick.

I recently discovered the unabridged and uncensored version of the story scrawled toward the back of a field journal kept by Brown. The discovery of the field journal is in itself a story worthy of a novel, one I intend to undertake Lord willing and the creek don’t rise. But as means of introduction to McCutchen’s Bones, I’ll refrain from pontificating extraneously.

The text you have before you is my earnest effort to polish and present these horrifying and heroic tales as they were originally intended by Brown, consequences be damned. But consider yourself forewarned. The contents herewith are as volatile as a truckload of nitro-torpedoes en route to the oil fields described in the story. Discussing them casually among anyone other than intimates is not recommended.

Despite McCutchen’s Bones chronology before Twitch and Die! I’ve placed it at the back of this digital book strictly for formatting purposes. (Read them in whatever order you choose). Here I ramble after specifically saying I’d limit pontificating to a minimum.

Without further ado,

Professor Jim “Buck” Buckner

Department of Geology; University of Texicas, Austin

And now, Twitch and Die! A Western Plague Novel. Death will find you. Unless you find it first.