This story is now published. Get the full version of The Bartender on Amazon. Please check Author's bio for more information. ~~~~ TW: Homophobia, Self-harm, Drug-use and insinuations of SA are heavily present in this story. Please tread carefully. ~~~~ "I'm not gay." "Sure, you're not." Not once in Aiden's life has he believed that bullying a gay kid is wrong. Especially not when he believes that all gay people deserve to go to hell. But when his best friend comes out to him, and he uncovers a very scandalous secret about his own family, Aiden is left confused and terrified. It also doesn't help that amidst all his troubles, all Aiden can think about is just how hot The Bartender in the local bar across town is and just how much he wants to kiss him. ~~~~ You will hate Aiden in the beginning, trust me. But, please do give him a chance if you read this story. You'll love him, I promise. Kindly keep negative comments to a minimum.

An acclaimed, award-winning thriller, published and translated around the world, now freely available on Wattpad. Paul Wood is a modern vagabond, a man who chooses to leave the comforts of San Francisco to spend months backpacking through some of the world's most challenging terrain. While hiking in the Himalayas, Paul gets more of a rush than he bargained for when he finds the body of a murdered hiker - mutilated in a way he has witnessed once before, in Africa, years ago and thousands of miles away. The police in Nepal, anxious to quell a scandal, close the case and declare the victim a suicide. Only Paul is left to search for answers. He reaches out to his farflung tribe of fellow backpackers for help, and his discoveries lead him to a terrible conclusion: a killer is stalking the international backpacker trail, preying on victims in wild places far beyond the reach of any authorities. A killer whom Paul may already know. Finding the murderer becomes an obsession that leads Paul from Himalayan peaks, through the jungles of Indonesia, across the bleak Sahara desert -- and into some of the darkest places imaginable... Dark Places won the 2005 Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel. Reviews "You're hooked ... the characters are delightfully delineated ... beautifully controlled ... Evans contrives to slip the necessary specialist net-head detail into the plot without being boring or patronising. He can also pin down a character with a few details deftly brushed in ... A pacy thriller for the 21st century." - The Times "Anyone would enjoy Evans' clever, relentlessly absorbing debut thriller that becomes a lot more than just another serial-killer mystery." - The Ottawa Citizen "In this haunting suspense debut, Evans takes the reader on a page-turning adventure across five continents ... (a) spooky, inventive tale." - Publishers Weekly