Side Effects, coming May 5. Apply directly to forehead.

   My name is Michael Lane and I write stuff.

   It’s almost time to embark on the weird path that is Side Effects. I thought I’d preface the first installment
with a brief explanation of what I’m doing and what you can expect.

    Side Effects will follow the career of the four odd individuals from Tokyo Pizza. It picks up more than a decade after the group’s sophomore work in Tokyo, at a time when Mark, Rhianne, Dave and Jack are established as an illegal problem-solving team that works under the name Fix Four.

    The four are not special ops. They’re professionals in their given fields, but with the exception of Dave’s fascination with explosives, none of those fields touch on lethal skills. Fix Four does not kill people to solve problems, though people do sometimes die.

    Side Effects follows the group as it takes what starts as a simple corporate espionage job for a pharmaceutical company based in eastern Washington. It’s not long before that “simple” situation is complicated by murder and treachery. When their employer and the man they stole from both show up dead, the group realizes they are the last loose end in someone’s carefully woven skein of conspiracy. The four find themselves hunted both by curious law enforcement and a murderous third party.

    To save their own skins, Mark and his band of misfits will have to solve the mystery before the powers behind the scenes retire Fix Four once and for all.

    The first installment will be released on May fifth. It’s a pay-what-you-want proposition. You’re invited to click the little Donate button in the column to the right and pay what you feel you should. You can pay once, dribble a bit as each chapter releases, or do whatever floats your boat.

    If you read and enjoy Side Effects, I encourage you to follow the blog, tweet your interest or blog about the project. It is, in its way, a very modern experiment. I’m trusting that consumers will recognize value and pay for it, and that they will tell others. Leave comments if you like. I do read them.

    So, unhook your brain, get some popcorn and don’t sweat the side effects. The FDA wasn’t worried, after all.

    Side Effects, coming May 5. Apply directly to forehead.