Duster Raines

Created by Josh Mendoza

 Okay, here we go!

Shadow of the Eternal Watcher (2025) is another pulpy PI/sci-fi hybrid that tries to please both fanbases.

And it introduces us to cynical Los Angeles private dick, DUSTER RAINES, who’s at first glance pretty much standard issue.

He used to be a cop (LAPD).

He’s a vet. (Captain, USAF, the Gulf War).

He’s got a gun. (9mm, plus an old snub nose in his sock drawer).

He drinks too much. (Bourbon)

Frequents a dive bar (The Lazy Giant).

Lives in a crappy apartment. (Koreatown).

Has an ex. (Carla).

He’s even narrates in first person (Second-hand Chandlerspeak):

“Even at this hour, the streets bustled with tourists, homeless, drunks, hookers, and all other sorts of undesirables. The rest were aspiring  actors and screenwriters. That was my town. Los Angeles. La-la Land. A fantasy of broken dreams and lost hope. Believe me there’s plenty of both to go around in this city.”

His new client (or at least his potential new client) Madison Andrews wants Duster to find her missing husband. He’s been gone for three days. She thinks he’s been abducted.

By aliens.

So it’s not much of a surprise that this straight off-the-rack gumshoe initially turns her down. He’s got his own problems to deal with. Like crippling self-doubt, and a loosening grip on reality.

Sure, mostly the demons that come a-calling are in his head, rubbing salt in the wounds of a lifetime of compromises, bad luck and bad choices. But lately, he’s been having out-of-body hallucinations — seeing himself (“the other”) in an alternate reality, doing things he’d never do.

Or would he?

Eventually the dubious detective is dealing with parallel universes, competing timelines, a vast government conspiracy, some possibly rogue FBI agents, speculative metaphysics, and, oh yes, an actual alien invasion.

Or is it?

Still not sure about this one. At times it reminded me of Frederic Brown, (particularly his 1952 novel Death Has Many Doors) and at others times it put me in mind of the recent TV show Sugar.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Josh Mendoza is a filmmaker and author, best known for his post-apocalyptic 2018 film, What Still Remains. Prior to that, he received a BA in English and Creative Writing from Stanford University and earned an MFA in Film and Television Production from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts. He splits his time between the City of Angels and the deserts of Arizona with his wife and two children. Shadow of the Eternal Watcher is his first novel.

UNDER OATH

• “Recommended for space opera fans with a taste for irony.”
  — Library Journal
• “Shadow of the Eternal Watcher combines elements of Heinlein-esque SF, including space travel, aliens, and inter-dimensional doppelgängers, with the fast-paced plot and traditional troubled-yet-compelling hero of a classic mystery-thriller.”
  — Booklist
• “A dynamic world with high stakes and plenty of narrative twists.”
  — Kirkus

NOVELS

• Shadow of the Eternal Watcher (2025) | Buy this book | Buy the audio | Kindle it!

FURTHER INVESTIGATION

• Down Those Mean Skies…
  The Case of the Private Detective in Science Fiction, Fantasy and Related Genres

Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.