Meeting on the Steps to Hades

Three intertwining stories: 1)Ann Silva has gone to Madrid to work at the conservation studio in the Museo del Prado. She is restoring a Flemish painting called Meeting on the Steps to Hades. The painter is Luc Grendel, a 16th-century Flemish painter and one of the three prot g es of Hieronymus Bosh. 2)Taylor Bane is considering a run for the senate from California, but he has to rid himself of some bad baggage. In his college days, Taylor and a couple of his fraternity brothers brutally raped two girls at a frat Halloween party. The two girls were Annie and Mariel. Taylor has now hired an assassin, Liesbet Grendel, to kill Annie Silva. No sense bringing all of that into a senate race. 3)Liesbet has been killing for a long, long time. She's very good at what she does. The Prado also has Luc Grendel's diary as well as his painting. Annie has started to read the diary and the painter writes about a "Liesbet" by name. Luc begins to paint Meeting on the Steps to Hades. Liesbet feels betrayed. Angry and still in love, Liesbet can't bring herself to destroy either the painting or the diary. Luc also writes about her talking of "Worlds other than this one."

Ron Savage has published twelve novels and two story collections and a hundred and twenty-five stories worldwide. He has both a BA and MA in psychology and a doctorate in counseling, all from the College of William and Mary. He is a member of PEN America, and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and the recipient of the Editor’s Circle Award. He has also served as guest fiction editor for Crazyhorse. Ron has worked primarily as a therapist. He has also worked as a newspaper editor, actor and broadcaster.