Praise for THE NOBODY PEOPLE “[A] complex novel about the cost of being different…The characters are intricately human, each rendered in minute and thoughtful detail that pushes back against stereotypes….[The Nobody People] leaves the reader eagerly awaiting the next installment.” —Publishers Weekly “[Bob] Proehl masterfully uses science fiction as a lens to examine social inequality and human evil; readers will find it hard to believe that they’re not actually looking into the near future.” —Booklist “Thought-provoking…As intriguing yet frightening as the premise of The Nobody People is, it also leaves the reader with a glimmer of hope.” —New York Journal of Books “The Nobody People smashes the ordinary and the extraordinary together for an electric story of modern-day America. Proehl’s strong narrative voice, his complex characters working to survive in a world that fears them, and the conflict and empowerment that comes when you must stand up for who you are all turn The Nobody People into a thrilling story, one that will certainly resonate with its readers long after they finish.” —Martin Cahill, author of “Godmeat” “Bob Proehl is one of those authors you can trust to guide you out of your comfort zone. The Nobody People is a gripping, haunting, and complex book, perfect for our times. It will take you on a warrior’s journey. In fact, I’m reminded of something Gandalf said to Bilbo at the outset of The Hobbit: ‘If you do [come back], you won’t be the same.’ ” —Michael Poore, author of Reincarnation Blues The Nobody People is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. Copyright © 2019 by Bob Proehl Excerpt from The Somebody People by Bob Proehl copyright © 2020 by Bob Proehl All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Del Rey, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York. DEL REY is a registered trademark and the CIRCLE colophon is a trademark of Penguin Random House LLC. Originally published in hardcover in the United States by Del Rey, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, in 2019. This book contains an excerpt from the forthcoming book The Somebody People by Bob Proehl. This excerpt has been set for this edition only and may not reflect the final content of the forthcoming edition. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA Names: Proehl, Bob, author. Title: The nobody people / Bob Proehl. Description: New York: Del Rey, [2019] Identifiers: LCCN 2019011880 (print) | LCCN 2019013141 (ebook) | ISBN 9781524798963 (Ebook) | ISBN 9781524798970 (trade paperback) Subjects: | GSAFD: Fantasy fiction. Classification: LCC PS3616.R643 (ebook) | LCC PS3616.R643 N63 2019 (print) | DDC 813/.6—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019011880 Ebook ISBN 9781524798963 randomhousebooks.com Book design by Edwin Vazquez, adapted for ebook Cover design: David G. Stevenson Cover illustration: © Felix Tindall ep_prh_5.5.0_c0_r0 Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Epigraph Prologue: The Incident at Powder Basin Part One: An Unearthly Child A Null Sphere The One-Legged Detective Owen Curry and the Shimmering Room Room 152 The Door That Wasn’t There The Boy in the Box Kept Like a Secret Part Two: Academy for the Arts The Tour Academy Fight Song The Physical Kids Fade Away and Radiate The Interview The Pageant Abscess Part Three: The Tower The Day the Story Broke A Walk in the Park The Orientation Debriefing Owen Curry and the Friend Who Came Back This Is Happening Part Four: Annus Mirabilis The Angel of Montgomery Leftovers A Sort of Homecoming The Confession in Powder Basin Enclave Coney Island Baby Part Five: Last Year’s Man Owen Curry and the Full Bizarre Examination On the Air Glitch The Five of Cups Arrival The Excommunication Bargain Part Six: The Next Movement Gathering Owen Curry and the Helter-Skelter The Investigation Crazy Classic Life The White Van Between the Bars Barricade Faction Fall Part Seven: New Skin for the Old Ceremony Wake This Is How We Walk on the Moon The Last Visit Working for the Clampdown Owen Curry and the Judgment of Powder Basin The Diamond Sea Device This Must Be the Place Part Eight: Putting Out Fires with Gasoline Pulse Legislation Defense Siege Aftermath Epilogue: In Our Rags of Light Dedication Acknowledgments By Bob Proehl About the Author Excerpt from The Somebody People The earth keeps some vibration going There in your heart, and that is you. —EDGAR LEE MASTERS, “Fiddler Jones” When reporters from the Gillette News-Record asked the survivors of the Powder Basin mine collapse how they survived, all twenty-three gave variations on the same answer: It was an act of God. The will of God. God’s own mercy. Bruce Bennett, cornered on camera by the blond anchor from K-DEV down in Cheyenne, said it was the darnedest thing. Like the hand of God Hisself reached down and pulled them out of that pit. The twenty-three survivors hadn’t had time to confer. Once they were past the blockage, they trudged upward to the mouth of Shaft L in silence. They emerged, owls in the late autumn daylight. News vans were already there. Spouses with supervisors who let them off when the news broke or with baby-sitters who could show up on short notice waited within the circle of cameras, along with gawkers down from Gillette, phones ready to catch footage of miners or their bodies coming out of the tunnel. The survivors had been underground nine hours. There was six solid feet of rubble between them and the surface, too much for God to cut through. God had nothing to do with getting them out. It was Tom Guthridge’s oldest boy, Sam, whose forged employment papers said he was eighteen. — The Friday afterward, the Powder Basin mine was closed. All 140 employees were given the full day off with pay. The holding company went over maintenance records and noted how long since an inspector had seen the inside of Shaft L. The best course of action was to keep everyone happy. The men who hadn’t been in Shaft L gravitated toward the Chariot Lounge in Gillette that afternoon. Some said they’d had a bad feeling when they came in Thursday morning. Many claimed they’d heard the shaft go. They lied to feel like part of it. The lies were the way they understood the accident. True stories, made up after the fact. Among the survivors, twenty spent
