Max Nebula and the Time-Tripping Damsel in Distress: Part 1: The Suspenders of Disbelief

When most people wake up on the wrong side of the bed, they have a bad day. When Max Malinowski woke up on the wrong side of the bed, he fell through a crack in space and time, winding up in the 40th Century where he reinvented himself as Max Nebula, private detective.

And then he STILL had a bad day.

Unfortunately, even with Max's 21st Century marketing background, he's having a hard time drumming up business -- which is why he teams up with his on-again-off-again partner, Luna Astroflux, to take down a small-time bounty named Kelly Clusterbolt.

Things don't go well.

But none of that matters when a mysterious woman appears late one night with a job that only Max Nebula can handle: she hires him to find a missing person … her.

This is Part 1 of the Time-Tripping Damsel in Distress storyline. Each episode is only a handful of chapters and designed to be a quick, fun read.

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EXCERPT
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“… who are you?”

The woman stepped toward Max until they were face-to-face. "I’m someone whose life depends on you being who you say you are.”

It was the no-nonsense tone. The sense of urgency. The desperation he had detected earlier. Something was very wrong with this woman, and Max felt compelled to help. He spoke softly, but swift. “I was born Maxwell Malinowski at Greenville General Hospital in the year 1982. After college, I became a copywriter for the biggest ad agency in the city. One morning in the year 2012, I woke up on the wrong side of the bed and immediately fell through a crack in space and time which deposited me here, in the 40th Century where I reinvented myself as Max Nebula, an intergalactic gumshoe for hire.”

The mysterious woman with grey-streaked hair took a measured breath as she stared at Max. Her eye twitched, but her face betrayed no discernible emotion whatsoever. She clicked her teeth and Max raised an eyebrow at her, waiting.

She finally spoke: “… I can’t believe I’m putting my life in the hands of someone who uses the word ‘gumshoe’.”