The Indifference League (22 page)

A
short story version of “World Domination,” called “Bankrupt,” was chosen by Heather O'Neill (author of
Lullabies for Little Criminals
) as the winner of the 2009 Matrix Lit POP Award, and was published in the Fall 2009 issue of
Matrix
magazine.

“The Statistician” was shortlisted for the 2012 Vanderbilt/Exile Short Fiction Prize (in the “Experienced Writer” category).

“The Statistician” was also awarded a commendation in the Ireland-based 2009 Seán Ó Faoláin Short Story Competition by judge Philip Ó Ceallaigh (author of
The Pleasant Light of Day
).

“The Statistician” was also longlisted for the 2010 Fish Short Story Prize.

And then finally,
“The Statistician” was published in the Fall 2012 issue of
The Puritan
.

“The Eleventh Hour” was published in somewhat different form as “Close to Zero” in the Winter 2010 issue of
Lies With Occasional Truth (LWOT).

“Psycho Superstar” was published, as a short story, in the Winter 2010 issue of
PRECIPICe
magazine.

“Miss Demanor” was published in the Summer 2012 issue of
The Toronto Quarterly
.

A modified version of “Time Bomb” was published in the inaugural issue of
The Moose and Pussy
, Fall 2008.

F
or assistance in helping me research what real commendations would be awarded to this book's fictional hero, Private Steven James, my thanks to Major Carl Gauthier of the Canadian Armed Forces; and my special thanks to the many real heroes of the Canadian Armed Forces, who have earned such honours for real sacrifices.

For her tireless work as my literary agent, my thanks to Margaret Hart of the HSW Agency, and for their respective roles in getting this book into print, my thanks to editor extraordinaire Shannon Whibbs, superstar designer Courtney Horner, and the entire team at Dundurn. For generous support during the creation of this book, my sincere thanks to the Toronto Arts Council and the Ontario Arts Council.

And to all my other Super Friends … as always, thanks for being Super Friends!

For their abundant love, support, and encouragement, thanks as always to my wonderful family, especially my parents, Mike and Judy Scarsbrook.

And, of course, this book is for Bluebell.

A
ll of the characters in the book are, in fact, characters, meaning that they are products of the author's imagination and do not exist in the real world.

You can find out more about the author and the products of his imagination at
www.richardscarsbrook.com.

Also ...

The “Indifference League Collector Cards” were inspired by the Marvel Universe Cards, Series 2. They're pretty cool.

And ...

The National Geographic
feature mentioned in Chapters 17 and 18, “What Darwin Didn't Know,” is a real article that appeared in the February 2009 issue of the magazine.

And another thing ...

The answer to The Riddler's riddle, quoted at the beginning of Chapter 11, is “a hole,” although the author of this book may have been implying something else.

Copyright © Richard Scarsbrook, 2014

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise (except for brief passages for purposes of review) without the prior permission of Dundurn Press. Permission to photocopy should be requested from Access Copyright.

All characters in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Editor: Shannon Whibbs

Design: Courtney Horner

Epub Design: Carmen Giraudy

Cover design by Jesse Hooper

Cover image: © MenagerieCreative

Author photo: Danielle McMann

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Scarsbrook, Richard, author

The indifference league / Richard Scarsbrook.

Issued in print and electronic formats.

ISBN 978-1-4597-1036-8

I. Title.

PS8587.C396I53 2014 C813'.54 C2013-908359-6

C2013-908360-X

We acknowledge the support of the
Canada Council for the Arts
and the
Ontario Arts Council
for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the
Government of Canada
through the
Canada Book Fund
and
Livres Canada Books
, and the
Government of Ontario
through the
Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit
and the
Ontario Media Development Corporation
.

Care has been taken to trace the ownership of copyright material used in this book. The author and the publisher welcome any information enabling them to rectify any references or credits in subsequent editions.

J. Kirk Howard, President

The publisher is not responsible for websites or their content unless they are owned by the publisher.