Concrete & Ashes: Chicago 1920

By Internecio Pulicorum

In the smoke-choked alleyways of 1920s Chicago, where jazz spills into the night and the law's a punchline whispered in speakeasies, a single act of defiance ignites a tragedy as old as it is shattering. Concrete & Ashes reimagines Sophocles' Antigone in the raw, booze-soaked world of Prohibition--a place where power's measured in bullets and bourbon, and morality's a luxury few can afford. Annie Gatz, armed with nothing but a shovel and a stubborn streak of justice, dares to bury her brother Paddy, a small-time crook left to rot in a South Side alley on the orders of untouchable gangster King Lowry. Her crime? Defying the man who owns the streets, the cops, and the souls of everyone who walks them. What unfolds is a clash of wills, a slow-motion collapse of loyalty, love, and loss, where every choice is another step toward the grave. Written with a style that's overflowing and electric, this tragedy doesn't just play out--it unravels. Digressions swirl like tendrils of smoke, and the city itself comes alive as a character, pulsing with the clatter of elevated trains, the stench of slaughterhouses, and the desperate wail of a blues trumpet in the distance. Here, the human condition is laid bare, drenched in sweat and regret, as Annie's quiet rebellion cuts through the lives of everyone in her path: her doomed lover, her reckless cousin, and the king himself, whose throne of velvet and violence starts to feel like a coffin. For readers who crave stories that claw at the soul and don't let go, Concrete & Ashes is a descent into a world where the line between right and wrong blurs like the skyline at dawn. It's a tale of defiance against power, of love in a city that devours it, and of a woman who, with one simple act, reminds us that even in the darkest corners, there's a spark that refuses to die. Step into this Chicago, where every shadow holds a story and every choice echoes like a gunshot in the night.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0F5PSTZ6J
• ISBN13: 9798280643529
• Release Date: April 2025
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 50 Pages
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.1" x 5.5"