A literary mystery

A few years ago I read a story that I enjoyed very much, yet did not save it to my story archives, to my long-lasting regret. I don't remember the title or the author. I read it in the Noose Network or the Breath Control Network, or possibly someone's personal blog of stories. Maybe readers can help me find it.

A reporter is tracking down what's causing a number of bodies being found dumped in a city, all bruised but most notably with rope ligature marks around their necks. He's gotten far enough with his investigation to be lurking outside a warehouse one evening, where he sees people walking up and entering. They look like people who shouldn't be in an area like this. Before he gets too close, he is accosted by some men and hustled inside the building. There he sees an amphitheatre with a large cage on the stage, and he learns that there will be fights to the death inside the cage for the assembling crowd. He begins to see notable local figures, including senior law enforcement and elected officials, and now he knows why there hasn't been much said about the bodies. So he's getting excited because now he has the story – then he gets told that he will be in one of the fights tonight.

I think the fighters are all male, one-on-one; they fight naked, using any style or means they can, clean or dirty; the loser is the one who gets dragged to a noose dangling at one end of the cage and hanged. I forget why most of them are there – maybe they're criminals, or political enemies, or I don't know. The journalist is in the cage to shut him up one way or the other. His fight is highly entertaining, and though the story has no sex, the fights have nudity and bashing and bruising and someone hangs from a rope at the end. What could be better?

That's all I will say about the plot and characters. The story itself is so well-written that I expect it has been published in a mainstream source, though I could be wrong about that. If I could remember who wrote it, I might have found it already.

So... do any of you know it? Or can even send me the story or a link to it? Please let me know in the comments.

A dead game in virtual reality

I didn't get a story done in June. But I do have a photo from SecondLife of what my avatar is doing there now:

Gus got hanged late on June 29th. He is nude, restrained with metal cuffs, gagged and blindfolded, and wearing a chastity cage. He is unable to adjust any of these because each piece has embedded coding that restricts the avatar's activity. He is hanging from a "display hook" that contains a timer and the same restricting scripts. He's in a public sim and vulnerable (in theory) to the whims of others. There's also a little sign that invites people to adjust the timer if they wish. (This is not usually encouraged, but my sign gives permission in my case.)

The rules of the "game" as I've devised them are, the timer may be adjusted - up or down, technically, but I'm only asking for up. As of this writing, he has two days and 22 hours to go. If the timer ever runs out, he goes home. If the timer gets increased, he stays. Now, I can't stay logged in 24/7 due to a system limitation I can't solve. So when I log out, and then log back in, if someone is in my spot, then I go home and the game is over. Otherwise, Gus is hanged naked and apparently dead.

I just updated Gus's profile to say this, and I even changed his name to a serial number. His profile designates his cousin, Rocky (actually an alternate avatar, or "alt," of mine) as the person to contact if anything comes up. Rocky has full power over everything.

This might sound potentially boring. I mean, dead people don't do much. Even if in SL they don't decay, they're pretty uninteractive. Here's the thing: This is day 5 of my "trip," and I'm still into it. I haven't been into the other things I've been doing lately, not to this extent. I've had some fun, but not as much fun as pretending to be dead has been. Between my knowledge of the system and Rocky, I can get out of this anytime I want to. I just don't want to.

Maybe with Gus quietly hanging dead, I can get some writing done.