I am so pleased to present to you my short story "Bonker Doesn't Die." I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned this publicly, but the first time I imagined a protagonist named April May, it was for a young readers series I had considered writing called "The Peculiar and Fuzzy Mysteries of April May." They would be stories about a teenager who found people's pets, but in the process, also discovered dastardly plans and uncovered general misdeeds. I did a bunch of research on how pet detectiving works, and I still think it's a cool idea, but when I had an idea I was more excited about, I poached the character I had imagined as a precocious teen and made her into an adult. I also poached her name. It's weird how all of this works. Well, one of the problems is, we don't get to see April doing much pet detective work in the duology. Another frequently identified problem, there's NOT ENOUGH ROBIN!! So, I thought I would solve both of those problems with this little story. "Bonker Doesn't Die" takes place around mid-way through An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, and it does contain spoilers for that story! Thanks so much for supporting the Project for Awesome, and I hope you liked this story as much as I enjoyed writing it! Hank

Publication Year: 2021