The Reading Bud

Welcome to the TRB Lounge. Today, we are featuring author David Morabito for his latest release, The Old Clock Peddler.

Book: The Old Clock Peddler
Author: David Morabito
Publication Date: September 30, 2025
Genres: Dark Fantasy, Suspense, Romance, Science-Fiction
Page Count: 270
Formats Available: Kindle & Paperback
For Readers Who Loved Reading: Lord of the Rings (J. R. R. Tolkien), The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Frank Baum), Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Lewis Caroll), Crazy Hawk: A Post-Apocalyptic Thriller (R. J. Stewart)

About the Book

This novel continues where the Night of the Fisherman left off and is packed with suspense, fantasy, and romance as well as elements of science fiction with shrouded references to quantum physics. The characters are instantly transported between different realms in the cosmos using wormholes where the entry and exit ports are defined by clocks composed of mysterious substances. Each clock is the mirror image of the other, with each working backwards from the other.

We follow the exploits of the intriguing dark character known as the Old Clock Peddler, who sells paired clocks to unsuspecting consumers in different worlds causing interesting and unexpected interactions between diverse populations of beings. All the while, the Peddler has mysterious interactions with the characters caught up in his intergalactic web of intrigue, which include Lexicon, the principality of Yore and the land of the Druids.

Intrigue continues to follow two of the main characters from Night of the Fisherman, Fish (a.k.a. the Fisherman) and Kara in the 1950’s-1960’s suburban town of Lexicon. They along with other neighbors now have to contend with the power-hungry Surf, the surviving son of Poppa, who previously terrorized the local neighborhood and beyond. All the while, the character known as the dark Entity lurks about ready to do Surf’s bidding.

A secret society in Lexicon known as the City Fathers anoints Surf as their new Boss in their quest to amass more power and wealth, after the death of Poppa. A shady slimy lawyer named McAlister Bilge aids Surf in his quest for more power and wealth. Other neighbors such as little Elmo get caught up in the intrigue as well as the old man Mr. Ages, now reunited with his long lost son after several decades, Tommy, who once served as King of Yore under the name of Twede.

A host of new characters are introduced, including three college students, one of which believes he understands the physics of instantaneous intergalactic transport, while another desires Kara, the Fisherman’s girlfriend, to be his own. Frank Knightlite, a heroic figure in the small town of Lexicon, is known to shed light within the bowels of darkness. Aisling is a young Irish lass whose family got marooned in the strange world of mutated descendants of the Druids, courtesy of one of the Peddler’s wormholes. She gets rescued by the Fisherman and Frank Knightlite, who use a recently reestablished porthole to bring her back to Lexicon and eventually to that big green island across the sea to be united with her surviving relatives. Frank Knightlite has a clandestine encounter with Leena, the terrified and neglected young wife of Surf, in order to extract needed information from her.

In the Kingdom of Yore, an ensuing power struggle is in the works as Renigade a wayward Elder had escaped the palace dungeon and seeks to solidify a power sharing pact with Surf. The small gnomish person Georgos contributes to the drama as he again is put into service by his dethroned king Twede, now known as Tommy Ages. Twede reunites with his love Tarala when the porthole between Lexicon and Yore is reestablished by the Peddler.

It is later disclosed that Surf has an estranged brother who covets what Surf has and is determined to claim all that Surf inherited from Poppa as his birthright. Finally, the novel climaxes at the scene of the lake of fire, a huge cauldron-like depression in the planetary surface of Yore. Here, Surf plans to send his prisoners to their demise in the same way his Poppa attempted in the Night of the Fisherman. However, Surf does not count on having to contend with his brother as they confront each other near the precipice of the fiery lake, as the prisoners look on while the drama unfolds in unexpected and suspenseful ways.

You can find The Old Clock Peddler here:
Amazon | Goodreads

About The Author

David Morabito

David Morabito is a retired engineer who lives in the mountains and deserts of Southern California.

You can find author Morabito here:
Website | Medium | Goodreads

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