Plot

Set in an alternate time-line where Napoleon's descendants rule Europe, "The Vindication of Ronald Clay" follows the interwoven fables of five patrons to a coffee shop at the center of the universe.

The Vindication of Ronald Clay is a collection of interwoven fables about the lives of five patrons to a coffee shop at the center of the universe. Set in an alternate but recent past where Napoleon's descendants rule Europe and the world's population has exceeded critical mass, The Vindication of Ronald Clay takes a whimsical, musing look into the strangely connected lives of five café patrons and events of political, spiritual, and scientific revolution in which they're caught:—Cullen M. Thomas

Ronald Clay is a brilliant but lonely deadbeat whose plans to escape mediocrity are crystallized when he reconnects with 'Inanna Kirke,' his high-school crush. But Inanna is on the run from an ex-boyfriend who's ties to a secret society may put their lives in jeopardy. Red is the codename of the princess of the Royal French Republic, who has renounced her despotic father and fled to America, with spies from all sides close on her heels. Veronica Allemonne is a foreign exchange student whose loose ties to the French resistance will get her in trouble. Lolita is a mystery in a red dress, a fallen angel with a long history, plans of her own, and the will to crush anyone in her way. Gregory is a mild mannered gentleman who has never much questioned the supreme authority under which he works, but finds himself falling helplessly in love with a woman who can inexplicably lead to his downfall. As Ronald Clay connects the dots, spies, lies, machinations, angels, demons and secret societies, each of these stories weaves together toward a climactic confrontation between the forces of good, evil, and the hilariously mundane. The Vindication of Ronald Clay is a humorous, musing fantasy about loneliness, simple pleasures, adventure, and the different ways of finding meaning and purpose in living. The Vindication of Ronald Clay is a collection of interwoven fables about the lives of five patrons to a coffee shop at the center of the universe. Set in an alternate but recent past where Napoleon's descendants rule Europe and the world's population has exceeded critical mass, The Vindication of Ronald Clay is a humorous, musing fantasy about loneliness, simple pleasures, adventure, and the different ways of finding meaning and purpose.—Cullen M. Thomas