Visiting the human world became a regular pastime. I ventured there approximately once every two months. It was a danger sport to me, like rock climbing or bunji jumping to you humans; and I was getting a taste for it. At first I went only with Spaper, but eventually I ventured there alone. I explored the city, or I would dally with our group of human friends. Spaper and I constantly sought out new experiences worthy of our enthusiasm. We went to concerts of many kinds – orchestras, folk concerts, punk rock, hip-hop, disc jockeys, opera and ballet. We went to see movies, football matches, boxing matches and races of all sorts…until we needed to be involved in the action.

A young human with a crewcut and an unshaven chin answered the door. He looked casually at Spaper and said, “Hey, bro’”. Then he went back inside and sat down. He was playing a game on a Sony Playstation. I followed Spaper in.

Life went back to normal. I moved money from the computer and spent time with Marietta. The hype that Toby created was forgotten and I only had parties with, or visits from, the people in my own social set. Nate and I went sailing, horse riding or hunting; or we drank, smoked and played backgammon with our other associates. I was, in fact, reminded of how bored I was with life in general before Toby had come.

Dear reader,
I expect you’d like to know who I am. Who is this man who can kill your kind off at his leisure? And why do it? Allow me to explain.

Perhaps a week into Chaz’s absence I bought a newspaper with the headline, “Woman Murdered In Street”. The accompanying photo filled just about the entire front page. It showed a rainy city street, and the dead woman being whisked away on a stretcher. Police officers were all over the scene. The photo actually gave the impression that the photographer had to find a gap between cops to take the shot.

I’ll start with the man named Charles Aaron Darf, or ‘Chaz’ to those who knew him. I met him in Adelaide in August, the year 2000. I’d just moved into a unit in Glenelg for a hundred and forty-five a week -- a lot of money for somebody who was on the dole. But it included electricity, water and furniture, and living in Glenelg would save me money on transport. Besides, it was just what I wanted. The building had two stories that comprised nine units all up. Apparently it was no less than a century old and had originally been a brothel. I could imagine that when looking at the layout – thin corridors, dimly lit, with dull and identical doors all along them. The foyer was thin and long, the floors and staircase always creaked.

Undergrowth.org presents THE MAN WHO NEVER SLEEPS A novel by Levin A. Diatschenko

“Trespassers wouldn’t understand.”

Synopsis
If you take thought as a tangible thing, imagine the clouds of thought hanging about our heads.
Imagine the roof of thought-fog hanging over our cities…
Beginning as a murder mystery the story unravels until it gradually unveils the origin and purpose of an organization so esoteric that it doesn’t even have a name.

Lars Yenin is an overworked family man, who never gets enough sleep. When he loses both his job and family, he lies down to sleep and doesn’t wake up. The mysterious coma continues for years. Two weeks into the sleep, another man who looks identical to Yenin arrives and takes over Yenin’s life. Within a short time, he becomes a world-famous occultist.

This new Yenin never sleeps at all.

Chaz Darf is a sorrowful emigrant whose only enjoyment in life is art. Most of his days are spent smoking cigars on the front steps of the block of units where he lives. Nobody knows anything about his life before he came to Australia.

When Chaz goes missing, and murders of seemingly supernatural circumstances take place, the police are left with only one clue: Chaz’s paintings, which clutter up his unit. Every painting is of the same subject: a beautiful but deformed woman. That’s not much help, though. What the police need is the help of an expert in the occult – they go to Lars Yenin.



The Man Who Never Sleeps is Levin A. Diatschenko’s first novel, a blend of metaphysics, mystery and science fiction. Since its launch in the Darwin Fringe Festival, followed with its nation-wide distribution, it has attracted an underground following of readers as diverse and individual as the characters in the book.

During the months of August and September, The Man Who Never Sleeps will be released in a serialised form on www.undergrowth.org, featuring new illustrations by the author throughout. Readers will be able to subscribe to a special email list to receive updates when new chapters are uploaded weekly at http://www.undergrowth.org/neversleep.

A preview chapter of the book's prologue is now available. Read the prologue here.

“The revolution begins at breakfast!”

Reviews “Darwin-based Diatschenko’s first novel instantly exposes the promise and talent we can expect from this young Australian.” -- Mary Polowski, STU Magazine.

“From vampires to sociological questioning, The Man Who Never Sleeps moves in a sequence similar to a dream, wherein the plotlines, characters, and their development is in an eternal state of change.”– STU Magazine.

“Starting out as somewhat of a thriller, the plot of The Man Who Never Sleeps quickly changes with various characters playing narrator, each more bizarre than the last.” -- STU.

“If you like your books starting with a murder mystery, developing into a kind of gothic horror, but with metaphysical links back to society and a little black humour on the side … then The Man Who Never Sleeps is for you!”—Jan Goldsmith, Published Or Not, 3CR.

“It deserves to sell to alienated urbanites the way Harry Potter sells to snot-nosed brats.”—Briohny Doyle, Voiceworks Magazine.



“Plus it’s got vampires. Intrigued?”—Briohny Doyle, Voiceworks.

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