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Fake Believe features seven all-new stories. Only the last of which plays directly off anything that happened in the previous two Hazeland books (but don't worry, there's a convenient catch-up tier, both print and digital.) Also, you're all smart so I bet you could pick right up on it without missing a beat. So yes, as they say in the business, it's a great jumping-on point.
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Let's break the stories down:
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A CRATE OF BOTTLE-FED GHOSTS
Bobby got drafted and left his childhood neighborhood a quarter-century ago, but he still remembers it fondly. Now the ghosts of Bunker Hill have called him back, drawing him to the last house left as redevelopment has leveled everything of the old place. Bobby needs to see to it that this place survives long enough to be preserved. But there's a lone arsonist who wants the house burned down because of what it and the ghosts remember. He's standing between preservation and oblivion, torch in one hand, knife in the other.
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CUT/PASTE
Riley Sullivan runs a cheap PI office off of 6th Street in downtown LA. When a friend comes asking for help with a deadbeat developer, Riley accepts. Before he knows it, he's up to his ears in real-estate trickery and renovated downtown buildings inhabited by almost-people living almost-lives. Including the one that's trying its best to choke him out. But what's the connection between Riley's ex-wife and these strange golems colonizing the city?
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THIRD SATURDAYS
Glorietta Ramirez attends a very special street party where kids from all over the city gather. She's hoping to finally have to courage to just ask one of them to be with her. Street races and bonfires, old flames that don't want to go out and new ones waiting to be lit all come together. Strangely, these kids badly want everyday things like Tommy's burgers and Love and Rockets comics. Can't you just get those anywhere? Where are they really from?
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SUICIDE JEWELRY
Lucy Emerson came to LA to chase a dream of becoming a singer, but not just any singer. She wanted to scream and harrow and mend broken souls. So why is it that someone else blazed that exact path, right down to an uncanny resemblance and the same voice? Lux Licht died more than a year ago but perhaps she's ready to be reborn.
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IN WHAT FURNACE
John Watkiss hosts a half-hour show about the paranormal called Quest4. He and his crew are working on the last episode of their debut season, a make-or-break episode chasing down the mystery of the Sasquatch of the Southland. Only the cryptid isn't cooperating. In desperation, the crew tracks down the last lead they have. One that takes them to a ruined laboratory where something terrible wants to be set free.
CLUB CLOSED: PRIVATE PARTY
Roscoe just got out of Folsom Prison. Five years for a bad stickup job. Roscoe's brother Greg wants to keep robbing places. Sure beats working. Greg just got a tip that a bunch of weirdos out of a place called the Last Prayer Club are walking around with more money than they know what to do with. Reluctantly, Roscoe goes along with the plan. But when the two come across No Tomorrows celebrating a special birthday, they learn very quickly that plans mean very little when you stumble into the presence of the Queen.
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THE CINDERHAUS
Cait MacReady is summoned to an exclusive and private auction of the outré and unusual. One of the lots consists of a group of books she once forged but even that isn't the strangest thing that she comes across, not compared to the goddess there to bid on two locks of hair.