Book excerpt: You see them every day, the suicide flowers. They bloom from the cracks and crevices of concrete sidewalks. From between asphalt creases and gaps. Yet these flowers blossom and prosper until the careless foot tramples. Others wither and fade, having survived, despite their strained and dubious foundations. Raeburn Messiah, the Messiah of Metal, sings for a living. Currently, he's on the downward spiral that unfaithful fame loves so dearly. He feels that he's got it bad, his life is over. That is, until he meets one of his most adoring fans, Gabriel, who has but months to live due to the complications of leukemia. They are men, both dying slow, painful deaths. But, each carries a secret that could save the other. For Raeburn and Gabriel are the suicide flowers, doomed to be trampled, destined to flourish.