One Grain Amongst the Storm

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

(It all began here. Read the previous part here.) They moved along a track in the grass to the north. A flock of ravens burst from a nearby tree, intent on killing one of their own, filling the air with a harsh war cry. She sat on a forlorn bench, watching the maddening fury of the night black […]

(It all began here. Read the previous part here.) A dense mass of tall cowboy hats bustled about the Embarcadero, just beyond the Ferry Building. The faces buried under the wide, panning brims, their hands waved towards him, many of them holding whiplashes. There were sharp hisses and cracks now and then as they whipped the air about […]

(It all began here. Read the previous part here.) ‘You are going to rue this, officer.’ Vernon’s voice was getting the reedy edge, a sign he was about to explode. ‘It’s my job to put aliens and saboteurs across the Bridge of Sighs. Never repented that,’ the policeman chewed out, leading them to a patrol car. ‘Please be […]

(It all began here. Read the previous part here.) They entered The Presidio through Marina Gate and strolled down the road fragrant with eucalyptus trees, mixed with whiffs of fresh sea foam. The breeze blew soft, laced with salt, whispering moistly in the tall tree tops. The Letterman General Hospital stood primly on Lincoln Boulevard, with a quiet […]

(It all began here. Read the previous part here.) Paul Barker came from a family of ranchers and cotton farmers, proud of its herd of quarter horses, from the South Plains of Texas. When the conscription act of 1917 came into force, Paul’s father, only twenty then, bluffed his age and registered for military service, in […]

(It all began here. Read the previous part here.) Unknown to Amar, his onerous passage through a Naga backyard was reported by the night-prowlers to the head of the tribesmen. A freshly baptised Christian who had foreclosed the skull-houses of his territory, he decided with a twinge of regret that the intruders be returned to the […]

(It all began here. Read the previous part here.) Part of Vernon’s right foot was gone with the roof of the aircraft. His boot was missing and so were his toes. A limp mass of red and white was dangling flimsily from the ankle, losing blood like a burst drainpipe. Amar had dragged him away […]

(The story begins here) Mark pulled level at three hundred feet. He had flown enough around to know no hollong tree grew up that size, giants that they were. Buffeting was nasty so close to land and it was going to get worse when they would pull up into the mountains. Flying low and fast […]

Prologue Fat Man had followed the Little Boy. The war was over for those who lived. Those who didn’t, they were still on battlefronts, crouching in bunkers or planes, or breathing water on the seabed. It was an endless night for the sun never rises when you die. And this was how they’d be remembered, […]