Let nothing upset you; let nothing frighten you. Everything is changing; God alone is changeless… — Teresa of Avila She was Thérèse for the French one but the words of the Spanish one saved her. Calm practicality; unarguable truth. Ecstasy… Continue Reading
At 2 am on 30 June, 1890, Nicola Tesla walked from the Waldorf-Astoria on Park Avenue to Central Park. A lone horse-cab clopped past. To register his bid for the title Mr Ultimate Power, he needed four statues of the… Continue Reading
What enormities can occur in a tiny moment. Catastrophes or miracles, irrevocable in either case. Lives lost or saved, depending on uninformed decisions made in the blink of an eye. To make the wrong choice could bring unendurable consequences. Benghazi… Continue Reading
I break my first leg when I’m eleven. It belongs to Pil Hinkley, the druggist’s boy. A white boy. That’s what Pa says as he smacks me, you don’t break no white man’s leg. Ain’t no man, I say. Pil… Continue Reading
The snow crunches under my glove as I compress it across the lip of the ridge. I’ve been sitting here for hours in a snowy ditch, waiting for something, something that I’ve just seen — movement. Scarcely taking my eyes… Continue Reading
“They’ve got old Blackbeard’s head on display on a gibbet down at the Hampton River dock,” Adolf Harting remarked, looking up from his newsletter at the dinner table. “That’s nice, dear,” his wife replied absently as she cleared the remnants… Continue Reading
“Anton, listen to me. You won’t get anywhere like this.” Herr Hoffmann looked over my shoulder at the notes I was composing and sighed. “The salons of von Genzinger want something new. Your five-finger piano exercises use tunes from twenty… Continue Reading
This is it. I turn my back to them, twist my wrists against the rope and give Churchill’s vee. I am to be their last spiteful act before they flee from the guns of my advancing countrymen. A hand’s width… Continue Reading
“We’re going on a clown hunt. Wanna come, Sarah?” Spinks gave me a sly look, leaned his bicycle against the park bench, and slid a serrated combat blade from his wrist sheath. He was like that, always at the forefront… Continue Reading
Aedan, as the first mate of the ship, was given the responsibility by his Captain to make certain that the ship was loaded with the needed cargo before setting sail. Because it was a small ship, barely fit to hold… Continue Reading