The tree was old, but not as old as the soldier lying at its roots. When the Armies of the Cumberland and Tennessee slaughtered each other in the forest by the river, the tree was only a sky-blue berry. Trampled… Continue Reading
The mournful wailing froze Conn O’Neill’s blood, as it always did. People said the sound the stuka dive-bombers made came from sirens the Germans fitted to their planes. Well, maybe. But Conn, fighting for Allied forces in northern France, knew… Continue Reading
Abydos, Egypt Second year of the Pharaoh Khasekhemwy 2704 BC Merit-Ptah heard the shouting first, and then the struggle as two guards pushed a man through the door-flap of her house. “I’m with a patient,” she began in anger, but… Continue Reading
There is a kind of fog in this city that seems to put everyone on edge. Sometimes too there is a cold hard rain, and not just in the winter months. Between the fog and the rain it can be… Continue Reading
At night, the sulphurous fog grew thicker, and the women took their usual positions under the doorways and gas lamps of Whitechapel. Molly’s shoes clicked against the cobblestones as she tried to catch the eye of any passing male. She… Continue Reading
On the first bite, you know they’ve used cyanide and you think: they’re finally trying to kill me. You’ve always looked ahead into the raveling naughts and ones that pattern the future. You’ve followed each symbol, each theorem through your… Continue Reading
The bombers were coming again, the sirens screaming. Rita pulled away from the crowd exiting the nightclub and started toward the coat check station. She could bear the cold but not what would happen if she didn’t make it back… Continue Reading
As much as he had never signed up for this duty, as much as his bosses said it didn’t exist, Louie figured he was stuck with it now. The thunder of planes taking off and landing a few meters away,… Continue Reading
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