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eBook Category: Fantasy/Dark Fantasy Nebula Award(R) Nominee
eBook Description: A man drifts between recollections of his childhood and observations of his present situation. The prose is dream-like, almost hypnotic in its effect, with an overall impact that may well stay with you for a lifetime.

eBook Publisher: Fictionwise.com
Fictionwise Release Date: September 2000

This eBook is also available in the following bundle(s):

• SF 'It's an Honor to Be Nominated' (Volume 3) Bundle

103 Reader Ratings: Great Good OK Poor

Available eBook Formats [MultiFormat - What's this?]: Adobe Acrobat (PDF) [66 KB], eReader (PDB) [29 KB], Palm Doc (PDB) [15 KB], Rocket/REB1100 (RB) [14 KB], Microsoft Reader (LIT) [37 KB] - PocketPC 1.0+ Compatible, Franklin eBookMan (FUB) [86 KB], hiebook (KML) [62 KB], Sony Reader (LRF) [39 KB], iSilo (PDB) [13 KB], Mobipocket (PRC) [16 KB], Kindle Compatible (MOBI) [44 KB], OEBFF Format (IMP) [25 KB]
Words: 5536
Reading time: 15-22 min.
Microsoft Reader (LIT) Format: Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud ENABLED
Adobe Acrobat (PDF) Format:  Printing DISABLED, Read-Aloud DISABLED
All Other formats: Printing DISABLED, Read-aloud DISABLED

Poetic story, and one that had a lot of impact for me. I kept thinking about for days afterwards. Some people may not like it because it's quite "literary" and stylistic. You could almost argue it's not even a fantasy, it could be interpreted as contemporary fiction, but if I tell you how it'd spoil the ending for you. If you appreciate fine writing and amazing imagery, you'll like this story. -Steve Pendergrast, Staff Recommender

I remember the sky, and the sun burning in the sky like a golden penny flicked into a deep blue pool, and the scuttling white clouds that changed into magic ships and whales and turreted castles as they drifted up across that bottomless ocean and swam the equally bottomless sea of my mind's eye. I remember the winds that skimmed the clouds, smoothing and rippling them into serene grandeur or boiling them into froth. I remember the same wind dipping low to caress the grass, making it sway and tremble, or whipping through the branches of the trees and making them sing with a wild, keening organ note. I remember the silence that was like a bronzen shout echoing among the hills.

--It is raining. The sky is slate-gray and grittily churning. It looks like a soggy dishrag being squeezed dry, and the moisture is dirty rain that falls in pounding sheets, pressing down the tall grass. The rain pocks the ground, and the loosely packed soil is slowly turning into mud, and the rain spatters the mud, making it shimmer--