Buck followed, having nowhere else to go. He glanced around at the filth and total confusion of the tiny place divided by a soiled and torn old quilt. The walls moved with bugs in the flickering candlelight. Fred grabbed at Ginny, who wore a threadbare wrapper. She had a wonderfully white and soft-looking body, Buck…
Category: books
Sympathy For The Devil
“A moderated religion is as good for us as no religion at all—and more amusing.” ― C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters “I’m basically a good person.” I cringe at this self-delusion. I once believed this lie. It led to a sense of entitlement, a sense that life’s little inconveniences and larger tragedies were unfair to…
Tolkien: Creating Middle-earth
On Creating Middle-earth: “We have come from God, and inevitably the myths woven by us, though they contain error, will also reflect a splintered fragment of the true light, the eternal truth that is with God. Indeed only by myth-making, only by becoming ‘sub-creator’ and inventing stories, can Man aspire to the state of perfection…
Fiction: Gaming
“I want to make money and visit with real whores. As the teamster said, life’s short.” Fred gulped his last drink and down the road they went. Quiet, almost sweet, music played somewhere within the gaming hall. “I’ll wait out here, Fred.” “Oh, no you won’t! Don’t be such a prig. Play one hand,” Fred…
Fiction: Blood Brothers
“The night is running along and I want a good time—for your sake—to educate you. I can’t stand you leading such a morbid, saintly life,” Fred groaned. Buck was disappointed at the stables. With most of the army out looking for Geronimo, the stable owner feared for his safety and ordered that no one be…
5 Types of People You’ll Meet at Civil War Re-enactments
Whores, Thieves and Militants of the Civil War I may have mentioned before that I love men in uniform (I think because my father was in the army and then became a police officer but who cares? Men just look great in tailored outfits). So when my best friend’s husband suggested I come with him…
Fiction: Provoking Talk
“Be on alert now, boys,” cautioned the teamster. “This is where the bandits cut my friend down not two weeks ago.” “Be on alert,” Buck remembered. “Be on alert, stand firm in the faith, act like a man, be strong.” He took a deep breath. He must try to have faith. The huge, dark sky…
43 Literary Gardens
Gardens Change People! Gardens make us feel like gods. They change deserts to paradise. They open hearts seeking more to life than just survival. One day I was listless and unhappily married, the next found me hauling dirt ten blocks on the top of my children’s stroller. The view from the ground floor Brooklyn apartment…
Fiction: Overshadowed
Fred’s expensive cigars, the way he shot, and the way he rode when taken out for a race impressed a few of the young officers. Though his cocksure attitude provoked the more experienced commissioned men and the privates who were the victims of his superior words and actions, he had a small coterie of loyal…
5 Facts About Opioid Addiction After the Civil War
How many soldiers come home with secrets? How many with scars? Morphine, opium and laudanum, despite being blamed for much heartache, were in the 19th century seen as miracle drugs. The medical calamity of the Civil War was made more bearable by the massive use of painkillers.
