justdustwords

 Excerpt from my novel FATE. A Limbo for Suffering Fathers   Each night as Emmet Meagher lay awake in the darkness, the events of that black day would play back in his memories, overwhelming him. The memory of his son with his bright smile and infectious laughter would flicker in and out of focus, a haunting reminder of the joy that once filled their happy family. The innocence of his eldest son Mark, was a stark contrast to the chaos that had engulfed their lives. Emmet felt a desperate need to protect Mark from the harsh truths of life, even though he knew that such protection was impossible and not fair to the boy.          That same recurring nightmare would play through his now-only son Mark. The echoes of his brother's laughter, a bittersweet symphony that haunted him, would dance through his innocent mind as he lay awake in bed trying to drown out all he heard, both imaginative and real. Emmet would sometimes hear ...

  Excerpt from my novel FATE. The Murder of Captain Eoin 'Bonny' Devlin                                                         Having restored part of his strength and clarity of mind over three days under the care of Marcus Meagher, who helped to nurse him through his grief, Captain Devlin went on deck to reclaim The Lilly White and his captaincy. The schooner, with her sails billowing like the wings of a rising Phoenix and her timbers creaking in the gentle morning breeze, was looking as graceful as the day she was launched in Quebec, and seemed ... God help him ... to greet Captain Devlin.          As he stepped onto the deck, he could feel the pulse of the ...

  Excerpt from my novel FATE A Second Chance for Moses   As the boy grew, his grandfather instilled in Moses a love of books and storytelling, mixed with just enough religious teaching to get by ... enough for the boy to decide for himself what to do with it. His fate had brought him into the world through two religious fanatics, his parents, only to be raised and taught by an idealist grandfather who saw himself to be a writer trapped in a teaching job that merely helped put food on the table. For some years, the old man taught the basics of all subjects in missionary schools across South America, a calling he once shared with his self-denying wife, a woman who mistook sacrifice for virtue and lived as though joy were a trespass. Her devotion was more to suffering itself than to God Himself, and she carried that burden as if it were her proof of grace. However, she eloped with a younger man from the mission, l...

The Story of Wayward Geor ge By DAF  < Excerpt from my novel FATE >    It W as How H e S aw H imself ... After the tragic loss of his parents, young George's grandfather took it upon himself to fund his grandson's future education in  supporting his aspiration to become a doctor.   The young George's wish   to enter the medical field stemmed not from a sense of loyalty to his deceased father but rather from a deep-seated obligation to rectify the harm his father inflicted on his mother , who was fully aware of the destructive effects of  l audanum on the mind   at the time.  Having observed the profound and tragic impact of  l audanum on  his mother's  mental health, George felt a responsibility to take action against the scourge of addiction .   He understood that the opiate, which had  begun as  a source of solace for his  mother , only to be trappe...