Click on image to enlarge.
|
Written In Plaster [MultiFormat]
eBook by Rajnar Vajra
| |
Regular |
|
 |
|
Club |
| You Pay: |
$1.65 |
|
|
|
$1.40 |
eBook Category: Science Fiction
eBook Description: Jewish magic, Celtic magic, or superscience? In 1937 something truly bizarre is haunting Sussex, England. [Author's comment: After researching late Thirties Sussex dialect and slang, I felt it best to make some linguistic compromises to keep the tale comprehensible to my non-British readers. But I hope I've included enough of the genuine article to help provide the flavor of that time and place.]
eBook Publisher: Fictionwise.com, Published: Analog, 2006
Fictionwise Release Date: September 2006
13 Reader Ratings:
|
|
|
|
| Great |
Good |
OK |
Poor |
|
| |
Available eBook Formats [MultiFormat - What's this?]: Adobe Acrobat (PDF) [356 KB], eReader (PDB) [63 KB], Palm Doc (PDB) [53 KB], Rocket/REB1100 (RB) [47 KB], Microsoft Reader (LIT) [99 KB] - PocketPC 1.0+ Compatible, Franklin eBookMan (FUB) [121 KB], hiebook (KML) [141 KB], Sony Reader (LRF) [76 KB], iSilo (PDB) [44 KB], Mobipocket (PRC) [55 KB], Kindle Compatible (MOBI) [82 KB], OEBFF Format (IMP) [72 KB]
Words: 14574
Reading time: 41-58 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
 
"'Written in Plaster' sets up an interesting world and it is to be hoped that Vajra will expand on what it contains."--Tangent
By the year 1937, at that tender age when most Second Form students are aware of little but themselves and each other, Danny's attention was largely directed downwards.
He'd first adopted a slumped posture back in Junior Four, when he was only eleven. Being smallish and newly transplanted from London, he'd been a target for bullies and soon learned that his best hope for averting bruises was avoiding eye contact. But the trick failed whenever it seemed intentional, so Danny spent progressively more time watching the floor.
The slump didn't congeal into habit until one cold morning a year later.
Roaming the Nemeton, the narrow local forest, he'd noticed an emerald flash among the detritus at the foot of Barcombe's Hill. He'd brushed aside enough dirt to uncover a thumb-sized chunk of pure jade, green nephrite smooth as glass and clear enough to make a lapidary salivate. From then on he virtually ignored the view above knee-level and hunched along outdoors as if someone had left a trail of shillings.
On Danny's thirteenth birthday, his mother warned him he could wind up as irredeemably stooped as his grandmother. The idea frightened him. The dear woman was bent so severely she couldn't get into a chair without rolling into it.
So within Lesser Horstead, his village, or inside the ivied walls of Dun Hugadarn where he attended school, Danny began a conscious effort to stand tall ... whenever he remembered and was sure no bully was nearby. A trivial sacrifice, really. After all, the most precious item he was likely to find in these tamed places would be a misplaced hair grip and any such treasure would only have to be returned. But he couldn't resist keeping at least a cursory surveillance downwards, which inevitably tugged his head lower until he caught himself and straightened up again.
|
)
