h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Only Darkness - A87734316
Author: GregPius - U13648184

This story is a fast story that came out of a dream. It is still infected with that dreamlike quality that suspends limitations. It needs polishing and characterisatiom but this I leave to others. Feel free to use this anyway that suits the writer. Greg Pius

Greg
This raised the hairs on the back of my neck, with its account of the raid on the squatters' camp.

But it raises a host of questions. Is the violence real or imagined? (Ireland may have an underclass where violence is routine, but it doesn't have that reputation.) And is revenge ever justified, or useful?

The story obviously has potential to be extended and more fully realised. Then you, or someone else, could work out those issues.

What is interesting about this story - besides the use of present tense - is the setting.

If you'd set that story in 18th-century North America, you wouldn't have had anybody asking, 'Could that happen?'

Because it happened all the time, among the Iroquois. It was called a Mourning War. The mothers of dead sons were the ones who decided to call for a Mourning War.

Was there a particular reason why you chose to set it in the modern day? I can think of one, but I'm curious to hear your thoughts.

Yes it needs a lot of work. Unfortunately I am as time poor as everyone else. I have nursed my dying father for over a year. When he finally died, I was drained of energy. Someone else please work on this "fast story" but try to maintain its dreamlike quality. Then reason can be suspended and a great story may just arise from my poor efforts. Thanks for your support.

I have Irish ancestors from Lissey Cassey but the main reason was the sadness in my heart for the Irish poor in the post GFC world. I hear horror stories from out of Ireland and weep for the ones who are suffering daily in appalling poverty. Poverty and violence can go hand in hand. So I imagined the raid was a possibility. But I tried to give hope. Life is lost but new life is born everyday. Thanks for reading my humble "fast story".