Saturday, January 31, 2015

The Blood Upon the Rose

The latest Blast From the Past is up on the Story and Preview Page. "The Blood Upon the Rose" is a 2100-word short story. It appeared first in Analog (Feb 1991) then in the collection The Nanotech Chronicles. Later it was pirated by a German agent who had gone rogue and sold his clients' stories without the ugly necessity of actually paying the clients. It appeared without payment in the Heyne Verlag collection Lenins Zahn und Stalins Tränen.

The story is set futureward of "Werehouse," which we showcased here a while back. (Hence, the reference, "...people became animals...") Even so there is a quaint reference to "...make the videotape..." The United States at this time is under the control of an ecumenical heresy symbolized by the "star-cross-and-crescent" and everyone is being ecumenically persecuted, proving that the enemy of my enemy may be simply one more enemy. Hence, the odd laundry list of offenses and defiances. 

The intent was to tell the story after the manner a fable, so the narrator and the two characters speak in high language.

1 comment:

  1. Although I was immediately suspicious from the entrance, "A fatuous expression..." rang the tocsins.

    Good job!

    JJB

    ReplyDelete

Wonder and Anticipation, the Likes of Which We Have Never Seen

  Hello family, friends and fans of Michael F. Flynn.   It is with sorrow and regret that I inform you that my father passed away yesterday,...