bensen-daniel

So there I was like a professor at Durmstrang, my pumpkin juice heavily laden with rakia. The brandy came in swing-top bottle in a fabric sleeve done up to look like a little suit. It was a present from my wife's cousin Kostadin, and it gave my pumpkin juice the aroma of grapes and enough kick to put a hole through the back of my head. I sat back in my chair, no longer cooking, nor worried about cooking, deeply and profoundly thankful. The pumpkin juice was a byproduct of the pumpkin pies, which had gone into the oven at the same time I talked to my friend Paul in Japan for the first time since he went into the hospital. Bone bruises, he told me, very painful and debilitating, but treatable. It was such a relief. I ground cloves in a hand mill and let go of the worry. Then, the potatoes. 8 hours later, our guests were eating mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, cornbread and cranberry relish, brussles sprouts. The cider and the gravy were done and so was I. I took just a minute to sit

"George delivered justice with a bottle of burning gasoline..." My alternate history thriller The World's Other Side begins serialization today. Please go sample the first scene. cover art by @stefantosheff