New – 20 August 2005

A Glancing Blow

Foreward

A Glancing Blow is an original novel by Dan S. Ward. It was first conceived, written, and then copyrighted in 1978. It has since been updated. Part of the motivation for the slight revisions was to emphasize certain relevant points and simultaneously to update the technology. There were, for example, no cell phones, internet, or other such marvels in the late seventies. Clearly in order for a novel dealing with a worldwide catastrophe to have any appeal, it must be about a plausible future event -- as opposed to something written as if it happened in the past, but obviously didn't.

In the interim between then and now, the idea of a comet or other errant body within the solar system making an up close and very personal encounter with the planet Earth has if anything gained more public awareness. From first run movies with major stars to a strenuous effort on the part of astronomers and scientists to gain additional funding for detection and tracking of near-earth objects; from theories of the dinosaur coming to an abrupt end due to a comet slamming into the Yucatan region to Comet Shoemaker-Levy actually slamming into Jupiter (and causing who knows what damage to the possible life forms there)... and so forth and son on. Accordingly, with the current state of awareness in the world, the concept of earth-shattering events of this genre is very, very current.

Additionally, the diverse receptions of such events by different people is always a fascinating topic. For example, there are the very real actions of a small group of potentially misguided souls who made their own unique preparations in anticipation of the arrival of Comet Hale-Bopp. But on a larger scale, there are the logical and illogical reactions of people to the spectre of their very real, catastrophic, and imminent death. It's really the ideal sort of thing to motivate one to focus on the essentials of life.

E. H. White once wrote: "I awake in the morning, torn between a desire to save the world, and a desire to savor the world. That makes it hard to plan the day."

This same choice is likely to occur to anyone becoming aware of a close encounter of the first, catastrophic kind. And while saving the world might be less likely -- except for the role to be played by Bruce Willis in the movies -- there is at least the option of attempting to save a small piece of the world, e.g., moi. Or alternatively just to savor what is left of one's time of the planet.

Which is, of course, why such novels are so appealing. Survival is always more enticing than finding a way to pay the mortgage or to while away one's retirement hours. Many might choose death in lieu of attempting to survive in a suddenly very hostile world. But others might well choose the adventure an approaching catastrophe offers. It certainly makes reality TV pale in comparison!

There is also the enormous appeal of a random form of judgment day and the potential for a multilateral justice. All the bad guys: the Infernal Revenue Service, the Federal Reserve, religious fundamentalists and politicians of all stripe, color, and degree of greed/incompetence/insanity are very likely to find their tenure on the planet brought to an abrupt and possibly just end. Of course, while the banksters and all of their tools of their trade might be filing for Chapter 13 bankruptcy, there is also the demise of law enfarcement and other bureaucracies.

The latter point brings up that nagging little problem of how one not only survives in the physical, but how one manages to survive in relationship to all the other would-be survivors and in something hopefully akin to a civilized society. In this respect, the all important question becomes one of: who's running the show. In a world where the Golden Rule is less "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" and more of "Dem wid de gold makes de rules," the fascinating question becomes who makes de rules when de gold has lost all of its lustre? More directly it's a question of becomes the leader of a society (of whatever size) when there is no slim majority on a Supreme Court to appoint the leader.

And that, dear reader, is pretty much what it's all about.

Therfore, without further ado -- save a prelude -- here's the novel.

A Glancing Blow

BOOK I

Prelude

The darkness of the early morning is mostly silence. Without the lights and sounds of man, it is a soft, gentle, all encompassing substance – one possessed of a density and yet yielding to movement. It is of itself a complete, silent blackness, a condition undisturbed by the technology of man. It is in essence, a moment of peace.

Inevitably, across the darkened void a diffuse glow will appear, slowly but steadily increasing in brightness. A flickering of light may join the glow, then another, until shafts of light join together to yield a counterpoint to the scatterings of the sun.

On this morning, in the void left by the retreating darkness, a dusty red coloring laid as a vault across the eastern horizon. Then the sun's upper rim broke over a grassy hill, and the red curtain, as a gentle rain, began to slowly cascade to the earth.

It was the red dust that held his mind. She watched it intently, ignoring the cool winds darting about the enclaves; oblivious to the others rousting themselves from the ground. For the red dust was the final warning. The predictions now seemed assured of reality. There was no error in their calculations, no mistake in the computer programming, nothing to say that it was all a bad dream. The timing was in fact reasonably accurate; Ketuohok had arrived a mere day before the appointed hour. Or more accurately, its effects on the bystanders of earth had arrived somewhat sooner than expected.

For it had always been the effects of Ketuohok that could only be guessed at. Who would have dared to predict those conditions -- now, or even eight months ago?

The woman smiled. It had all begun less than a year ago.