The Moon of Twilight
by
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When the two reached Murdo, Greamand said, “Get on the camels,” and the foursome headed out into the wilderness at a lurching, camel-run pace. The girl, on the back of Greamand’s camel, looked back and let out a scream. “Bavianer!”
Harold looked back. Two of the creatures were lurching toward them at a run. They were dark, lumpy shapes in the gloom, and if they hadn’t been moving they’d have been impossible to see. Harold and Murdo turned their camels around and faced the attacking creatures. If they had swords, it would only be a matter of running down the creatures and giving a swing, but they had to hold the rifles steady and shoot. Murdo got his shot off first. It rang true—there was a loud smacking sound as the bullet hit flesh. Murdo’s camel panicked as before. Clem was wild with fright, and Harold pulled the reigns tight with his left hand and then raised the rifle, his left hand held the front of the weapon as well as the reigns. Clem breathed heavily.
“Steady!” he said to Clem, but he just as well could have been talking to himself. He had a difficult time drawing a bead on the looming, advancing Bavianer. He fired and missed. Clem gave a leap and galloped away from the Bavianer, which was now a full ten yards closer. Harold decided to wait until it was close enough and then fire point-blank. Clem lurched into the Illissos scrub bushes, causing a horrible crashing noise as the camel crushed the brush. Harold looked back. The Bavianer was only yards away!
The creature made its final lunge, and Harold fired into its torso. He didn’t have time to look at the dead Bavianer; instead he concentrated on putting the rifle back on safe and staying seated on Clem, who was now running through the scrubland in total galloping fear. Harold pulled back on the reigns, and after another hundred yards of mad-scramble running, Clem calmed down. Harold felt no great elation for having killed a Bavianer. He just felt relief that they were no longer chasing him. His heart fluttered, and his hands shook.
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About the Book
Harold lives on Illissos, a far away world where most of the time it is never really day, and never really night. In this place it is twilight, and hard to really see things clearly. In this twilight, a dangerous creature called Bavianer can attack. Sometimes they attack in swarms so big that all must flee to safety behind the city walls. Normally these sieges are small and easily defeated by horsemen in the brief hours of daylight, but this siege is different and Harold is needed to get help.
Harold must travel through the twilight to get help, and the journey is not easy. Along the way Harold comes of age and his mission allows him to explore the nature of conflict, different religious philosophies, and human courage.
Carl Robinson has done something new and important. Moon of Twilight is young adult fiction written from a race-realist perspective. While this story takes place in a darkened off-world, its dramatic situations evoke the twilight conflicts of race, religion -- and even sexuality -- in the here and now. Forget about werewolves and wizards; when you put this book down you will see our world in a whole new light. -- James O’Meara, author of The Eldritch Evola . . . & Others: Traditionalist Meditations on Literature, Art, & Culture
About the Author
Carl Robinson is no stranger to conflict as a veteran of the Iraq War. While in Iraq, most of his memorable action took place in twilight which got him thinking about conflict, a hypothetical extended twilight, the philosophy of managing conflict, and the religious attitudes of conflict. He is from the American Midwest.