Embers in the Ashes (Of History and Indifference)

in 1993 an historian wrote: “... The lynching was especially atrocious: Two young black men were seized, dragged into the woods, and there chained to trees and tortured to death with blowtorches while a howling crowd of whites cursed and taunted them. Photographs were made of the dead bodies....” (K.S. Davis) This historical novel – ground-breaking in its emotional and graphic intensity – portrays the impact of that atrocity (1937) on two empathetic boys who didn’t taunt, but secretly snapped pictures of the living, screaming victims (ironically, one with FDR’s surname) – and desperately tried to stop it! Two against 500 (some came by school bus). Failing, they fled in despair and determination – with their Brownie Eagle Eye, embarking on a compelling mission! They had no choice – they’d been ‘Out There.’ Enraged, then galvanized, by the failures and heart-breaks of Book I, ‘Einstein’ Brian and ‘Maestro’ Marcus become avenging angels, sworn to strike ‘Preacher-Creature Cecil’ and his ‘henchmen from hell’ with the swords of retribution, self-defense, and ‘un-Confederate’ justice. Kids no more, they begin to act like God because ‘Somebody has to...!’ With images of brutality sealed in camera, conscience, and nightmares, they write to Eleanor and FDR, and accept her invitation to dinner at the White House. Irrevocably sworn to the most profound ‘what-if’ of the Twentieth Century, the boys pledge themselves to a daunting ‘rendezvous with destiny’ – theirs and humanity’s. And a Time Capsule ticket to 6939 (CE) and beyond from Albert Einstein....