Loree Mickler

“Karṇa walks, his back is straight, he is lit up by his divine earings; yet his feet drag. He turns into an alley. His head droops and falls to his chest. He stops. Mist swirls around him, becomes motionless, parts. From between his ribs steps a young woman. Her eyes and face and tongue are brown like old blood and she is decked in old things and she wears upon her wrists two burnt black bracelets. She places the point of a knife under Karṇa’s chest plate and cuts, a gentle sawing motion, the blade moving beneath the skin, a slicing of the quick: nerves, blood vessels, sinews. I feel his pain; not a stab; it is insistent, enduring, but sharp nonetheless, as with any loss.”
― Michael Tobert, Karna's Wheel

“With two fingers, I pick it up to examine it. The black leather of the dagger’s hilt shows signs of frequent use. There is something about this dagger. It looks familiar to me, but I can’t imagine where I could have seen it. I turn it to the side. Its blade shines in the bright Fla’mma-infused candlelight. Dark blood covers the sharp tip of it.”
― S.G. Blaise, Proud Pada

“The terrified men did not move. Then Nadia Fedin did something instinctive; she drew her Nagant revolver and fired three short bursts into the head of the nearest soldier. Stepan Ivanovich’s skull burst like a ripe cabbage showering his horrified comrades with viscous brain and bits of bone.”
― KGE Konkel, Who Has Buried the Dead?: From Stalin to Putin … The last great secret of World War Two

“I know this will be a shock as you’ve just arrived, but I have decided to resign. It seems our timing is off.”
― Karl Braungart, Lost Identity