Gibson, KS
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Ongoing38m
Last published Tue, Aug 17, 2021
Any shorts or snippets pertaining to my 1960s story concept set in a small farming town in Kansas called Gibson.
This story is a continuation following the events of The Damned.
The story follows Mordechai Toltzer, the son of Palestinian and German refugees living in New York. Having felt out of place and unsure of his own identity for years, Mordechai has been on the move throughout the US, trying to work on his novel ideas and find a place to settle, when he lands a job with the a local newspaper in a tiny farming community in middle of nowhere Kansas. Trouble begins shortly after he arrives when an African-American resident in the town is arrested for crimes involving monetary fraud and his twin daughters and their business come under fire in the wake of the scandal. After having their icecream parlor burned and ransacked, whispers stir up that point the blame at "Kraut Town," a subset of the community consisting of German farmers, mostly former POWs who stayed in the US to work after the war, and one man in particular, former SD officer, Chalmar Stromann, who came to the town along with Florian Brandt to aid in translation and communication for the former POWs.
Mordechai suspects that Herr Stromann, as suspect as he is, is just being used as an easy scapegoat and that the criminals are "closer to home" than the townsfolk want to admit, Klan sympathizers embedded in their leadership and waiting for the right opportunity to target the minorities in town. Mordechai teams up with Stromann, Brandt, and April Howzer (one of the twins) to begin digging into the town's history and secrets to unearth the true culprits.
Main themes in the story follow Mordechai's self-discovery, Chalmar's 20-year-late redemption arc following the events of The Damned, fighting the hard fight, and the capacity of people to change.
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#17
civilrightsmovement
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I'm not gonna change the cover yet lol Warning, this may contain vivid and graphic descriptions of blood, injuries, gore, torture, kidnapping, CA, child trafficking, racist characters, death, potential mentions of SA/CSA, and generally may be an extremely triggering thing to read, if you do choose to read my dumb stories. This is a heavier read, and if you need to stop or take a break after anything written, go ahead, and take care of your mental health :3 ~ Helios was a talented young man, strong, agile, and always helped around the village. Everything from herding José's sheep, or helping him with the harvest, to helping build new housing, or hunting with his dad. He's always been beloved around the village. It was a poor community, but everyone knew everyone, and they were happy. But one morning, while Helios was about to go explore the savannah with his friend, a truck pulled up to the village, a semi painted all black, and one man stepped out from the passenger side door... and in only a few hours, Helios's life changed from a helpful village boy, to a kidnapped child. This is his story, told by his own tongue.
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