Fire Hands

By Simon J. Cooper

The fifth in the Wild Edged Magic series by award winning writer, Simon J. Cooper, this is a story about survival, and its cost.

First paragraph:

Drew says he'll look after me, and I know I should be scared he's some crazy rapist, or murderer, but I've got no one else to help, not really, and besides, Drew saved me, and I like him, and I think I'm a pretty good judge of character.

"You've got talent, Stace," Drew says. "Real magical ability, but they don't understand that. They just want to break you."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Holbrook Publishing
• Release date: Aug 18, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465821423

Simon J. Cooper

Simon J. Cooper grew up on a farm in rural Donegal, Ireland, and spent his time avoiding farm work, digging for dragon skulls, and daydreaming about the kind of characters and worlds he now turns into stories. When his family moved to England, Simon fell in love with County Derbyshire, (you should go there,) and ale! It was there, at age eighteen, that he embarked on a quest for the meaning of life. This led to becoming down and out in both London and Paris, and three years philosophising in Lancashire, and a lot of other unprintable stuff, great and awful. Finally, he found an answer, his own at any rate, and got lucky, and married, in Northern Ireland, which is where he lives now with his wife, two children and a dragon – sorry, dog.

Book preview

Fire Hands

Simon J. Cooper

Copyright Simon J. Cooper 2011

Published by Holbrook Publishing at Smashwords

Cover by ENC

Cover Image by Piotr Pawel

All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Fire Hands

Simon J. Cooper

Drew says he'll look after me, and I know I should be scared he's some crazy rapist, or murderer, but I've got no one else to help, not really, and besides, Drew saved me, and I like him, and I think I'm a pretty good judge of character.

You've got talent, Stace, Drew says. Real magical ability, but they don't understand that. They just want to break you.

Drew's intense, but when he smiles, he's got a cute smile that makes him look younger, though he must be at least thirty, cos he's never heard a Phantom Reverbs riff. He's cute, but thirty's way too old for me. My friend, Angie, she went with a guy nearly forty and married, and the whole works, but Angie's always latching onto father figures. Sad but true. Wonder if I'll ever see Angie again. Shit, my hands feel hot.

It's happening again, I say.

Breathe slowly, Drew says. Try and stay calm, remember how I said?

I nod, and my head feels jerky. I've got a lemony taste in my mouth, and for a crazy moment I wonder if I'm just going to explode, right here and now, just turn into a fireball and blow the car apart, killing us both and lighting up the desert twilight for miles around. No, concentrate. I take a deep breath and think cold thoughts. Mountain streams, glaciers, icebergs, snow, like Drew taught. He says I can control this. My hands are glowing red. I can't control this.

It's worse this time, I say, my voice sounding so pitifully weak.