Genre: Short Stories & articles, War, Drama
The modern day civilised world we know is little more than a fragile moment balancing on a knife-edge between the evils of avarice and the struggle for dominant authoritarian supremacy.
Caught in the maelstrom between the warring factions are the innocent lives of civilians and children, the unsuspecting conscripts and misguided volunteers on all sides.
Conditioned, indoctrinated and convinced by those who have only power and ultimate wealth to gain, are those whose personal stories are revealed within the pages of this book.
Life in the War Zone takes a serious, no holds barred look at the devastation and trauma of life in the battlefields of the Ukraine, Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia, Israel, Palestine, Libya, Lebanon and El Salvador.
This may well be the book they would rather you did not read.
Excerpt
Triage (Syria)
Jenny is my friend.
Jenny is an average girl.
She is a little on the dumpy side. She has mousy-coloured hair and wears glasses. She is ‘the girl next door’, one you would not look at twice if you passed her on a busy street.
But Jenny has hundreds of people vying for her attention every day.
Men, women, children, babies; even entire families. They all compete to get Jenny’s attention and they all have one thing in common.
Injuries.
They come limping, crying, holding broken limbs or their distorted, mangled body parts.
They come carrying infants with burns, children with gaping shrapnel wounds and shards of hot metal still burning their tender flesh. Holes where the bullets have pierced their soft tissue and pulverised their muscles, where the rounds have snapped their young bones.
Jenny must decide, she must choose who to treat and who can wait, at least for a while and she has to know who she will leave to die.
That is the hardest part.
Jenny knows modern medicine and quick surgery could save them, or some of them at least.
Jenny knows she could save many more.
That is, if she had enough medicines, enough drugs, enough equipment and if there were enough theatres.
If there were more beds, more gurneys, more ambulances and more room. Lots more room.
If there were more doctors, more surgeons, more nurses and if they were not all so tired, so stressed and weary.
If there were less casualties.
If half the hospital had not been struck by shells, if the electricity did not keep failing; if whole communities were not sheltering there, then maybe, just maybe she could do more, even a little more.
Two hundred new victims a day, all day, twenty-four hours a day.
It is all too much.
Far too much to see clearly.
There is far too little of anything to do anything with; anything truly meaningful, anything that would make a difference, a real difference.
So, Jenny must choose who will get the chance to be treated and when.
Jenny also must decide who they shall try and save and who they will leave to die.
Jenny is a triage nurse in the city hospital.
A city which is a long way from the quiet leafy suburbs Bath; that quintessential English town surrounding the river Avon, where you can sip café latte on the bridge as you watch the ducks swim on green waters above the weir.
For Jenny, the sound of flowing river, willow on leather and the tolling of the church bells has been replaced by the cries of suffering children, the wailing of the maimed and the screaming of jet engines as another raid brings down a rain of death and destruction.
Today is going to be another busy day for Jenny.
Jenny is my friend.
She is a little on the dumpy side. She has mousy-coloured hair and wears glasses. She is ‘the girl next door’, one you would not look at twice if you passed her on a busy street.
Buy Links
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About the Author
Paul White is an author, blogger & poet. His writing covers various genres and topics, both fiction and non-fiction and encompasses such areas as life, love, anger, anguish, fear, uncertainty, and loss. The common denominator in all of Paul’s works is that they feature the most important matter of all, the human condition.
As for Paul, himself… he has a warped sense of humour, loves good food, good wine, and good company. He is an ardent independent traveler, nature lover and supporter of ecological and wildlife preservation.
You can find out more about Paul’s books, his current Works in Progress and Future Projects by visiting http://paulznewpostbox.wix.com/paul-white
You can read a selection of Paul’s short stories here.
Or, for articles on writing and a writer’s life click here.
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Karen J. Mossman 