Stories of the Sand

The sands started speaking to us on our eighth morning in the Red Desert. At first it was a soft lisp of air and heat, but as the day progressed the sounds coalesced into ghost-words that danced on the cusp of meaning. I’m sure I was the one who heard them first. I looked around at my three companions, searching for a sign that the murmurs were a portent that we were closer to our goal rather than proof that I was falling into heat-madness.
My gaze traced the tether behind my camel to Shemselnar, who was sitting unresponsive as ever on her mount. Her slight body seemed even smaller against the vast red ocean of sand behind her, and as usual it pained me to look at her. Impulsively I locked my eyes onto the two empty sockets where hers should have been. Why didn’t I feel I was looking at her until I saw those two empty pools? Wouldn’t it make as much sense to stare at the soft waves of her brown hair or her unlined forehead or her tapered hands? They were all Shemselnar. What was it about the eyes that commanded they be the centre of being? Oh Shemselnar. I felt my body succumb to a shudder. Surely you can hear the sand-voices? Show me in some way that you have.
Praise for "Stories of the Sand"
"Stories of the Sand" by Dirk Strasser... is a rich, dreamlike tale of a journey through a mystical desert that is also a journey of loss and redemption.
Off the page
“Stories of the Sand” by Dirk Strasser is a sort of a classic Arabian Nights story''... What happens to the four travelers makes a compelling story in the tradition of Scheherezade. Well written.
Tangent
Three pilgrims and their guide are journeying into the desert rymlands, a fantastic region where the sands speak and things that are lost might, perhaps, be found... a Wondrous Journey... an inventive and imaginative setting for a story in which a mystery is solved to the satisfaction of the characters.
The Internet Review of Science Fiction
Honorable Mention in Best Horror of the Year 2009 (Edited by Ellen Datlow).
Off the page
“Stories of the Sand” by Dirk Strasser is a sort of a classic Arabian Nights story''... What happens to the four travelers makes a compelling story in the tradition of Scheherezade. Well written.
Tangent
Three pilgrims and their guide are journeying into the desert rymlands, a fantastic region where the sands speak and things that are lost might, perhaps, be found... a Wondrous Journey... an inventive and imaginative setting for a story in which a mystery is solved to the satisfaction of the characters.
The Internet Review of Science Fiction
Honorable Mention in Best Horror of the Year 2009 (Edited by Ellen Datlow).