Face the Beast is truly a tail of ships and sailors. War has reached the shores of the United States for the first time since the American Revolution. A sailor in his forties faces death head on in a dangerous mission to deliver intelligence to ally forces. Unfortunately for the sailors the weather takes a nasty turn which results in their worst of fears coming true; a high category hurricane. Will they survive and complete their mission or will they be eaten alive in Poseidon’s merciless rage?I initially got the idea for this short story by taking this picture from google and using it for a writing exercise. I wanted to practice capturing emotion within my writing and what better scene to choose for peril than the treacherous illustration of a shipwreck. The beautifully drawn shipwreck captured an interesting response on my behalf and I couldn't stop writing. I finally stopped about eight paragraphs later and decided to make this initial description part of a short story about love, loss, acceptance and the significant aspects of a 'successful' life. This story explores certain ideals about the argument of what makes someones life worth while. Along with this complex and complicated notion it explores a Shakespearean philosophy on 'eternal life' as well. Enjoy. --Christian
What can we gain by sailing to the moon if we are not able to cross the abyss that seperates us from ourselves? This is the most important of all voyages of discovery, and without it, all the rest are not only useless, but disastrous..."-- Thomas Merton
