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    John of the Rhine
    John of the Rhine
    John of the Rhine
    Ebook28 pages27 minutes

    John of the Rhine

    By Margaret R Taylor

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    About this ebook

    One spring evening in 1861, a lump of river mud wakes up in an alchemist's basement. His name is John. His new master has peculiar habits. When the modern world comes to their village in the form of a rail line, John discovers this whole being alive business is more complicated than he'd thought.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMargaret R Taylor
    Release dateDec 31, 2013
    ISBN9781310793899
    John of the Rhine
    Author

    Margaret R Taylor

    Hello! I am a science fiction and fantasy author, bibliophile, self-proclaimed nerd, and occasional biologist. You can find on this site three novels, Grizelda, The Confederacy of Heaven, and Cannon Fodder, as well as the short stories "Ravensdaughter's Tale" and "John of the Rhine."

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      Book preview

      John of the Rhine - Margaret R Taylor

      JOHN OF THE RHINE

      Margaret Taylor

      Smashwords Edition

      steamtrainsandghosts.wordpress.com

      Copyright 2013 Margaret Taylor

      Cover art Copyright 2013 Kelsey King

      Smashwords Edition License Notes

      Thank you for downloading this e-book. You are welcome to share it with your friends, but please encourage them to purchase their own copy. You may not make money off of this work or pretend to be the author. If you liked this book, come back to Smashwords to discover other works by Margaret Taylor.

      First, color exploded. Yellow and blue and green streaked through the world all shot through with black and sparks like being bludgeoned unconscious but in reverse. The river mud moaned and was shocked to find that it had lungs working inside of it, bellowsing out and then its whole body spasmed into a cough. Its balance tipped and it flung its arms out to save itself – arms!

      Something cool pressed up against the river mud's back. It could feel that its head was further off the floor than its feet and its body lay tilted against the cool thing. The mud opened its eyes. It was in a small room that had plaster walls and water stains that weeped down from a corner of the ceiling. Shelves wrapped all the way around the room, and in the middle, there was a table with strange devices. And there was a man.

      But how did it know that this was a man? The river mud couldn't remember much before a few moments ago, just dim semi-sentient thoughts, the deep pressure of its currents, sedimentation, the glance of sunlight on its surface. And the fishermen who had cast boats off from its banks and dropped hooklines down into it. Yes, those had been men. But this man didn't look like the fishermen. He was small in stature and wore a white shirt and a silk waistcoat. He stood absolutely still with his mouth partway open.

      The man moved suddenly, lifting a book he'd been holding. My name is Mr. Kaufman, he said. He appeared to be reading from it. Your name is John. You work for me.

      No, I'm not, I'm

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