There Will Be Crosses

In the spring of 1997,the Dayton Daily News premiered their annual short story contest.  My novel had been plodding along well into the era of the Great War.  Three of my chapters told the story of Massey's friend, Ribba, fighting against the Austrians during the siege of Przemysk, in what was then Austrian-Poland.

Short Story Winner - 1997

The characters and plot were ideal for a short story -- infantrymen wait in their trenches for what they believe will be their final battle.  The banter and comradeship between the men transcends nationality making for an emotional tale.  My short story differs from the novel in location and characters.  Instead of the Eastern Front, the battle takes place in France and the characters are not Russian, but Americans in an Afro-American company.  While fictional, this episode is based on historic facts and could have occurred.

Men of Bronze during the Great War

In rewriting this story, I stayed away from using what could be called Black dialect. Instead, I gave my characters Southern  nicknames suggested by a Texan coworker.  Thus I had Crawdad, Polly, Cajun, Preacher, and Cricket.  I used slang from World War One throughout the story.  Paul Dickson published a very detailed dictionary of the history of American military slang, called War Slang: American Fighting Words and Phases from the Civil War to the Gulf War.  Many readers congratulated me on capturing my characters' voices when they mistook war slang for black dialect.

I titled my story There Will Be Crosses.  As with Ikons and Banners, crosses were the theme running throughout the story.  It begins with the cross Crawdad wears for luck, to the crosses hanging from the medals they know they will never receive, to the the crosses placed upon their graves far away from home, and finally the cross as a sign of life.

Not only did I win a nice dollar amount for my story, which went toward publishing my books, but it also gave me confidence to continue writing. Winning against professionals reinforced my desire to finish my dream.

Interested readers can find There Will Be Crosses at www.flyingbrickvideo.com