“The Wolves of Vimy” in Kneeling in the Silver Light

It’s been hard to sit on this one, as I was very very keen to submit a story to Kneeling in the Silver Light: Stories From the Great War. That was way back in November 2013, but now editor Dean M. Drinkel has released the table of contents, so I can announce that I have a story, “The Wolves of Vimy” in this collection.

Kneeling in the Silver Light is published by The Alchemy Press and released in time for FantasyCon, held this year in York.

The anthology features writers of many nationalities, and I’m not the only Canadian in the lineup. I’ll add geographical info on where the authors hail from as I get it, but for now the full table of contents is as follows:

Kneeling in the Silver Light

Stories From The Great War

• Introduction by Dean M. Drinkel (London, U.K. and Paris, France)
• “The Dead” by Rupert Brooke
• “The Scent Of Roses” by Christopher Fowler
• “On the Side of the Angels” by Mary Pletsch (Quispamsis, NewBrunswick, Canada)
• “Fernackerpan” by Peter Mark May (Hershey, Surrey, U.K.)
• “Unknown Soldier” by Nancy Hayden (Vermont, U.S.A.)
• “The Blinds” by Thomas Strømsholt (Vassingerød, Frederiksborg, Denmark)
• “The Iron Shovel” by Amberle L. Husbands (Georgia, U.S.A.)
• “Where The White Long Roadway Lies” by Mike Chinn (Birmingham, U.K.)
• “The Wire” by Stephanie Ellis
• “Yugen” by David Thomas (Cardiff, Wales, U.K.)
• “The Wolves Of Vimy” by David Jón Fuller (Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada)
• “The Silk Angel” by Christine Morgan (Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.)
• “Dig” by Daniel I. Russell
• “The Secret of Blackwater Island” by Rima Devereaux (London, U.K.)
• “After The Harvest” by Bryn Fortey (Newport, Wales, U.K.)
• “A Very Strange Tunnelling Company” by Paul Woodward
• “Casualties” by Anthony Hanks
• “Truce” by Shaun A.J. Hamilton (Pen-y-ffordd, North Wales, U.K.)
• “Morningstar” by Emile-Louis Tomas Jouvet
• “Somme-Nambula” by Allen Ashley (London, U.K.)
• “The Treasure” by Rupert Brooke

I’ll blog more about the research and writing of “The Wolves of Vimy” in a later post. Students of Canadian and First World War history will guess that it takes place at Vimy Ridge, one of the battles that is likely more significant to Canada than it was to the course of the war. It was the first assault in which all divisions of the fledgling Canadian Expeditionary Force fought as one, and given the success of the operation it’s come to be seen as a nation-making moment for Canada.

As for why I wrote the story — part of it was borne out of research I did when writing my Long Hidden story, “A Deeper Echo.” In this one I wanted to explore what might have happened to the main character, Cpl. Thomas Greyeyes, during the war. I think there is a lot more to tell, but “The Wolves of Vimy” is the beginning of an answer to that.

It was also a foray into a new genre for me: military fiction.

Anyway, I will have more details on Kneeling in the Silver Light as they become available, and in a later post I’ll outline some of the research I did in order to write (and revise) my story.