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Back Black Ambrosia Save as PDF
Chapters (46)
  1. CoverImage
  2. Introduction by Grady Hendrix
  3. Acknowledgments
  4. 1
  5. 2
  6. 3
  7. 4
  8. 5
  9. 6
  10. 7
  11. 8
  12. 9
  13. 10
  14. 11
  15. 12
  16. 13
  17. 14
  18. 15
  19. 16
  20. 17
  21. 18
  22. 19
  23. 20
  24. 21
  25. 22
  26. 23
  27. 24
  28. 25
  29. 26
  30. 27
  31. 28
  32. 29
  33. 30
  34. 31
  35. 32
  36. 33
  37. 34
  38. 35
  39. 36
  40. 37
  41. 38
  42. 39
  43. 40
  44. 41
  45. About the Author
  46. About the Cover

“My arm healed. It’s all scarred, and I’ve lost some of the movement in my wrist, but it’s not bad. I can still pull a trigger.

“Pull a trigger. God, what a dream I had last night. I’m not sure I can even talk about it.

“I dreamed I was hunting, all alone, up in the mountains. I was sitting on a rock, just waiting, my rifle cradled in the crook of my arm, and a big buck strolled right into the clearing. It was the same buck I’d tracked for weeks. Weeks. And there it was, right in front of me, bigger than life. Very slowly, I lifted the rifle, sighted, and pulled the trigger.

“The rifle kicked me in the shoulder, and the sound knocked snow off some of the trees. I remember bouncing on the bed, it kind of woke me up, but not really. The buck started, and took off for a dozen yards, then went down, and I ran over to him. I guess maybe I’ve never watched a deer die. At least I never saw it like this.

“I hit him right where I’d aimed, right through the throat. Hot blood pumped from the wound in his neck, and steamed into the snow. I watched it spurt. I just watched it, the deer kicked a little, then stopped, and soon the blood slowed, then the spurting stopped and it just ran out for a while, through his hair, melting the snow. It was so beautiful, that dark red against the white.

“I just watched it and I was so glad that this deer I’d hunted, this buck I’d come to know, come to love, could die such a beautiful death.

“When I woke up, my pillow was soaked with saliva, and a hunger rumbled deep within my soul.”

About the Author

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Elizabeth Engstrom grew up in Park Ridge, Illinois (a Chicago suburb where she lived with her father) and Kaysville, Utah (north of Salt Lake City, where she lived with her mother). After graduating from high school in Illinois, she ventured west in a serious search for acceptable weather, eventually settling in Honolulu. She attended college and worked as an advertising copywriter.

After eight years on Oahu, she moved to Maui, found a business partner, and opened an advertising agency. One husband, two children, and five years later, she sold the agency to her partner and had enough seed money to try her hand at full-time fiction writing, her lifelong dream. With the help of her mentor, science fiction great Theo­dore Sturgeon, When Darkness Loves Us was published. Since then, she has written fifteen additional books and taught the art of fiction in Oregon colleges and at writers’ conferences and conventions around the world.