Ghosts of a Tired Universe (Paperback)

There are worlds where passion means more than action. There are places where time has no meaning, and anything is possible. When a heart-broken sculptor seeks them out, existence itself may crumble under the weight of his pain. Extended Description: Charles is a sculptor of unparalleled skill, obsessed with emphasizing the few beautiful aspects of what he considers to be an ugly and dying world. Before putting out his cigarettes, Charles would look at the cherry for a moment and wonder if this would be the flame he'd use to finally set the world on fire. The answer had always been no, until the night Mira was attacked. When his lover's assailant is set free with no more punishment than a legal finger-wag, Charles trades in his chisel for a torch and points his talent of shaping metal and rock toward reshaping the world by fire, one building at a time. It doesn't take long, however, for him to realize that not even all the oil of the earth could make a fire that would re-weld the crack in the human soul. It is the crack formed by dogma, and the unforgiving nature of memory. He is unknowingly guided by two immortals whose means are super-natural and motivations are a mystery. With their influence, Charles would soon change into something different, something dangerous. As he becomes aware of their unseen presence, so too does he realize that if he lets these two wretches keep control of his life, he'll end up just like them, locked in hatred, forever.