The Legacy of Stone Church

The Legacy of Stone Church 

By Robert Carlson

This story written by Robert Carlson takes place in the late 1960s during the times of great social and political upheavals. The protagonist, Kayle, a young woman of mysterious origin washes up at the boat dock of Stone Church Commune located somewhere on the Mid-Atlantic of the US.

She is introduced to the people who have formed a diverse family who live in the Big House and other buildings of what they call the farm. A constant stream of young men and women find their way to the farm on their way to and from their pilgrimage to try to see the Boy Perfect Spiritual Master in New York City. They come and go not intending to stay, while a few find their new home at the ruins of Stone Church.

The church is a burned out relic of some conflagration many decades earlier. Kayle has disturbing dreams about a different Big House possible located in the area but not known to any of the Townies who harbor resentment and fear about the people who live "down the road."

Family relationships and romantic connections build and disburse as Kayle uncovers a horror from the last century which threatens to rise up once again consuming families and cultures. Rose Lynn is the anchor who makes the place run. Charlene is the one who is the mother to all. Deacon is the here-and-gone again free-spirit who pops into and out of Kayle's life. Johnny is the man who can pull together the two worlds which have clashed again and again through out the age. Saul is the boy who is mature beyond his years. A dozen other memorable characters populate this mystery paranormal tragedy and final Reconstruction.

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This story is published in three parts. This first volume is the story of the creation and life of Stone Church commune and the pains that gave it its life.

The second story is the Aftermath of a calamity which so closely paralleled one of an earlier century.

The third story is the Reconstruction of the Commune at Stone Church.

The The Legacy of Stone Church is available as of January 2, 2017 at Amazon.

Books 2 and 3 are scheduled for the Summer of 2017.

If you enjoy this story, tell your friends and consider writing a review on my Author Page at Amazon.

The following vignette is from the night Kayle meets Johnny in the encampment around the old stone arch bridge:

"Meal time passed into an evening of festivities. A lone harmonica began a tune that started with a slow drawn note. Then from across the campsite, a rosined bow drawn across the strings of a fiddle sung out in response to the call of the harmonica. Its hollow wood scented voice was harmonized by the breathy reed sigh of an accordion. Next a whole host of musicians added their parts to the air of music that flooded the valley beneath the bridge. The high pitch of finger cymbals clinked and tinged to accentuate the rhythms kept regular by the fingers and palms of expert drummers on the goat skins stretched tightly over hollow wooden tubes. The singularity of the music diverged into several regional tunes that emanated from the periphery and molded into a profusion of sounds and rhythms." 

...and this passage from the final book...

"Kayle spent a lot of time wondering around the farm, walking the paths that remained indelible in the earth and thinking about how all the events swirled together and made one giant cause and effect chain of events. It was so peculiar to her that events of a hundred years earlier could sleep undisturbed only to awaken to wreak such havoc in her time. There did not seem to be any boundary that could contain the effects of a tragedy and keep it from rising up again and again to despoil the present. She wondered how the actions taken in the present would affect the long term health of the world and her little piece of it."

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Also see modalchoice.com/LegacyofStoneChurch.htm