A to Z Challenge 2015: I - In Darkness

TGIF Challengers!

Only one more day to go before our Sunday break.

Today we have the the letter I. I could have gone with Interstellar, or maybe I'll Give You the Sun, by Jandy Nelson, but I haven't actually gotten around to reading that one yet.

In Darkness, by Nick Lake won the Michael L. Printz award for 2013, as well as a nomination for the Carnegie Medal in Literature.

Today's 2015 April A to Z Blogging Challenge story for the letter I:

In Darkness

So authentic and details it feels more like a biography than a fictional tale, In Darkness is a masterful accomplishment.

Here is the summary from Goodreads:

In darkness I count my blessings like Manman taught me. One: I am alive. Two: there is no two. In the aftermath of the Haitian earthquake a boy is trapped beneath the rubble of a ruined hospital: thirsty, terrified and alone. 'Shorty' is a child of the slums, a teenage boy who has seen enough violence to last a lifetime, and who has been inexorably drawn into the world of the gangsters who rule Site Soleil: men who dole out money with one hand and death with the other. But Shorty has a secret: a flame of revenge that blazes inside him and a burning wish to find the twin sister he lost five years ago. And he is marked. Marked in a way that links him with Toussaint L'Ouverture, the Haitian rebel who two-hundred years ago led the slave revolt and faced down Napoleon to force the French out of Haiti. As he grows weaker, Shorty relives the journey that took him to the hospital, a bullet wound in his arm. In his visions and memories he hopes to find the strength to survive, and perhaps then Toussaint can find a way to be free ...

Author: Nick Lake

That's it! Please come back tomorrow!

A to Z Challenge: I - Ichor

Ichor

I've always pictured ichor as the slightly venomous saliva that drips from the fangs of creatures like Orcs, Goblins, Ogres and so forth, but it actually has a broader scope than that.

Still, any word that gives me an excuse to use an image from The Lord of the Rings is pretty dope.

i·chor [ˈī-ˌkȯr, -kər] n. 1. Greek Mythology The rarefied fluid said to run in the veins of the gods
2. Pathology A watery, acrid discharge from a wound or ulcer

Synonyms: (there are, of course, none for the primary definition) sanies, suppuration, festering, purulence, pus

Etymology: 1630s, from Gk. ikhor, of unknown origin, possibly from a non-I.E. language. The fluid that serves for blood in the veins of the gods. Related: Ichorous.