Line of Ascent
Doyle Duke
- Life
- is
- good
- for
- Tom
- Bluford
- until
- he
- and
- his
- family
- attend
- a
- church
- convention
- in
- Denver,
- Colorado,
- and
- visit
- the
- old
- mining
- town
- of
- Leadville.
- There,
- his
- path
- crosses
- that
- of
- an
- unknown
- spirit.
- Tom’s
- strong
- Christian
- beliefs
- would
- never
- admit
- to
- the
- existence
- of
- ghosts,
- ogres,
- or
- vampires.
- On
- the
- other
- hand,
- for
- him,
- Satan
- is
- a
- very
- real
- entity.
Back
- home,
- in
- Rossville,
- Georgia,
- he
- begins
- to
- experience
- strange
- dreams
- and
- visions
- that
- disrupt
- his
- family
- and
- cast
- doubts
- upon
- his
- faith.
- Inexorably,
- he
- is
- drawn
- back
- to
- Leadville
- and
- his
- meeting
- with
- the
- persecuting
- spirit
- that
- threatens
- his
- soul.
- When
- he
- begins
- to
- research
- his
- line
- of
- descent
- in
- an
- effort
- to
- confront
- the
- demon,
- it
- never
- occurs
- to
- him
- that
- a
- line
- runs
- in
- both
- directions.
- He
- has
- no
- idea
- that
- someone,
- or
- something,
- is
- running
- a
- line
- of
- ascent.
- As
- he
- traces
- his
- ancestry
- and
- learns
- the
- identity
- of
- the
- demon,
- he
- is
- drawn
- helplessly
- from
- the
- comforts
- of
- his
- twentieth
- century
- home
- into
- the
- last
- hellish
- days
- of
- the
- Confederacy.
- He
- experiences
- the
- defeat,
- misery,
- and
- desperation
- of
- a
- depraved
- deserter
- on
- the
- run.
- From
- a
- ravaged
- Southland,
- west,
- to
- the
- gold
- fields
- of
- Colorado,
- Tom
- unravels
- his
- genealogy
- as
- no
- one
- else
- ever
- has—by
- experience.
- The
- two
- antagonist
- rush
- toward
- a
- confrontation—a
- confrontation
- that
- promises
- to
- end
- in
- either
- the
- culmination
- of
- Tom’s
- dreams
- or
- the
- damnation
- of
- his soul.
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