{"id":4161,"date":"2017-06-30T13:19:53","date_gmt":"2017-06-30T13:19:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/?p=4161"},"modified":"2017-08-22T11:56:01","modified_gmt":"2017-08-22T11:56:01","slug":"a-taste-of-other-weapons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/a-taste-of-other-weapons\/","title":{"rendered":"A Taste of Other Weapons"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A while back, I wrote a novel. Which happens, I suppose. I didn&#8217;t do a lot with it, because I had other things going on. And short stories turned out to be more fun. So it&#8217;s under the table somewhere. It wasn&#8217;t Edwardian \u2013 it was a tale of dystopian Britain, wrecked by civil war, and a world generally coming apart at the seams.<\/p>\n<p>If you need a place for it, you might call it Dark Young Adult, though I&#8217;m not sure that helps. It was called <span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>Strange Weapons<\/strong><\/span>. It had some nasty bits, some gentle bits, and a lot of worried people in it. Here&#8217;s a sample, because &#8211; well, why not\u2026.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/soldier-1927634_960_720.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"4164\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/a-taste-of-other-weapons\/soldier-1927634_960_720\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/soldier-1927634_960_720.jpg?fit=960%2C640&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"960,640\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"soldier-1927634_960_720\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/soldier-1927634_960_720.jpg?fit=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/soldier-1927634_960_720.jpg?fit=474%2C316&amp;ssl=1\" class=\" wp-image-4164 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/soldier-1927634_960_720.jpg?resize=454%2C302\" alt=\"weapons\" width=\"454\" height=\"302\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/soldier-1927634_960_720.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/soldier-1927634_960_720.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/soldier-1927634_960_720.jpg?w=960&amp;ssl=1 960w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 454px) 100vw, 454px\" \/><\/a><!--more--><\/p>\n<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\">A Taste of Other Weapons<\/h1>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\"><em>\u201c\u2026<span lang=\"en-US\">Power failing here. We can<\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\">\u2019<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">t evacuate, repeat, we can<\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\">\u2019<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">t evacuate. The lifts are dead, the stairs blockaded. Another transport has arrived, with Department troops, heavily armed. A Dog is shielding them. Neil and I won<\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\">\u2019<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">t be taken. If I have to, I<\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\">\u2019<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\">ll burn and take them all with us<\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\">\u2026<\/span><span lang=\"en-US\"> Jesus, look out, Neil<\/span><span lang=\"en-GB\">\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><span style=\"color: #003300;\"><em>Last message received, Gail Koenig, Weapons unit, Government-occupied Derby<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">I didn\u2019t have it together when I tramped back down the iron stairs. Too much going on in my head. What had been the point of going to Mr Kwan? I\u2019d learned nothing. I kicked up dust along the corridors, and felt well pissed off. It was only when I was passing the abandoned offices that I realised what was different.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">Light. Very bright light outside, in what had been a moonlit evening.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">I crept to the door. There was a window, a cobwebbed single pane the size of a bus-shelter, next to the door, and I peered over the sill. Figures were moving about out there, on the other side of the yard. Silhouettes and shadows. I couldn&#8217;t work out where the light was coming from. Maybe it was a late delivery, truck headlights lined up at the front. So I opened the door a few centimetres\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">The year before, I had been on the edge of what they liked to call an incident in the City. Internees had burst out of the Canary Wharf Holding Facility (the Birdcage, as we all called it), and were being flushed into dead-ends so they could be put back. From what Jay and I could see through the gas clouds, no-one cared what sort of shape the internees were in when they were returned.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">That was what I could smell now. Riot gas.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">These dark figures weren\u2019t part of the safe-house network. They were black-clads, armoured bodies trotting from corner to corner of the storage buildings, hand signals flashing between them. Their helmets were sealed, and their weapons were up.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">Our dorm was twenty metres away from where I was standing, so I did the only thing I could.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">\u201cTrouble!\u201d I yelled at the top of my voice. \u201cGet down!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">What anyone would make of that, I had no idea, but at least I\u2019d given some sort of warning. Where were the lookouts? Surely someone was watching out for trouble?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">A heavily-armed figure turned in my direction, and signalled the others. Now I saw that they had arc-lights, mounted on some sort of vehicle at the front of the plant. I was standing half in the open, in the wrong place\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">Before I could move, chips of concrete were flying all around me. A bullet screamed off the metal door frame, and then a gas grenade shot across the doorway and rolled on, almost hitting me. I dropped to my knees behind the door, wondering if I should play dead. I couldn&#8217;t outrun bullets.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">They were heading straight for me, three or more of them. Oh, frak, frak. A coldness was growing inside me, the feeling I\u2019d had when Mr Kwan had gripped my hand. For a heart-beat I thought that the world blurred\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">And then something else happened. Something very different.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">It welled up from deep in night, and it came with a heavy, booming sound which almost deafened me to the gunfire. I felt it pass by me, brushing my face and moving on, felt the energy surging towards the combat police, and I saw what it did. There was a lot of screaming, some of it probably mine\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">Twenty metres away. Three combat police behind full-length shields. The energy found them, and drove the metal and plastic shields into their bodies in jagged shards. They died kicking and flailing, a knot of torn flesh.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">Twenty five metres away. A half-armoured woman reloading a grenade launcher. The launcher folded in on itself, the metal crumpling as I watched. She shrieked and tore her helmet off. Blood, a deep crimson colour, spurted from her ears, her nostrils. Blood turned the shriek into a wet, choking sound that brought up my last meal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">Thirty metres away, next to the refectory building. The officer next in line, ready with more gas rounds. I saw him ripping frantically at his body-armour, breaking his fingernails, trying to tear it off him, and then\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">I looked away. Part of his head landed in the yard a second later, smearing the tarmac. The two black-clads behind him went the same way.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">The painfully bright arc-lights silhouetted a few more armoured figures out there. A second pulse of energy found them before they could move. The arc lights shone red briefly through the swirling gas, then burst with an ear-splitting crash.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">The light had died, the firing had stopped. It was that quick. Three, maybe four seconds had passed since I&#8217;d fallen to my knees. I wiped my sleeve across my face to get rid of most of the vomit, and tried not to see the body parts. Trembling, I clung to the door frame and looked towards the dorms. A man with long white hair was walking slowly between the buildings, his figure becoming more and more distinct as the gas and smoke began to settle. He showed no apparent caution.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">Bodies and equipment littered the yard. Two bursts of that energy, that was all it had taken. There were no moans or cries for help as he walked past the bodies, and I vomited again, empty and hoarse this time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">He glanced at me.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">\u201cCome here.\u201d An accent, almost American but not quite.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">I staggered to my feet, my eyes watering. He didn&#8217;t seem bothered by any of it. New lights were flickering on now, small halogens mounted on the plant walls. They only showed some of the scene, but it was enough.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">\u201cPeter Carveni, isn&#8217;t it?\u201d He had a smooth, confident tone, as if nothing much had happened. I was surveyed by sharp eyes set in a sunburned face.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">\u201cYou\u2026 you did all this? On your own\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">\u201cThey were armed, and threatening the safe-house. I pointed out the mistake they&#8217;d made.\u201d he said calmly.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">There were more people coming, and footsteps from somewhere behind me as well. Presumably there were other Weapons around the place. Voices from every side, some calm, some clearly agitated. He looked down at the remains on the ground. I didn\u2019t want to see that again.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">\u201cI was eating.\u201d he said, pulling at his grey-white beard. \u201cBeef, I think. Definitely potatoes, underdone as usual. Then one of my team ran in to say that she thought there were intruders. And so there were&#8230;\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">He walked on, out of the pools of light and into the wreckage of people and equipment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">\u201cCarveni?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">I twisted round, making myself dizzy, to see Mr Kwan behind me in the side entrance, flanked by two men I didn\u2019t recognise.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">\u201cI\u2019m not\u2026 not hurt.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">\u201cI know that,\u201d he said with a flash of irritation. \u201cI want you to take a message.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">\u201cYes, Mr Kwan,\u201d I managed to say.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">\u201cGood.\u201d He muttered something to the younger man next to him. \u201cTell Mr Slater that there are survivors out there, stunned, not dangerous. I can feel one woman in particular. She has a head wound, and needs to be brought to me. She can be saved. I shall contact Mr Cardew.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">He and the others turned, went back into the building. I made my way as best I could into the moonlight, avoiding bodies and parts of bodies, keeping my eyes on the shadowy figure of what must be Mr Slater. I tripped over a broken gun at one point, but righted myself.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">I caught up with Slater by the wrecked arc-lights, their huge lenses shattered, sprayed with blood. They\u2018d been mounted on a buggy with large rubber wheels. There were more bodies.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">The air outside was cool and fresh, and it must have been raining not long ago. The white-haired man was bending over the broken lights.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">\u201cElectric motor and sound baffles. Hardly audible. Got them quite close, really.\u201d He looked over his shoulder.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">\u201cAh, you again. They must have thought that gas and bright lights would be a surprise, don&#8217;t you?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">They\u2019d surprised me well enough.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">\u201cI\u2026 uh, I have a message, Mr Slater. Mr Kwan says that there\u2019s a woman out here, wounded. He says to bring her to the Hearts. And there may be others alive.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">Slater stood up, nodding slowly. \u201cThen help me find her and we\u2019ll do what Mr Kwan says. I will restrain myself, if you thought I was going to go around slitting throats.\u201d He chuckled. It didn\u2019t cheer me up.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">With only the moon illuminating the wreckage now, it was easier not to see exactly what had been done. I swallowed down bile, and started to search, looking for an intact body. An intact female body with blood on her head, presumably.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">\u201cCarveni.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">\u201cYes?\u201d I had to stop myself from adding \u2018Sir\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">He let go a limp arm that hung from the other side of the buggy. Most of the body was somewhere else.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">\u201cDid Mr Kwan say anything else?\u201d He rubbed his hands on his jacket, leaving a dark stain behind.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">\u201cHe said, uh, he said that Mr Cardew will be called.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">Slater opened his mouth to speak, then closed his lips tightly. He didn\u2019t approve of Cardew &#8211; or didn\u2019t like him, I could see that much. I didn\u2019t like either of them. I went over beyond the buggy to help search for survivors. There weren&#8217;t many, and I saw things I can never unsee.\u00a0 I suppose I learned something, though. It all boiled down to Slater\u2019s last words to me, that night.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #003300;\">\u201cI saw your face back there, Carveni. You may have to get used to this.\u201d He waved one hand casually at the carnage in the yard. \u201cStrange wars demand strange weapons.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em><strong>Next time &#8211; back to weird books, lurchers, and whatever&#8230;<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A while back, I wrote a novel. Which happens, I suppose. I didn&#8217;t do a lot with it, because I had other things going on. And short stories turned out to be more fun. So it&#8217;s under the table somewhere. It wasn&#8217;t Edwardian \u2013 it was a tale of dystopian Britain, wrecked by civil war, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/a-taste-of-other-weapons\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">A Taste of Other Weapons<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"iawp_total_views":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[132],"class_list":["post-4161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-science-fiction"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A Taste of Other Weapons - greydogtales<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/a-taste-of-other-weapons\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Taste of Other Weapons - greydogtales\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A while back, I wrote a novel. 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It wasn&#8217;t Edwardian \u2013 it was a tale of dystopian Britain, wrecked by civil war, &hellip; Continue reading A Taste of Other Weapons &rarr;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/a-taste-of-other-weapons\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"greydogtales\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-06-30T13:19:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-08-22T11:56:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/soldier-1927634_960_720-300x200.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"greydogtales\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"greydogtales\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"9 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/a-taste-of-other-weapons\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/a-taste-of-other-weapons\/\",\"name\":\"A Taste of Other Weapons - greydogtales\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/a-taste-of-other-weapons\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/a-taste-of-other-weapons\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/soldier-1927634_960_720-300x200.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-06-30T13:19:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-08-22T11:56:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1c2413a29a9d04fbc9280c12fdf7b151\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/a-taste-of-other-weapons\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/a-taste-of-other-weapons\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/a-taste-of-other-weapons\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/soldier-1927634_960_720.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/soldier-1927634_960_720.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1\",\"width\":960,\"height\":640,\"caption\":\"weapons\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/a-taste-of-other-weapons\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Taste of Other Weapons\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"greydogtales\",\"description\":\"Literature, lurchers and life\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1c2413a29a9d04fbc9280c12fdf7b151\",\"name\":\"greydogtales\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/33b1544bc8676700f4c33c9ed5475632?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/33b1544bc8676700f4c33c9ed5475632?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"greydogtales\"},\"description\":\"John Linwood Grant writes occult detective and dark fantasy stories, in between running his beloved lurchers and baking far too many kinds of bread. Apart from that, he enjoys growing unusual fruit and reading rejection slips. He is six foot tall, ageing at an alarming rate, and has his own beard.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/greydogtales.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/author\/greydogtales\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Taste of Other Weapons - greydogtales","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/greydogtales.com\/blog\/a-taste-of-other-weapons\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Taste of Other Weapons - greydogtales","og_description":"A while back, I wrote a novel. Which happens, I suppose. I didn&#8217;t do a lot with it, because I had other things going on. And short stories turned out to be more fun. So it&#8217;s under the table somewhere. 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