I wonder how hard it was to actually write this story. I still remember the events of that day and in a way I baulked at reading what could have been a maudlin account of what was a shattering time.

The interpersonal style is so very different from third person or first person, and yet fits in with the deep 'emotions' that run through this story.

It’s a very natural opening scene, reminiscent of the morning I woke up to the news that the IRA had bombed the hotel where Margaret Thatcher and the Conservative party were staying in Brighton.

The fact that it is Paul Foster in charge is an additional 'wrench'. The SHADO world as we know it has changed, and the loss of Straker and Freeman is almost casually dropped into the story with those words of regret;

You wish he was still here, still in command. You wish his right hand was still here. But they're not and you are,

and there is the additional complication of a young girl needing comfort.

It's an incredibly emotional tale of bereavement and regret and despair, not only at the tragedy that has befallen 'now' but also the hidden tragedy of Paul Foster's loss of his friends and mentors, Straker and Freeman.

That loss is left initially unexplained, unsaid, which adds to the 'darkness' of the story. SHADO without its leaders.. it is all wrong somehow. But that is the message behind this story. That life continues, that despite tragedy, and inexplicable events, we do move on. That we overcome things that are meant to destroy us.

I like the way you move from one scene to another, chopping and changing scenarios so that we are left a little perplexed at first, wrong-footed, wondering where we are and what is happening. It reflects the events of that day, the uncertainty, the sense that things are all going out of control, that nothing is as it should be.

And Paul, now leader, now in control and doing, from all accounts, an excellent job. But, even he is not able to comfort his daughter.

I like the 'unwritten' parts as well. The fact that we know nothing at all about the mother of his daughter, not even his daughter's name.

As a reader I would be happy to actually leave the story as it is. To end it right there with Paul trying to comfort her and trying to make sense of something that was, and still is, senseless. It works well, it leaves us wondering what will happen, and although I don't usually like that scenario, I think in this case it could work very well indeed.

Just a thought.

I chatted to the author about this story and thought I would add a small personal perspective.

In Manchester,(England) there is an Imperial War museum. An ugly grey building. You go inside and it is even more ugly in a way.

A huge room.. and I mean HUGE, (inside the room there is a WWII tank that looks miniscule in such a vast space) with sloping walls at odd angles, sloping floors that trick you, walls of mirrors that make you think you are elsewhere. A whole immense area of nooks and crannies that are specifically designed to make you feel uncertain, uncomfortable, unsure. To unsettle you and make you apprehensive, and every so often the whole room goes dark and sirens sound. Its as scarey as hell.

But it is utterly effective. It makes you think. Keeps you on edge. Makes you appreciate in some very tiny way, some of the torment soldiers had to go through, the danger, the fear, the uncertainty.

After the Fall does that to me as well.

I like the second person POV for Paul and this piece took great courage to write. Bravo! We include so many world events into our stories but once in a while we hit one that gives us a moment of pause. 9/11 was one of those moments. But I have to believe that any time we can take pain, horror, and grief, and turn it into something that is positive; that has to be a good thing. I think that those who lost their lives on that terrible morning in September would want that. It’s what I would want, to turn tragedy into triumph. Never let them be forgotten.

Brilliantly written story!