The Book of Dirt: Gretchen Heffernan

A particle of dirt transforms into a pearl with the ability to seed an entirely new planet. What happens when a clairvoyant, a mutant poet and a shape shifter discover its power? And how do they stop an evil prophet from planting it first?

Once there was a speck of dirt caught inside a universal drift that travelled through great vats of blackness, flamboyant gasses and elemental showers without thought or aim. And whenever the dirt floated over the planet that spun like a perfect marble, it felt a gentle pull towards the swells of blue, soft and serious as a whispered promise, which made the dirt stir. Otherwise it felt nothing and this pattern continued for eons. Then a star exploded and a storm of light with fierce lassoes struck the dirt through the Earth’s burning atmosphere, where it began to fully awaken.

The heaviness of the beautiful planet hit the dirt like an anvil and it crashed into the sea. The water was a salve to its burns and the dirt began to experience further flashes of light, of dappled consciousness, surging like currents of electricity on the ocean floor.

It was then that it saw her.

To the untrained eye she was ordinary and barnacled. An insignificant rock on the bottom of the seabed, but the dirt sensed a true magnificence inside her. And it was right, for when she opened her mouth; it saw that she was lined with something silver and luminous, like a soul.

The dirt took a chance.

It plunged into her and attached like a thorn inside an armpit. It was awkward at first, but the dirt persisted because it could feel itself growing and by love, by risk and intervention, it became a pearl, which was more than it had ever dreamt possible.

But the truth about dreams is that once they’re believed in, they’re already half fulfilled, so faith in impossible things is vitally important. It’s crucial if you want to evolve and the pearl longed to reach its full potential, yet had come to a point where it found it could advance no further on its own. And so, another truth was shown to the pearl, the truth that none of us are truly independent of one another, of the world, none of us can act alone.

We need others.

Paperback: 256 pages
Publisher: Scrutineer’s at Blurb (25 July 2018)
Language: English
ISBN-13: 978-0953408054
Product Dimensions: 152 x 229 mm