The Writer Will Campbell
The Writer Will Campbell

Sometimes the Darkness

By Will Campbell

Released October 3, 2017

From the security of Indiana to the war ravaged lands of Sudan two people’s lives are thrown together by fate and sacrifice, in this striking political debut.

American Hanley Martin is troubled by his success. A wealthy aerospace industrialist, he was taught he should help others as a means of balancing the scales for his good fortune. He searches for ways to give back that will comfort his soul. So when during a; trip to the Paris Air Show in 1999 Martin unexpectedly meets the head of a Catholic mission in southern Sudan his life changes forever. As he learns more about the desperate need for pilots to dispatch medical supplies and visiting doctors to and from their remote clinic and school in Mapuordit —which sits on the refugee trail from Darfur to Kenya— Martin finally realises his true life’s mission.

Meanwhile, Sister Marie Claire —a French nun already working at the Mapuordit mission— is tirelessly helping the Sudanese people fleeing the war in Darfur. Crafting a network of volunteers her focus is to save the children sold into slavery, and forced to work in the country’s more prosperous cities, by whatever means necessary. She needs only one additional piece to complete her plan. So when Hanley Martin and his plane arrive at Mapuordit, she asks herself if the American may be the answer to her prayers?

A story of fate and sacrifice, Sometimes the Darkness draws readers into the lives of Campbell’s vivid and memorable characters and the tension and conflict set in Africa —a continent that remains mysterious to many readers even to this day.

Blistering and astutely written, Sometimes the Darkness is the perfect next read for readers looking for a fresh new voice in contemporary and political fiction.

About the author: Will Campbell is the pen name of Stephen Weir. He lives in Charleston and Greenville, WV. Stephen Weir is a former certified economic developer (CEcD) with over thirty years experience managing economic development organizations from the city to the state level. He has also worked in international trade, helping establish the West Virginia’s first international trade office in Nagoya, Japan. He has previously published economic development articles and op-ed pieces in the Economic Development Review, West Virginia Executive Magazine and the Charleston Daily Mail and Gazette. His interest in politics, literature and writing led to his debut novel. Sometimes the Darkness is published by Clink Street Publishing October 3, 2017. R
 

In the distance was Africa. Hanley Martin could see a deeper haze, gray melting to brown, beneath which lay Egypt. The land before him was the vision he had in his head for many years. That vision would certainly not be the reality. Leaning forward, he stared hard at what he hoped would soon become familiar and yet believed would always remain a mystery. He had given up much to be here at this moment and he still wasn’t certain it was a what he needed. Approaching the coast, Baltim spread out before him. From altitude, the buildings appeared to be similar, various-sized boxes, some white, some gray, some beige, tattered, some supporting water tanks, electrical wires stretched like threads spun by blind spiders, stretched everywhere, a shimmer of heat above everything. The city stopped at the ocean, a sudden change, the buildings seemingly tied in a bundle by a thin ribbon of beach. He watched as Baltim and its unseen people passed below him The lives of thousands of people ran like a flood beneath him in seconds, a curious feeling as he thought about it. Did they hear him and wonder who he was? Would a child look up at the old plane and become fascinated, learn to love flying as he once did?