This story is kind of a period piece from when I began writing, and represents a stew of references. The idea of divine retribution as a way of clearing up the books is as old as the hills, and I left the why ambiguous with malice aforethought. Trying to supply a why for such a circumstance without saying something unscriptural was too great.

The part about the jet engine backventing came from a Dean Koontz novel about a guy who had the ability to see glimpses of the future, and would try saving somebody from the coming disaster. The basic idea came from a Jim French radio drama, but I didn't care for his henotheism that was implied. Also, the title comes from an old Rolling Stones song.

Looking back on it in retrospect, I have to say that I'm surprised at how well it has held up, though I think that it is still a little heavy-handed, and could stand a re-write. However, I fear that its naked and almost didactic Christianity renders it unsalable, and the problem is that without it, I think the entire story collapses in on itself.

This is one of the few of my early stories that I have not felt the need to do a complete rewrite on, since having looked at some of them, they were pretty creaky. Part of the advantage of putting this out for public consumption is it shows where I have been, and a definite improvement of my skills as a writer. It is also a time capsule of sorts, capturing a sense of where we were, circa the early Nineties.

The reason for choosing this story, beyond the ones enumerated above, I think it is a good representation of one facet of my personality as a writer. While most of my shorter stories tend to have a religious ambiguity (with one notable exception) my longer pieces have a definite subtext, and delve into the issue of good versus evil, with a Christian perspective.