the author can be contacted at douglarsen50 @ msn.com table of contents : a darker shade of bright the last shall be first the saga of visions eclipse of apocalypse give , said the little stream landfill stories about a missing arm golf the good friend changing the rules shutting down state of grace a real dream the death of a house out of the gene pool state of grace two the offer the relics monger three fatal delays on the 78th floor love-hate rameslie rock daemon the perfect joke state of grace three something about you the first shall be last reset other books by merlin douglas larsen i could spend my whole life writing the visions and churn out thousands of pages and it would only be the fragment of a beginning of the telling of what we are and what we do gilford clover a darker shade of bright in the void only two objects existed : the universe , so far away that it was reduced to the merest pin-prick of light , and this body of a naked man : eyes half open yet not seeing , head thrown back , mouth slightly open yet not breathing , arms out-flung almost in a cross shape , knees slightly bent , touching , with ankles apart .