They were the enemy in a no-quarter war. The Junior war. No mercy, no prisoners. Except one day they took one… .
Publication history
- First published in Space & Time Magazine (March, 2012)
- Reprinted in French translation in Ténèbres, 2013 as Prisonnier de la guerre (May 25th, 2013)
- Reprinted in Galician translation in Nova Fantasia as Prisioneiro de Guerra (October 11th, 2022)
Reviews
SF Revu reviewed Space & Time Magazine:
“The “Prisoner of War” in the story by Floris M. Kleijne is a boy who, like all the children, had become infected with something that has driven him mad, making him want to kill all adults. This has happened all over the world in what is called the Junior Wars. One day, our narrator decides to capture one of them, someone he knew before the madness started. I won’t spoil things further and just say this was an imaginative, well-told tale.”
Safe and tranquil
In the story, protagonist Sam has a recurring nightmare in which a ‘nameless voice’ repeats this fragment over and over. The contest to identify the source of the fragment and the speaker is now closed. The lucky winner can read Prisoner of war in his own mint copy of Space & Time Magazine issue 116, containing the story.
[sc_embed_player_template1 fileurl=”http://floriskleijne.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/safetran.mp3″]
Of course, the correct answer is that the distinguished actor Richard Burton speaks these words in Jeff Wayne’s musical version of War of The Worlds.