From “The Sauder Diaries — By Any Other Name“:

He periodically glanced over at the gate, keeping watch for his two friends.
If he had grown up under very different circumstances, he mused, it was entirely likely he would never have laid eyes upon the Bloody Rose let alone sailed aboard her. Yet, in some bizarre twist of surreal reasoning, those very circumstances that allowed the past three months to unfold as they had, were the very same forces now pressing him to leave. He had made remarkable friends, found an improbable love, fought, killed, saved lives, wept and laughed all over a half-a-mile in the sky for three remarkable months. He knew what it was he had been missing his entire life.
“But I cannot stay,” he said quietly to himself.

“The Sauder Diaries” is an adventure-romance set in Steampunk Victorian-era Europe. The main character, Hans Sauder, is Shanghaied into being a member of one of the most infamous airship crews of the continent.

If you’re not familiar with “Six Sentence Sunday”, swing over to http://www.sixsunday.com/ and take a look. Its a great idea; dozens of authors submitting the punchiest six lines out of existing or soon-to-arrive stories. Browse them; see what hooks you.

Hit the “Six Sunday” tag either at the end of this post or in the tag cloud on this page to see more of these here on “Split Horizons”.

Interested in reading more of “The Sauder Diaries – By Any Other Name”? You can either pick up your own copy or read the first couple of chapters free at Amazon: