And so, when 23 April came round, the prisoners in the block turned to David Martin, who lay in the shadows of his cell with his eyes closed, and begged him to tell them a story with which to alleviate their tedium.  "I'll tell you a story," he replied.  "A story about books, dragons and roses, as befits the date, but above all a story about shadows and ashes, as befits the times..." -- (from the lost fragments of The Prisoner of Heaven)