Frank Maguire

Lashback: Devil's Chair Island Frank Maguire

Devil's Chair Island is a fictional island off the Kerry Coast of Ireland, and it is reached by the equally fictional Gorney Peninsula. Apparently, the huge head of the devil can be seen reclining on his throne from halfway along the Gorney Blade-so called because it is an extremely narrow sandstone spit, 2500 feet high. The local police, represented by Andy Buggy, have for various reasons, incurred the wrath of the villagers of Oughtnamadra. Every Tuesday morning, Andy Buggy, the local guard, must drive across Knuckle Strand to collect the social security papers known as dole chits from the villagers of Oughtnamadra. Sayvile Crummy, who lives there and is almost an idiot savant, discovers that he has the power to move things with the power of his mind and that he can make use of the idle power that exists in his neighbours. Now, because of a stupid and unfeeling remark made by a Dole cop, he has decided to send any cop who comes to the village for any reason to the moon. This is called lashing the cop up to the moon, and after a year of trying it works. The cop goes there but comes back almost instantly: this is called Lashback. The villagers are using a power of which they have no understanding. For instance, the length of time that the person stays on the moon and the time of the month when he goes all have an effect on when and where he will return to on earth. There is another strange effect in that, due his being under the psychic power of the teleportation, the teleportee does not suffer any physical damage to his person. Gravity affects him, and he might lose whatever clothes he was wearing, but his blood does not boil and he does not suffer oxygen deprivation. This is because he is in a psychic balloon, which also explains why he always returns to earth.