The Plasma Sphere

With a subdued hissing sound a luminous sphere emerged from the fireplace moving slowly parallel to the wall and knee-height from the floor. The sphere was half the size of a football and moved horizontally set away from the wall by an arms-length. Both Toshiro and his uncle gazed at this apparition in profound fascination. Then the sphere suddenly vanished leaving a faint smell of ozone and nitric oxide as the only vestiges of its passing. The whole experience had probably lasted less than two seconds. They remained silent and heard a distant roll of thunder.</p><p>There had been no sharp crack of a local lightning strike.</p><p>Toshiro was the first to speak 'Uncle what on earth was that?</p><p>'Ball lightning.</p><p>The son of a Scottish father and a Japanese mother child prodigy hero Toshiro Alexander Muir embarks on a quest to unravel a mystery of nature: the explanation behind ball lightning.</p><p>Set against the backdrop of the first half of the last century <I>The Plasma Sphere</i> delves into psychoactive mushrooms Nazi spies in Brazil and some unpalatable characters in Argentina as Toshiro and his group of anarchist friends determine to change the course of history.