Blood Promises and Other Commitments

'What is a blood promise?' Finally they ask something useful. I peel the tissues off my hand and show them. A blood promise is a promise that cannot be broken. You have to keep your promise or die trying. From Felicity Bloomfield's "Blood" Blood Promises and Other Commitments contains three stories about unbreakable commitments: to family, to social class, or to the ideal plane. With settings ranging from war-torn East Timor to Reagan-era Utah to Prerevolutionary Russia, the stories in Blood Promises tell of unique characters paying the price of devotion.