Do you see the floaters?

[Alexander Hamilton]

Floaters are tiny clumps of malleable tissue suspended in the fluid of our eye. When light enters the eye the floaters cast their subtle shadows onto the retina to be seen. They are harmless and usually unnoticeable. When a new bacterium infects the world's population, the floaters worsen and soon vivid hallucinations strike all but a few individuals. When man's most precious sense is turned against him, he will become like a beast fending for its vision. When he loses that sight, he is defenseless and vulnerable to any attack.

The story follows 4 main characters: a young man in California, a female police officer in Colorado, a drug addict in New Mexico, and a homeless man in New York. The first part of the novel tells of the outbreak and the first day of hallucinations as people turn on their neighbors and themselves. In the second part, blindness strikes and the populace is left helpless and hopeless. My novel, Floaters, is a high action, fast-paced book that I hope everyone will enjoy but I know everyone will remember when they seen the floaters in their own eyes coasting across the page as they read.

Check out the book on Amazon, B&N.com, B&N Nook, or PDF Ebook for $5 at Outskirtspress.com/floaters.

 

[Meadow337]

" he will become like a beast fending for its vision."

To fend for - manage on your own without assistance.

Perhaps you meant to say man would become like a wild beast DEfending its sight? Although personally I feel wild beasts behave much better than mankind usually does and those analogies are unfair to the animal, but that's a personal quirk. Meantime 'fend' is still used incorrectly I'm afraid.

 

[Alexander Hamilton]

FEND

1 : Defend
2 : to keep or ward off :repel —often used with off<fend off an invader>

Synonyms: bulwark, cover, fence, defend, forfend, guard, keep, protect, safeguard, screen, secure, shield, ward

I personally think it works there.

 

[Alexander Hamilton]

Perhaps not the best choice of words, but logical to say the least

 

[Meadow337]

FEND OFF - means to defend / fight off.

FEND FOR - to manage without help

It was difficult to find a usage of the word 'fend' just on its own.

But I found this one by Ralph Waldo Emerson:

My angel, - his name is Freedom, -
Choose him to be your King;
He shall cut pathways east and west,
And fend you with his wing.
​

So in your sentence you should correctly say 'like a wild beast fending its vision'.


*goes off mumbling in my metaphorical beard about mangling the English language*

 

[Alexander Hamilton]

I suppose I should be thankful this is only a online forum.

 

[Meadow337]

Yup think of it this way - free editing