Don’t let the plot get in the way of the story.”
— Anon.
Author: Neal Ross Attinson
Neal Ross Attinson is one of those compulsive writers who feels naked without a keyboard, or at least a a pad and pencil. He lives with two animal companions and library in Sonoma, California.
Prosatio Silban and the Ignoble Noble
(Almost seven printed pages, and something of a satirical polemic — a lampoon, if you will. If you’re new to these tales, here are the preface and introduction.) THE THREE CITIES AND THOUSAND Villages of the Uulian Commonwell are home…
The World’s Greatest Hiccough Cure
THIS METHOD OF QUIETING DIAPHRAGMATIC spasms was gifted to me by the remarkable Ann Autumn, one of my favorite teachers and a good person to have at your back. It is simply this: 1. Fill a glass with water. 2.…
Holy Trap (A Prosatio Silban Tale)
(Five-and-a-half printed pages. If you’re new to these tales, here are the preface and introduction.) THERE IS A SAYING ABOUT the religious life: that it’s only for the broken in spirit, heart, and/or mind. That was one small reason why…
365 Names: The Nameless One
THE NAMELESS ONE was invented by me (unless I unrememberingly wheelered it from somewhere) to express, ironically, that the whole “365 Names of God” project (and similar efforts) is doomed to fail. As Lao-tze said more than a thousand years…
Prosatio Silban and the Uninvited Guest
(Three printed pages. If you’re new to these tales, here are the preface and introduction. Enjoy.) THE RHYTHMIC RAPPING OF STEEL on wood filled Prosatio Silban’s cozy galleywagon with the sharp tang of garlic, and he marveled – not for…
20 Observations on Newspaper Reporting
ALTHOUGH THEY RELY ON THEM, few people say they actually trust the news media. (I call it “Ross’ Paradox.”) Everybody has a story. And many want to share it. Newswriting is a form of reality-creation, wherein readers trust you to…
Prosatio Silban and the Final Kindness
(Two printed pages. If you’re new to these tales, here are the preface and introduction. Enjoy.) OF THE NUMBERLESS CREATURES INHABITING the Exilic Lands, none are perhaps so quaint as the lumbering buopoth – and though no two descriptions agree…
Words To Bring Back: “Cryptic”
– Definition: adj. Having a meaning that is mysterious or obscure – Used in a sentence: The president’s* speeches are somewhat cryptic to those who don’t share his gestalt, and altogether not for those who do. – Why: What with…
Soul Food (A Prosatio Silban Tale)
(Seven printed pages. If you’re new to these tales, here are the preface and introduction. Enjoy.) PROSATIO SILBAN’S FACE WAS THE picture of dispassionate interest, but his heart gave a familiar tug of weary resignation. This is what comes of…
The road to a friend’s house is never long.”
— Dave Chavoya
Prosatio Silban and the Iron Dray-Beast
(Five-and-a-half printed pages. If you’re new to these tales, here are the preface and introduction.) ALTHOUGH PROSATIO SILBAN’S COUNTRYMEN WERE were wary of most forms of magik – spells, illusions, conjurations, astral mucking-about – their phobia didn’t quite extend to…