(Two printed pages. If you’re new to these tales, here are the preface and introduction. Enjoy.) NOT FOR NOTHING HAD PROSATIO Silban parked his galleywagon outside cosmopolitan Soharis’ main military barracks. Soldiers are a notoriously hungry lot, and use any…
Category: Writing
My own serious stuff; the craft itself; those who inspire me in it; the art of reading.
“…And Just Exactly What Is A ‘Buopoth?'”
“MUCH HAS BEEN WRITTEN ABOUT the quaint and lumbering buopoths native to the Exilic Lands and other curious places – but to this day, little remains understood about the shy beasts beyond the proverb that ‘they will haul all day…
Cook’s Honor (A Prosatio Silban Tale)
(Three-and-a-quarter printed pages. If you’re new to these tales, here are the preface and introduction.) THE FIRST CLUE PROSATIO SILBAN had to the midnight intruder was the sound of someone rifling through his galleywagon pantry. The second was the paring-knife…
Plague Haiku
THE PAIN IN MY CHEST Is growing by the hour. I hope it’s heartburn.
Prosatio Silban and the Last Meal
(Three printed pages. If you’re new to these tales, here are the preface and introduction.) ASIDE FROM BUOPOTHS, NO ONE knows exactly what a fatberry-cake tastes like. But measuring by how many the quaint lumbering beasts eat, the greasy maroon…
War Prints (A Prosatio Silban Tale)
(Six printed pages. If you’re new to these tales, here are the preface and introduction. Enjoy.) THE BROKEN TIRE SOFTENED AND then hardened again under Prosatio Silban’s kneading fingers, but he soon realized that his repairs were little stronger than…
It’s Called “Creating a Buzz”
O FELLOW CONNOISSEURS OF MYTHICAL fiction, please: Lend me your eyes. For some years now, I have been writing occasional fantasy tales about Prosatio Silban: a mercenary cook (and reluctant holyman) in a far-off land containing a vast and disparate…
Prosatio Silban and the Leisurely Eggs
(If you’re new to these tales, here are the preface and introduction. Enjoy.) TO THOSE WITH LITERALIST SENSIBILITIES, the phrase “ridiculously beautiful” may suggest mere hyperbole and labored contrivance. But take dawn by the western bank of an iridescent river…
5 Thoughts: The Third Thing
1. ONE OF THE THINGS THAT frustrates me as a writer is my own self-limitation. Specifically, I am speaking of the notoriously difficult and bothersome Third Thing. 2. The Third Thing works like this. I will write a sentence that…
A Prosatio Silban Amuse-Bouche: Balance
“WHEN IT COMES TO DINING, the quality of the food isn’t the only concern,” Prosatio Silban explained, sliding diced potato into an oil-slick skillet and spreading the cubed tuber evenly with a satisfying hiss. “I have cooked gourmet dinners for…
A Prosatio Silban Amuse-Bouche: Writing Lesson
“THOSE MARKS ON YOUR CUTTING board look like words in an ancient language,” observed Prosatio Silban’s customer. “They are, actually,” the cook explained. “The story it tells has been written by me almost every day for all my professional life,…
Confessions of an Earnest High School Dropout
IT ENDED LIKE THIS: “MRS. J—–,” I said evenly, “you should work for the city sewer department instead of teaching English — because you know more about scat than you do about good writing.” Except I didn’t say “scat.” And…