(THE FOLLOWING IS A BRIEF account of how the Prosatio Silban tales are conceived and written. It’s mostly meant for fans of those works, but if you’re interested in the writing process in general, read on — if not, I…
Category: Writ
My own serious stuff; the craft itself; literary (and authorial) inspiration; the art of reading.
Prosatio Silban and the Tournament Palatine
THE SCULLERY MISTRESS HELD A brimful cup to Prosatio Silban’s waiting lips; he sipped, swallowed, and paused. “It is good that I am blindfolded,” he said with a triumphant smile, “or else I’d see the nutmeg before tasting it.” “That…
Prosatio Silban and the Sincere Runaway
ON THEIR WINDING WAYS BETWEEN Here and There, the rammed-earth roads of the Uulian Commonwell often offer mystery – and sometimes, adventure. Prosatio Silban was driving his galleywagon from Treefall to Kissing Bridge near the many-harbored city of Soharis. It…
Prosatio Silban and the Purloined Eyebrows
(A sequel to Prosatio Silban and the Revealer of Secrets.) CLOTHES DO NOT ALWAYS MAKE the man. However, they, or at least their concomitants, can certainly help. Prosatio Silban rolled out of his galleywagon’s sleeping-berth, yawned, scratched, and stood up…
Prosatio Silban and the Sentimental Voyage
CASTING AN APPREHENSIVE BACKWARD GLANCE, Prosatio Silban flicked the plaited yak-hair reins to hurry his quaint lumbering dray-beast. He was passing through rough and rocky countryside, and wanted to reach his destination at speed – as befitted a pursued man…
Prosatio Silban and the Revealer of Secrets
PROSATIO SILBAN SIPPED AT HIS glass of white duliac, savoring the wine’s herbal essence, and continued to enjoy the Arrow-and-Wheel’s boisterous patrons. Rustic farmers occupied most of the plank tables, discussing the weather, the prospects, whose cows were ill and…
Prosatio Silban and the Ersatz Indigene
“A CHANGE OF CLOTHES IS not a change of man,” goes the old Uulian proverb – and neither is it a change of cultures. Prosatio Silban wiped the copious sweat from his hairless brow and sighed. He and his quaint…
Prosatio Silban and the Proportional Mystery
SOMETIMES, EVEN AN ENCHANTER NEEDS a bit of mundane help. Prosatio Silban was sitting, chin in hand, at one of his galleywagon’s two tables-and-chairs in cosmopolitan Soharis’ eastern marketplace, watching potential customers walk by and wondering what he could do…
Prosatio Silban and the Evasive Death
STARLESS DARKNESS FILLED THE OBSERVABLE universe. Where am I? Prosatio Silban thought. He tried to make his voice work, but couldn’t find or even feel his throat. In fact, his entire body seemed to be missing. What am I? Only…
A Self-Defrocked Holyman In A Fantastic Land Ekes Out A Meager But Honest Living As A Mercenary Cook
PROSATIO SILBAN ONCE MINISTERED TO the souls of the Uulian Commonwell’s faithful. But now, his heartfelt devotion is to tend the palates and gullets he encounters on his journeys as a mercenary cook. Inspired by Don Quixote, J.A. Brillat-Savarin’s The…
Prosatio Silban and the Agreeable Disagreement
SOMETIMES, AND WITHOUT MEANING TO, religious faith can eat itself by blurring the lines between divine desires and human humbuggery. By which is meant, O Patient Reader, that while the Flickering Gods always have a clear idea as to what…
Read This (E)Book
THIS IS WHAT COMES FROM puttering about in a small morning with nothing else to do (thanks, PKD, for the reference): “Little-t truths for our and every time; a considerable consideration of considerings.” Pithyisms is, thanks to Smashwords, my second…