“WHAT MAKES A MEAL A meal?” asked one of Prosatio Silban‘s customers over a plate of pan-seared fidget-hen breast, green beans and blue rice. “Many have attempted to define that term,” answered the Cook For Any Price, wiping his hands…
Category: Writing
My own serious stuff; the craft itself; those who inspire me in it; the art of reading.
Gustibus Interruptus (A Prosatio Silban Tale)
WITH A PATIENCE DERIVED FROM long practice, Prosatio Silban measured his pain and disgust against the vast cold deeps of Time. It was an old reflex, and a welcome corrective to the blood trickling from his arms and legs, not…
Prosatio Silban and the Hidden Kingdom
THEY WERE STURDY, SQUAT AND rowdy, but also virtuosi of fire and metal – which was only one of many reasons why Prosatio Silban always enjoyed the Delvers’ company. He had arrived for the first time at their northern realm…
Prosatio Silban and the Quest Authentic
PROSATIO SILBAN DIDN’T ACTUALLY MEAN to offend a decedent cook – but sometimes, that’s just how the game-bones fall. This is how it began: The culinary mercenary was browsing his favorite secondhand book-and-scroll shop in the city of epicurean Pormaris…
Prosatio Silban and the Infinite Application
THE RICH PANOPLY OF UULIAN cuisine offers recipes suitable for everyday use, as well as those forming the culinary backbone of special occasions. And sometimes, one can serve in both roles. Prosatio Silban smiled the smile of a man completing…
Prosatio Silban and the Familiar Spirit
WHEN VISITING YOUR BOYHOOD HOME after the passage of too-many years, it’s only natural that it should seem quite a bit smaller than last you saw it. But aside from towering over the landscape, Prosatio Silban was amazed by how…
If my audience will feel that these interpretations are also relevant to their perceptions and emotions, I shall feel amply rewarded. However, I shall not feel hurt if my thoughts will find no response in the hearts of my listeners.”
— Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, The Lonely Man of Faith
Prosatio Silban and the Midnight Invader
THERE ARE FEW SITUATIONS AS disquieting as falling awake in the middle of the night convinced you’ve heard an intrusive sound, but with no aural evidence to back such an urgency. Prosatio Silban lay still in his galleywagon’s sleeping berth,…
A Prosatio Silban Amuse-Bouche: Room
“DOESN’T IT MAKE YOU CLAUSTROPHOBIC to cook in such confinement?” asked a visitor to Prosatio Silban’s close-quartered galleywagon. “Less than you would think,” the beefy cook answered over the chop-chop-chop of mincing lizard-breast. “I actually find that it makes me…
Prosatio Silban and the Three Prayers
PROSATIO SILBAN WAS ALONE. True, he had the company of his faithful dray-beast, Onward. But as for others of the beefy cook’s own species, none were nearby for long miles – one reason why his surroundings were known as the…
Prosatio Silban and the Annual Doom
TO SOME, DEATH IS AN unwelcome interloper; to others, a faithful ally. And to even others, its palpable presence can bring a type of hope. Prosatio Silban swallowed the last of the blue duliac in his glass and sighed. He…
Prosatio Silban and the Refectional Research
THERE ARE ONLY SO MANY variations dictated by a food’s texture and flavor, but Prosatio Silban was determined to find a new one. It was sultry in the beefy cook’s galleywagon, but not from the season. In point of fact,…