PROSATIO SILBAN HAD TO LOOK twice before he realized what he was seeing. Why is this Xao woman, he asked himself, dressed as an Uulian? It was a fair question. The Xao were almost the oldest original residents of the…
Tag: Hey Fanboy!
I was 6 when _2001_ premiered; 15 for _Star Wars_. I keep a set of weird-looking dice in my briefcase. Nuf said?
Prosatio Silban and the Gourmet Gallivant
IT BEGAN, AS DO SO many seriously frivolous matters, with an impassioned tavern-boast. “Outside of present company, the best cookery in the Uulian Commonwell is found not in epicurean Pormaris but in its provinces,” burly, wise-eyed Apista Thurtok said. “And…
Service (A Prosatio Silban Amuse Bouche)
“YOURS IS A NOBLE CALLING,” Prosatio Silban said. “Pray, what is its secret?” The waiter from the acclaimed restaurant Tide & Time had just finished his breakfast of poached fidget-hen eggs, salt-cod-and-potato hash, and stone-rye toast. He took a last…
Prosatio Silban and the Friend’s Favor
“HIS NAME IS FIRENZO OOBAHR,” Firenzo Ebli said. “And he needs to find himself. Please – let it be in your employ.” Prosatio Silban put on his most polite face. “I am honored that you thought of me, but I…
Prosatio Silban and the Game Game
MUCH HAS BEEN WRITTEN OF the nomadic Xao, one of three peoples descended from the Exilic Lands’ original inhabitants. But of their sundered cousins, the forest-dwelling Xai, few tales have been told – and fewer still are those outsiders who…
Prosatio Silban and the Wicked Stage
DESPITE ITS GENERAL ALLURE, IMMORTALITY isn’t necessarily suitable for everyone. “To the point: You shall live forever as the centerpiece of my next theatrical work, The Cook For Any Price; or, A Delicious Wage,” Amaeus Tozar said, raising his yava-mug…
Prosatio Silban and the Poet’s Souvenir
SOMETIMES, THE MOST RANDOM OF encounters can also be the most memorable. Prosatio Silban was driving his galleywagon high on the switchback road between Mountainfoot and Overlook, and passing the time by whistling selections from Orcio Phatar’s famous musical suite,…
Quintessence (A Prosatio Silban Amuse Bouche)
“WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT element of the Perfect Meal?” someone once asked Prosatio Silban. “The company,” came his reply. “But cannot one have a perfect meal by oneself?” his inquisitor persisted. The cook-errant thought for a moment. “Only if…
Prosatio Silban and the Counting Time
IT WAS AS BEAUTIFUL, BREEZY, and otherwise uneventful a day as any in the Three Cities and Thousand Villages of the Uulian Commonwell, save for one particular: the long queues of people, in every settlement of any size, waiting their…
Brokedown Palate (A Prosatio Silban Tale)
SITTING ON THE SODDEN DRIVER’S bench of his tilted and storm-mired galleywagon, warm rain dribbling into crevices public and private, Prosatio Silban briefly flirted with his own demise. The impulse, though not its brevity, was the oldest of his three…
Prosatio Silban and the Amazing Replicator
SMALL KINDNESSES CAN OVERCOME GREAT cruelties, as Prosatio Silban discovered one day to his everlasting pleasure. The circumstances began with the beefy cook reflecting on yet another boisterous morning crowd surrounding his painted menu-board in the Itinerants’ Quarter of Pormaris’…
Prosatio Silban and the Centuried Stew
IF YOU’RE GOING TO STAKE your reputation on a single product, it had better be a good one. The large, one-eyed woman behind the food-stall counter was brusque but not unfriendly. “We have stew,” she told Prosatio Silban. “That’s all…