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…
Tag: Fictions
What I’m trying to become a writer of.
Prosatio Silban and the Awesome Spectacle
DESPITE A FERVENT BELIEF IN those of the Flickering Gods he felt had not been sanitized into irrelevance, it had been long since Prosatio Silban had thought of Them as answering Their adherents’ every prayer. Not that this stopped him…
Why (A Prosatio Silban Amuse-Bouche)
“WHY DO YOU DO WHAT you do?” asked the young woman sitting at one of Prosatio Silban’s tables-and-chairs. “Aside from earning a wage, I mean.” “Why does a painter paint, or a musician compose, or a sculptor bring to life…
Prosatio Silban and the Final Refection
THE “PURE CITY,” SO SAY the Sacreants, is the eternal home reserved for the souls of pious Uulians, where their earned rewards are consonant with their earthly deeds. Capital criminals, on the other hand, are a different matter.
Prosatio Silban and the Harnessless Dray-Beast
GIVEN SOMETHING AS ESSENTIAL AND ubiquitous as fatberry-oil, it was perhaps unsurprising how little thought people gave to its source and acquisition. Anyone in need of stove- and/or lamp-fuel could obtain it for themselves with little effort by mashing the…
Prosatio Silban and the Idol Cook
IT IS THE HARDEST THING in the world – any world – to escape a cage of one’s own making. And yet … Prosatio Silban strode through the swinging doors of Pelvhi’s Chopping-House and made straight for the long bar…
Prosatio Silban and the Sobering Desolation
(A sequel to the preceding story.) SOMETIMES, NOTHING CAN MAKE ONE feel younger than a good quest. “It is called the Wellspring of Lost Years,” said the Siddis with a characteristic smirk. “And one sip from its dancing waters will…
Prosatio Silban and the Sentinel’s Game
(First of two parts.) SKIRTING THE AZURE VOID IS not for the timid, and while Prosatio Silban did not possess that trait in great measure he did on occasion come close to experiencing it. “Easy, Onward,” he clucked to his…
Unfinished Business (Introduction to The Cook For Any Price Volume II: More Commonwell Tales)
(The first of so-far-more-than-twenty new stories for a planned sequel anthology, beginning thus …) PROSATIO SILBAN LEANED FORWARD IN his folding chair, placed his elbows on the drop-down dining counter, put his head in his hands, closed his eyes, and…
Prosatio Silban and the Fine Print
(With gratitude to Ann Clark.) THERE ARE FEW THINGS WORSE for dedicated professionals than enduring their own uselessness. Well, perhaps one or two … Prosatio Silban looked out through his galleywagon’s open doors and contemplated the heavy rain falling on…
Dining Companion (A Prosatio Silban Tale)
ONE MAN’S FRIEND IS ANOTHER man’s meal – or so Prosatio Silban discovered on an ill-starred expedition to nowhere. The cook had made enough recent coin catering to Pormaris’ wealthy that he could let his dray-beast, Onward, choose their course…
Prosatio Silban and the Ambiguous Twins
SOME SAY THAT IT IS not necessarily impossible to unite divided factions. But when the parties involved base their very identities on the division, matters can become a bit sticky. With a silent prayer of gratitude to Ayeklet, Goddess of…