Torsade Literary Space 
The Totem-Maker (part eighty-six)
The Totem-Maker Chapter Nine The Recalcitrant One (part eighty-six) A herder of cattle there was, who lived far from the royal seat, from the city of wealth. He was free, his life was peaceful, and his name was Alchas. One day as he […]
The Totem-Maker (part eighty-five)
The Totem-Maker Chapter Nine The Recalcitrant One (part eighty-five) I wanted that loneliness I hadn’t yet found; I wanted to escape a hailing exchange. Hospitality required that strangers keep the road together, until all had been said of who, where, and what. I […]
Are You Haunted (part twenty-nine)
Are You Haunted (part twenty-nine) “But people would assume Dennis, wouldn’t they…? Has rights, like you said.” “Yes, of course. And that’s all there is to it.” After a pause too long, Isobel finished without sarcasm, “The Drybrooks had ten years of storytelling by the time […]
Story: Drownings (conclusion)
Drownings (part eleven) “How…? I don’t believe you.” “Our own provincial da Vinci, Stephen…now I recall. Victor Tambinder himself, the ancestor. The magnets in their circles, the great ring of smaller rings, to move perpetually with the rotation of the earth.” Among attractions in this district of the […]
Story: Drownings (part ten)
Drownings (part ten) In the morning… Fog more than fogs of memory, riddled with corpse dust, one could only call it, figures in the dress of ages, with a fish-belly gleam to their skins, pressing into visibility but eased back. As though the heavy mist were a membrane. McAlley […]
My Blog Week: January 26 to February 1 2025
All the Latest from Torsade! Four episodes of “Fellyans”, in which one or two dangerous meetings are avoided. A “Resident”, with John finding something unavoidable about Claudine; and a “Tambinder” with Deenie reviewing her unknown correspondent’s list […]
The Totem-Maker (part eighty-four)
The Totem-Maker Chapter Nine The Recalcitrant One (part eighty-four) The road to Balbaec followed a watercourse; and what, looking down from my mountain, I’d taken for hedgerows, were grown trees, the stream cutting a jagged way under their branches. Pines grew in thickets […]
Story: Drownings (part nine)
Drownings (part nine) Victor Tambinder, or Dustin Carmadge, or some other, had in his kitchen four kinds of cereal, soured milk in the refrigerator, blackened bananas on the countertop, a bucket of dirty mop water on the floor. Faia in the medicine cabinet found nasal spray, eyedrops, coated aspirin, […]
Are You Haunted (part twenty-eight)
Are You Haunted (part twenty-eight) “She,” Powell said. Had a load to bear, looking after her husband. And why are you taking her part? Isobel would say. “Don’t carry too much, you’ll lose your footing,” Isobel said. He weighed the radio. A cabinet model, an armful, […]
Story: Drownings (part eight)
Drownings (part eight) The outer door was unlocked, the lobby a commercial corridor of glass doors and display windows. A quartet of businesses and a stairwell. Faia rapped at Joanel Properties, A. Jellison, but McAlley strolled on, noting what else. Fentz Aquarium Supply; Colburn Studio; BCB2. Curious, this last. […]