My Blog Week: May 8 to May 14

Posted by ractrose on 17 May 2022 in The Latest |No Comments

All the Latest from Torsade!                                   A Word on the Week     Happy Talk (part three)           In part one of this series, I mentioned the anxiety loop that draws people into the negativity […]

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Yoharie: Breaking Up Together (part two)

Posted by ractrose on 14 May 2022 in Fiction, Novels |No Comments

Yoharie Breaking Up Together (part two)             They were good until four pm, and their front-row appointment at the Deloris Bros chapel. Good to zone into a mirror-world of car trips just for fun. Talk to their aunt, eat lunch at a restaurant… “We’ll do drive-thru, unless no one’s hungry.” […]

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The Totem-Maker: A Mother or a Father (part five)

Posted by ractrose on 13 May 2022 in Fiction, Novels |No Comments

The Totem-Maker Chapter Eleven A Mother or a Father (part five)           “Escmar. What will you do, if you live in these woods, when the Emperor’s men reach Suma Fortesa by another way, and in their vengeance bring floods and fire?” “Await them,” she said. She had taken the pause I […]

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Tourmaline: Nedforum (part six)

Posted by ractrose on 12 May 2022 in Fiction, Short Stories |No Comments

Tourmaline Nedforum (part six)                                 But a vision came, of himself too obviously up to something, not at rest on a mental health day, but outfitted for the office, escorting his mother around the market booths. Buying anything, because ticketholders […]

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The Resident (part five)

Posted by ractrose on 10 May 2022 in Fiction, Short Stories |No Comments

      The Resident (part five)     Batting at clematis that brushed his white polo, Bridge Krebbs passed under the arch to the Rose Room. He remarked (as always) that he couldn’t get over the stupidity of this. His companion, sixtyish, six-footish, blue eyes, in the way of itchy contact lenses, bleary, remarked […]

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My Blog Week: May 1 to May 7

Posted by ractrose on 9 May 2022 in The Latest |No Comments

All the Latest from Torsade!                                   A Word on the Week     Happy Talk (part two)           I’ll begin with a little informal chart I made, based on three days of my Twitter feed. […]

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Catastrophe (part twenty-three)

Posted by ractrose on 8 May 2022 in Nonfiction, Translation |No Comments

Jean Hess La Catastrophe de la Martinique (twenty-three)                       “As there was a weak place, going laterally, effected by that notch of the dry pond I’d mentioned, it gave under powerful pressure, and the heavy mud flowed along the mountain. It devastated the valley of […]

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The Mirrors (part three)

Posted by ractrose on 6 May 2022 in Fiction, Novels |No Comments

The Mirrors (part three)                               She obeyed, rather than shout back. This took effort, fighting an urge to flight, clandestine movements playing at the corners of her eyes, her feet striking unnatural rhythms. Instinct driven, heartbeat of a hunted thing… She […]

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Bride to Be (part sixteen)

Posted by ractrose on 4 May 2022 in Art, Poems |No Comments

      Bride to Be (part sixteen)   King and Queen, Alderic and Tamarilde Eyes in the brisk wind tearing But jaws in defiance of weak hearts clenched, the two surveying The grey and brown and yellow-gold, the blue blue sky the empty land ungiving He kissed his first son’s head and drew her […]

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Charles Monselet: Cursed Money (part two)

Posted by ractrose on 3 May 2022 in Novels, Translation |No Comments

        Charles Monselet Cursed Money 1863         Chapter One (continued) The Quai des Augustins     “Do you believe so?” He spoke with sublime astonishment. “But then you must go with me to the moneychanger, for aside from this banknote, it happens I have not a single louis.” “It’s […]

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