Frédéric Boutet: Complicity (complete)

Frédéric Boutet Tales Complicity (complete)                     Having made a tour of two large department stores…and buying none of what tempted her; then of the elegant streets, where she felt herself still less elegant than on the modest ones, Germaine Leprez hesitated at the threshold of a […]

The Assassin Comes: Fourth German Spy

Posted by ractrose on 28 Apr 2020 in Art, Poems

      The Folly The German Spy         The Assassin Comes   It amounts to when No sacrifice without advantage (mein Herr) as to chessmen But players on the scene bump in   In her room, Krug diligent and dozy …not allowing sleep Lies still and lets the streetlamp Inform him […]

Cartoon Stories: Bad Attitudes

Posted by ractrose on 27 Apr 2020 in Cartoons

Cartoon Stories Bad Attitudes         Some political, some cultural, some animal…       Boy Wonder Wanted. On the theme of dangerous old gurus, and their insular recruitment centers…       Long Time No See. Some people never get the body language right. Or the fashion statements. Which, incidentally, I like […]

My Blog Week: April 19 to April 25

Posted by ractrose on 26 Apr 2020 in The Latest

All the Latest from Torsade!                             A Word on the Week   Credentialing          A brief word, because it’s been a difficult week to get things done. Global death rates from COVID-19, according to the Reuters daily chart, are […]

Frédéric Boutet: The Balance (complete)

Frédéric Boutet Tales The Balance (complete)                       Lunch finished, M. Buchêne was back to business, per custom smoking his tranquil cigar while in discussion with Mme Buchêne. This intimate hour in the middle of their day had been a delight to them since the start […]

The Totem-Maker: The Recalcitrant One (part nine)

Posted by ractrose on 22 Apr 2020 in Fiction, Novels

The Totem-Maker Chapter Seven The Recalcitrant One (part nine)           My immediate fate was as I’d predicted. The merchant, Tazt Shenath, begged my company that short way up the road, to the stronghold of Lord Ei. He had jested about the game, but was in earnest as to games and more, […]

The Watchman: Third German Spy

Posted by ractrose on 21 Apr 2020 in Art, Poems

      The Folly The German Spy          The Watchman   She would, Agnes, the wife, or helpmeet (this was possible) approach the embassy Possible unlikely She would, on an island nation folded, in state laid cerebral along the coast (the brain an aging cheese encroached…by mites…active pissing virtue upon the […]

Cartoon Stories: Encounters

Posted by ractrose on 20 Apr 2020 in Cartoons

Cartoon Stories Encounters       Some two-character vignettes.       Smarter Than Average. Investing the apparent with inscrutability…makes a better story? Inspired by the dumb punditry of our times, where anything not face value is still no deeper than a layer of tanning mousse.       Grapple with It. Humans are basically […]

My Blog Week: April 12 to April 18

Posted by ractrose on 19 Apr 2020 in The Latest

All the Latest from Torsade!                             A Word on the Week   Foolishly Fatalistic         Fatalism is the near enemy of mission. Mission is the reason we live. If we are conscious and autonomous, we can do some good […]

Eight: Purity (poetry series)

Posted by ractrose on 18 Apr 2020 in Art, Poems

      Purity   Can you be more use to the world? Wend into your twilight and return your minerals The tab-man counts the unatoned dollar Spent to see firsthand A grateful Europe wrought upon by science You accept that power seeks its balance That men of vision won all this for you You […]