Marjorie Bowen: The Sword Decides! (part twenty-six)

Posted by ractrose on 29 Jun 2021 in Fiction, Novels

Marjorie Bowen The Sword Decides! (part twenty-six)                           Chapter IX The Convent Of Santo Pietro A Maiella     Upon his two advisors Andreas continued to rely. He was the city’s sanctioned ruler, but no less ill-at-ease commanding his court’s Italians. Thus Carlo […]

Yoharie: Inside (part one)

Yoharie: Inside (part one)

Posted by ractrose on 28 Jun 2021 in Fiction, Novels

Yoharie Inside (part one             Back when he had done the stuff, Yoharie had suffered a little (keeping it to himself), from an attitude problem. As to suffering, the physical therapy was pretty harsh. But they said if he didn’t stick with doctor’s orders…the insurance people said…they couldn’t just pay […]

Hammersmith: Autocratic Mysteries (chapter nineteen)

Posted by ractrose on 26 Jun 2021 in Fiction

Hammersmith Chapter Nineteen Autocratic Mysteries               A torch flared. That one might, in an upstairs reception room, in a city hotel, tended to beggar belief, and Aimee at first started, thinking something had gone wrong with the gas. But a second torch, and then a third, made the room […]

Bad Counsel (part five)

Short Stories Bad Counsel (part five)                   She took a seat on a wobbly chrome-legged chair, at a classroom table. Two girls, already friends, sat talking for forty minutes about a cable show. The teacher talked for his pay, deaf to them. In the whole class there […]

Eight: final resolution (poem)

Posted by ractrose on 24 Jun 2021 in Art, Poems

      final resolution   what is the divine to lift you above the shits of the world   Who sits aloft, alone what is It to love with evenhandedness and no one, no one released from that embrace no matter what they’ve done   then, what is the divine so large a thing […]

Marjorie Bowen: The Sword Decides! (part twenty-five)

Posted by ractrose on 23 Jun 2021 in Fiction, Novels

Marjorie Bowen The Sword Decides! (part twenty-five)                   I will have a warrant drawn for that man’s arrest, Andreas thought. His stare followed all the bright train to the illusion of their vanishing, from the glaring light of day, into the dark of the colonnade opposite. He […]

The Totem-Maker: The Citadel (part three)

Posted by ractrose on 22 Jun 2021 in Fiction, Novels

The Totem-Maker Chapter Ten The Citadel (part three)           A person in livery came walking, two child servants beating his path with fans woven of feathers, and blowing warnings through reed whistles. Their labor fluttered garment hems, head-coverings; they struck gently and blew piercing notes at those who shifted feet, stirring […]

My Blog Week: June 13 to June 19

Posted by ractrose on 20 Jun 2021 in The Latest

All the Latest from Torsade!                             A Word on the Week   Restrain Yourself             I’ll begin, moving forward with the War on Self-Control, by sharing a couple of nineteenth century jokes, that I found repeated in […]

Caught Alone (poem)

Posted by ractrose on 19 Jun 2021 in Art, Poems

      Caught Alone   Loved one, they gather on the stairs The passageway is closed The door will jar against a darting shape Unnoticed, their kind, snuffed in the daily cataclysm One will tear the fabric Go   She is standing in the kitchen of her mother’s house Caught alone Under the pop-eyed […]

Mathilde Alanic: Shine! (part forty-six)

Mathilde Alanic Shine! (part forty-six)                               Fourth Part Shine!     “Rest?” Annie, rebellious, sat upright on the chaise-longue. “But the war is over! The poilus, do they rest?” “They no longer feel their fatigue. They are marching to victory. But […]