The Totem-Maker (part seventy-one)

The Totem-Maker (part seventy-one)

Posted by ractrose on 8 Apr 2025 in Fiction, Novels

  The Totem-Maker Chapter Eight Use for Use (part seventy-one)                       But when I came to my door I saw a horse was tethered outside, another of the traders’. My visitor sat on my rug, busy at a practical task…knitting, an art I had never […]

All Bedlam Courses Past (part one hundred ninety-nine)

All Bedlam Courses Past (part one hundred ninety-nine)

Posted by ractrose on 6 Apr 2025 in Fiction, Novels

          All Bedlam Courses Past     Chapter Eight Things Relative   (part one hundred ninety-nine)             ii. Accident on board     Crimes aboard ship might take place outside all jurisdiction, save the captain’s. On the sidewheeler Chief Complanter, the death ruled by a Cook […]

Story: Tourmaline (part six)

Story: Tourmaline (part six)

Posted by ractrose on 4 Apr 2025 in Fiction, Novels

      Tourmaline (part six)     It was at dawn you saw them, moving under cover of the climbing fogs. This morning’s had yet to burn off. But when he’d walked to the shore, then along it, the sun at last scouring in, Anton thought he would carry his coat over his arm. […]

The Totem-Maker (part seventy)

The Totem-Maker (part seventy)

Posted by ractrose on 3 Apr 2025 in Fiction, Novels

  The Totem-Maker Chapter Seven Winter Alone (part seventy)                       I stopped well back on the slope that fell to the precipice, where earth lay under thicker snow. Safe ground. My mind had no other thought, as I trod the dips and rises of the […]

All Bedlam Courses Past (part one hundred ninety-eight)

All Bedlam Courses Past (part one hundred ninety-eight)

Posted by ractrose on 31 Mar 2025 in Fiction, Novels

          All Bedlam Courses Past     Chapter Eight Things Relative   (part one hundred ninety-eight)             “He was married in her parish…in my opinion, because the women in Huy knew him. Under a dispensation, which possibly means he wasn’t a baptized Catholic.” “Ah.” A voice, […]

My Blog Week: November 17 to November 23

My Blog Week: November 17 to November 23

Posted by ractrose on 31 Mar 2025 in The Latest

All the Latest from Torsade!                                   Four episodes of Bedlam, with a visit to the sickbed by Lawrence, and Richard’s bored perusing of temperance magazines. A poem from the “Jumping Off” series.            My Blog […]

All Bedlam Courses Past (part one hundred ninety-seven)

All Bedlam Courses Past (part one hundred ninety-seven)

Posted by ractrose on 29 Mar 2025 in Fiction, Novels

          All Bedlam Courses Past     Chapter Eight Things Relative   (part one hundred ninety-seven)             Owen returned his intelligence. Phelan was in his room, had eaten there, had asked nothing about anything: not the whereabouts of Crownhaven, not the temper of Miss Gremot (“A […]

The Totem-Maker (part sixty-nine)

The Totem-Maker (part sixty-nine)

Posted by ractrose on 27 Mar 2025 in Fiction, Novels

  The Totem-Maker Chapter Seven Winter Alone (part sixty-nine)                       I slept a first night with them in my house…slept to excess, the honey drink to blame. Sorry for my hurting arm, I had swallowed three more draughts. I woke not having dreamed or thought […]

All Bedlam Courses Past (part one hundred ninety-six)

All Bedlam Courses Past (part one hundred ninety-six)

Posted by ractrose on 26 Mar 2025 in Fiction, Novels

          All Bedlam Courses Past     Chapter Eight Things Relative   (part one hundred ninety-six)             Not wanting a cat in the house and not caring for dogs, she had ended up with vermin—as a neighbor had buttonholed Papa over. “Mice, one after another in […]

Story: Tourmaline (part five)

Story: Tourmaline (part five)

Posted by ractrose on 25 Mar 2025 in Fiction, Novels

      Tourmaline (part five)     The Hidtha seemed all to have become militarized and modern. They were seen in green fatigues, black berets, yellow insignia. But Anton had nothing to do in the evenings. He might learn Swisshelm’s code, if remembering any of Swisshelm’s conversation. Or he might find the phrases underlined. […]