The Totem-Maker (part one hundred five)

The Totem-Maker (part one hundred five)

Posted by ractrose on 11 Apr 2026 in Fiction, Novels

  The Totem-Maker Chapter Ten Crafter Becomes Maker (part one hundred five)                       A scene for you, if I conjure well, of a jumble of dwellings, balanced at hazard. Yet brave, in the weavings of cloths used to cover drafts, the glaze of mosaic for […]

The Totem-Maker (part one hundred four)

The Totem-Maker (part one hundred four)

Posted by ractrose on 10 Apr 2026 in Fiction, Novels

  The Totem-Maker Chapter Ten Crafter Becomes Maker (part one hundred four)                       But I spoke to invite. We of the coastal lands were a type, the northerners a different type. The traders, from what I’d seen of them, a third type. Noakale had not […]

Are You Haunted (part thirty-eight)

Are You Haunted (part thirty-eight)

Posted by ractrose on 6 Apr 2026 in Fiction, Novels

        Are You Haunted (part thirty-eight)           To gain time, he risked letting go with a foot, just toeing the bannister below. A trick that as a schoolkid he could have done any day of the week. Spring off, touch down on carpeted steps almost without noise— He […]

The Totem-Maker (part one hundred three)

The Totem-Maker (part one hundred three)

Posted by ractrose on 4 Apr 2026 in Fiction, Novels

  The Totem-Maker Chapter Ten Crafter Becomes Maker (part one hundred three)                       I was little consulted as to the ordering of my own affairs, but proofs of my mission finding itself peopled and supplied appeared daily at the margins of my attention. I lay […]

Are You Haunted (part thirty-seven)

Are You Haunted (part thirty-seven)

Posted by ractrose on 3 Apr 2026 in Fiction, Novels

        Are You Haunted (part thirty-seven)           He had been smoking a cigarette, a few minutes’ freedom before reporting for duty. He took the jeep at a snail’s pace to an intersecting lane where rubble sat rammed aside, crawling back regathering itself, one brick hand ahead of another. […]

The Totem-Maker (part one hundred two)

The Totem-Maker (part one hundred two)

Posted by ractrose on 30 Mar 2026 in Fiction, Novels

  The Totem-Maker Chapter Ten Crafter Becomes Maker (part one hundred two)                       Noakale was by some means inspired to join our conclave; and Lord Ei, watching her down the hill, stopped a swift rise and sat—stone-faced again. I had not seen Noakale with her […]

The Totem-Maker (part one hundred one)

The Totem-Maker (part one hundred one)

Posted by ractrose on 28 Mar 2026 in Fiction, Novels

  The Totem-Maker Chapter Ten Crafter Becomes Maker (part one hundred one)                       His Alëenon speech was of a dialect; at least, his vowels were differently said. “Pravor Tnoch,” Wosogo said, “is captain of the city of Husdor, the only other of this land.” I […]

The Totem-Maker (part one hundred)

The Totem-Maker (part one hundred)

Posted by ractrose on 24 Mar 2026 in Fiction, Novels

  The Totem-Maker Chapter Ten Crafter Becomes Maker (part one hundred)                       “No, Vlan. Will you take the place I held, and let me sit at your feet? That will be more fitting.” I led the way. “I ask to be given a mission. I […]

The Totem-Maker (part ninety-nine)

The Totem-Maker (part ninety-nine)

Posted by ractrose on 22 Mar 2026 in Fiction, Novels

  The Totem-Maker Chapter Ten Crafter Becomes Maker (part ninety-nine)                       “What are we to talk about, Wosogo? I have been totting up my needs, but you arrive too soon. Taken out of order, then… The Prince will vouch for the Emperor’s authority? Has the […]

The Totem-Maker (part ninety-eight)

The Totem-Maker (part ninety-eight)

Posted by ractrose on 18 Mar 2026 in Fiction, Novels

  The Totem-Maker Chapter Ten Crafter Becomes Maker (part ninety-eight)                       I explored the garden’s squares-within-squares, thick-needled shrubs outermost, their branches appealing to the heavens, their hearts chopped. These were Lord Ei’s supply of firewood. Tracing the path to the very wall, I found that […]