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Imagine sitting in a "near bucolic" coffee shop alongside the Bronx River, about a quarter mile north of the sewage treatment plant. The woman standing before my table asked me if I won, and I told her my story won first prize for science fiction. "Well, you can take that prize money and buy me for a trip around the world." Her voice was like honey. I put back on my glasses because I am thoroughly nearsighted, and I was taken aback. The voice did not match the face or the figure. Her pimp was standing by the trash can, giving me the evil eye, because there was no way he was making bucks with this unpleasant example of humanity. The cop sitting in his squad car across the street was giving me a look too, probably wondering if he would be writing me another "drunk and disorderly" at 9:00 on a weekday. I managed to rise from my seat without spilling coffee, which had a faint tinge of methane now that I tasted it. With my head held high, I wished everyone a good morning and carried on down the street without stumbling once. Made my day, I tell you, made my day.
Now that the tale as concluded, thank you to all of you who sent messages, found mistakes and took the time to notify me, and of course, your votes. Recording one's imagination in words and plot is a chancy process. When trying to edit and review 98,000 words, mistakes like homonyms slide past my eyeballs as if they don't exist. CaptainPig did a grand job catching most of the mistakes and dealing with my insistence on expanded vocabulary and attempts at fresh turns of a phrase. "What are you trying to say?" was an oft repeated question.
Thank you to the fellow who laid out the titles of the sequels: Cheeky, but clever. I am leery of sequels because most of my attempts are poorer compositions than the original. Having examined some of the examples on SOL, the ones that succeed appear to be continuing compositions where the end of the saga was already mapped out when the original story was in process. If only...
My next tale is deep in the editorial process. You can expect its posting a some point in the first quarter of the year. Again, the story is a completely different subject than anything I've posted before on SOL.
For those of you who have supported my writing on Bookapy, thank you, thank you! I was able to purchase a new pc, a second monitor, and snag a ergonomic keyboard that supports my wrists. Now, if only my real world patrons, er, employers were as generous and gracious.
There is a unofficial sub-genre of fiction that centers on the library. Lev Grossman has a mysterious library in his trilogy "The Magicians." In this case, the kernel that became The Library of Ibados is Jorge Luis Borges' short story "The Library" found in his collection Labyrinths. He was a man of great imagination and a bleak outlook of life in Argentina. So, if you like libraries like Stephen King loves libraries, you may want to explore this kinda-sorta genre.
My newest tale, The Library of Ibados, has been launched on Bookapy. The tale is 96,400 words and 39 chapters. The text was edited by CaptainPig. Chapters should begin posting on SOL on Tuesday if the world does not intervene.
The last chapter of "A Fundamental Betrayal" will post on Friday. Thank you to all of you who have come along for the ride, posted to me publicly and privately, and of course, graciously purchased my tale on Bookapy.
A plug: SOL has evolved over the decades and become even more robust. The world is always in need of more good stories, and this year, ever more so. For those who have toyed with the idea of trying to write, post. We need you.
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