Excerpts From Nonexistent Books

Words only
The tumble freely, fingertips alight
But words only
I want to do more
But words only
I press that button, over and over
But words only
Adding my own, strident, displeasure
But words only
I see fire in the darkness
But words only

• Like what you see? Purchase a print or ebook version!

The short sharp snap
Where the bone, bright, is exposed
It has always been there
No matter what we were told
And the only way it can heal
Is for everyone to see it
Broken, jagged, pained
Splinted and sutured
To mend itself slowly

• Like what you see? Purchase a print or ebook version!

“I don’t think we’re the first ones in here,” Bogan said at length.

Neilos looked up from Dragovic, who had once again slipped into unconsciousness. “What?”

“It was too easy to get that door open, and it was the closest to the shelter. It should have taken a plasma cutter, not just brute force. And this interior, in here. It’s too clean.”

Thoughts whirred behind Neilos’s furrowed brow. “You hadn’t heard of this expedition, even though you’re a wonk about this stuff,” he said. “They weren’t authorized. Grave robbers.”

“Yeah,” Bogan said. “They opened this tomb, but not much more. Then they shut it again.”

“Left?” Neilos whispered. “Took the loot and ran?”

Shaking her head, Bogan pointed to the open almond case, its contents still scattered on the floor. “They would have taken that. If we can open it, so can they.”

“Then what…?” Neilos started to say. Then, as the wheels kept turning, his eyes widened.

“Those tombs, they’re just too big for what’s inside them, aren’t they?” Bogan said, smiling ruefully. “And those things in there, what are the chances they’d look so much like humans?”

• Like what you see? Purchase a print or ebook version!

Bogan slammed the button on the emergency atmosphere generator. The thin membrane inflated, pressing against the ten-foot-tall tomb entrance on one side and a still-sealed door to the rear. The emergency airlock unfurled more or less in the open doorway with a wet pop, and after a moment more the pressure was safe enough to take off the suits. Bogan and Neilos both threw theirs aside without a second thought, laying Dragovic out on the floor.

“Emergency kit! Emergency kit!” Bogan cried, thrusting her hand out. Neilos handed it over, and Bogan began running through the diagnostic steps on the emergency card, starting by shining a light into both of Dragovic’s eyes. They were red, hemorrhaged, and it was unlikely he could see a thing even if conscious.

The decompression and low pressure had hit him hard.

After giving him a dose of sedative from the emergency kit, and watching his breathing grow steady and deep, Bogan rocked back on her heels. “Whew,” she breathed. “That was a near thing. When we catch our breath, when it’s calmed down out there, we’ll go back and get what we can, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Neilos said. He looked about uneasily in the glow of the emergency battery lights. “So what do you make of all this?” he added. “We’re the first people to ever see the inside of one of these things, and we’ve been too busy surviving to even have a look.”

Bogan cast about the room. It was taller inside than the door, perhaps twenty feet to the ceiling, and made of the same green-speckled black stone. Even inside, where there had been no weathering, there were still deep sandstone-like striations. But, most strikingly, there were fourteen sconces set about the two long walls of the room, seven on each side. A clear material that looked almost like quartz sealed each one off, and resting in five of the sconces, seemingly at random, were upright forms. They looked almost like Egyptian mummies, bound in wrappings, but the color of each was jet black with a chromatic sheen. A beetle carapace came to mind, but Bogan had never seen cloth with that texture before.

Stacked about the room, seemingly at random, were containers made of the same stone. They were almond-shaped and about six feet wide, with a clear seam between the two halves. The rear door was like the front one, unadorned, with no writing or symbols visible anywhere.

“I’m almost disappointed,” Bogan said, with an uneasy laugh. “Those mummies are, what, six feet tall? They don’t even fill the cubbies.”

She’d meant it to sound light, but the words landed with a dull thud. The silence of the room was penetrating, stultifying; worse than a soundproof broadcast room. Every breath, every movement, seemed stale and unpleasantly weighty.

• Like what you see? Purchase a print or ebook version!

The last wireless message Jenkins had sent was on top of the pile, held down by one of the rocks the Eastern Party had collected from beyond the glacier. McNair picked it up, wincing at the Antarctic chill that still permeated the rock. Jenkins was still in the latrine, audibly groaning, so there was a moment’s opportunity.

Unfolding the note, McNair read it: TO WIRELESS HILL MACQUERIE ISLAND STOP EXPEDITION IN JEOPARDY STOP MCNAIR AND OTHERS UNHINGED MAYBE MAD STOP HAVE ALREADY ATTEMPTED POISON STOP DO NOT REPEAT DO NOT ATTEMPT RESCUE OR RESUPPLY UNTIL FURTHER WORD STOP

“Poison…?” McNair muttered. “We’ve not poisoned anybody.”

He pulled the next telegram out from from under the stone: TO WIRELESS HILL MACQUERIE ISLAND STOP SITUATION DETERIORATING STOP WIRELESS MAST FAILING STOP SUSPECT SABOTAGE BY MCNAIR AND OTHERS STOP

“Sabotage!” McNair whispered sharply. He looked at the small oil-smudged window in the hut wall, through which he could see the wireless mast, very much intact and swaying gently in the polar wind.

Jenkins was stirring in the loo; McNair heard the sound of a belt being buckled. There was time to read one more, perhaps, before shoving them back.

TO WIRELESS HILL MACQUERIE ISLAND STOP SUPPLIES AND RETRIEVAL NOT NEEDED AT THIS TIME PER MACNAIR STOP SEND SY ATHENA ON TO SYDNEY FOR WINTER STOP

McNair’s hands were shaking badly as he replaced the telegrams. Return the Athena to Sydney? Even if the ship couldn’t land it might be able to drop off supplies or embark the men.

There was something very wrong with Jenkins, and he was the only one who knew how to operate the wireless for 2,000 miles in every direction.

• Like what you see? Purchase a print or ebook version!

Lot #983b: Untitled Portrait of a Young Person

One of several finished by unsold portraits found in his Rue d’Richat studio after he died, Étoiles presumably painted this piece in September or late August, approximately one month before his body was found. The frame is one of several he purchased in June, along with a canvas that he bought in July–approximately 30cmx30cm.

The subject, though, is the cause of much speculation. High-browed, dark-haired, with a sharp chin and an arch expression, the subject is strangely androgynous, with their ultimate identity being used as evidence for many theories about Étoiles’ sexuality. Either way, the subject is surely young, in their early twenties at the latest, and has strikingly green eyes.

No one matching that description was found when the police were searching for leads in Étoiles’ death before it was declared accidental, but Green-Eyes figures prominently in several theories regarding the artist’s death, playing the role of everything from femme fatale (or homme fatale) to hapless victim.

Either way, the painting was found in the frame backwards, with Untitled Still Life of a Bloodied Dagger (Lot #983a) in the forward-facing position. Much has been made of this by scholars, though Étoiles commonly doubled up his paintings in this way for reasons that remain unclear, and none of the other doubled paintings found in his studio (#982a & #982b, Untitled Still Life of Sausage on a Cutting Board and Untitled Portrait of a Street Dog) or in his sister Margot’s apartment (#981a & #981b, Untitled Still Life of Full Moon Over the Seine and Untitled Scene in a Parisian Clothing Shop) have excited any such speculation.

Nevertheless, the identity of the subject, and the meaning of the expression on their face, has long been seen as the key to understanding who or what ripped the artist’s throat out while he lay in bed after a night of heavy drinking.

• Like what you see? Purchase a print or ebook version!

The Green Emperor laid down the fundamental rules of succession near the end of his rule in an attempt to prevent civil war, stating that the reigning emperor must name a successor and that the successor must be confirmed by the ruling House of Gulls. That system, in theory, guaranteed that there would never be a power vacuum and that the emperor and the Gulls needed to be in accord about the choice of successor.

As long as there was a strong dynasty on the throne, with many possible heirs to choose from, the system worked well enough. One of the reigning emperor’s sons or daughters would prove themselves able, be recommended as successor, and confirmed by the House of Gulls. There might be some brief posturing or a short, sharp conflict, but everyone involved realized that it was in their best interest to conclude things quickly.

However, when the Seventh Dynasty died out, the Verdant Empire was left in a quandary. The emperor had been the last legitimate male of his house, and the various cadet branches had been decimated by the purges instituted by his insane grandfather, the previous emperor. The Eighth Dynasty would have to come from a very distant relative indeed, especially since the squabbling between the emperor and the Gulls prevented him from agreeing on a successor. When he died, the Gulls nominated one of their own, a man distantly related to the imperial house through marriage.

The Grassblades disagreed, and forwarded a candidate of their own: a man with an even more distant link to the imperial house but one who was an accomplished general and could command loyal troops. Two emperors feuded over the Verdant Empire for nearly two years until the Grassblades put their man on the throne at last, only to see him assassinated after six months in favor of a candidate supported by the Sickles.

There have now been twenty-five emperors in fifty years, reigning a little over two years apiece. The most august of them clung to power for five years, while three have lasted under a month.

• Like what you see? Purchase a print or ebook version!

Long before the Verdant Empire attained its current extent, the heartland was ruled by a body known as the House of Gulls–reportedly because they never stopped squawking, though one frustrated member was also heard to complain that they “shit on everything.”

The Gulls were originally the petty kings and nobility of the patchwork of kingdoms and principalities that made up the heartland, but over time there were a variety of methods used to pick them including appointment, election, and the purchase of seats by the wealthy. Whatever the case, they nearly always represented the political and economic elites of their areas, and any law that was passed required their approval.

In public, the Verdant Emperor always deferred to the House of Gulls, but in practice they were often little more than a rubber-stamp debating society under strong emperors. Weak emperors tended to result in true power resting with the Gulls, though they were rarely able to form a coherent government on their own. During the Imperial Crisis, many of the most powerful Gulls rose to become emperors, almost always feuding with military-backed candidates.

• Like what you see? Purchase a print or ebook version!

Outside of the large port cities of the Inland Sea where the Grassblades remain, the countryside has largely fallen into anarchy. Roving bands of marauders and brigands fight for control of roads on which they act as highwaymen, making shakedowns and bribes necessary for travel of any distance. This situation has made inns like the Squiggly Lamb essential, as they represent safe harbors between long stretches of dangerous roads.

It has also made them targets of those selfsame bandits, who will often extort protection money from the inns and waystations themselves. Larger inns keep their own guards, especially those near small towns, but smaller ones are generally at the mercy of outside forces.

• Like what you see? Purchase a print or ebook version!

Top-heavy. Unseaworthy. Floating hovels. Wooden barns on the water.

All of these–and more–have been applied to the ferries that stagger their way through the Inland Sea’s shallows and estuaries. Many are decades old, most are barely afloat, and nearly all are pushed to their limits with each trip to try and squeeze as much coin as possible into the hands of their owners.

And they are a vital lifeline between the remaining cities strongly in Imperial hands like Iskandria and the heartland.

Once upon a time, merchant navy vessels were escorted by warships and built in the shipyards of the heartland, as they were regarded as a vital interest of the Verdant Empire. Now, those same ships are still in service, unescorted, and with the detritus of decades of unauthorized modifications festooning them. Wrecks are common, and piracy even more so.

• Like what you see? Purchase a print or ebook version!