Category: Books

Chapter 1

02 October 2155 CE (10 Asvina 2077)
Aretz (Sol III)

The audience sits in respectful silence as the sun sets over the Pacific, outside the Temple theater’s great western window.

Waves of purple bioluminescence—temporary, of course, and carefully managed by the environmental control staff—laps at the base of the window, dappling it with a subtle glow well-matched by the deep violet dusk. The subtle pulsation of light from the screens surrounding the window underscores the rhythm of the risen sea, tonight a steady fifteen seconds, dividing time into sections, guiding breath, for those in the audience practicing … click to continue reading

Chapter 1: The First Star

A long time ago, before there were worlds and your grandparents were not yet born, there lived the Star.

She was beautiful beyond words, because beauty had not even been named except perhaps by the split-second sentient sparkles spilling the soup of primordial ylem in those first days before time had fully taken hold. If any of them had the privilege of seeing her, of falling in love with her new and exquisite light, they have kept that secret ever since and probably will forever.

She coalesced out of whirling dervishes, dancing streamers … click to continue reading

Chapter 1

A long time ago when all the worlds were new and your grandparents were yet young, there was a Salamander. There still is a Salamander, and therein lies a problem, for Salamanders and time don’t quite get along.

The concept of time doesn’t confuse the Salamanders, exactly. Anyone can write on the left side of a stone and say “before”, and on the right side and say “after”, and even they can tell their tales so that they can make sense to us. What truly baffles them is our strange insistence upon time. Wouldn’t … click to continue reading