Books! Names of your books and descriptions.

Hello there delicious friends. For those in the Persuasive areas you’ve probably written a book. Here we’ll discuss the books we have written by naming them and giving a bit about them. Heck if you want to add a few more books then the court ones go ahead, I’ll of course go first.

&quotDreams of Darkness&quot

A Gothic romance that involves the existence of a new type of honey. In light of a recent discovery in the Elder Continent by two ruined noble families, the Lights and the Darks, a new type of honey was revealed. This honey was called black or dark honey. It in contrast to the normal yellow honey and mysterious red honey, black honey brings things from the world of dreams to this world.

&quotLondon Will Take The Elevator Up&quot

A thrilling tale of technology taking London back up to the surface. New types of science and technology are invented in the university by studying the various exports of hell more closely. It turns out nevercold brass once exposed to a certain chemical can heat up enough to cause steam power for years without burning up. This causes a horde of new scientists to make steam-powered machines to take London off the ground and shield London from the Neath’s roof while rocketing it up to the surface.

&quot Northern Steel is Sharp&quot

A romantic tragedy involving the end of two lovers due to a mistake. When two individuals fall in love and while both of them are seeking the name they decide to go North together. They visit various islands on their way influencing them to find the name until they come upon a well. When they find the well at first it seems to be fine. However in their dreams Mr. Eaten tells both of them to kill the other. The next day they both emerge from the cabins with a knife. After a long duel they both find themselves down and dying as they realize their mistake and both commit suicide in each other’s arms.

Although my works are very small, and maybe not as well received as I’d hoped, I still treasure both of them dearly. Of course writing isn’t my major occupation, so these were really more of a hobby than a way to earn my crust.

&quotBlind Horizon&quot

Is a zee-comedy/thriller I wrote some time back about a small crew of Zailors and their adventures at Zee. A few of the characters include a honey crazed ex-poet who came to become the captain, his some what more sensible first mate, a saxophone player from the surface and a spy from the great game hiding out on board the ship. The crew visit some of the more exotic places of the that I’ve heard about from a zee captain friend of mine. Vanderbright, Wither, and Gaidendiers Mourn, are a few of those places.

&quotRose Thorns&quot
A dark-comedy about an aspiring Serial Killer who is trying to gain access to a secret society of London murderers. You see they’ve all gone a bit of their rocker and decided to turn serial killing into a bit of a performance art, and so the amateur killer has to prove himself to the society with creativity, execution and the ability to not get caught by those pesky constables. It’s very louche and mocks the constablry a fair deal, which is why it was not very well received by publishers, but it is one of my favorite creations&quot

I have mentioned this recently, but I will bring it up again because it never hurts to promote one’s work.

The Phantom of Sin

A Gothic Romance featuring an orphaned heroine, a large inheritance, a scheming uncle, a brave and pretty friend, a haunted(?) mansion, secret passages, and a great many flimsy nightgowns. Banned in fine bookstores all over London.

[note: I got the title from here: http://www.ugoi.net/nonsense/gothic.html ][li]
edited by Lady Sapho Byron on 9/22/2015

“One Minute Please!” // see One Minute Please by Robert Benchley

A… strictly fictional… novel which follows the dangerously sarcastic adventures of Professor Luther, a dishevelled chemist trying to make it into the Empress’ Court. Needless to say, he doesn’t have charm or good looks, but the one thing he does have is a sense of humor. Thankfully, the Empress found it funny, but only because it ended with Luther’s execution.

Åsmund is now working on another novel, one that could only be surpassed by Shakespeare rising from the grave to rip the spires of the Bazaar.

“Boxful of Secrets”

A heavily fictionalized rendition of an event which is definitely not the affair of the box. Featuring the intrigues and struggles between a sagacious detective who intercepts the infamous box, a shadowy individual who wishes to have its contents while never revealing his face, and an invisible eminence who secretly controls the war between them.

Some masters have ordered the book to be burned, however, Mr. Pages seems fond of it. It’s status in front of the Ministry of Public Decency is thus uncertain, despite Mr. Iron’s angrily-written protestations.

I’m undecided about whether or not any of these are published in my character’s canon, but…

Fairy Lights


A young woman is given to strange flights of fancy, and nothing seems to help. Under the physician’s orders, her parents give her laudanum, which renders her quiet, if not lucid. Her health starts to decline alarmingly, and then, miraculously, she improves. When she stops talking about ‘the fairies in the mirror,’ she is weaned off the laudanum… only to disappear days later. After months of fruitless searching, her mother is next to disappear. Charles, the girl’s father, is an ex-detective with an absinthe habit. Having destroyed his career and squandered his savings, losing his family threatens to be the final, fatal blow to his crumbling life. The constables and his former colleagues alike refuse to help him, believing that his drinking drove his wife away. Charles is forced to search for his missing family on his own, following a trail that leads him deep into darkness.

A short horror story, written by Lamea when she was new to Fallen London, and ignorant about the ‘lights in the mirrors’ she sometimes heard people talk about.

What Was Lost


A tale of grief and loss. Sometimes, all we have left is our memories. A strange, conflicting narrative based on an individual’s endless, recursive attempts to reconstruct a treasured memory.

The Lights Are Going Out

A woman is compelled by some unseen terror to take refuge in her house, unable to leave. One by one, all of her candles are used up.

Something Beautiful

A man with a restless soul is driven to ever greater acts of destruction, laying waste to his own life and the lives of everyone close to him, all in the pursuit of true Beauty. He succeeds beyond his wildest dreams… and his worst nightmares.

The Were-Womb


A deeply sarcastic allegorical criticism of contemporary medicine pertaining to women’s health. Never to be published, alas.

Baby Goodcat and the Missing Jewels


Baby Goodcat is a gumshoe who finds himself chronically unemployed. Humans never seem to learn to appreciate his unique feline senses, no matter how many cases he’s solved. That’s when he’s approached by one of the Duchess’s cats. Tracking down a jewel thief seems like a simple job, but the closer he gets, the more convoluted the case becomes, until he’s forced to seek help from his natural-born enemies, ravens and rats alike. At least they’re not dogs.

*Note: Lady Sappho Byron liked this character so much she decided to turn him into a roleplay character, with my blessings.

Baby Goodcat and the Haunted House


Baby Goodcat: Keen-eyed gumshoe. Brilliant mind. Ginger tabby.

After blowing the Duchess’s reward on mackerel, Baby Goodcat needs to take whatever work he can get. But he didn’t count on having to deal with the supernatural. His only hope of solving the case is teaming up with a scruffy mutt who lives in a bush in the Tyrant’s Gardens. Baby Goodcat comes face to face with lifelong prejudices, and glimpses hints of a world beyond the mundane.

Baby Goodcat is an incongruously innocent mystery series that Lamea seems to be writing for kittens.

What I Know of Love is Blood and Mother’s Milk


A collection of poems Lamea wrote for her tiger. An unexpected blend of tenderness and savagery, it speaks of love as a tiger might experience it: The comfort of one’s litter mates huddling close for warmth during the coldest parts of monsoon season. The taste of mother’s milk, and the taste of blood provided by one’s mother. The feel of warm sunshine on one’s stripes, and the sweet, beery smell of grass crushed underfoot. And, finally, poems of what love might look like for a tiger of London, so far from the jungles of Bengal.
edited by Lamea Lawless on 9/30/2015 for nitpicky reasons
edited by Lamea Lawless on 9/30/2015
edited by Lamia Lawless on 9/12/2017

That Baby Goodcat sounds like a bestseller for urchins and children. When will the books be available for sale?

A best-selling romance with an educational streak, this book aims to educate young couples of all kinds on life planning, family communications, and cross-species bedroom affairs through the experience of several couples of different races and related individuals.

Endorsements from the community:
&quotNo, we don’t have a relationship with our ‘nephew’.&quot - Jasper, esteemed employee of the Masters
&quotI LOVE MY LIZARDS AND WEASELS VERY MUCH&quot - Lyme, acclaimed Clay Man author
&quotMarvellous! Perhaps I will put this book to good use in Polythreme.&quot - The Manager of Royal Bethlehem

edited by Estelle Knoht on 9/30/2015

Ho! I would have read each and every book here on this post. Looks great.
And that cover really cracked me up Estelle, very good job.

The books written by Sir Gonen, The Ashen Anesthesiologist are:

The Ascended City

Dwellers of London find out they can travel to another place, first by mistake - then by intention. Upon dying people stop having visions of a boat on a river but appear in another city. Another London! The natives, they call this place Ascended Metropolis, The Upper City, Soaring London. On the verge of this London there is nothing but azure and cyan, though no sun is visible it is always daylight in the Upper City. Tall bright figures walk the streets beside the ascended londoners, their white wings folded. Glass and gemstones golems are selling merchandise on the street, an ascended londoner stops to give prayer to the health of the Patriot Empress [any mention of the Patriot Empress was cut off before publishing, of course, to not offend certain readers who might see the reflection]. The Benevolent Twelve who govern de facto in the name of the great Planetaria which sits in the middle of the city.
A heaven! Soon thereafter there is a rush and londoners from the 'Neath commit massive suicides to visit this nirvana. One could walk for several streets in the London of downstairs and see only corpses. work has grind to a halt, social parties were only about when is the next collective suicide and at who’s.
When the tale progresses, the heroes of the story (there are several points of view) starts to understand that there is more, much more, under the surface that is Ascended London and that the natives of the Upper City themselves are trying to escape to the other London.

Pen & Paper
An allegorical satire which depicts the political game and the bureaucracy as a Knife and Candle tournament.

Silent Jill
This one you definitely won’t find on the approved list. A satire.
What would happen if one day the empress becomes Jack? Nobody can possibly show objection as the wild empress rushes through the court with a cutlery and a plate of macaroons. Two servants - Kuiberra and Vaiselberg - are there to avert this scandal and bring peace and quiet back to the court.
edited by Gonen on 9/30/2015

&quotLondon, Awaken!&quot
A long, sprawling poetic epic, centered on a heroic, Christ-figure named Father Hiriam, detailing his descent into Fallen London to preach to those here, involving many meetings with famous London denizens such as Orthos, the Cheery Man and many others. After 33 months of preaching, he is driven through the Forgotten Quarter and hanged from a bough. He then rises from the Slow Boat to the surface and promises to return with an army of Angels to liberate London from its state. Maligned among Bohemian types for being obvious, it is however very popular with church types, for obvious reasons.
&quotThe Lost Company&quot
A roaring, patriotic tale of a fictitious company of Neathy Riflemen who, during a routine training march, accidentally become lost deep in hell’s territory. After a long and harrowing march, costing many lives, during which the company and it’s heroic Captain Fuller destroys dozens of cannibalistic cults, executes criminals and spirifiers, makes its way back to London and, in a shocking display at the end of a triumphal march, declare a revolution to purge London of Hell’s influence. The book ends with a large printed card, asking the reader &quotShall YOU stand beside the Captain? The NLLNP needs YOU!&quot. Heavy handed but popular among veterans and dockworker types.
&quotThe Red and the Blue&quot,
An early, somewhat sentimental work from the Radical’s poorer days in Veilgarden, before his current wealthy state, involving a tragic romance between an anarchist woman and a Constable. The play concludes with the Constable being forced to shoot his beloved in order to save the life of a Member of Parliament. Said to be based on the true life story of Police Constable James McDonagh, an acquaintance of the Radical in his first months of life in Fallen London who used his handsome looks to infiltrate an anarchist cell. Read secretly by both Anarchists and Constables, loathed openly by both.
&quotMr Bombs&quot.
A satire in which the anarchists manage to depose one of the masters and replace him with Mister Bombs, the owner and proprietor of a chain of bomb making factories, who is in fact six or seven anarchists standing on each other’s shoulders and bundled into a tall cloak. Very popular with the unrulier type of school boy.
edited by The Black-Shirted Radical on 9/30/2015

As soon as Lamea figures out a way to make the books accessible to kittens. She was thinking of making it out of cardboard, something that won’t tear as easily when gripped by claws, but it also needs to be small enough for cats to carry. By the way, ‘Terra Cotta Erotica’ is killing me. I love that title. <3

Here I’ll add one.

&quotThe Various Uses of Prisoner’s Honey.&quot

The book that got him his appreciation society and some fame among the Bohemians and Society. A book describing the title of course. From common party consumption to adding it to different dishes as to get someone out for a bit to perhaps investigate their house or steal from it, to dumping it onto rivals or driving people mad with perhaps an overdose of it. The uses seem to number in the thousands. Very popular among most crowds from the dredges of people using it for less then legal means, to the high and mighty in society backstabbing each other with it, the simple party-goers looking for something fun, to people who use it to do spycraft, to those even using it on blades. No one knows how it got published though.

[quote=The Black-Shirted Radical]&quotLondon, Awaken!&quot
A long, sprawling poetic epic, centered on a heroic, Christ-figure named Father Hiriam, detailing his descent into Fallen London to preach to those here, involving many meetings with famous London denizens such as Orthos, the Cheery Man and many others. After 33 months of preaching, he is driven through the Forgotten Quarter and hanged from a bough. He then rises from the Slow Boat to the surface and promises to return with an army of Angels to liberate London from its state. Maligned among Bohemian types for being obvious, it is however very popular with church types, for obvious reasons.
&quotThe Lost Company&quot
A roaring, patriotic tale of a fictitious company of Neathy Riflemen who, during a routine training march, accidentally become lost deep in hell’s territory. After a long and harrowing march, costing many lives, during which the company and it’s heroic Captain Fuller destroys dozens of cannibalistic cults, executes criminals and spirifiers, makes its way back to London and, in a shocking display at the end of a triumphal march, declare a revolution to purge London of Hell’s influence. The book ends with a large printed card, asking the reader &quotShall YOU stand beside the Captain? The NLLNP needs YOU!&quot. Heavy handed but popular among veterans and dockworker types.
[/quote]

I would read both of those.

I keep infinite books

&quotJohn Keats’s Pony&quot
Scandalous, surrealist, post-Romantic satirical limerick cycle about the pony of John Keats, who journeys across the continents to discover a cure for his master’s consumption. His misadventures include a passionate night spent rolling amongst the steppes with Kublai Khan’s noble stallion, a trip back in time followed by a scandalous liaison with a handsome Grecian mare, as well as the pony’s own ill-fated attempts at writing Romantic poetry. Evidently, there are various indelicate moments scattered throughout the poem, which have been excised from the Official Copy that is recommended (or rather, grudgingly tolerated) by the Ministry of Public Decency. The pony eventually finds his way to the Khanate deep underground, where his own likeness becomes immortalised within Khanate architecture after he assassinates a war-horse who was posing for an architect. The pony dies a happy death after many salaciously fleshy years of being ‘put to work’ by an unscrupulous breeder of Khanate warhorses. Keats also perishes at the end, but not before a vivid scene involving William Wordsworth, an immaculate Grecian urn and a purple vial of consumptive blood mixed with laudanum and wine. Banned in several Surface cities as well as the Khanate, but a favourite among young, liberal-minded (very liberal-minded) ladies and young, lonely (very, very lonely) gentlemen in London. Several eminent and debatably eminent literary scholars have interpreted the work as evincing a post-Romantic anxiety about the irresolvable tensions between Keats’s and Wordsworth’s Romantic poetics, but the author has dismissed this as giving the work too much credit, claiming that she &quotwrote this to pass the time while [her] foot was stuck at the bottom of an empty cask of Prisoner’s honey, my dear.&quot Ms Valdis is far more sympathetic to critics who dismiss the work as doggerel garbage, adding, &quotMy lovely publisher and I deliberately sourced for paper and inks that would burn well and safely, in case the dissatisfied, erudite reader wishes to dispose of their copy in a most practical and convenient manner.&quot

&quotCosmic Iron-y&quot
Bittersweet, tragicomic ballad about the developing romance between a pillar and a lady’s iron crinoline, taking place upon the shores of Polythreme. A matronly London lady with an outmoded, puritanical taste in fashion finds herself stranded in a remote corner of Polythreme, where she suffers a heart attack upon observing two dining chairs locked in carnal embrace. The ailing lady perishes at the base of a marble pillar, and over the years, her accoutrements and body decay, leaving her crinoline behind. The pillar and the crinoline, now fast friends, spend several more years ruminating about the nature of existence and the frailty of life, regardless of whether life should take the form of flesh, metal or stone. A brooding romance blossoms between them, and they decide to consummate their love by leaping off of a cliff in a final assertion of their agency against sublime forces larger than themselves. Unfortunately, both of them realise that they cannot move, precisely because of the details surrounding their creation. With the passage of time, the crinoline gradually rusts into noisy, barely-sentient little brown fragments, as the pillar watches her beloved’s decay painfully and helplessly. A lady-artist from the Chelonate eventually stumbles upon the secluded spot many years later. Sympathetic, the lady-artist tells the pillar that inanimate objects are fortunate, in that so-called ‘garbage’ is always only a step away from being monumentalised as Art by the hand of the creative Bricoleur, just as the Chelonate is built of a massive turtle shell. Death, then, is really a necessary precondition for new life. Perhaps, then, there is hope for humankind too, who know not what awaits them beyond the limits of their mortality; perhaps there is some greater purpose that awaits in the Unknown. Hearing this, the pillar finally comes to terms with the frailty of mortal existence, and humbly requests that the lady transform the crinoline’s remnants into a sculpture, hoping that her lover will find a new lease of life across the Zee in the Chelonate. Hefting the whining pieces of the crinoline aboard her ship, the lady-artist eventually ends up dying at Zee due to an unfortunate storm. The rusted remnants of the crinoline sink into the depths forever, while the pillar continues standing in Polythreme, completely ignorant of the tragedy and singing a new ballad of hope, rebirth and joy…

The Collected Poems of Ms S.V.
A recently-compiled anthology of several shorter, hand-picked surrealist poems, including a sonnet about a Rubbery Man’s infatuation with a punch bowl, an eccentric free verse piece about a rostygold bracelet that gains supernatural powers after being dipped in wine and honey, and epic verse on the dramatic lives of twenty generations of rabbits embroiled in a series of familial scandals, executions, assassinations and incidents of hot-blooded, lagomorphic love. Several people have been poisoned and/or exiled from London due to incidents directly or indirectly related to the publication of this work, and several upstanding men and women have been seen running naked, honey-mazed and red as a beet across the streets of Veilgarden while clutching this volume to their chests. The author vehemently denies that such displays of immodesty constitute a cheap act encouraged to set tongues wagging about the work, although she concedes that &quotthey may be read as such.&quot The upcoming second edition will feature-- among various other new additions-- several blank verse pieces written exclusively in what seems to be the Rubbery Men’s language, parodying puritanical reviewers’ comments on the first edition’s poetry.

&quotO, Help me, for my Petticoat is a Hot-Blooded Young Anarchist!&quot: A Lady’s Travel Guide to Polythreme
Have you been plagued by inappropriately solicitous corsets that tie themselves just a little bit too tightly? Are your shoes deliberately tripping you so that they may have time to exchange honeyed words with the pebbles on the ground? Is your inkwell threatening to spill its contents upon your expensive winter coat, unless you adopt its cumbersome suggestions for your latest Polythremic travelogue? The author humbly presents Pragmatic and Practical solutions for the young London lady (or Rubbery Man/devil/deviless/gentleman/person of indistinct gender of particularly ‘discerning’ tastes) visiting the wondrous Edenic paradise of Polythreme. (Bring many sets of steadfast and honest locks and chains, and a patient, amicable set of earplugs, all of whom will assent to being used for several days at a time.) This book-- part travelogue, part romance and part sensitively-penned lady’s companion-- has been co-written by the respectable M. Cholmondeley, the author’s young writing quill who was plucked from the rear of a pheasant from Newcastle. The author has claimed that the text has been &quotrigorously modelled after Events Testified as Having Been True, to an Extent!&quot A disclaimer attached to the final pages-- signed by the Respectable Messrs. Baseborn and Fowlingpiece-- states that the author and publisher are not to be held legally responsible if the volume itself ends up hindering, pestering or attempting to asphyxiate the reader in their sleep, should the reader happen to bring a copy to Polythreme.

Burnished Violant against the Waves
Part cryptozoological treatise and part fiction, this shorter prose piece documents the life and habits of a particular species of glim-based insect endemic to a particular region in the Unterzee, first drawn to the author’s attention by the intrepid explorer, Mr. Andrew Astherson. The epilogue features an ottava rima piece praising the beauty and gentle nature of these creatures. The book encourages Zailors to contemplate issues of conservation and natural philosophy. It also advocates a form of responsible and sustainable hunting and harvesting of Zee resources, ensuring the stability of population levels of Zee-creatures for the Benefit of Future Generations. Many note that the author has been vague as to the exact location of these creatures, as well as several other specific details about their migration and locomotive habits, for example. Some say this is a clever feint to mislead would-be hunters. Others claim that they have Irrefutable Evidence which suggests that she has made the entire affair up, and that the work is a sloppy piece of make-believe by a delusional writer of cheap Fancy, who is in possession of as much scientific skill as the average sorrow spider. Ms Valdis has chosen not to respond to either of these claims, arguing that part of the pleasure derived from this volume stems from the fact that &quotthe reader may do with this book as they will; may read it as either fact or fiction… or both.&quot
edited by Sestina Valdis on 10/3/2015
edited by Sestina Valdis on 10/4/2015

[color=#c2c2c2]&quotOn Masks&quot[/color]
[color=#c2c2c2]A young constable is placed on the case of a string of murders of a certain woman who has been seen around the docks telling stories about masks. Following a fairly convoluted set of clues he finds himself trapped in a confrontation with far to many sides. Hounded by a devil with a fascination with Rubbery souls and a larcenous poet recently returned from the tomb colonies our hero has no choice but to plunge deeper into the history of London, Visage and the Elder Continent eventually travelling to the tunnels beneath the city to find his answer. The further he digs however the less sure he is, could anyone hide behind a familiar face? And what of the light that speaks to him in his dreams, shining up from beneath even the deepest tunnels? Is any of this even real, or is the world just another mask, to save him from seeing the truth?
The book is written entirely in prose and it’s ridiculously graphic metaphors make it well-liked among the young and the pretentious. It also makes suitable kindling for everyone else though such an act leads to the strangest dreams.[/color]

Alright, everybody stop what you’re doing and read “Cosmic Iron-y” above, if you haven’t already. Good stuff

Down the Rabbit Hole


Follow the young, curious, and hardy bohemian Alicia as she finds herself wrapped up in the great game and getting in deeper and deeper into the secrets of london as she bunny hops around the city gathering what she needs to make it out alive while fighting off assassins, thugs, neddy men, and the lot with the help of her faithful feline friend Cheshire.

Silver Tongue


A book of poems about the Iron Republic, Polythreme, and all the countries of the grand Neath.

That’s so kind of you. Thank you!

While in the early stages of his writing career Turner wrote mostly dime novels (including a spy novel, a four part detective series and three different zee-story) as well as some poorly received poetry, his later and most acclaimed works are a different matter entirely. Called by some critics &quotunderstated and thought provoking&quot and by others &quotegregiously pretentious&quot, it is full of subtle messages and obscure allusions to the myriad mysteries of the neath. Some notable examples include:

Stars Above, Stars Below
A futuristic tale of an entrepreneur with a bold plan to zail to the stars themselves. With the help of a Bright-Eyed Commodore, a silver tongued deviless and a mysterious impish man who claims to know the ways of star travel, he builds a vessel that can brave both the zee and the void of space. As they approach their destination the conflicting interests of the motley crew threaten to doom them all - will they ever manage to reach the stars?
A novel that combines impeccable attention to current scientific theories with evocative, dreamlike imagery, it is popular with bohemians and academics alike.

Collar
A short story about a priest’s first three days in the neath as he begins to doubt all he ever believed. A meditation about faith and doubt that is widely considered to be Turner’s finest work. The ambiguity of the work has lead to both the church and the embassy using it as a talking point. The author himself obstinately refuses to comment about his own view of the piece.

Ratchet Clanked
The epic tale of a non-violent rat uprising in which the rattus faber population of London uses their vastly superior numbers to overwhelm human production and become the predominant economic power in London. Widely believed to be an allegory for the plight of the working class (although some take it at face value as a call for rat suffrage) it is by far Turner’s most sententious work. Detractors call it &quotpreachy, sanctimonious drivel" most fans are forced to concede that the 60 page speech is &quota bit much.&quot

All Hail the Glorious Khan
A patriotic farce. The Ill-fortuned Functionary is sent on a diplomatic mission from the Khanate to Port Carnelian. Hilarity ensues as the woefully incompetent protagonist must deal with tiger savages, british spies and his own nation’s bureaucracy. A xenophobic denouncement of the ridiculous imperialistic ambitions of an empire that refuses to recognize that is has long stopped existing, with absolutely no seditious undertones. Popular with civil servants and members of the court.

All these Freedoms
A short horror story. A civic servant unhappy with her lot in life makes a Faustian bargain with a devil to remove the superiors that make her work so troublesome. They disappear and everyone acts as if they never existed. Satisfied, the protagonist asks to remove the obstacles in her life. Soon every aspect of life she finds unpleasant vanishes. Before long she realizes that the roles of those things she removed are not being filled by anything else and worse yet, she can’t stop using her powers. Her life quickly becomes unrecognizable as fundamental concepts such as noise and math are removed. By the end of the story there is nothing left but an empty void.

Amyntas’ sole literary work of note is a novel entitled 184 Days in the Elder Continent. It is a roaringly optimistic patriotic tale, and one might almost call it ‘soulless’ if that were not such a personal and mildly offensive descriptor. It follows the considerably predictable adventures of the Square-Jawed Zailor and his crew of hardy and similarly attractive gentlemen, all of whom have been shipwrecked and stranded on the Elder Continent in no small part due to a faithless and conniving Presbyterate guide. Thus, they set out to Port Carnelian with the intent to crack a few backwards savage heads along the way. There is a noticeable lack of female characters and a somewhat distracting emphasis on the physiques and physical prowess of the men involved, and one begins to wonder if the author is projecting or merely fantasizing. The whole thing reads almost like an acerbic joke on the reader, but on a whole it’s so earnestly patriotic and shallow that most pass it off as the misguided amateur work that it appears to be. It is quite popular with some Temperance Campaigners and older veterans, however.

The sole redeeming quality of 184 Days in the Elder Continent is that it is surprisingly well-researched. While the doughty zailors’ prowess stretches one’s suspension of disbelief, the Elder Continent itself is rendered with surprising accuracy. The Square-Jawed Zailor has an uncanny (and convenient, so far as the plot is concerned) knowledge of the ways of the Elder Continent and some of its natives, spouting off snippets of truth in a condescending and dismissive fashion. Oblique references to Adam’s Way and the Garden are peppered here and there, among other more esoteric things, but the vast majority of it is buried under the hypermasculine homoeroticism that comprises the bulk of the publication. If nothing else, Amyntas can be said to have done his homework for the setting if not for the prowess of zailors.

While 184 Days in the Elder Continent is nothing spectacular, it got far more attention than any of his poetic works. Amyntas is a particularly poor poet, and his attempts to render profound melancholy through Nocturnal verse were ambitious but not altogether very successful. While some poets can achieve a certain lyrical impenetrability that makes utter nonsense sound profound, Amyntas’ works (most of which lamented an unnamed ‘her’) bordered on incoherent most of the time and were entirely incoherent all the rest.
edited by Amyntas on 11/16/2015