The Twin Canals mirror each other so closely that astronomers on Earth have mistaken the doubling for an optical illusion. Where Thoth curves, Nepenthes follow. And midway between the two, their little sibling: The Thin Desert, where verdure can no longer reach. A pseudo-canal of dunes, hills, ruined palaces. Caravans cling to the imperial roads when crossing the desert. For bands of jackals... [click here for more]
All was good: Dead labour seemed to be docile labour. But in time, in that uncanny valley of eternal servitude, working stiffs grew dimly conscious of their unhappy fate. ”While Skeletons delved and Ghouls span, what use of the lord, the burgher, the gentleman?”, the argument went.
It took a civil war to end the labour dispute. The insurgents were buried and sealed away. Yet, as long as one dead... [click here for more]
The major Winds of the Red Planet have all dissipated, the minor ones forming local climes and hermit breezes in an ever-present vacuum. Some remain bound through brute force or ancient contracts.
A few winds roam the dead plains as poisonous ill-winds or sandstorms. Fewer still travel with bands of vacuum nomads. While the citizens of the Canal States do their best to ignore... [click here for more]
The classical Bag of Holding is a way to sidestep or at least trivialize the trouble of having to choose between what to keep and what to leave behind. A hypermodern fantasy of non-friction, of docile invisible porters, of work without workers. Very well, but what if the bag in question was a grumpy, demanding toad?
Toad of Holding is a mini zine about the titular creature... [click here for more]