I Believe There Was Also a Library . . .
Jan. 30th, 2026 07:12 pm![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
floggingbabel_feed.
The Universe Box, my newest collection of short fiction, almost a decade in the making, is coming out in only a few days. Ass it chances, I was just now rererereading the almost-title-story, "Universe Box," and came upon the following notion, which pleased me greatly when I came up with it:
The Universe Box, my newest collection of short fiction, almost a decade in the making, is coming out in only a few days. As it chances, I was just now rererereading the almost-title-story, "Universe Box," and came upon the following notion, which pleased me greatly when I came up with it:
Holding up a finger, Uncle Paulie made an owlish face and said, “Let me posit a question: What one thing does the world currently need most? Eh?”
“Um... love?” Howard ventured.
“World peace,” Mimi said firmly.
“Pah! I’m disappointed in you both. A good bottle of wine, of course!” Uncle Paulie flipped open the lid of the cigar box and reached within. “As you doubtless know, the very finest collection ever assembled was the legendary Wine Cellar of Alexandria. Destroyed in that dreadful fire, such a pity. But no matter. I’ll just have to dig deeper.”
Uncle Paulie is, of course, Trickster. Howard is in for a hard time of it. And Mimi is, despite being kidnapped by the most dangerous assassin in the universe, about to have the time of her life.
But that's not why I shared that excerpt with you. The Wine Cellar of Alexandria! Makes you wonder what else went up in that dreadful blaze, doesn't it?
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The result looks like when Word says that the Hardkaze and Aerosol fonts are used in the document you’re trying to open but are missing from your computer and you click OK to replace them with whatever’s available. I think the font above is Arial, which is perfect. I also like this faux-watermark piece he did:
