CHAPTER THREE
So things went on after that in the same manner. My mind wasn't much on our conversation these days; I had my eye on the top in the corner, wondering whether the youth would be able to control him if he started becoming violent. But it did occur me to ask the youth about some of the things the soppish guard had told me about life in the Eternal Dungeon. "He said that the Seekers aren't content with breaking a man's body and making him confess to his crime. They want to break the prisoner's mind as well, making him say he was wrong to have committed the crime."
The youth shook his head. He was sitting on the end of the bed-shelf closest to the door, with his back to the green-eyed Seeker, who was having one of his moments of furious scribbling. "I might have made that mistake at one time. I've come to believe, though, that it's wrong to tamper with men's consciences. Some prisoners truly do need the help of the Seekers to recognize their guilt, but there will always be a few prisoners who are so convinced of the righteousness of their deeds that you'd have to change them into a different type of man before you could convince them of their guilt. I don't feel qualified to transform a prisoner's character to that extent. In cases like that, all I'll aim for is a confession of the crime."
Well, this was news to me. He might have told me that from the start and saved me weeks' worth of nightmares of me being on the rack, screaming, "I was wrong to kill Mendel! I'm a terrible man for having done it!" The image of the screams had bothered me more than the image of the rack. I hated the idea of becoming one of those boot-licking bottoms who agrees with every bit of nonsense that the tops throw our way.
I was thinking about this, and thinking that I was lucky not to be in the hands of any other Seeker, when there was a knock on the door. The burly guard stuck his head through the door, saying, "Mr. Chapman would like to speak with you, sir. Shall I show him in?"
"No, I'll speak with him outside." The youth gave me one of his tedious apologies and stood up, walking toward the door.
The green-eyed Seeker had been scribbling all this time, oblivious even to the guard's interruption, but when he saw the youth open the door and begin to walk through it, he shot to his feet as though he were a child being abandoned by its mother. "Mr. Taylor?" he said.
I swear, there was panic in his voice. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't been there.
"It's all right," said the youth in the tone of a mother comforting her child. "I'll be just outside." And he left, closing the door behind him.
The green-eyed Seeker continued to stare at the door, as though expecting the youth to leap back into the cell. His board of papers had fallen from his hand when he jumped up, and now his hands were tightened into fists. He was beginning to shake.
This was bad; this was very bad. It was clear that the green-eyed Seeker was aware of his own unsteadiness and believed that he'd lose all control if he wasn't in the same room as the youth. And if he lost control, there was only one person in the cell who was available to be the target of his fury.
I decided it was time for a little force on my own part. Trying to keep as far away from the green-eyed Seeker as I could, I went up to the cell door and hammered on it. The burly guard opened the door. Beyond him, I could see the youth talking to another Seeker, no doubt discussing some trivial business matter.
"Look," I said in a loud voice to the youth, "can't you talk with this bloke when you're finished with me? I'm not going to wait around forever for you to get back to work with me."
I don't know what the youth thought I was going to do as an alternative to waiting for him – start a xylophone band with the green-eyed Seeker, perhaps – but he said promptly, "Of course, Mr. Little. Mr. Chapman, would it be possible for us to discuss this later?"
The other Seeker murmured something in assent, and the youth returned to the cell. By the time he got back, the green-eyed Seeker had recovered enough that he was sitting cross-legged again, writing on his paper, but I could see that he was still shaking. The youth looked over at him, then knelt down beside him and put his hand on the other top's hand. He murmured something soft in the top's ear.
That solved one mystery that had been teasing my mind: I'd been wondering whether the green-eyed Seeker had any interest in the youth other than business. I remembered my imaginings about the youth's hero worship. Well, maybe that was how their mate-bond had begun, but judging from the way that the green-eyed Seeker listened silently to what the youth was saying, it was clear who was the top in this relationship now.
It was disconcerting to learn that the youth I'd thought so soft was serving as leader to a top like this. Not that I let that stop me from being angry at his idiocy. I waited till the youth and I were seated together again, and I was sure that the green-eyed Seeker was immersed in his work. Then I hissed at the youth, "Don't you ever leave us alone again! Don't you realize he's on the point of breaking?"
From the tension in the youth's body, I guessed that he did. He said stiffly, "I apologize, Mr. Little. You were in no danger, but I should not have placed you in a position where you felt that you had anything to fear."
Typical top nonsense. They're incapable of thinking about anyone but themselves, so if you express concern over the welfare of another human being, they think you're worried only about yourself. Mind you, in this case I suspected there was at least a little concern on the youth's side for what was happening to the green-eyed Seeker. I've been around enough men who are best mates with each other to recognize that bond when I see it.
"This is ridiculous," I said, still keeping my voice low so the green-eyed Seeker wouldn't hear. "If you think he would be helped by getting back to work, why don't you just hand me over to another Seeker and go to work together on another case?"
"That's not permitted by our Code, unless it's in the best interests of the prisoner."
Bloody rules; I ought to have known that a top would worry more about business regulations than about his best mate. Even from a business point of view, it seemed to me that the youth was being shortsighted. When an owner becomes too ill to work any more, the business always suffers before a new owner is found. And if the owner loses his head and begins giving insane orders . . . I'd been in a situation like that, and the top had done a lot of damage before the tops working for him had gotten up the courage to throw him out of the business.
I'd seen the green-eyed Seeker's look when I arrived. I knew what sort of damage that bloke could do.
And that he was on the point of breaking I no longer doubted. It's never pleasant, watching a man slowly lose his mind; it has happened to enough mates of mine to sicken me. What I couldn't understand – I'll never understand this about tops – is how the youth could watch this happening to his best mate and not abandon his work immediately. What the bloody blades did it matter whether I or any other prisoner was broken, if his mate's mind was lost in the process? What is it about tops that makes them care more about running a business than about the people around them?
I was beginning to respect the green-eyed Seeker, though. Day after day he sat in the corner, his mind unravelling – and he was clearly aware that his mind was unravelling. Yet never once did he interrupt the youth's conversations with me or ask for any sort of help. It was bloody stupid, but it was the type of stupidity I could admire.
So I knew that matters had reached a crisis point the day that the green-eyed Seeker suddenly threw his writing board to the ground with a crash, pressed his legs against his chest, and cradled his head in his arms. His body was shaking again.
The youth looked back, made one of his idiotic apologies to me again, and went over to kneel by the Seeker. I couldn't hear what the two of them were saying; Seekers are the softest talkers I've ever run across. After a while, the youth helped the green-eyed Seeker to his feet and said, "I'll be back in a minute, Mr. Little."
He was as good as his word; he was back in the cell in one minute flat. The green-eyed Seeker wasn't with him. I stared at the youth in alarm. I didn't like the idea of a mad top wa
ndering around the dungeon alone. "Where is he?" I asked.
"The High Seeker is waiting in the next cell for us to finish here," the youth replied.
It took me a moment to realize what he was saying; then my jaw dropped. "You're making mock," I said. "You locked your mate in a cell?"
He stiffened; I'd forgotten the top propensity for pretending they didn't have any special relations with the men they worked with. "The High Seeker thought it best that he wait next door," he said. "He didn't want to be a disturbance to our work here."
I don't think I'd been so angry since the day Mendel beat the boy. That was cruel enough, but to lock up your best mate when you know that he's on the point of mind-death, just so that you can finish a bit of business . . . I'd always known that tops' mercilessness knew no bounds, but I'd never imagined anything like this.
"You bloody idiot!" I shouted. "Get out of here! Go back and get your mate out of that cell, take him home, give him something warm to drink, tuck him into bed, and then sing songs to him or whatever you tops do to bring people back to themselves!"
"There's no need to shout, Mr. Little," the youth said in an infuriatingly calm manner. "If you don't feel like continuing our conversation today, I can come back tomorrow."
Typical top: you give him a gift, and he thinks you're asking for a gift. "Come back in two weeks!" I shouted. "I don't want to see you till then!" If he wanted to think me a frightened prisoner, so be it, as long as he took care of that mate of his.
Well, he returned to my cell the next evening, at his usual time. I would have bashed in his head, except that it was clear from the tension in his body that he hadn't had a good day. Perhaps the singing hadn't worked.
"Where's your mate?" I asked before he could speak.
"The High Seeker's location isn't important," he said. "Now, we were talking yesterday about a prisoner's right to follow his own conscience . . ."
I could guess well enough where the green-eyed Seeker was. I imagined him locked in the next cell, pressed all in a ball as he strove to keep back madness on his own, while his best mate engaged in chit-chat with a prisoner.
I'd just about made up my mind before the youth arrived, but that settled it. "Right," I said briskly. "I've decided to follow my conscience. I want to make my confession."
He looked startled; even a clever top can be incapable of recognizing what's in front of his nose. He recovered quickly, though. He called in the burly guard – the guards didn't have to strain to record my words from behind the door after all – and then he had me describe what I'd done. I was brief about it, saying I'd killed Mendel with my own hand, with no one else's assistance, and that I wasn't sorry for what I'd done. That seemed enough of a confession to me, but the youth insisted that I say for the record what I'd told him about Mendel's character and about him beating the boy. I suppose he thought that would make me look better at the trial.
I could have told him otherwise; I'd been in and out of the magistrates' judging rooms enough times not to have any soppish illusions. All the magistrates are tops, after all.
I was eager to get the youth out of my cell and back to the green-eyed Seeker, but he, being a top, was utterly oblivious to what was going on. I swear, I think he even believed I was angry at him for spending time worrying about his best mate. He would never have guessed that I despised him most for not putting his mate's interests first.
At one point he told me that he'd asked the High Seeker two nights before whether it would be possible to bypass the dungeon rule that prisoners could only be offered eternal confinement in the Eternal Dungeon if they repented of their crimes. Bothering his mate with business at a time like this! Honestly, the midwives must do something to tops' minds at birth to keep them from having any sense of reason.
After I'd given my confession, the youth insisted that he needed to spend time with me to prepare me for the next day. Since he was being stubborn about this, I made him send a message to his mate, by way of the guards, that I'd given my confession. I hoped that the news would be enough to pull the green-eyed Seeker back by whatever slender thread attached him to sanity.
The youth and I had a nice conversation that evening, I'll grant that. I wasn't much surprised to learn that he'd been a prisoner himself – his earlier remark about being broken had made me wonder – but it was a shock to hear what he'd been charged with, especially when, at my insistence, he recited the gory details of what had happened. Well, you never know about tops: you think one's a soft puppy, and you learn he's a cold-blooded kin-murderer. It helped me to understand, though, why he hadn't given me any lectures about what a bad baby I'd been. He wasn't really in a position to do so.
He was able to tell me what my trial would be like, and we talked a bit about the hangman. It turned out that the youth had thought, up till the last moment of his own trial, that he'd be executed. I didn't have any illusions about last-minute reprieves – the youth had been one of those prisoners who stated his repentance in his confession – but still, it was nice to talk about shared experiences. Reminded me of the times I'd spent with my mates, grousing about what we suffered under the tops.
There's not much more to tell. The trial was the travesty I'd figured it would be; the youth did his best for me, but I could tell that the magistrate had taken one look at me and started fitting me for hemp-rope. Afterwards, the youth wanted to accompany me to the executioner, but I told him that I wasn't like his mate, needing an escort. I was eager to get the youth out of there before he went soppish on me.
No such luck. He said softly, "I'll always remember you."
I laughed then, but he said earnestly, "I mean it. The other Seekers all say they remember their first prisoner."
"I was your first?" I was pleased, I'll admit. It's always nice to know that you've taken someone's cherry.
"The first and undoubtedly my worst," he said, all his soppishness disappearing in that disconcerting fashion of his. "If the High Seeker gives me another one like you, I'll go into retirement."
I laughed again, clapped him on the back, and said, "Get out of here. Your mate's waiting for you."
He left, laughing. That was for my benefit, I think; he knew by now how I hated soppishness. I was left to deal with a fool guard who thought I'd been assaulting a Seeker and wanted to warn me against making an attempt to escape.
Like I had any chance of that. The guards returned me to my bindings and escorted me out. As we were travelling down the corridor, I saw the youth again. He was with the green-eyed Seeker, who'd been at the trial, but who'd been seated at the back of the judging room, behind me; I'd caught only a brief glimpse of him till now.
I don't think either of them believed they'd be seen; they were in a dark alcove off the corridor, and their hoods were raised. The youth had his back to me, so I never saw what his face looked like, but I could see the green-eyed Seeker's face, because he was embracing the youth and had his head resting upon the youth's shoulder. The lines in his face were relaxed. I guessed that he had managed to make his way back to sanity by that slender thread.
Well, he'd better have; that's all I can say. The guards hustled me along, so I didn't see much more, but I caught the moment when the green-eyed Seeker raised his head high enough to give the youth a kiss on the cheek. It was the sweetest portrait of mate-bonding I've ever seen.
Bloody blades, what a sop I've become. I still don't understand why I did it. What kind of idiot bottom sacrifices himself for the sake of two tops, one of them someone he barely knows and the other his torturer? It doesn't make sense.
I'll tell you something that's even odder, though. I didn't eat breakfast before the trial – my stomach wasn't up to it – so I know that the youth couldn't have slipped any silver pot-herb into me. Yet since seeing those two tops hugging each other in the corridor, I've been floating, and everything around me looks piercingly beautiful. I can't make sense of it, but it's a nice way to go. Even the hood they just put over my head doesn't change how I feel.
> Maybe the youth will remember me after all.
o—o—o
o—o—o
. . . The list consists of thousands of names, most of which have been crossed out. Prisoners who have suffered execution leave no records of their life.
We turn now to the (probably apocryphal) tale of Layle Smith's nervous breakdown in his thirty-sixth year, and how he was saved from madness by a prisoner who sacrificed his own life for the sake of the High Seeker.
As historians continue to emphasize, although Layle Smith's brief entrance into madness is recorded by a number of reliable historical sources, there is not a single piece of documentary evidence from Layle Smith's time to support the tale about a prisoner being the man who drew the High Seeker back from his madness. Yet this tale appears in no less than a dozen ballads that were passed around among the Yclau commoners, and in modern times this folk legend has entered into the history books. It is a shame that we will never know whether this episode actually occurred, but it shows the power of the commoners to make their mark upon history in their own manner. Or as members of the Eternal Dungeon would have put it, it shows the central importance of the prisoners.
Several months after Layle Smith began to emerge from his madness of 356, a visitor to the Eternal Dungeon praised the bravery of the Seekers, who risked their lives daily to work among dangerous criminals. Layle Smith's reply now hangs upon the wall of virtually every office of psychology in our nation:
"Searching other people is easy. Allowing oneself to be searched is an act of courage."
—Psychologists with Whips: A History of the Eternal Dungeon.
Rebirth
HISTORICAL NOTE
The Eternal Dungeon is my Gothic Revival series, about a medieval-style dungeon (or, strictly speaking, a Reformation-style dungeon) within a nineteenth-century society. As such, the series initially has as little connection to nineteenth-century history as a Pre-Raphaelite painting. Only gradually, as the series progresses, will nineteenth-century social forces begin to exert themselves upon the dungeon.
The lack of strong Victorian references in the first novel is therefore not accidental. The anachronistic state of the Eternal Dungeon in this novel represents the state of many nineteenth-century institutions that would later find themselves, with shock, confronting the societal demands of the modern world.
o—o—o
o—o—o
o—o—o
=== More fiction by Dusk Peterson ===
Excerpt from the next volume in the Eternal Dungeon series
TRANSFORMATION
The common room was filled with dozens of Seekers and guards, all trying to avoid looking at the man in the back of the room.
Weldon Chapman, pausing at the doorway to check that the face-cloth of his hood was properly closed, surveyed the scene. The ploys that the men in the room were using to disguise their interest were various: a cup of beer held before the face, an absorbed study of a chessboard, and of course, in the case of the Seekers, the device they used with their prisoners – they simply kept the face-cloths of their hoods down, as their duty required.
Weldon doubted that the man at the back of the room was fooled by any of this. Indeed, even Weldon, without that man's skill, could see the tension in the onlookers' bodies, the flickered glances, the tight gestures, and the occasional twitch from someone who had let his nightmares become too vivid.
Weldon sighed, and then turned his attention to the one man in the room who was making no pretense of being interested in anything except the figure in the back. As Weldon watched, Elsdon Taylor flung down the playing cards he had been holding, said something to the other junior Seekers sharing his table, and left amidst their nervous laughter.
He did not, as Weldon had expected, go straight to the man in the back; he simply lifted his hand toward that man. The man, who was resting with his face turned upward toward the sunlight that filtered through the crystalline ceiling of the common room, and who gave every appearance of being asleep, raised his hand in exchange. Around the common room, there was a visible shudder at this evidence of the High Seeker's skill.
"There is something particularly frightening about having a genius go mad."
Weldon tore his eyes away from Layle Smith in order to look over at the High Seeker's love-mate, Elsdon Taylor. The skin around Elsdon's eyes was smudged with darkness – Weldon wondered how many months it had been since Elsdon had received a full shift's sleep – but otherwise the young man looked less weighed down than he had since his present trials began.
Weldon took hope from that, and from Elsdon's dark jibe. He knew better than to worry the High Seeker's love-mate with questions, though, so he simply said, "I was trying to decide whether I should bother him with work."
Elsdon glanced over his shoulder at the man lying motionless in his chair. "Do," he said, in the same soft voice with which he had spoken before. "If anything would make him go mad again, it's having nothing to do except documentwork. If you have a challenge for him, he'd welcome it."
"He ought to be back at work with the prisoners."
Elsdon sighed. "So I tell him. So the Codifier tells him. So the Queen tells him. Honest in my heart, Weldon, if the torture-god of Layle's native land came and threatened to rack him eternally unless he returned to work, Layle would simply repeat that he is not yet ready to place the prisoners at risk."
"Mm." Weldon stared down at the papers he was holding in his hand. "Perhaps I can persuade him otherwise. Are you leaving for bed now?"
Elsdon shook his head. "Not till he does. He doesn't yet trust himself that much."
Glancing once more at the men in the common room – who were now dividing their time between casting nervous glances at the High Seeker and casting curious glances at his love-mate – Weldon thought to himself that nothing could have made more apparent to the world the seriousness of Layle Smith's illness than the fact that the High Seeker felt the need for a chaperone. The fact that no such chaperone was necessary could not be known by the others. Weldon frowned.
"What your love-mate needs," he says, "is a stiffening of the backbone. He needs to be reminded that he is not a child, and that he owes responsibilities to the dungeon he runs."
Elsdon gave a crow of such pure delight that every head in the room swivelled to look at him. Elsdon ignored them, thumping Weldon on the back. "Oh, brave one," he said. "You should have been a soldier. I'll watch the battle from a distance. From a safe distance," he added with a grin in his voice.
"Fortunate man," Weldon muttered and walked toward the man at the back.
Whether or not the High Seeker's acute hearing had picked up the gist of the conversation, Weldon could be quite sure that Layle Smith knew from Elsdon's cry of joy that an attack was about to begin. The High Seeker gave no sign that he was about to strike back. Of course, he never did. Many a prisoner had learned that, when it was too late.
The common room was a newer room in the Eternal Dungeon, built at a time when one of Layle's predecessors had grown so tired of his confinement within the bleak walls of the underground cave that he had ordered a leisure place built that would provide sunlight to the Seekers who were otherwise deprived of daylight for the remainder of the lives. Weldon, whose own vow as a Seeker had come relatively late in life, nevertheless felt his limbs relax as the warmth of the early morning sun fell upon his shoulders. It was midsummer now – he knew that from the calendar posted by the dungeon's Record-keeper for the sake of Seekers who might otherwise forget what season it was. Summertime always made Weldon remember the last time he had been in the lighted world. The joy he had felt on that final day – the knowledge that he was about to receive a privilege that any prison worker in the Queendom of Yclau would have envied – had been as pure and unadulterated as the blue sky above him.
He had met Layle by that time. He sometimes wondered whether the joy he had felt at becoming a Seeker had been connected with the knowledge that he would be able to speak daily with a
talented young Seeker by the name of Layle Smith.
That was thirteen years ago. Now Layle was thirty-seven, Weldon was forty-seven, and the High Seeker lay motionless in his chair, as though dead.
"Sir," Weldon said formally.
"Mr. Chapman," the High Seeker replied without opening his eyes. "Tell me, are you bothered by nightmares?"
Weldon had to stop himself from looking over at one of the men who had twitched. "Not overly much, sir," he responded. "Why?"
"I am glad to hear that. Mr. Taylor was a victim of some very bad nightmares several months ago, when my condition was more serious. Now that I am slowly healing he is, of course, feeling much better. I remain confident that the nightmares will not return . . . provided that no one is so foolish as to try to hurry my cure beyond the point for which my mind is ready."
Weldon was still a moment. Then he pulled up a chair and sat down heavily in it. "High Seeker," he said, "I wonder why the Record-keeper bothers to assign prisoners to anyone besides you. If he sent all the criminals your way, the Eternal Dungeon would have a perfect record of breaking prisoners."
He thought he saw the faintest crease of amusement at the corner of Layle Smith's eyes as the High Seeker lifted his hooded head. "Since I am not seeing prisoners at the moment, the matter is moot. You wished to speak to me about another matter?"
Weldon wordlessly gestured to the papers in his lap. Layle glanced at the name written atop them and said, "Ah, yes. The Record-keeper does like to assign you the hard cases."
"The Record-keeper," said Weldon carefully, "is under the misapprehension that, since I dwelt so many years in the lighted world, I am privy to its secrets."
"You have dealt with difficult prisoners before."
"Not prisoners who confess that they have committed a 'most terrible crime,' but refuse to state what that crime is."
"Mm." The High Seeker leaned back in his chair. His gaze had not strayed from Weldon throughout the conversation, though from where Weldon sat, he could see that Elsdon had seated himself at an empty table nearby, out of earshot, and was busy scribbling with a pen.
Weldon flipped through his own papers for a moment before he found the one he wanted, with the High Seeker's initials in the corner to indicate that he had read it. He held it up for Layle's inspection.
For the second time, the suggestion of a smile appeared in Layle's eyes. "At least she was honest. Women who apply to be Seekers usually sign only their initials, not their full names. I sent her a polite note, explaining that she did not possess the quality we desire most in a Seeker. It is what I tell nearly all of our applicants."
"She is not the best candidate to be a Seeker if she commits a crime soon after you have rejected her application."
Layle said nothing, but the smile in his eyes increased.
Weldon felt his spirits lift accordingly. "You think she is innocent of any crime? That this is a ploy to visit the Eternal Dungeon?"
"A ploy to see me. She asked for me specifically when she was delivered here by her local prison."
"So I had heard. Perhaps it would be better, then, if you took this case."
Layle's gaze shot away from the paper. His smile disappeared, like warmth dissipating with the coming of evening.
"Sir," Weldon said quietly as he placed the paper back on his lap, "I know what you want me to say. But the best interests of the prisoner come first, and having reviewed the prisoner's records, I believe that it is in her best interests to be searched by you. If I search her, nothing will happen except that she will stall and refuse to speak until you come. That would be a waste of time I could spend with a prisoner who has actually committed a crime."
Layle's eye wandered away from Weldon, skimming the crowd of men that sat drinking, playing leisure games, and talking. "No doubt you will find a way around this problem."
"But, sir, you need only spend a few minutes—"
"No."
"Sir, if you will only listen to what I have to—"
"I cannot visit your prisoner!"
Once, when Weldon was considerably younger, he had awoken screaming from a vision of being sliced in half by the High Seeker's whip. It was but a nightmare, of course; Layle Smith had not carried a whip since his arrival at the Eternal Dungeon.
This was a worse nightmare. Weldon tried without success to remember the last time he had heard the High Seeker raise his voice. He tried to reply, but could not; he tried to move, but could not. He was trapped in place as effectively as a chained prisoner by the sight of the High Seeker, one yard from him, beginning to shake.
o—o—o
More Eternal Dungeon stories are available at:
duskpeterson.com/eternaldungeon
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duskpeterson.com/lists.htm
o—o—o
o—o—o
Excerpt from the first volume in the Life Prison series
MERCY'S PRISONER
He was smiling before I'd finished my speech. Throwing the dice up and catching them, he said, "I wish I'd had you as my counsellor two years ago, when I first became a guard. I think it's too late now; my father and I have become too fixed in our approach toward each other. Still, I'll give it some thought. I have another three weeks to decide, before I go back."
My stomach did not quite fall to the floor, but it jiggled up and down for a moment. I suppose I must have looked queasy. "Go back?"
His face immediately took on its tone of profound apology. "I'm sorry, I thought you'd been told. My discipline only lasts two months. My father said, 'We'll see how you handle the worst prisoner at Mercy; then we'll decide your future here.'"
Under ordinary circumstances, I would have been flattered by this speech. As it was, I was too busy cursing myself.
It wasn't as though I hadn't known our time together would be short. The shifting of guards from prisoner to prisoner was one of the unwritten customs of the life prisons; I'd never had a guard for more than six months at a time. But three weeks! How could I finish my plans in the space of three weeks?
"I'll be sorry to see you go," I said finally, my most genuine contribution to the conversation so far.
He smiled and ducked his head, looking suddenly his age. "I'll be sorry to leave. I've had twenty-eight prisoners" – he spoke this number casually, as though every guard kept track of such information – "but none that took the trouble that you have to ask after my life."
"Well," I said, trying not to smile, "some guards find those sorts of questions offensive. They prefer to discuss such matters only with their friends."
I saw a hint of his smile as he glanced up. "I suppose I'll develop friends amongst the guards eventually. I don't have any friends outside the prison; I've lived at Compassion for the past eight years."
"What about your fiancée?"
It was only the second time I'd seen him blush. It made him look even younger than before. "Well . . . she doesn't exist, actually."
"Oh?" I did my best to sound surprised.
"No, I invented her when I first became a guard. She was a convenient excuse to the other guards for me not to rape my prisoners. I suppose I should put her to rest. Everyone has guessed by now that I'm not held back from rape by a jealous fiancée."
"You'd best get rid of her," I said, "if there's any chance that you'll fall in love while in prison. That seems likely, considering you spend nearly all your time here."
He looked up sharply then, but only said, "I haven't met any guards yet that I fancy that way."
I shrugged. "So," I concluded, "you hate the life prisons, think that the men who run the prisons are morally deplorable . . . and the person you are closest to is the Keeper of Compassion Prison."
His eyes turned chill, and there was an accompanying shiver down my back. But it seemed that his coolness was reserved for himself, for after a moment he said in a level voice, "You have a talent for pinpointing the
primary source of pain. You would have made a good guard."
I smiled at him as he rose to leave. "Not enough control," I said.
Which was a lie. In my opinion, I'd controlled that conversation very well indeed.
o—o—o
Life Prison stories are available at:
duskpeterson.com/lifeprison
To receive notice of e-book publications and free fiction, subscribe to Dusk Peterson's e-mail list or blog:
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o—o—o
o—o—o
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=== Turn-of-the-Century Toughs calendar systems ===
Two different calendars are used in the four Midcoast nations of the Turn-of-the-Century Toughs universe.
TRI-NATIONAL CALENDAR
The Tri-National Calendar is a reformed calendar system used by Yclau, Vovim, and Mip. The calendar was formulated by the Queendom of Yclau and the Kingdom of Vovim, which had originally used different calendars from one another. It counts their planet's single circuit around the sun as a year, divides the year into four seasons of three months each, and uses numbers rather than names for the months, so as to avoid favoritism toward either Yclau or Vovim.
The four seasons are a concession to Vovim, which originally had a calendar based on its quaternary number system (base 4), while the three months are a concession to Yclau, which originally had a calendar based on its ternary number system (base 3). Both number systems were eliminated at the time of the calendar reform, replaced by a uniform duodecimal number system (base 12).
Three years in the Tri-National Calendar equal one year in our own world's calendar. Thus, the years 355 to 453 cover the span of time that was covered in our own world between 1880 to 1912. However, because the equivalent historical events take three times longer in the Toughs universe, the dates of historical events in the Toughs world only approximately correspond with the dates of historical events in our world..
Holidays are left to the individual nations to decide, but by the fifth century, the tri-nations are all celebrating the traditional Yclau holidays of the Lords' Spring Festival (moveable date: the day after the migrating birds return) and the Commoners' Autumn Festival (moveable date: the day after the first night of frost or snowfall), as well as the traditional Vovimian holidays of Mercy's Feast (midsummer) and Hell's Fast (extending from midwinter to late winter).
OLD CALENDAR
The Old Calendar, used by the Dozen Landsteads, and originally by Yclau as well, is a tri-year calendar based on the Dozen Landsteads' ternary number system. One tri-year in the Dozen Landsteads equals three years in Yclau, Mip, and Vovim. Each tri-year is divided into three sun-circuits of three seasons: autumn, spring, and summer. In turn, each season is divided into three months; each month contains three weeks.
There are 27 weeks in a sun-circuit (3 x 3 x 3). All months and weeks are named; the names repeat in each sun-circuit. Reflecting the traditional Landstead belief in death, transformation, and rebirth, the names of the weeks in the first season of the year are: Spring Waning, Spring Illness, Spring Dying, Spring Death, Spring Transformation, Spring Rebirth, Spring Childhood, Spring Youth, Spring Manhood. At that point, the cycle continues with Summer Waning.
Landsteaders label the three circuits of their tri-year according to their traditional three-field system of planting: barley, clover, and fallow. For example: 1895 Barley, 1895 Clover, and 1895 Fallow are the three sun-circuits (years) that make up the single tri-year of 1895. By contrast, under the Tri-National Calendar, the tri-year of 1895 is counted as three years: 400, 401, and 402.
Conveniently for the reader, one tri-year just happens to correspond to one Earth year. The Dozen Landsteads' dating system therefore corresponds to the dating system of Earth's, leaving aside minor details such as the fact that the Landsteaders' planet travels around the sun three times during each equivalent of our year. Thus, the tri-years 1880 to 1912 in the Dozen Landsteads correspond to the years 1880 to 1912 in our own world.
The Dozen Landsteads celebrate the Lords' Spring Festival and the Commoners' Autumn Festival by the holidays' original names: the Masters' Spring Festival and the Slaves' Autumn Festival. They do not celebrate the traditional Vovimian holidays.
For more about the Old Calendar, see: Landstead Ternary Symbols and Their Meaning.
o—o—o
o—o—o
=== Turn-of-the-Century Toughs timeline ===
This timeline is a chronology of the stories, major characters' birthdates, and political events in Turn-of-the-Century Toughs.
OC = Old Calendar.
TNC = Tri-National Calendar.
Dates unknown: Invaders from various continents of the Old World arrive at the North Continent of the New World, displacing and intermarrying with the natives. In the region that will later come to be known as the Midcoast nations, natives who refuse to adopt the newcomers' ways of life fight the encroaching invaders.
0 OC: Remigius, founder of the Dozen Landsteads' law system, is tortured to death. His death will later mark the start of the Dozen Landsteads' dating system, originally known merely as The Calendar.
0–500 OC: Various invading nations gradually coalesce into the Kingdom of Vovim, which spans much of the Midcoast region. To the southeast of Vovim, a similar alliance takes place between twelve leaders of an invading nation, leading to the founding of the Dozen Landsteads. All other territories on the eastern coast of the North Continent remain under the control of native nations that have not yet formed alliances with one another. With one exception, all of these territories will eventually become small nations with less political influence than the three great nations of the eastern coast: Vovim, Yclau, and the Dozen Landsteads. The one exception is Mip, a disputed territory which will end up bounded by large nations on all three sides: by Vovim to the north and west, by Yclau to the south, and by the Dozen Landsteads to the east. As a result, Mip will play a pivotal role in trade and cultural exchange between its influential neighbors.
1199 OC: The First Landstead breaks with the other landsteads over the issue of female inheritance. It will eventually rename itself as the Queendom of Yclau and expand its territory westward and overseas.
1317 OC: The Celadon-Brun Act is passed in the Dozen Landsteads, making significant changes to that nation's master/liegeman/slave social and political system. ¶ Master and Servant 2: The True Master (Waterman).
1508 OC: The master/liegeman/slave system in the Dozen Landsteads is eliminated in favor of a master/liegeman/servant system. ¶ Master's Piece (Waterman).
1550 OC: The Thousand Years' War begins between Vovim and Yclau, primarily over which nation will control the territory of Mip. Mip's native people are not consulted on this matter.
0 TNC (1762 OC): In one of their periodic attempts at peace, Vovim and Yclau agree to adhere to a bi-national calendar. After the emancipation of Mip in 355 TNC, this is referred to as the Tri-National Calendar.
0–201 TNC (1762 to 1829 OC): In both Yclau and Vovim, ancient systems of government, law-keeping, and class structure continue, epitomized by the use of torture in the royal dungeons of both lands. In Yclau, however, a small number of torturers begin to discuss innovative ways to break prisoners.
202 TNC (1829 OC): Yclau's royal dungeon is destroyed by a cave-in. It is refounded as the Eternal Dungeon, and the dungeon's first ethical code book is issued by the surviving torturers. Debates with other nations over the effectiveness of the Eternal Dungeon's techniques will eventually result in the creation of an international prison reform body, the United Order of Prisons.
The 300s to the 340s (1861–1878)
Events in the Midcoast nations: At the start of this century, an industrial revolution is sweeping Yclau. Yclau and Vovim sporadically continue the Thousand Years' War. Watermen begin to battle one another in the Dozen Landsteads.
309 (1864 Fallow): Yclau regains control of the territory of Mip, intensifying the Thousand Years' War.
310
(1865 Barley): Weldon Chapman is born (The Eternal Dungeon).
312 (1865 Fallow): Seward Sobel and Howard Yates are born (The Eternal Dungeon).
320, the second month (1868 Clover): Layle Smith is born (The Eternal Dungeon).
327 (1870 Fallow): Birdesmond Manx is born (The Eternal Dungeon).
328 (1871 Barley): Barrett Boyd is born (The Eternal Dungeon).
330, the eleventh month (1871 Fallow): Rain: Beauty (The Eternal Dungeon).
333 (1872 Fallow): Vito de Vere is born (The Eternal Dungeon).
333, the fourth month (1872 Fallow): Never (The Eternal Dungeon).
334 (1873 Barley): D. Urman is born (The Eternal Dungeon). Harrow, FitzGerald, and Walker are born (Life Prison).
337, the first month (1874 Barley): Elsdon Taylor is born (The Eternal Dungeon).
338 (1874 Clover): Clifford Crofford is born (The Eternal Dungeon).
338, the tenth month (1874 Fallow): Layle Smith becomes a torturer in the Eternal Dungeon. ¶ The Unanswered Question (The Eternal Dungeon).
339 (1874 Fallow): In Yclau, the Commoners' Bread Riot takes place (The Eternal Dungeon).
341 (1875 Clover): Bainbridge – as he would be commonly termed in later years – is born.
343, the seventh month (1876 Barley): Sweet Blood 2: Searching (The Eternal Dungeon), flashbacks only.
343, the ninth month (1876 Barley): New-Fashioned (The Eternal Dungeon).
344 (1876 Clover): The fifth revision of the Code of Seeking is issued, spurring a prison reform movement within Yclau and increasing the power of the United Order of Prisons. The Eternal Dungeon enters its Golden Age.
345, the seventh month (1876 Fallow): Gurth is born (The Eternal Dungeon). The first High Seeker of the Eternal Dungeon assumes power.
346 (1877 Barley): Zenas is born (The Eternal Dungeon). Lord Vere (a distant relation of Vito de Vere) and Valdis are born (Life Prison).
The 350s (1878–1881)
Events in the Midcoast nations: The fourth of the Midcoast nations is founded as a result of a bloodless rebellion by its people against foreign rule.
350 (1878 Clover): Dick Pickens is born (Life Prison).
352 (1879 Barley): Merrick is born (Life Prison).
355 (1880 Barley): Mercy Prison is created in Mip by the Yclau government, which has control of the land at this time. It is the first of Mip's life prisons and is a product of the prison reform movement. Later that year, Yclau frees Mip as part of a truce agreement with Vovim, which also agrees to release its claim on the territory. The Mippite government is given into the hands of its magistrates. Beginning of the main plotline of the Eternal Dungeon series, which is set in Yclau.
355, the fourth month (1880 Barley): Sedgewick Staunton is born (Life Prison). ¶ Rebirth 1: The Breaking (The Eternal Dungeon).
355, the seventh month (1880 Barley): Rebirth 2: Love and Betrayal (The Eternal Dungeon) and Rebirth 3: First Time (The Eternal Dungeon).
356 (1880 Clover): In response to pressure from the United Order of Prisons, Vovim's King declares that some crimes that were previously punished by death will now be punished by life imprisonment. The conditions under which Vovim's life prisoners are kept will eventually become the topic of heated international debate.
356, the fourth month (1880 Clover): Rebirth 4: In Training (The Eternal Dungeon).
356: the sixth month, but ending later than Rebirth 5 (1880 Clover): Rebirth 6: Tops and Sops (The Eternal Dungeon).
356, the tenth month (1880 Clover): Rebirth 5: As a Seeker (The Eternal Dungeon).
357, the sixth month (1880 Fallow): Transformation 1: Deception (The Eternal Dungeon).
357, the ninth month (1880 Fallow): Transformation 2: Twists and Turns (The Eternal Dungeon).
358 (1881 Barley): Tyrrell is born (Life Prison).
358, the sixth month (1881 Barley): Transformation 3: A Prisoner Has Need (The Eternal Dungeon) and Rain: Love (Life Prison).
359 (1881 Clover): Babaqi is born (Life Prison).
359, the third month (1881 Clover): Transformation 4: The Consultation (The Eternal Dungeon).
359, the fourth month (1881 Clover): The Balance 1: Truth and Lies (The Eternal Dungeon).
359, the sixth month (1881 Clover): The Balance 2: Barbarians (The Eternal Dungeon).
359, the eighth month (1881 Clover): Hunger (The Eternal Dungeon).
359, the tenth month (1881 Clover): Commoners' Festival (The Eternal Dungeon).
The 360s (1881–1884)
Events in the Midcoast nations: Trouble arises in Vovim between its mentally unstable King and his lords.
360 (1881 Fallow): Bainbridge starts the Commoners' Guild in Yclau. The guild becomes the focus of class unrest in that land. A dispute between the Vovimian King and the High Master of his Hidden Dungeon over prison reform issues causes political divisions in Vovim. The United Order of Prisons condemns the use of torture in the Eternal Dungeon.
360, the first month (1881 Fallow): Green Ruin (The Eternal Dungeon).
360, the fifth month (1881 Fallow): The Balance 3: Hidden (The Eternal Dungeon).
360, the sixth month (1881 Fallow): The Balance 4: Death Watch (The Eternal Dungeon), The Balance 5: Balladeer (The Eternal Dungeon), and On Guard (The Eternal Dungeon).
360, the seventh month (1881 Fallow): Wax (The Eternal Dungeon).
360, the eleventh month (1881 Fallow): Sweet Blood 1: Bonds (The Eternal Dungeon), flashbacks only, and The Whipping Post (The Eternal Dungeon).
361 (1882 Barley): Aldred Starke is born (Life Prison).
363, the fourth month (1882 Fallow): Sweet Blood 1: Bonds (The Eternal Dungeon) and Sweet Blood 2: Searching (The Eternal Dungeon).
363, the tenth month (1882 Fallow): Sweet Blood 3: Split (The Eternal Dungeon).
364 (1883 Barley): Ahiga and Farnam are born (Life Prison).
364, the fifth month (1883 Barley): Sweet Blood 4: Checkmate (The Eternal Dungeon).
364, the seventh month (1883 Barley): The Shining Ones (The Eternal Dungeon).
365 (1883 Clover): Thomas and Dorn are born (Life Prison). The admonishments of a young Vovimian prophet against the King and his advisers spark civil war in Vovim, causing the unofficial end of the Thousand Years' War between Vovim and Yclau. Major changes occur to life in the Eternal Dungeon.
365, the third month (1884 Clover): Sweet Blood 5: Truth and Trust (The Eternal Dungeon).
366 (1883 Fallow): Ulick and Shuji are born (Life Prison).
367 (1884 Barley): Hosobuchi is born (Life Prison).
368 (1884 Clover): Richard Medinger is born (Life Prison).
The 370s (1885–1888)
Events in the Midcoast nations: At the beginning of the decade, civil war continues to ravage Vovim. The Commoners' Guild grows in power in Yclau, sparking attempts by the Queen's government to oppress it. The guild spreads to Mip, whose democratic form of government encourages the commoners to demand equal rights. As a result of exciting events occurring in the surrounding nations, the Dozen Landsteads enter into a period of decline.
372, the sixth month (1885 Fallow): Torture (The Eternal Dungeon / Life Prison).
373 (1886 Barley): Gustav and Olumbo born (Life Prison).
375 (1886 Fallow): Llewellyn and Jahnsen are born (Life Prison). Partly in response to changes in the Eternal Dungeon, the Commoners' Guild in Yclau begins pressing for a new era of prison reform that takes into account class oppression. Vovim's civil war reaches its climax.
375, the third month (1886 Fallow): In the Silence (Life Prison).
376 (1887 Barley): After an initial period of anarchy that lasts into the following decade, the Vovimian government is gradually converted into an elective monarchy with a parliament. A period of peace begins in the Midcoast nations.
378, the fifth month (1887 Fallow): Rain: Hope (Life Prison / Commando).
The 380s (1888–1891 OC)
Events in the Midcoast nations: Crime increases throughout the Midcoast nations, resulting in a sharp increase
in life prisoners.
381 (1888 Fallow): Davidson is born (Life Prison).
385 (1890 Barley): The public receives its first hint of troubles in Mip's life prisons through an unsuccessful uprising at Compassion Prison. Beginning of the main plotline of the Life Prison series, which is set in Mip.
385, the third month (1890 Barley): Mercy's Prisoner 1: Life Prison (Life Prison).
385, the sixth month (1890 Barley): Coded Messages (Life Prison).
385, the seventh month (1890 Barley): Cell-mates (Life Prison).
385, the eleventh month (1890 Barley): Mercy's Prisoner 2: Men and Lads (Life Prison), flashbacks only.
The 390s (1891–1894)
Events in the Midcoast nations: As Vovim settles into peace, civil unrest increases in Yclau.
392 (1892 Clover): Yclau's Guild of Healers issues a report suggesting that more mid-class folk than in the past are engaging in vice and crime. Mid-class folk begin to join the commoners in urging Yclau's Queen to institute social reforms, particularly to the prison system.
393, the eleventh month (1892 Fallow): Mercy's Prisoner 2: Men and Lads (Life Prison) and Lord and Servant (Life Prison).
394 (1893 Barley): Archy is born (Michael's House).
395, the twelfth month (1893 Clover): Mercy's Prisoner 3: Milord (Life Prison).
399, the tenth month (1894 Fallow): Mercy's Prisoner 4: Isolation (Life Prison).
The 400s (1895–1898)
Events in the Midcoast nations: The Midcoast nations' democratic revolution, which started in Mip and Vovim, spreads to Yclau. The Dozen Landsteads refuse to take part in the revolution, continuing to adhere to its time-honored master/liegeman/servant system.
400 (1895 Barley): The first High Seeker's correspondence is published. The Commoners' Guild and its mid-class allies rise against the Queen of Yclau. The Eternal Dungeon is raided as part of the rebels' attack on the royal palace. The Yclau government is converted into a democracy. Yclau's life prisons are shut down. In Mip, troubles in the life prisons reach their peak.
400, the third month (1895 Barley): Mercy's Prisoner 5: Curious (Life Prison) and Hell's Messenger (Life Prison).
402 (1895 Fallow): As a result of troubles in Mip's life prisons that affect foreigners, the Dozen Landsteads declare war upon Mip. The Midcoast War begins, eventually involving all four of the Midcoast nations. The end of the war will cause increased ties between the three countries of the Tri-Nation area, to the exclusion of the Dozen Landsteads. Beginning of the main plotline of the Commando series, which is set in Mip and the Dozen Landsteads.
403, the seventh month (1896 Barley): Spy Hill (Commando).
The 410s to the 450s (1898–1915)
Events in the Midcoast nations: Vovim gradually accepts the industrial revolution that has already transformed life in Yclau and Mip. The slum problem that plagues those two countries spreads to Vovim. Social reformers turn their attention from the treatment of prisoners to the role of poverty in creating immorality and crime.
427, the fourth month (1904 Barley): Janus Roe is born (Michael's House).
427, the eighth month (1904 Barley): Michael is born (Michael's House).
428, the tenth month (1904 Clover): Hasan is born (Michael's House).
432 (1905 Fallow): Wyll Hicks is born (Michael's House).
434 (1906 Clover): Evan is born (Michael's House).
435 (1906 Fallow): Lann is born (Michael's House).
439, the fourth month (1908 Barley): Rain: Happiness (Michael's House).
448 (1911 Barley): Michael's House for Boys is founded in Vovim. It will soon attract the attention of social reformers in that land. Beginning of the main plotline of the Michael's House series, which is set in Vovim.
448, the eighth month (1911 Barley): Whipster 1: The New Boy (Michael's House).
449, the tenth month (1911 Clover): Whipster 2: Offstage (Michael's House).
450, the fourth month (1911 Fallow): Whipster 3: Blurred Lines (Michael's House).
451 (1912 Barley): Yclau, while retaining its democracy, restores its monarchy. In one of her first speeches, the new Queen proposes granting independence to the First Landstead, known by this time as the First District: the queendom's founding district. Citizens of the First District have become increasingly restive over centuries as Yclau culture has gradually diverged from the culture of the Dozen Landsteads. Returning self-government to the First Landstead would allow the First Landstead's government to re-ally itself with the Alliance of the Dozen Landsteads, the political body of the other eleven landsteads. The Queen's proposal includes provisions requiring the retention of certain aspects of Yclau culture in that territory, such as the queendom's advanced technology. The Dozen Landsteads react by forbidding nearly all cultural and technological imports from foreign nations, including the First Landstead. As a result, the society of the so-called upper landsteads is effectively frozen in the year 1912.
The sixth century (1928–1961)
Events in the Midcoast nations: Life in the Midcoast region is transformed by the First Landstead's development of the world's first optical computers in the 1930s. The Dozen Landsteads continue to adhere to 1912-era technology and culture.
548 (1944 Clover): Geoffrey Gray is born (Waterman).
564 (1949 Fallow): Variel is born (Waterman).
566 (1950 Clover): Benjamin Carruthers and Geoffrey Gray's youngest sister Candace (later nicknamed Daisy) are born (Waterman).
583 (1956 Barley): Geoffrey Gray becomes High Master of the Second Landstead (Waterman).
584 (1956 Clover): A Concise History of the Dozen Landsteads is published (Waterman).
584, the fourth month (1956 Clover, Spring Childhood week): M. Carruthers – son of Benjamin and Daisy Carruthers, nicknamed Carr – and Bat are born (Waterman).
584, the ninth month (1956 Clover, Autumn Waning week): Meredith is born (Waterman).
585 (1956 Fallow): Sally is born (Waterman).
586 (1957 Barley): Honey Tillbury, Foster, and Pembroke are born (Waterman).
587 (1957 Clover): Kit Sutcliff is born (Waterman).
595, the sixth month (1960 Barley, Summer Transformation week): Rain: Joy (Waterman).
The seventh century (1961–1995)
Events in the Midcoast nations: Yclau, Vovim, and Mip have become scientifically advanced, drawing upon technology developed in the First Landstead. At the start of the century, the upper landsteads of the Dozen Landsteads remain culturally frozen in the year 451 (1912 Barley).
601 (1962 Barley, Summer Transformation week): AI (Waterman).
602 (1962 Clover): The centuries-long battle between the watermen of the Dozen Landsteads intensifies, centering upon the rivalry between the Second Landstead (on the Western Shore) and the Third Landstead (on the Eastern Shore). Beginning of the main plotline of the Waterman series, which is set in the Dozen Landsteads.
602, the second month (1962 Clover, Spring Transformation week): Master and Servant 1: The Abolitionist (Waterman).
602, the ninth month (1962 Clover, Autumn Waning week): Master and Servant 3: Unmarked (Waterman).
603, the second month (1962 Fallow, Spring Death week): Queue (Waterman).
603, the fifth month (1962 Fallow, Summer Waning week): Lost Haven (Waterman).
The eighth century (1995–2029)
Events in the Midcoast nations: The unimaginable future.
723, the ninth month (2002 Fallow): Psychologists with Whips: A History of the Eternal Dungeon is published (The Eternal Dungeon).
748, the first month (2011 Barley): Broken (The Eternal Dungeon).
o—o—o
o—o—o
o—o—o
=== Back matter ===
AUTHOR'S WEBSITE, BLOG, E-MAIL LIST, AND CONTACT INFORMATION
For Dusk Peterson's e-books, free fiction, and series resources, please visit:
duskpeterson.com
For notices of new fiction, please subscribe to the updates e-mail list or blog feed: <
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You can friend/fan/follow Dusk Peterson at these social networks:
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Author's contact information:
duskpeterson.com/#contact
E-BOOKS BY DUSK PETERSON
All of the e-book series listed below are available at major e-bookstores and at:
duskpeterson.com
Turn-of-the-Century Toughs
Tough (noun): a tough and violent man; a street ruffian; a trouble-maker.
Turn-of-the-Century Toughs is a cycle of alternate history series about adults and youths on the margins of society, and the people who love them. Set in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the novels and stories take place in an alternative version of America that was settled by inhabitants of the Old World in ancient times. As a result, the New World retains certain classical and medieval customs.
Waterman. How can a youth from a bay island boarding school survive when he is sent to a futuristic prison? ¶ Waterman is a speculative fiction series set in an alternative version of the Chesapeake Bay region during the 1910s and during the future as it was envisioned in the 1960s.
Life Prison. They are imprisoned until death, and their lives cannot get worse . . . or so they think. But when an unlikely alliance forms against their captors, the reformers risk losing what little comforts they possess. ¶ Life Prison is a speculative fiction series about male desire and determination in nineteenth-century prisons.
Commando. The nautical nation is backed by the military might of an empire. The mountainous republic is populated by farmers and shopkeepers, and it has no standing army. The nautical nation is about to make the mistake of attacking the mountainous republic. ¶ Commando is a speculative fiction series that imagines what the South African Boer War could have been like if it had been fought on American soil.
Michael's House. In a world where temples are dying and sacred theaters have been replaced by brothels, what will happen when a hard-headed businessman joins forces with an idealist? ¶ Michael's House is a speculative fiction series set in a Progressive Era slum.
The Eternal Dungeon. In a cool, dark cavern, guarded by men and by oaths, lies a dungeon in which prisoners fearfully await the inevitable. The inevitable will be replaced by the unexpected. ¶ The Eternal Dungeon is a speculative fiction series set in a nineteenth-century prison where the psychologists wield whips.
Dark Light. Only in the dark can one truly see the light. ¶ Dark Light presents short reads from Turn-of-the-Century Toughs.
Turn-of-the-Century Toughs series resources.
The Three Lands
He vowed himself to his god. Now the god is growing impatient . . .
The Three Lands is a fantasy series on friendship, romantic friendship, romance, and betrayal in times of war and peace. The series is inspired by conflicts between nations during the Roman Empire and the Dark Ages.
The Three Lands. Koretia, Emor, and Daxis were all founded on the same day, but as the centuries have passed, the Three Lands of the Great Peninsula have become increasingly divided by religion, government, and culture. Koretians worship many gods, Daxions worship one goddess, and Emorians revere only their law. Emorians claim that Koretians are vicious and superstitious, Koretians think that Daxions are vile oath-breakers, and Daxions charge that Emorians abuse their children and slaves.
If a god were to appear in the Three Lands, would his appearance bring an end to the fighting between nations? Or would he merely help to spark an inferno of war?
As the inhabitants of the Three Lands struggle to adjust to the appearance of an unexpected visitor into the human world, two people will play crucial roles in the conflict. One is a young Emorian – clever, courageous, and affectionate – who will come to understand the Koretians with a depth and intimacy that few others of his land can match. The second person is a young Koretian whom the Emorian will seek to destroy.
The Three Lands series resources.
CREDITS
Editors: K. M. Frontain and Tracy Shaw.
Editorial assistants: Kay Derwydd, Remy Hart, Kylara Ingress, Isha, Liz, and Ashley Luloff.
Proofreaders: Clare London, Sara Spenadel, and Jo/e Noakes.
Costume consultant: Elizabeth McCollum.
Cover photography, cover design, and interior design: Dusk Peterson.
Bat icon: Trick or Treat 2.0 freeware font by Jess Latham. (c) 2009 Blue Vinyl Fonts (bvfonts.com).
Rebirth (The Eternal Dungeon, Volume 1) Page 28
