Quibble, 54. Between

A moment not a moment, a depth and limbo of everything that is not. A choice for you, dear reader.

54. Between

Not-there. A limbo between elsewhere and nowhere. A rushing apart, a rushing together. You exist and do not exist. You are not a body but a glory of light. And then you are there, you have a body.

Not-time. Endless never, a bottomless depth of forever, a moment not a moment. An eternity you do not live, outside life. And then you live.

Not-thought. Nothing that cannot be thought of. Everything that is not. Yet none of it, not this or that. Nothing yourself, behold the nothing not there.

Try again.

Not-thought, not-time, not-there. You rush apart, you are not, you never were. A moment not a moment, a depth and limbo of everything that is not. You are the nothing not there, nowhere. You do not exist. You are elsewhere, between. You are an eternity outside life, not a body. You are bottomless, endless, forever, never. You are a glory of light. Yet you are not this or that. You are none of it, nothing yourself. And then you are there, you rush together, you exist, you have a body, you live, you are, you always were.

Behold yourself.

Now, try again: there, not-there, there.

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rem

“Between” borrows phrases from the final stanza of Wallace Stevens’s gorgeous poem “The Snow Man,” first published in the journal Poetry in 1921.

Reading On…

We’re at the two-thirds mark in the telling of Quibble. Now, all of my characters are starting to face stark choices, commitments to fate.

And you face a choice, too, dear reader. “Between” is the last chapter provided in full for free. If you want to read the rest of Quibble, it’s time to get a paying subscription.¹ Until June 30th, I’m offering a 20% discount on both annual and monthly subscription plans. Take your pick!

Where is Quibble’s story going? All kinds of intriguing places…

• Among the Far — nomadic, polytheistic, Iron Age people — Alnasl meets ghosts of his forgotten past, and Quibble matches wits with a ruthless leader amassing a private army and hellbent on a reign of terror. But Quibble’s excellence is useless to her here. Who will stand with her against the Aht-nah’s whispering sword?

• As the forces of utter control bring war to the Eggs, Vega, Rasalased, and Aladfar unite Zeros and Ones in resistance. Time is short! Who will fight?

• Even as Definition reunites with her son, she’s called to lead the Adroit to war. Can she let go of the past and find a new purpose?

• Asuja, Lesath, and Algol play a game of feints, lies, and double-crosses. Who will prevail? And who will die for utter control?

• A desperate trek across the desert brings Quibble to an ancient city encased in a blanket of gossamer-glass. What secrets lie at the heart of Ahnk-nuh-qah-say, the ruins the Far call “the place of the frozen bones”?

• Quibble goes guerrilla on the Egg. At the final showdown, excelsiors face off over the fate of Zeros and Ones, Within and Without.

• Who are you, Numberless? Will your fate take you to the stars or the bottom of the sea?

With a paying subscription, you also get my reflections about the book. Through the end of the book, on which I’m most focused, I will publish one reflection a month, at least. I’m done with reflecting on theme. I’ve said enough about this; the novel has to do the rest. Future reflections will go in new directions.

With the first 54 chapters published, a body of 121,600 words is available for free to anyone who wants to read it. That’s longer than most novels, even many in the fantasy genre. All this will remain free for the foreseeable future.

I fervently hope you’ll read on!

Writing On…

I need a little time off before I plow ahead. So, nothing will arrive in subscribers’ inboxes next week but a reminder about the offer of 20% off. I’ll spend the time revising new chapters as well as a poem I newly wrote, and otherwise I’ll try to get something new out at Fool in the Woods, my memoir.

If you aren’t yet familiar with this fool’s ridiculous ramblings, you can read the first post here:

Pruning Muscadine

Or go ahead and subscribe:

Part 9, stop: Call for feedback

All the cards lie face-up on the table now. Quibble knows her foe, all the stakes of the age-old feud between kindness and control, why the wily Vega is a lady of kindness. Quibble has learned the full horror of her world just in time to be too late.

As much as embarking on a dystopia, hanging a story’s workings on secrets and lies is tricky, risky business. With dystopia, you risk readers rolling their eyes in disbelief at the world you’re creating. With a plot of secrets and lies, you risk readers rolling their eyes again and saying, “If only these people had a totally honest conversation, they’d have no problems with each other and they could band together!”

Of course, life isn’t that simple. Character comes into the equation. With it comes unclear motives, mistrust, and misunderstandings. People are patchworks of loyalties and lies. They come with conflicts, but they don’t come with training manuals.

What do you think of the deceptions in the plot, so far? Do they work for you in light of who the characters are? Or have you rolled your eyes at them?

rem

One is welcome to comment.

rem

1. If you continue as a free sub, you will still get new chapters by email, but now they’ll have paywalls in them. Once the whole novel is released, I’ll continue to write at Singular Dream, but I’ll shift gears and do something new.