4.1 Boys and Dolls “He who is not allowed to sit begins to understand the weight of every step.” — The Great Pmurttii 1951, New York, Brooklyn A cramped back office, full of papers, files, and rent books. The air was thick with cigarette smoke, dust, and the dry heat of a boiler somewhere deep in the building. A wooden desk sat against the wall. Victor Kane’s father was on the phone. Young Victor Kane sat cross-legged on...

Part Three: Towering Problems 3.1 Four-Star StableWhen Harris awoke in the stables, he was startled to find himself lying on a stone floor, wrapped in his own coat. It had not all been a dream; after all, they had crossed through an archway into another land. He looked across the stable and saw that the pile of straw where Victor Kane had spent the night was empty. His employer was never a man for sleeping, judging by the...

Prologue: The Mad King of Manhattan Francis Close Hall Institute for Psychiatric Medicine - New York. After twenty years as a homicide detective in the New York Police Department, Gabriel Devlin thought he had seen everything. In this case he was not so sure. The corridor outside the cell smelled faintly of disinfectant. “That’s him,” said the doctor. “The King himself.” Devlin looked through the peephole in the door and...

Chapter Two: Arrival This wasn’t a purchase. It was an inheritance of problems. jkr 2.1 No transition. Auction Room. New York Her husband wasn’t known for having a sense of humor. The thought landed heavily on Katrina Kane as she stood staring at the archway, from which moments before Victor Kane and his assistant Harris had vanished right in front of her eyes. She stepped back; her eyes fixed on it at the end of the corr...

Chapter 1: Victor Kane’s WorldKane Tower – 60th Floor Victor Kane did not read newspapers. This was not so much a principle, but a condition of his life. Anything of consequence was brought to him and reduced and rearranged into a condition that required no effort on his part. To him, reading meant uncertainty, and he had long ago removed uncertainty from his affairs. For this reason, when his assistant, Harris, laid a ne...

Chapter 1: The First Stroke “We should garrison Mars in order to protect ourselves.” Lord Salisbury, 58 Anno Reginae (1895 in the old style.) Her majesty’s martian colony: New Victoria in the crown colony of Hellas. 81 Anno Reginae. (1917) I, Gordon Arthur, have set these words to paper, as much as memory will let, years of twisting memories have made these events more like dreams. I cannot be certain what befell us on th...

Liverpool Lime Street train station, nestled in the heart of the city, pulsed with an undercurrent that was felt rather than seen. A grandiose edifice of Victorian ambition, its arched roof and labyrinthine platforms masked an eldritch resonance that only the sensitive could perceive. By daylight, it was a bustling hub of transit, but as dusk descended, the station’s true nature unfurled in subtle, sinister whispers. Magg...

Chapter 1 Once upon a time, in a quaint little village nestled at the foot of a majestic mountain, there lived a man named Benjamin. Benjamin was not like the other villagers; he possessed a unique ability that set him apart. You see, Benjamin could only walk backwards. From the moment he took his first steps as a child, Benjamin realized that he couldn't move forward like everyone else. His legs would refuse to cooperate...

Chapter 1 Once upon a time, in a far-off galaxy, there was a young star named Evan. Evan was the brightest star in his constellation and had always been admired by those around him. He shone with such brilliance that even the darkest corners of the universe were illuminated by his light. Despite all this, Evan was unhappy. He looked at himself in the mirror, or rather, in the cosmic dust clouds that surrounded him, and sa...

Chapter 1 Once upon a time, in the small village of Chiseldon, Wiltshire, there was a strange occurrence happening. The sun was shining bright, and unicorns were seen galloping through the streets. At first, it seemed like a dream come true for the villagers, but as days went by, they realized that something was off. People began disappearing without a trace. Their loved ones searched high and low, but there was no sign o...

It was a quiet night in the village of Chiseldon, a small and unremarkable spot on the outskirts of Swindon. The clerk, Jack, was counting the cash register and getting ready to close the p shop. He looked forward to a peaceful evening, playing darts down the pub and maybe cracking open a beer. But little did he know that a dark horror was about to descend upon him and his humble village. As Jack was locking up the front...

Karl had been a concentration camp guard during the Second World War. He was known for his cruelty and brutality towards the prisoners, and he took pleasure in their suffering. But when the war ended and he was captured, his life took a strange and unexpected turn. The survivors of the concentration camp had decided that Karl deserved a punishment that was fitting for his crimes. They had hired a powerful witch to cast a...

Chapter One: Boris woke up one morning to find that his head had been replaced with a beehive. He couldn't believe his eyes as he tried to scream, but only a faint buzzing sound escaped his lips. Boris clawed at his face, trying to remove the hive, but the bees were too powerful, too alive. They swarmed around him, stinging him, and warning him to accept his fate. Boris had always known that something like this would happ...

K woke up to find himself in a small, cramped cage. He had no memory of how he had ended up there or how long he had been there. The cage was made of metal bars that were tightly spaced together, and he could feel the hard floor beneath him. He tried to push the door of the cage open, but it was locked tight. He screamed for help, but there was no one to hear him. He felt trapped and alone, like he was the last person on...

 In the nightno way outat how many harboursthe lost mancome singing.In a different lightthe sailorseeks the road backtrying to remember.