Shape, a poem

Shape

I really don’t exist,
I’m merely an illusion
I imagined once,
a moment of confusion.

Each forgotten face
is held up for inspection;
every mirror holds
its own fun-house reflection.

I looked into a room
with my name on the door,
but found that it was empty — 
who was there before?

Memories of morning
mist obscure tomorrow,
whisper who I’ll be,
illusions I might borrow.

Am I just the shape
I saw once in a cloud?
The wind took but a moment
to wrap me in its shroud.

Stephen Brooke ©2026

Two is Ridiculous

In his late-career novel ‘The Gods Themselves,’ Isaac Asimov mentions the ‘ridiculous’ idea of two universes — and two only — existing; that is, if more than one universe exists, then almost certainly infinite universes exist. So any ‘multiverse’ is probably an ‘infiniverse.’

That concept underlies the bulk of my fantasy novels, those that make up the Izan Cycle, but we have no way of knowing — and most likely never will — whether infinity actually exists or is purely a concept and things can be infinite only in potential. Of course, if infinity exists then god (in the broadest sense) would exist, and vice versa. God could be nothing less than infinite and that which is truly infinite must be god. But that’s getting off the subject.

And, again, impossible to prove one way or another (and likely to remain so). Other authors have explored multiverse ideas, some infinite, some not. Pratchett liked to play with the idea of everything existing somewhere. Others, such as Zelazny and Moorcock, set up a tension between two poles (chaos and order, heaven and hell, or whatever you might prefer) and a spread of worlds between them (which would be a constraint of sorts on infinite existence).

In my Izan novels, that tension is between being and non-being, existence and the void. And, of course, non-being doesn’t actually exist. I mean, there’s nothing there, right? But it is still possible to set up a struggle between the two, that which strives to exist and that which wishes to escape it (which is not possible, to be sure). ‘Good’ is that which serves existence — including, but not limited to, life.

Slipping into philosophical stuff there again, aren’t I? I probably wouldn’t write at all if I couldn’t tuck that sort of thing into the stories from time to time, though it is not my main motivation. There are much more mundane, more human, matters one can go on about. The ‘big’ questions may be safely left to lurk in the background. I just give them a nod of acknowledgment now and again.

Raskolinikov

Rodion Raskolinikov, the central character of Dostoevsky’s ‘Crime and Punishment,’ deludes himself into believing that he is a superior man and can use others as he will. Yes, he is also impoverished and resentful, but that is the central idea around which the author builds his story. Obviously, Dostoevsky disapproved of that sort of mindset, which had a certain popularity among the intelligentsia of his time — and still does. We see the same ideas put forth by men such as Thiel and Musk, people whose hubris leads them to think they know what is best for mankind* and who should be sacrificed for their goals.

Raskolinikov is redeemed but I fear his modern real life counterparts will never be. I’m not a fan, I’ll admit, of Dostoevsky’s moralizing and unrealistic ‘realism,’ but I’m in agreement with his central point. Even if he does bludgeon us with it almost as much as his main character bludgeons the pawn broker with his axe.

*I, of course, always argue that ‘mankind’ does not exist except as a vague concept. Only individual men and women are real.

Hermit, a poem

Hermit

The hermit escapes loneliness
by seeing no other humans.

In his monkish solitude
the world is forgotten.

Might I someday be no longer
reminded of you and me?

The wilderness calls me to it;
the high mountains rise in the distance.

Stephen Brooke ©2026

yeah, that T'ang poetry influence shows up again

Menu Tanka

this from Column A
some of that from Column B
a balanced diet

and a balanced life is found
on both sides of the menu

Stephen Brooke ©2026

pretty much in the shape of a tanka 

Silk Road

I’m currently reading a history of the Silk Road, the caravan route across central Asia. My protagonists travel that route in the novel ‘Wilk,’ set shortly after the First World War. Through most of history the more southerly route across the Tarim Basin was more used, as it was safer, albeit a more arduous route. By the time of my story, concerns for bandits and other human dangers had greatly decreased so I sent Jean Wilk and his companions to China via the northern route, through the Dzungarian Gap.

Why? Lower mountains, mostly. Getting their truck or airplanes across the pass into Sinkiang would have been difficult, if not impossible. I’ve learned since the roads were very sandy along that way, as well, making them largely unsuitable for wheeled traffic. That was probably pretty much as true in 1919 as it had been in centuries earlier.

So I made the proper choice there, sending men, truck, and, yes, a couple disassembled aircraft north on the railway from Tashkent and then east into China. That journey is far from being the entire novel but makes up a decent portion of it.

 

Qala/Tes

Qala the Pirate Queen appears in four of my (Stephen Brooke’s) fantasy novels. She was introduced as a secondary character in ‘The Eyes of the Wind,’ in which she is still the leader of the pirates. ‘The Crocodile’s Son’ and ‘The Crocodile God’ chronicle her adventures in retirement as a member of the landed gentry (and the mother of a demigod). We turn to her childhood as a refugee in the decaying city of Tesra in ‘The City and the Sword,’ when she was known as Lellie. Later she took the name of the city as her own, becoming Tes the pirate captain before rising to the position of queen.

 

It is as Tes she appears in the novella ‘Storm Stone,’ to be released in about a month (June 28). This is a tale of her days as a young pirate on her way to the top. All the books are available in print or as free ebooks at arachispress.com