The Chimera Crusade - Prologue

Here is a draft of the first page of the novel that I am working on:

- PROLOGUE -

"Zingot, one of the sleepers is wondering about us . . . thinking beyond a dream. He is curious as a cat and I suppose that he may visit us tonight. Let us prepare to greet him, shall we?"

The voice that spoke was deep and threatening, which betrayed the hospitable verbiage. However, all of the proper grammar was lost on Zingot, who did as little thinking as possible. But Zingot did get the gist of the message and rolled away ringing his hand bell and dripping ice cream in the corridor as he went. As he did so, rats in crisp red tunics came out of tiny doors in the baseboard and cleaned the ice cream off of the floor and then just as swiftly disappeared again - leaving no trace.

The Head took no notice of the ice cream, the bell ringing, or the rats. He was pensive. With eyes closed, his massive and distorted head and tiny body shuffled slowly back to his chambers.

The Head was just that, an immense head with little legs and arms that extended beneath him. His body was completely hidden by his chin and jaw. The Head always wore a suit - either black or pinstripe gray - with black patent leather shoes. His shirts were always plain white but all you could see were the cuffs. Presumably, he wore a black tie but that was hidden deep beneath the fleshy recesses of his neck. His skin was normally a pallid gray-green. However, he had a chameleon-like ability to change his flesh color. The Head was bald, with the exception of an odd stub of hair now and then, as though a mostly bald man had been caught in a fire and had his few remaining hairs seared off. His eyebrows were a little fuller but still mangy.

At the top of his head was a prominent and disconcerting fissure, which ran across the center from front to back. The fissure appeared old and weathered, as did the whole head, with many lines, cracks and scars - like an ancient whale that had won numerous battles with whaling ships. The shape of the skull under the skin was easily recognizable and were it not for the fleshy eyelids, lips and bulbous nose, his head might easily be mistaken for a skull. Particularly since The Head had only holes where his ears should have been. Oddly, his hearing was quite acute.

* * *

Zingot rolled around a corner into another older corridor, the ice cream cone was gone but the evidence still could be seen on his hands and face. Zingot did not mind the stickiness or the pink, for it had been strawberry - his favorite - and it just made him appear sillier than normal, if that were possible.

Zingot's head was cone shaped with the pointed end up. He had two tufts of bright orange hair sticking up above each ear. His ears were large and pointy. His eyes were black and beady, and were always crossed, so that you could never be sure where he was looking or whether or not he was focused on anything at all. He never stopped grinning but he did not exactly look happy. He wore a one-piece purple suit with a puffy yellow collar that went around his neck like a donut. Down the front of his suit were three large yellow buttons. Where his feet should have been, there were smooth red rubber tires with bright yellow hubs. In his left hand, he frequently carried a brass hand bell, which he rang incessantly as he rolled madly through the corridors of The Head's Governor Mansion.

With sticky pink face and hands, Zingot reached the scriptorium in the deepest level beneath the mansion, crashing and ringing through its chamber doors.

Seething with anger from the dark shadows, the hooded scribe gnashed his teeth, "Quiet, you noisy fool!"

Zingot took no notice of the vicious tones but rather was distracted from his bell ringing by the flickering candles, incense and general air of mystery in those austere and dank rooms. Even the red-tuniced rats did not enter there.

"Why are you here, you idiot?" Kreen, a Skolex scribe, spit the words at Zingot as he spoke.

Barely remembering The Head's orders, Zingot began babbling in his squeaky voice about preparations, papers and solemn contracts. At least that was what Kreen unscrambled from Zingot's ramblings.

“Yes. This is what we have been waiting for.” Skolex hissed. “We will be ready.”

Zingot nodded his head vigorously. Though without the least understanding – he was simply caught up in the drama of something new.

More to come . . .

Sheaffer Balance Fountain Pen

Sheaffer Balance with a Lifetime fine point nib: This pen is my best writer - it is currently filled with Noodler's Marine Green - but I rarely use it because I'm afraid I might break it. However, I'm not writing another review of this pen, I just wanted to post this picture because I like it.

Teddy Roosevelt

Recently I was looking through some very old sketch books and most of what I saw made me cringe - why was I storing so much of this junk? But I found a few drawings that I had forgotten about and was pleased to see again. This is one of them. It is a small pencil drawing made more dramatic by an inked background. The actual sketch is surrounded by several pen & ink doodles, which I edited out after I scanned it.

I remember at the time I was reading an outstanding biography of Roosevelt by Edmund Morris.

Kyoto True Writer

The Kyoto version of the True Writer was offered at the Levenger Outlet on eBay at a too-good-to-pass-up price. And, since this was a pen that I had my eye on for quite awhile, I picked it up.

Reading the description of the pen, it struck me that the pen must look better in person than the photos can relate. And, it was true. I think the photos make the pen look rather blah. In person, the pen is strikingly rich in color. Levenger catalog pictures of the Kyoto discs for the Circa system give a more accurate sense of the depth and variety of color.

True Writer Inspiration

This is a photo of an Esterbrook Fountain Pen for sale on eBay. I have seen pictures of Esterbrooks before but not from this angle. It looks surprisingly like my obsidian black True Writer.

Since Levenger is new to producing/distributing fountain pens, I have often wondered what pen inspired the design of the True Writer. I can't imagine a closer match than this.

Update: A friend of mine recently answered this question for me. From a link on Levenger's pen page, there is a history of the development of the True Writer and they were inspired by the Esterbrook. By the way, there is a lot of good general information about pens there - recommended reading.

Sheaffer Feather Touch

For our anniversary my wife gave me a Shaeffer Feather Touch fountain pen, which is about 70 years old. Even so, it is in extremely good shape and obviously was not used much in all of that time. The color is a striated tiger-eye. It is shorter and thicker than my Shaeffer Lifetime, which is grey striated. The bladder and lever work like new - or as I imagine it new - since I am 20 years younger than the pen. Ink flow is as sensitive and easy as these Shaeffers are renowned for. However, I think the tines are slightly mis-aligned because it is just a bit scratchy. It is such a fine pen and came at a very reasonable price that it will be well worth sending it in for a nib alignment.

Harbor Journals

For my Lenten discipline I went out and bought a new leather journal.

Yes, I know what that sounds like for a guy who can never get enough of using pen and paper - sounds like the opposite of discipline and more like the complete absence of self-control! Well, maybe you are right but it seemed like a good way to keep track of my prayers and devotions through Lent. Many years ago before I re-discovered fountain pens, I started using Moleskin journals for note taking. And since I am a phlegmatic who easily gets comfortable with one way of doing things, I kept buying Moleskin journals even though they have a tendency to repel and feather ink from fountain pens. I love the size, shape and construction of Moleskin journals with a ribbon, pocket and band but they frustrate the use of most of my fountain pens.

This became really obvious after buying my journal recently for Lent. I found a dark brown leather journal from Harbor/Gallery Leather of Trenton, Maine. The fact it is American made (printed in Korea and bound in the US) was almost reason enough to buy it. Writing in it was what really made me take notice. I didn't start with even the remotest thought of writing a review. However, while writing I was struck by how smooth my pen felt (True Writer Med pt) and how rich and deep the color was. The strokes had clean edges. Then I recalled the number of reviews of ink, paper and journals in Inkophile, and realized why she focuses as much time on ink and paper as she does pens. In fact, not to covet my neighbor's blog, but she has some outstanding reviews of ink and journals posted now.

Since True Writers write well on most paper, I tried some of the pens that I have had more trouble with, such as Libelle, and they wrote nicely in the Harbor Journal also. So, I think that I am done with Moleskin journals and I am going to start paying much closer attention to paper. At any rate, I highly recommend the Harbor Journals. The Harbor journal has narrow ruling, a ribbon, sewn bound in genuine leather, which smells great.

Another leather bound journal that I have been pleased with - the paper looks, feels and responds much like the Harbor journals - is a black bonded leather journal from "Colorbok" of Dexter, Michigan. That journal was made in Korea. It has a sewn binding and a ribbon. However, I received the Colorbok journal a couple of years ago and I don't see any leather journals on their website now. Both journals lay flat fairly well.