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Refugium

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  1. Refugium
    Oklahoma! – the first collaboration of one of the great teams of musical comedy writing, Rodgers and Hammerstein – was revolutionary in its tight integration of music and dance into the story. But just how revolutionary some of the creators’ ideas were has been revealed by the recent discovery of script drafts that never got past the table-reading stage. An original cast member (a male dancer) provided these fragments to a friend of mine in New York City, with the cover note: “Hope this gives yo
  2. Refugium
    The Tempest, Act I Scene 2 CALIBAN No, pray thee. Aside I must obey: his art is of such power, It would control my dam's god, Setebos, and make a vassal of him. PROSPERO So, slave; hence! Exit CALIBAN to the side with MIRANDA CALIBAN Well, my beauty? How did the show please you? Was I uncouth and crude, savage enough? MIRANDA Too loud! If Father heard you speaking so--
  3. Refugium
    In The Tempest by that Shakespeare guy, Prospero and Ariel are, of course, in a Daddy-boy relationship, but what if Caliban and Miranda had a secret affair when they were younger?
  4. Refugium
    In such works as L. Illis's paper "On Porphyria and the Etiology of Werewolves" (Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, January 1964) and biochemist David Dolphin's 1985 paper for the American Association for the Advancement of Science, "Porphyria, Vampires, and Werewolves: The Etiology of European Metamorphosis Legends", speculation was raised that cases of porphyria, a complex metabolic disease which can manifest in a number of different forms, may have fueled folklore about werewolves
  5. Refugium
    Parody lyrics to the tune of "Perfidia" based on the speculation that cases of porphyria may have fueled legends of vampires and werewolves.
  6. Refugium
    There's a book by Alexander Heidel, "The Gilgamesh Epic and Old Testament Parallels," 1949, detailing many similarities. The parallels are so close that nothing short of one influencing the other or at least both having common origins can explain them. One of my favorites is Ecclesiastes 9:7-9:10, which is almost exactly Siduri's advice to Gilgamesh.
  7. Refugium
    Ishtar (Inanna in Sumerian) is a corker, all right. She's clearly related to Astarte and other Near Eastern goddesses of that ilk, and more distantly to Aphrodite, but there is an element of Divine Mother Kali in her, too.
  8. Refugium
    The world's oldest known epic poem is a story of the love of two men. This is my take on the Epic of Gilgamesh, in brief.
  9. Refugium
    Gilgamesh was a king of the city-state of Uruk in ancient Sumer between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. A number of stories about Gilgamesh have been found in Sumerian. In Babylonian times, a scribe collected the stories and fused them into a continuous narrative, the Epic of Gilgamesh. It was widely known until the early years of the Common Era, when it was lost; then it was re-discovered in the 19th century in the library of the King of Assyria. The Epic can seem meandering and difficult to a
  10. Refugium
    The crowd in Pete’s Saloon is changing from people coming in to eat to people coming in to drink. The wait staff turn up the lights inside as the light outside fades. Eddie continues, “A few months later there’s a knock at our front door. I open it and there’s Joseph, hat in hand, his fingers working on the brim, very nervous about showing up at a white family’s house. He says, ‘Good afternoon. My name is Joseph Gautier. Would it be possible for me to speak to Mister Walter Hanson, please?' So f
  11. Refugium
    Eddie stops and drinks some water. He’s been looking at me intently through this whole story, but now he’s looking down for the first time since he started. I don’t know what to say, where to start. So I say the obvious. “Your Uncle Walter was gay.” “Yep,” he says. “Uncle Walter was gay. Most of the guys at Pete’s weren’t. They just liked to step lively and blow off some steam, maybe keep in practice until the great day when they had enough money to court a girl.” “Most of them,” I say
  12. Refugium
    I hope you still like it after Part 3 -- some bitter gets mixed in with the sweet. I'll be posting Part 3 on Friday and Part 4 (the last chapter) on Saturday.
  13. Refugium
    For an old guy, Eddie had a respectable appetite, and no problem with his teeth. We didn’t talk much until he had mostly finished his steak and I was about done with my fish and chips. Nibbling one last French fry, I said, “So, Eddie. You seemed to be hinting at a bigger story.” Eddie searched the ceiling. “The bigger story is my Uncle Walter, Grandpa’s youngest son. He had moved away to Seattle to work in a bank, and my grandfather considered that a bit of a betrayal. Such a rebel, right?
  14. Refugium
    A romance suggested by the song "Waltzing with Bears," a song by Dale Marxen adapted from the Dr. Seuss song of the same name. Although the "present day" of the story is 2011, the events related in it take place in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s.
  15. Refugium
    I spent a lot of 2011 hunting. The Pacific Northwest used to be a wild place, but don’t worry, I only did the kind of cutthroat hunting that everyone does here now -- house-hunting. The prices were ridiculous even in the recession and they have exploded since then. But I’m one of the people that everyone hates, one of the people driving up prices, one of the lucky ones who can pay cash for any house I want. Fortunes were once made in lumber and mining in the West. The new robber barons were
  16. Refugium
    Owen’s Pharmacy prospered in Eleanor Aiken Owen’s hands. The women of Franklin, led by a core of those who had sewn Ellie’s wedding dress, came to believe that the shocking death of young Mister Owen was somehow the fault of a conspiracy led by the Woodworths and Doc Lawson against the Aikens in general and Ellie in particular. They decided to patronize Owen’s Pharmacy as much as possible, and had the satisfaction of viewing each purchase as an act of political defiance. This same group of
  17. Refugium

    The Other Side

    Refugium commented on Refugium's story chapter in The Other Side

    Prepare for more surprises.
  18. Refugium

    The Other Side

    Refugium commented on Refugium's story chapter in The Other Side

    Oh, I don't write for Hallmark. --Any more.
  19. Refugium

    The Other Side

    Refugium posted new chapter in Confluence

    Mrs. Oglivy stopped and put her hands on her knees as she caught her breath. The figure of Doctor Layne receded ahead. “Don’t try to match his pace, Sarah,” she said to herself. “You’ll be no good to anyone if you show up dead.” ************************** As if fleeing a battle, Layne ran without thinking -- over bridges, to the West Village, and down to the confluence of the Winnipesaukee and Pemigewasset, where the Merrimack begins. Mrs. Ogilvy was far behind him. He was in a na
  20. Refugium
    Patience, patience.
  21. Refugium
    The chief of police, after investigating the fire at the Winnepesaukee Paper Mill, concluded that it was accidental, caused by the superheating of bleach. He dismissed the Aikens’ suggestions of arson. The chief of police was a good friend of Elias Woodworth. ******************************** The night before the wedding, Owen appeared at Layne’s door. “I guess this is the last time,” he said. Layne slumped into a chair and covered his face with his hands. He shook his head.
  22. Refugium

    Skirmishes

    Refugium posted new chapter in Confluence

    Elias Woodworth slammed his fist down on his desk, sending a paperweight rolling. His son Jeremiah winced slightly before resuming a placid expression. “You worthless weasel! Millstone around my neck!” Elias shouted as he stood. “How much have you cost me this time?” “It won’t be so bad,” Jeremiah said evenly. “And anyway it wasn’t my fault. She trapped me with her feminine wiles.” Elias paced around the room. “Feminine wiles, is it? She’s fifteen years old!” “Well, you sugge
  23. Refugium

    Chapter 2

    Refugium commented on Refugium's story chapter in Chapter 2

    It is wonderful to have in common a rich tradition of literary devices from which we can all draw, isn't it?
  24. Refugium

    The Fourth of July

    Refugium posted new chapter in Confluence

    The sun had sunk below the horizon and the light was dimming quickly as Dr. Layne arrived at the Falls. He scanned the shore but saw no sign of Owen. He sat on a boulder and checked his watch. He heard a splash and then a soft “Win!” Looking at the pool at the base of the falls, he saw Owen’s head bobbing in the water, hair plastered down. “Come in!” Owen called quietly. “Isn’t it cold?” “Nah, it’s not cold.” Layne looked around, saw and heard no one, undressed, folded h
  25. Refugium

    The Shop Opens

    Refugium commented on Refugium's story chapter in The Shop Opens

    What a great photo, drsawzall!
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