Field Notes from Dar es Salaam — Behind the Scenes Sira — the path that was always meant for your feet. There are words that stop you mid-sentence when you first hear them. Sira. Kiswahili for biography — but not the kind you find in a library. Not chronology, not curriculum vitae. The path itself,…
Tag: women
The Memory Cartographer
The Alkebulan Chronicles — Book V is published The Memory Cartographer · Book V · Part I. The Mauritanian desert, a ruined well, gunfire, and a pack of wolves materialising out of the dark. Elena is running. She is also, as it happens, four months pregnant. One by one they emerge — fantastic shapes, silver…
The Memory Cartographer
Book V Part I The Alkebulan Chronicles The car rattles to a gentle stop, dust swirling in the late-day sun. Beyond the windshield: the barren edge of the border crossing, a horizon line between worlds. Karim turns to me, expression suddenly serious. “Elena. From here on, you’ll need to pose as my wife.” I arch…
The Goldfall Chronicles
Excerpt Book IV – Part III Elena Delange is back in London. What happens next, she did not see coming. The room freezes. Every eye flicks to my silk blouse, where delicate streaks of gold crawl down from my breasts, catching the overhead light. “You must be kidding me,” I snap. “Of all the moments,…
The Holographer’s Atlas
Jan ’98 The coast I knew turned green. The disco drum turned to doves. I put my bikini in a drawer and borrowed a fur coat. I learned the village map like a religion. My sunny frontline apartment became a big old house from before the war. Empty rooms make loud ghosts. My daughter stopped…
The Holographer’s Atlas
Swiebertje ’81 The first time I saw him I was ten, maybe eleven. Wild. Dark eyes. Long white mane. Tall in a way that made you reconsider your options. They said he wasn’t made for riding. I showed up anyway, with a saddle, a bridle, and no particular respect for what other people thought was…
The Memory Cartographer – Book X – Order Magic
First pages sneak peek Every Girl Born Knowing Years ago I wrote a column about a Global Birth Right Fund. The idea was simple and radical in equal measure: every girl born anywhere on earth enters the world with an economic right. A fund, seeded by women with money who were tired of reading about…
The Memory Cartographer – Book X – Order Magic
Another peek “Mr… Karimi, is it?” the deputy said, mispronouncing his name in a way that sounded practised. Karim smiled politely. “Close enough.” “We hear you’ve been very… helpful,” the cousin added. His suit fit a little too well not to have come from Budapest. “Showing people how to use our new toy.” “Our president’s…
The Memory Cartographer – Book X – Order Magic
Order Magic lives somewhere around Book 10 in The COMC Files. You’re not supposed to be here yet, but I’m bad at waiting—so here’s a harmless little scene of Karim annoying Hungarian bureaucracy without giving the real spoilers away. Chapter I – Érkezés Order Magic is the power of structure, stability, and cosmic law: the…
The Holographer’s Atlas
The Early Crown Benidorm / The Netherlands, 1990/91 I was walking through the garden of Arte when a waiter came to tell me there were girls asking for me. In the main hall stood Anja and Chantal, sunburned and peeling, backlit by the entrance. Arte sits past the discothèques, outside Benidorm proper — not the…
The Memory Cartographer 