The First Bait of the Innocent Wormwood looked much the same as I had left it before I had slept.  I was wearing only my shirt and pants.  My socks and shoes were still drying on a rock beside the fire.  Becky had my jacket.  Sometime during our sleep, it had become hers.  Gently, I […]

An unexpected place   Mia drove. Her big, wide car slowed as it turned on Erehwon Street’s narrow lane.  She felt the house before she saw it.  Its breath was hot, stale, and stank of death.  It came to her, carried easily within the porous membranes of the hot summer air.  She pushed it away […]

Three of Time and One of Space “Becky, do you know what a Magus is?” I asked as we walked.  We crested the little ridge that set the interior of the island apart from its beach and the river.  My mood was calm and the strange dusk of the apparent evening helped keep me that […]

Infinity Upon the Island, the Lady before the forest called out to the red, crab-like Beast and his ilk that encircled the souls of the dead, “We have a balance!  Purple is no more.” “We have a balance,” repeated the Beast.  And the cry was repeated in turn by each of the colored beasts that […]

Thin Places Overtoun, Overtoun, where the membrane is thin, there on the bridge comes the call from within. Come-hither, Come-hither, Come-hither she calls.  I am Lilith, Lilith, first Mother of all. And a dog knows with his nose and hears with his heart, for Lincoln is in trouble, and he jumps like a lark. Beware […]

Shapes For Hell takes on many shapes, each independent to the celestial tariff, but as independent as each tariff is, Hell is Hell and Carriage has a tendency to remain much the same. There is a place.  It is not Hell, but it is a place all the same, call it Carriage if you will, […]

Becky’s Shadow Together, side by side, Becky and I descended into what appeared to be very wide and expansive valley.  The path, well flagged, appeared cemented in place, reminding me of a village road one might expect to find in Europe.  It was easy to walk upon and we moved quickly.  Looking back behind us, […]

Adam Kadmon  Lilith began:  “First, understand this, what I tell you did not happen as I say it did.  Just as John,” Lilith nodded in the direction of the top step of the dais, “believed that he was speaking Greek, and you, exnzpat,” she stopped and looked at me, “believed you were speaking English, when […]

Return to Wormwood My return to Wormwood was a long one.  Twice I lost my way, the first time, along a short corridor:  I discovered it catty-cornered within a small alcove against the wall at the far end of the building. The corridor, lined with a sack-like material that I believed to be scrim, was […]

The Water Startled, and surprised by their strength, I began to struggle, but that only made things worse.  They did not have gentle hands. My captors were human in shape only.  Up close, their eyes were as dead as a cow’s, and that is the best way I can describe them.  Their eyes were bestial […]

The Apothecary “Come Exnzpat, come.”  But it wasn’t Lilith’s voice I heard.  Nor was it Becky’s.  Something or someone else was calling me… “Did you say something?”  Becky asked. “No, it wasn’t me.  But I did hear someone calling my name… did you hear something too?” “Yes.  But… but I also heard someone crying…” I […]

Becky wakes Lilith turned back towards the woman and the child. She placed one hand on the boy and the other on the woman; a spark of static leapt from her fingers and into their sleeping forms. Imperceptibly the right hand of the boy began to move under his sheet, and so too did the […]

Woman and child There was a deception to this place that I was only becoming aware of.  We had walked for sometime before I noticed. “Lilith,” I said, “we don’t seem to be getting very far.” Lilith turned her gorgeous face toward me.  “Exnzpat, really — have you not been listening?  I thought I explained; […]

The Attic I woke from my dream.  Looking up I found both Lilith and Lincoln staring down at me.  Lincoln licked my face, I pushed him gently aside. “Yeah Okay, that’s enough Lincoln.”  I rubbed the sleep and his slobber from my eyes. I stood, saying nothing more.  It was dark outside now and the rain […]

Lincoln In my dream I saw a man.  It was me.  And I remember this… “…I can feel the walls closing in on me: banks, brokers, lenders, wives, children, and dogs — especially dogs!  Where was Lincoln?  “That Bad Dog!”  There… there he was on the dining room floor.  The floor I spent hours sanding […]