Esquivalience (novel): Difference between revisions

From Tardis Wiki, the free Doctor Who reference
 
Line 46: Line 46:
______'s first shift as Caretaker of the Dead & Endangered Languages sees them cleaning out the enormously grimy [[Main Writing Room]] at night, which they accomplish, finishing up with giving the floor a "meticulous [[mop]]ping" and going over the room with a fragrance spray (a mix of [[Bibliosmia]] and [[Venusian Winterberry|Venusian Winterberries]]). Towards the end of the shift, the Caretaker is mildly puzzled to find ''[[The Book of the Solresol]]'', a book about [[Solresol|a language they've never heard about]], but they think little of it. Over the following days, thanks to their hard work that first night, their night shifts in the Main Writing Room are much less onerous than their other continuing duties, leaving them with plenty of time to look around and flip through the books.
______'s first shift as Caretaker of the Dead & Endangered Languages sees them cleaning out the enormously grimy [[Main Writing Room]] at night, which they accomplish, finishing up with giving the floor a "meticulous [[mop]]ping" and going over the room with a fragrance spray (a mix of [[Bibliosmia]] and [[Venusian Winterberry|Venusian Winterberries]]). Towards the end of the shift, the Caretaker is mildly puzzled to find ''[[The Book of the Solresol]]'', a book about [[Solresol|a language they've never heard about]], but they think little of it. Over the following days, thanks to their hard work that first night, their night shifts in the Main Writing Room are much less onerous than their other continuing duties, leaving them with plenty of time to look around and flip through the books.


Some time into _______'s employment at the Multiplicity, one of the Dictionary Contributors, [[Melvart]], has a work conversation with the Head D.C., pertaining to whether or not variations of the word "[[mavity]]" in various [[Earth]] languages (such as [[Irish-Gaelic]]'s [[Domhantarraingt]], [[17th century]]-[[24th century]]'s [[Mavité]], and [[14th century]] [[Italy|Italian]]'s [[Mavità]]) should be capitalised on principle, owing to the plentiful evidence that in all Earth languages where the matter is settled for certain, words with that meaning are indeed capitalised, going all the way back to the earliest Indo-European sources. The Head D.C. still finds this too speculative and dismisses Melvart, especially as [[18th century]]-[[25th century]] [[English (language)|English]] is not, as yet, officially a Dead or Endangered Language, which puts evidence relating to the word [[Mavity]] "outwith [the] department". Reminded by the Head D.C. of the fiasco which occurred when their department tried to collaborate with the [[Sector 42A Living Languages department]] regarding [[facdocksparation]] (a debate which ended with the [[Meta-Temporal Support department]] sweeping in to take over the entire investigation after some of the relevant documents turned out to have themselves facdocksparated), Melvart admits defeat.
Some time into _______'s employment at the Multiplicity, one of the Dictionary Contributors, [[Melvart]], has a work conversation with the Head D.C., pertaining to whether or not variations of the word "[[mavity (term)|mavity]]" in various [[Earth]] languages (such as [[Irish-Gaelic]]'s [[Domhantarraingt]], [[17th century]]-[[24th century]]'s [[Mavité]], and [[14th century]] [[Italy|Italian]]'s [[Mavità]]) should be capitalised on principle, owing to the plentiful evidence that in all Earth languages where the matter is settled for certain, words with that meaning are indeed capitalised, going all the way back to the earliest Indo-European sources. The Head D.C. still finds this too speculative and dismisses Melvart, especially as [[18th century]]-[[25th century]] [[English (language)|English]] is not, as yet, officially a Dead or Endangered Language, which puts evidence relating to the word [[Mavity]] "outwith [the] department". Reminded by the Head D.C. of the fiasco which occurred when their department tried to collaborate with the [[Sector 42A Living Languages department]] regarding [[facdocksparation]] (a debate which ended with the [[Meta-Temporal Support department]] sweeping in to take over the entire investigation after some of the relevant documents turned out to have themselves facdocksparated), Melvart admits defeat.


Eventually, during one of his night shifts, ______, having read through ''[[The Book of the Solresol]]'' and ''[[The Book of the Linear B]]'', picks up ''[[The Book of English (18th to 25th Century)]]'', being startled to notice that its listing of the [[alphabet]] does not match their recollection, going "S, T, U, V, W" instead of the "S, T, V, U, W" ______ was familiar with. While pondering this mystery, and what a book about language is doing out of the Living Languages collection, ______ notices a pile of rubbish next to [[Fincherton]]'s desk, and, in addition to an "empty metal can of [[Gevity]]", is startled to find that it contains a book, well-worn with a brass plate: ''[[The Book of Belgian Dutch]]''. However, they decide to still treat it as they would any other rubbish left in that disposal area, i.e. discard it. Because [[Curbishley]] had also left them a note asking them to take a letter (concerning "the recent brief appearance of an alternative [[Roman-Kontafarus]] in the [[28th century]]") to the reception of of the Meta-Temporal Support department, they wind up doing so by throwing it down the M.T.S. [[special disposal chute]].  
Eventually, during one of his night shifts, ______, having read through ''[[The Book of the Solresol]]'' and ''[[The Book of the Linear B]]'', picks up ''[[The Book of English (18th to 25th Century)]]'', being startled to notice that its listing of the [[alphabet]] does not match their recollection, going "S, T, U, V, W" instead of the "S, T, V, U, W" ______ was familiar with. While pondering this mystery, and what a book about language is doing out of the Living Languages collection, ______ notices a pile of rubbish next to [[Fincherton]]'s desk, and, in addition to an "empty metal can of [[Gevity]]", is startled to find that it contains a book, well-worn with a brass plate: ''[[The Book of Belgian Dutch]]''. However, they decide to still treat it as they would any other rubbish left in that disposal area, i.e. discard it. Because [[Curbishley]] had also left them a note asking them to take a letter (concerning "the recent brief appearance of an alternative [[Roman-Kontafarus]] in the [[28th century]]") to the reception of of the Meta-Temporal Support department, they wind up doing so by throwing it down the M.T.S. [[special disposal chute]].  

Latest revision as of 19:55, 9 December 2024

RealWorld.png

Software limitations prevent us from representing the proper styling of this title, {{esquivalience}}. See here for more details. Editors wishing to link to the article using the proper spelling can type [[Esquivalience (novel)|<nowiki>{{esquivalience}}</nowiki>]], or {{cs|Esquivalience (novel)|<nowiki>{{esquivalience}}</nowiki>}} if making use of {{cite source}}.

{{esquivalience}} was a standalone novella by Jamie H. Cowan released by Overmorrow Publishing in 2024. It elaborated on the temporal phenomenon known as the Unravel, previously featured or mentioned in several other Doctor Who spin-offs, and also featured a licensed appearance by Xavier Llewellyn's Gevity.

Publisher's summary[[edit] | [edit source]]

The Dead & Endangered Languages department never changes its ways — but it seems to be in need of a clean. Really in need of a clean. That's how they end up with a Caretaker. That's why things change in the department.

{{esquivalience}} is a novelette about language, coincidences, and the flow of the universe; charting the course of a mysterious young individual as they undertake a new job role — and all that comes with it.

Summary[[edit] | [edit source]]

A mysterious young individual known only as "______" is hired, through a rather lax interview process, by the Dead & Dying Languages department of the Multiplicity, a grouping of interdimensional scholars. They notice few odd occurrences, such as the order of the letters in the alphabet seemingly being wrong in The Book of English, but otherwise acquit themselves of their job with competence and determination, though they seem to have an ulterior motive.

One day, having found a book amidst a pile of rubbish they're usually meant to throw out, ______ wind up deciding to dispose of it, and moreover doing so via the special disposal chute of the nearby Meta-Temporal Support department. This has the unexpected effect of erasing the Belgian Dutch language variant from history itself, alongside anyone who spoke it. As the Dictionary Contributors convene to handle the crisis, they eventually decide to invent a new "replacement" language from scratch, Belgian Gerench, to take Belgian Dutch's place in history. The Head Dictionary Contributor of the Department, however, realises there is a greater power at work as the coincidences and strange events pile up: not only ______'s own mysterious coming, but also the appearance of the special disposal chute a short while ago, and the sheer presence of The Book of English and The Book of Belgian Dutch where they weren't supposed to be.

The following day, ______ hurries on with their actual agenda: finding the Inner Reference Room, where the Multiplicity keeps the books recording the life stories of all their own staff. There, they are confronted by the Head D.C., who guessed their intention of modifying the Head D.C.'s own life-book to make themself the leader of the department instead. Though unable to stop ______ from erasing them from existence by modifying and vandalising his book, the Head D.C. reveals that a greater power called the Unravel is at play, manipulating probability throughout reality to maneuver lesser forces into carrying out modifications to history.

He also explains that he himself helped facilitate the Unravel's work by foolishly adding the imaginary word "esquivalience" to The Book of Dutch, purportedly defined as "To shirk one’s official duties deliberately". As this tiny change rippled back onto reality itself, it was was in an act of esquivalience that the Head D.C. passed the job-interview process onto an underqualified underling, allowing ______ entry into the Multiplicity. However, ______ is undeterred by the Head D.C.'s pleas that they must all stop trying to rewrite reality to starve the Unravel of the tools it needs to effect its agenda. Thereafter, though a note that the word "unravel" is somehow dangerous is added to the relevant entry, ______ fails to take advantage of their new job as Head D.C. to look further into the Unravel.

However, as portended by the title of a 1960s "hit song" whose lyrics seem to allude to this entire fiasco, there is "a twist at the end": the effects of the Unravel are far from universally negative. The addition of the concept of esquivalience to the patterns of history allows soulmates Shawn Doltmann and Cory Maythers, who would otherwise never have met despite being made for each other, to finally encounter one another and lead happy lives together throughout the 21st century.

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

Prelude[[edit] | [edit source]]

On 11 May 2024, Cory Maythers and Shawn Doltmann both visit the Old Boathouse Cinema in Leith to watch the same movie. However, by a narrow coincidence, they happen not to meet — the first of several narrow misses spanning all the way to 2042. Even though they would assuredly have fallen in love with one another if they had, both live and die having never met one another, leaving behind unrelated spouses and family when both of Shawn and Cory die in 2056 and 2078 respectively. Even in "the wider scale of the Omniverse", no "recognisable versions" of them ever actually meet and live out that glorious potential love story.

The Movement[[edit] | [edit source]]

Gower, an Assistant Dictionary Contributor of the Multiplicity's Dead & Endangered Languages department, has been asked to interview an applicant referred to only as "______" for the position of Caretaker by the Head Dictionary Contributor of the department, who told him it was about time he "unravelled the true meaning of work". Although he feels underqualified to make a decision, Gower ends up giving ______ the job, both due to their apparent eagerness and for fear of disappointing the Head D.C..

______'s first shift as Caretaker of the Dead & Endangered Languages sees them cleaning out the enormously grimy Main Writing Room at night, which they accomplish, finishing up with giving the floor a "meticulous mopping" and going over the room with a fragrance spray (a mix of Bibliosmia and Venusian Winterberries). Towards the end of the shift, the Caretaker is mildly puzzled to find The Book of the Solresol, a book about a language they've never heard about, but they think little of it. Over the following days, thanks to their hard work that first night, their night shifts in the Main Writing Room are much less onerous than their other continuing duties, leaving them with plenty of time to look around and flip through the books.

Some time into _______'s employment at the Multiplicity, one of the Dictionary Contributors, Melvart, has a work conversation with the Head D.C., pertaining to whether or not variations of the word "mavity" in various Earth languages (such as Irish-Gaelic's Domhantarraingt, 17th century-24th century's Mavité, and 14th century Italian's Mavità) should be capitalised on principle, owing to the plentiful evidence that in all Earth languages where the matter is settled for certain, words with that meaning are indeed capitalised, going all the way back to the earliest Indo-European sources. The Head D.C. still finds this too speculative and dismisses Melvart, especially as 18th century-25th century English is not, as yet, officially a Dead or Endangered Language, which puts evidence relating to the word Mavity "outwith [the] department". Reminded by the Head D.C. of the fiasco which occurred when their department tried to collaborate with the Sector 42A Living Languages department regarding facdocksparation (a debate which ended with the Meta-Temporal Support department sweeping in to take over the entire investigation after some of the relevant documents turned out to have themselves facdocksparated), Melvart admits defeat.

Eventually, during one of his night shifts, ______, having read through The Book of the Solresol and The Book of the Linear B, picks up The Book of English (18th to 25th Century), being startled to notice that its listing of the alphabet does not match their recollection, going "S, T, U, V, W" instead of the "S, T, V, U, W" ______ was familiar with. While pondering this mystery, and what a book about language is doing out of the Living Languages collection, ______ notices a pile of rubbish next to Fincherton's desk, and, in addition to an "empty metal can of Gevity", is startled to find that it contains a book, well-worn with a brass plate: The Book of Belgian Dutch. However, they decide to still treat it as they would any other rubbish left in that disposal area, i.e. discard it. Because Curbishley had also left them a note asking them to take a letter (concerning "the recent brief appearance of an alternative Roman-Kontafarus in the 28th century") to the reception of of the Meta-Temporal Support department, they wind up doing so by throwing it down the M.T.S. special disposal chute.

The next day, ______ is called before the Head D.C. to account for their actions: putting the book down the special disposal chute appears to have erased the Belgian Dutch language variant itself from existence. Worse, this has actually erased the native speakers of that tongue from history, including their descendants, "unweaving" them — a catastrophe which ripples even to the staff of the Multiplicity, with the Belgian-descended Terrence being rewritten into Bertram (who has no such ancestry) while a "half-Alpha Centaurian" called Hr'salis, who had similar ancestry, simply ceases to exist.

Only the Head D.C. remembers the previous version of reality. Sending a time-traveller back in time to make a copy of the book before its destruction is quickly dismissed, as the Multiplicity's Books are allegedly "temporally non-transferable" as a copyright-protection measure (although a few members of the faculty disagree with this claim, with one pointedly arguing that "surely, there [are] smarter ways to protect [the] Books than that"). The Head D.C.'s private concerns are of entirely broader scope, however, as he sees in the coincidence of the special disposal chute's relatively recent installation, the hiring of the new Caretaker, and the mysterious appearance of the book left lying on the floor, a knot of coincidence as the "ropes of reality" are "tugging together".

At any rate, being unwilling to alert the Meta-Temporal Support department, let alone Senior Management, the Dictionary Contributors eventually decide to do the only thing they can do: invent a new language whole-cloth to take Belgian Dutch's place in history, plugging the hole as best they can. After frantic work, Belgian Gerench, loosely adapted from French (such that they are unable to prevent its body of speakers from including "a few French people who felt an unusual (and societally discouraged) affinity to the language") is duly added to the Multiplicity Central Digital Overview Index, complete with notes on how its vocabulary was affected by various societal and genetic changes to the human experience over the centuries.

With the immediate crisis resolved, the Head D.C. decides against firing ______, which would draw undue attention since the nature of their crime is by definition lost to time. During their next night shift, ______ decides to hurry up with their secret original reason for taking the job: locating the extradimensional Inner Reference Room, hidden beneath a stairway, and which contains a tree of time (the preternatural trees from whose wood the paper of the Multiplicity's books is made) as well as The Book of the Head Dictionary Contributor of the D&DL Department. Before they can start rewriting it, they are however caught in the act by the Head D.C. himself, who anticipated their plans and had been lying in wait.

Though he pulls out The Book of ______, the Head D.C. realises it is of "little consequence" and admits he cannot stop ______ from carrying out their intended plan of modifying his book to bring about his immediate death or expulsion, then modifying theirs to take over his vacant job. However, he implores them to listen to him and relent because "everything could depend on this". Pleading as his body begins to be injured and destabilised by a series of furious rewrites and vandalisations of his book, the Head D.C. reveals that he once thought he could meddle with the books, introducing a fake word in The Book of Dutch as a trap to protect against fraudulent copies, only for that word — esquivalience — to introduce the concept of its supposed meaning into his own life story. It was thus in an act of esquivalience that the Head D.C. shirked his duty to interview new applicants and allowed the unqualified Gower to interview ______, making possible his entry into the Multiplicity's staff and thus, the current crisis. The Head D.C. warns ______ that a similar fate will befall them, in an endless cycle, if they persist, because a mysterious external process is trying to rewrite the whole of reality, taking advantage of lesser powers like the Multiplicity's to achieve its aims, bit by bit.

Just stop reading. Stop changing things. Stop, and we can be spared. Be free! If you keep going, then it will get what it wants. It is a happening. Out there, and in here in the basement. Everywhere. It will win if you keep going. One day, you’ll make the same mistakes. Goddamn, you will. Because it’s all already written. It has already written it all. The paths, the choices. Rewrites, erasures, and even the contradictions. If you don’t just… stop… it will… Unravel us all.The Head D.C.'s dying words

As ______ loses patience and finishes him off, the Head D.C. — whose name was once Miltontheus — chokes out the name of this force: the Unravel. The next day finds ______ — now the uncontested Head D.C. — studying The Book of English, noting the entry for esquivalience ("Meaning to shirk one’s official duties deliberately. Said to have originated within Dutch.") and also those for "unravel" and "ravel", noted as contranyms, and which both also originated within Dutch. Though making a note that some weird facdocksparation-like phenomenon seems to be originating within Dutch, the new Head D.C. decides against investigating it just now, instead focusing on their new power and responsibility within the department.

These events seem to be echoed in the lyrics of a 1967 "hit song" by Aubrey Waites, David Agnew and one other, entitled The Twist at the End — whose lyrics proclaim that "Good eyes and bad lies/It never really mattered/For we're all grooving/To the words/They scattered" and repeatedly foretelling a "twist at the end".

Eventually, a note is added to the "Unravel" entry in The Book of English (fourth to fifth billionth century). While it remains otherwise unchanged, a Nota Bene now advises that the word is "to be used with extreme care and caution".

Postlude[[edit] | [edit source]]

In the altered version of history, Cory Maythers and Shawn Doltmann do meet at the screening of Our Second Bridge, and again at Tommy Kane's party a few months later, over the course of which they share their first kiss. They eventually marry and live long, happy lives, which last longer than in the original timeline (with Cory dying in 2081 and Shawn in 2084). These new paths represent "a new generation of probabilities and possibilities", with "the traditions of the Omniverse [having] been broken. Unravelled. The rope of Cory’s life had touched against that of Shawn’s. Then tangled. Then intertwined".

As Shawn went on to inform Cory in a phone conversation, the change started from Shawn leaving work early to be sure to catch the beginning of the movie. Having arrived before Cory, he sat down in the front row first, with Cory sitting down next to him instead of on the fourth row. He thus reflects that his esquivalience paid off that day — and is happy to have Cory check the dictionary to confirm that "it is a real word thank very much".

It felt like [Cory] was the extra word in the story of [Shawn]'s life. And what a word.Final line of the Postlude

Characters[[edit] | [edit source]]

Mentioned only[[edit] | [edit source]]

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

Promotional photograph of author Jamie H. Cowan with Susan Twist holding her signed copy of the book.[1][2]

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

This section's awfully stubby.

Discussion of prior mentions of the Unravel in PROSE: The Book of the Snowstorm [+]Loading...["The Book of the Snowstorm (short story)"] and PROSE: A World of Pure Unimagination [+]Loading...["A World of Pure Unimagination (short story)"] needs to be added.

Continuity to non-covered sources[[edit] | [edit source]]

External links[[edit] | [edit source]]

Footnotes[[edit] | [edit source]]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Jamie H. Cowan (7 July 2024). Tweet. Twitter. Archived from the original on 14 July 2024.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Jamie H. Cowan (7 July 2024). Instagram post. Instagram.
  3. Jamie H. Cowan (11 May 2024). Tweet. Twitter. Archived from the original on 7 July 2024.
  4. Jamie H. Cowan (14 June 2024). Tweet. Twitter. Archived from the original on 7 July 2024.
  5. Jamie H. Cowan (14 June 2024). Tweet. Twitter. Archived from the original on 7 July 2024.
  6. Jamie H. Cowan (19 July 2024). Instagram post. Instagram. Archived from the original on 19 July 2024.