Library Pictures (short story)
Library Pictures was a 2011 short story written by Stuart Douglas and released in the Faction Paradox series anthology A Romance in Twelve Parts.
The story heavily tied into Douglas' previous DWU contributions from the Iris Wildthyme series as it featured Iris and Panda, as well as elements previously introduced in The Shape of Things, and acted as a prequel to Future Legend. The Boulevard of Alternate Brutalities marked its first physical appearance in this story. The setting would later receive its own anthology spin-off in the form of The Boulevard from Obverse Books.
Summary
Seeking her companion, Panda, Iris Wildthyme stumbles into the Boulevard of Alternate Brutalities.
Plot
A man and his friend, Nestor, ride in a train carriage opposite a young boy. Whilst Nestor sleeps, the man is alarmed to observe the boy's face morphing impossibly before suddenly the world seems to fold in on itself and he is left alone in pitch blackness.
Elsewhere in Deseret, Sam Trent witnesses a slave being whipped to death. Iris Wildthyme turns up in her Celestial Omnibus and scares the slave catchers away. She stays with the dying slave for a while in his final moments before heading over to introduce herself to Sam.
Fresh from the incident on the train, the man begins to feel disconnected from his life as he relives his previous memories: a talk between himself and another person about his abandonment as a child, him and Nestor sitting together in the Duke of Venice's kitchens, the sensation he had with a shower curtain rubbing against his bare skin and finally the experience on the train with the young boy.
Characters
- Godfather Terne
- Nestor
- Young boy
- Slave catchers
- Slave
- Mr Netherwood
- Iris Wildthyme
- Godfather Valentine
- Cousin Sparrow
Worldbuilding
- Terne is a member of Faction Paradox.
Notes
- Stuart Douglas first mentioned the Boulevard of Alternate Brutalities in his Ms Wildthyme & Friends Investigate short story The Shape of Things released one year earlier in 2010. However, this was the Boulevard's first physical appearance and led to the creation of a spin-off series focusing on the titular prison being released in 2022.
- This story was deliberately designed to tie in with Douglas' previous story Future Legend released in the 2009 anthology Iris Wildthyme and the Celestial Omnibus.
Continuity
- Iris Wildthyme previously acknowledged the Boulevard and the Carpathians. (PROSE: The Shape of Things)
External links
to be added
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