Philology: The Real Professional Bag of Tricks (short story)

Philology: The Real Professional Bag of Tricks
Main character(s):	Ronald, Florence Briscoe, Adoma Achede, Aemos
Featuring:	V. M. McCrimmon
Main enemy:	Cognitive Philology Association
Main setting:	City of the Saved
Key crew
Writer:	James Bojaciuk
Release details
Part of:	Stranger Tales of the City
Release date:	12 March 2018
The City of the Saved
← Previous	Bubble People
Next →	Buried on Sunday

Philology: The Real Professional Bag of Tricks was the fifth story in the anthology Stranger Tales of the City. It was written by James Bojaciuk.

Summary

to be added

Characters

• J. R. R. Tolkien / "Ronald"
• Florence Briscoe
• Adoma Achede
• The Competition
• Functionary Ifede
• Weaver Emilohi
• Mister Chicawebe
• Dr Chiang
• Aemos
• Mrs V. M. McCrimmon

Worldbuilding

Individuals

• Florence mentions her friend William Hope Hodgson, who had stories in The Idler.
• Achede's parents come from the Belgian Congo.
• The Competition is a posthuman who wears dark grey clothes associated with the 40th millennium.
• Mister Chicawebe of the Cognitive Philology Association wears a 22nd century suit with 15th century colours.

Literature

• Charles Dickens' novels stopped having illustrations in his work.

Jama'a history

• The Jama'a period began after the Tracian Wars, lasting from the Pan-African Exodus to the Little War.
• The Jama'a civilisation was killed and replaced by sentient oil.

Notes

Jay Eales' cover for Stranger Tales of the City.

• The cover for Stranger Tales of the City depicts the Jama'a tapestry which Aemos is created from.
• In the real world, Florence Briscoe was an obscure 20th century British artist who illustrated the original Thomas Carnacki stories in The Idler. Author James Bojaciuk previously researched Briscoe and wrote an article on her life for greydogtales.com.
• The part of The Lord of the Rings reenacted by the Jama'a is from the end of The Two Towers, when Gollum betrays Frodo and Sam Gamgee to Shelob.
• Philology: The Real Professional Bag of Tricks won fourth place for "Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Short Story" in the 2018 "Critters Writers Workshop" Readers Poll.

Continuity

• The Jama'a were situated on a ship in RealSpace. (PROSE: Of the City of the Saved...)
• Aemos is forced to speak at the University of the Seven Ages. (PROSE: The Socratic Problem)
• Tolkien speculates that the scandal from CPA's plagiarism migth even draw KaneNet's attention. (PROSE: The Socratic Problem, et al)
• Tolkien insisted the historical Jesus Christ the media speaks of is a fraud. (PROSE: A Hundred Words from a Civil War)