The Book of the Snowstorm (short story)

	Arcbeatle Press
	Aristide Twain
	2
	The Book of the Snowstorm
	27 December 2023
	Short story
Coloth
← Previous	Previously On... The Multiverse
Next →	Magic Bird of Fire
The Book of the Snowstorm
← Previous	Previously On... The Multiverse
Next →	Magic Bird of Fire

You may wish to consult The Book of the Snowstorm (disambiguation) for other, similarly-named pages.

The Book of the Snowstorm was the second short story exclusively published in The Book of the Snowstorm on 27 December 2023 by Arcbeatle Press and written by Aristide Twain. The story is interspersed with the other stories that the characters read within its plot.

Plot

Scene 1

Six months after Callum and Maritsa rescued Coloth, Rich stops to look at the hyperdimensional outer skin of the Plume Coteries' Library, the first time he has seen it properly. He reminisces on the rescue and his relationship with the three, annoyed that Auteur had deleted him from existence for 260 years. He sees that the Void Gate has been plugged shut with snow, with Callum, Maritsa and Coloth inside. He flies away.

Inside the Library, Callum and Maritsa, who had been preparing to go to the beaches of Zantoria in the 38166th Universe, are trapped in a circular reading room after a snowstorm blasted its way through the Library despite the efforts of the Head Receptionist to stop it, with the three having fallen from Rich's feathers while trying to escape. Callum consoles Maritsa, and they look to the three other survivors in the room; two humanoid and one alien patron. Callum produces a hyperdimensional map of the library from a bag and they take a look, before deciding to use bibliomancy to search for books that will help them find Coloth and Rich. The first book they find is Magic Bird of Fire, and they begin to read it.

Scene 2

The man in black claims the story, read by Callum, "was not relevant", though Maritsa says that its title may be relevant in a less literal sense and that the books are trying to tell them something. One of the three strangers, the old woman, states that her name is Sister Claret Doe, and recounts how she was found as a baby in the 22nd century. They theorise that Coloth is on Earth in the past. The man in black asks Maritsa to perform the bibliomancy ritual again, and they retrieve The Dinosaur in the Snow.

Scene 3

In a meadow, Rich finds Coloth, who to survive the Snowstorm had temporarily reduced himself into a cube.

Meanwhile, Maritsa thinks intensely of Coloth while performing another bibliomancy ritual, and finds a binder of handwritten pages. Callum states that he doesn't want to read it after finding that the work is about a moment between him and Maritsa. Professor Vomm She'hayle introduces himself while the man in black refuses to. Claret offers some of her clothes to the kids, both still in beach outfits, but they refuse, and Maritsa begins to read.

Scene 4

She'hayle finds the words "touching". Maritsa explains to the others that they are trying to find Coloth and Rich, who could get them out of their situation.

Coloth and Rich are walking through Creiff, Scotland from a "coincidental lookalike" 21st century Earth in what is "probably" the 925th Universe. Lost and afraid to ask for help, they are approached by a girl who is unsurprised by their appearance and directs them to the M.F.S. office, a "cold, grey, non-euclidean lump."

Maritsa searches for another book to find Coloth.

Scene 5

Coloth steps into the M.F.S. office and sees a number of non-human workers at desks. He is approached by one alien, Tetra-None Hepta-Oct, who properly introduces the service as the Scottish Division of the Multidimensional Finders Service; Coloth requests help finding Callum and Maritsa, and she tells him to follow her.

In the reading room, the temperature is dropping. They were unable to find Coloth in Jenny Over-There's Wonderful Life and had decided to take a rest. Maritsa wakes Callum, and the man in black, seemingly unaffected by the cold, suggests they search for a way of reaching Coloth and Rich rather than for their location itself. Claret is already reading a printout of early 21st century fanfiction that is not PG rated. Interrupting this reading, Maritsa turns out the lights to go searching for another book about a possible bridge or portal through the snow, The Claus-Rosen Bridge, with the tagline "a tale of the Library", and she begins to read it.

Scene 6

Maritsa finds the book useless as the Claus-Rosen bridge is gone, and she returns it. She rests for a while, angry at the inclusion of Auteur in the book's plot and wary of the man in black. She wakes to a conversation between the others; Vommm She'hayle has picked up a book and begins reading it.

Scene 7

She'hayle found nothing in the book, and the others express their anger at his initial arrogance. He points out similarities between SIGNET's story and that of Jesus Christ as well as The Terminator, but fails to come up with anything of significance. Maritsa reasserts herself and gets to work again.

Scene 8

Coloth stands at a printer as Tetra-None types into its computer terminal. After seeing a lot of irrelevant information to do with snow, she comes across The Book of the Snowstorm, which describes their adventure thus far. The office does not have the book, but she finds its summary on the Wiki, as the computer can search the future internet. She begins to print its pages, which is likely to take a while, so she suggests he reads her book, Tales of Starlight, a compilation of stories about the Starcatcher Universe.

Scene 9

Coloth finishes The Ties That Bind, having enjoyed it, and reflects on initiation rites on his home planets. He sees that the printer has printed pages of results as thick as his finger, and elects to read another story from the book.

Scene 10

Beginning to think of themselves as the Refugees of the Reading Room, the five trapped in the Library have finished reading the Abstract Tales, as well as discussing some of its implications. Callum and Maritsa are convinced that the man in black is some incarnation of Auteur, though are careful to not let him know this. Maritsa retrieves another book and sighs before reading it.

Scene 11

Maritsa finishes the tale about Auteur. She'hayle points out a connection; snow that doesn't melt, possibly created by a Lightbringer, or a weapon of the Cosmic War. Claret disagrees, stating that it may have been caused by a solo renegade other than Auteur. Despite the man in black's protests, they go back to looking for the culprit of the Snowstorm rather than a way out directly. Maritsa finds an anthology magazine and reads Trauma and Tinsel - A Dionus story.

Scene 12

Tetra-None returns to Coloth with a half-eaten gold pocket-watch, and the printer completes its task at printing the pages. They look over them and find that the summary page is in fact a list of results. By searching for the wiki page, she has accidentally hit a feedback loop due to the former Data Core's thorough coverage and usage of disambiguation terms, the dab terms accumulated upon themselves. The printer had printed out an entire stack of pages containing just results from the feedback loop, with later pages being completely consumed with dab terms. After Tetra suggests trying again, Doctor Know appears in the doorway.

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Scene 19

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Scene 22

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Characters

• Rich
• Coloth
• Callum
• Maritsa
• Vommm She'hayle
• Claret Doe
• Man in black
• Yog-Sothoth
• Girl
• Tetra-None Hepta-Oct
• Doctor Know

more to be added

Mentioned only

• William Shakespeare
• Auteur
• Viv-Gabriel Arch'ikarios
• The Bookwyrm
• Roland
• John Carradine
• Pratchett
• Otchon

Worldbuilding

• Vomm She'hayle is Dean of Literary Studies at the University of Lahul Velash, and came to the Library for a first-edition copy of the writings of one of the greatest poets of his people, all of which were lost in the floods of 3318, in the Scargotian calendar year 3318.
• Claret Doe is looking for reference material on Zeno's paradox.
• Coloth notes that some books in the library can be exact copies or close relatives, for example with the name "Sarah Jane" being changed to "Sara-Jane".
• The 925th Universe was dubbed by the Council of Frogs. Universe 925-B is an adjacent universe which Rich's uncle once landed in and said "never again".
• Tetra-None Hepta-Oct is "formerly of the Cyclock Republic.
• The Archive Of Our Own is a 21st century fanfiction platform with which the Bookkeepers have "kindred spirits".
• Computers in the Library eat people.
• Meerwolves of Coloth's home planets had more legs than those on Earth.
• Apart from The Book of the Snowstorm (anthology) and The Book of the Snowstorm (disambiguation), the Wiki covers The Book of the Snowstorm (in-universe), The Book of the Snowstorm (in-universe) (in-universe), The Book of the Snowstorm (in-universe) (in-universe) (in-universe), The Book of the Snowstorm (in-universe) (in-universe) (in-universe) (in-universe), and so on, for infinity.
• Tetra tries to explain to Coloth why "dab terms" were funny for a couple years but fails.
• She apologises for "go[ing] all David Tennant" on Coloth, and then says she is "so, so sorry."
• To Maritsa, it would not be correct to identify the Unravel, the Sun Builders' enemies and the old gods, as purely chaotic forces, much in the same way the Sun Builders weren't a pure force of order.

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Notes

• Jamie H. Cowan is credited for ownership of the Unravel on the anthology's copyright page.

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Continuity

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