Agora Phantasmagoria E-Book

Ithaka O.

• Herausgeber: Imaginarium Kim
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

Three stories, each based on three random words.

1) marsh, month, bird
Nothing beats a peaceful walk through the marsh, K told herself. Whistling a cheerful tune, she followed the winding path around a pond of elegantly floating ducks.
...

2) eye, exploration, morsel
When X learned that one of her eyes had gone blind, she didn’t cry.
...

3) obstacle, sculpture, assessment
Not anybody and everybody could get a contract with the devil.
That was one thing that people were so frequently mistaken about: they thought that all that the devil did with its life was to comb through the human world in search of the perfect candidate for its sick, sweet deals.
...

Leseprobe

AGORA PHANTASMAGORIA

THREE STORIES, EACH BASED ON THREE RANDOM WORDS

ITHAKA O.

IMAGINARIUM KIM

© 2023 Ithaka O.

All rights reserved.

This story is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

No part of this story may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author.

CONTENTS

The How and Why

marsh, month, bird

1

2

3

4

5

eye, exploration, morsel

1

2

3

4

5

obstacle, sculpture, assessment

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

About Ithaka O.

THE HOW AND WHY

Sometimes I flipped open a paper dictionary at a random place and pointed a finger at the page. At other times, I clicked “Go!” on an online random word generator. Lastly, some friends and family members contributed a word each—never knowing the identities of the other words that I had already collected and would go on to collect in the future.

Whichever way I chose, I lined up the thusly gathered words, neatly, in one row.

Then I cut them up into chunks of three words.

No switching out the words!

No changing the order!

No cheating!

Whatever fate or chance put the words in that order in that line, the game was to tell a story using each given set of three words as is, no matter how ridiculously unrelated the words may seem.

The results are in this collection. They are my maps of random—possibly closer to the workings of my subconscious than any other stories, because I faced the task of connecting the random dots, making sense of the senseless. With great likelihood, I sought comfort in what felt most natural to me. Perhaps I pulled up parts of my dreamscape to the surface of my consciousness.

But then again, when challenged thusly, who can say that we’re ever ourselves? Maybe what happened was the opposite. Maybe this is me, driven to a most uncharacteristic, unrepresentative writing style.

Either way, the dots are connected. The deed is done. Words that had no associations whatsoever are now forever tied together.

For me, this binding process is one of the lovely aspects of stories. Once made sense, senselessness rarely returns. There’s always a faint trace of memory somewhere in the background, albeit shrouded by a hazy fog. I believe this sense of having made sense once upon a time is enough to guide us through the uncertainties of life.

Scattered dots fill every tiny physical and mental space of our daily activities. Only in hindsight can we decide which dots to connect and which story to tell. But the awareness that regardless of the nature of the dots, humans will be able to connect them and tell their stories, greatly relieves me.

Any dot can be connected. No, seriously, any dot. Meaning can be generated endlessly, if we feel so inclined. Now, that might be “good” or that might be “bad,” depending on the situation. (You certainly don’t wanna over-imbue an oblivion-worthy event with meaning and thus carry it with you for life.) But having the ability to chart maps through what looks like a world full of unavoidable fate or pointless chance is certainly a handy tool to have in one’s toolbox.

And so, stories will always be dear to my heart. Without them, I wouldn’t know how to live.

If you’re reading this, you’re likely a lover of stories too. Chaos, destiny, whatever life may throw at us, in stories, we shall find a way.