Jade Maiden 11.2

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[continuing chapter 11]

Wen rushed over to his father.  "Uh," he said to the others, "he has clearly been upset by all that's happened, and he isn't in his right mind."

"And you," Father said, turning on Wen.  "If you think I'm going to be grateful for a few seconds' ability to speak after months and months of choking, burning suffering, you're even more selfish and stupid than I thought you were!  How could you do this—to anyone, much less to your own father?"

"What has happened to you?" Wen asked, trying not to be horrified by the anger he saw burning in Father's eyes.  He looked at Number One Grandfather, and was startled at how happy the old man looked.

Jade Maiden 11.1

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ELEVEN

"You can't tell me that's therapeutic."  The Jade Emperor's voice rumbled in Wen's ears, in the style of distant thunder.  Please let this go on a bit longer, he thought.

"She certainly seems to be responding to it, though," Lao Zi said.  He sounded puzzled.  Man ought to have got out more while he had the chance, Wen thought.  Then he realized that Fengzi was responding to his kiss.  In a way that might not have been therapeutic but was certainly life-affirming.

Jade Maiden 10.8

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[concluding chapter 10]

"Surely you don't mean —" Wen whispered.

"Of course she does," said the old man, now right beside where Wen knelt, holding Fengzi in a desperate attempt to keep her warm.  "Hello, child," he said.  "You have made me very proud; I thought you should know that.

"And you," he said to the Queen Mother of the West, "would do better to think more about what this young woman did not do than about what she did."  Lao Zi reached into his robe and pulled out a ball about the size of a quail's egg.  Handing it to Wen he said, "See if you can get her to swallow this.  I apologize for the size, but that just seems to be the way they want to make themselves."

Jade Maiden 10.7

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[continuing chapter 10]

"Why am I here?  Isn't it obvious?  Somebody called me."  The being that stood just above the tops of the peach trees wore voluminous yellow robes and had the most sagacious beard Wen had ever seen.  Is this the Heaven Honored Jade Emperor?  "Besides, dear wife, I can't help but think that you're over-reacting here."

"Don't you start in on me," the Queen Mother of the West said, and now she no longer sounded like an imperious cat-goddess; she sounded like Mrs. Ling from next door.  "This is my orchard and these are my immortality peaches, and these—these creatures have defiled them! I have every right to impose punishment!"

Jade Maiden 10.6

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[continuing chapter 10]

"To be fair, Majesty, it was never my intent to walk into heaven at all.  Lovely as it is here, by the way.  I really like what you've done with this orchard."  You're babbling, Wen, he thought.  Get hold of yourself.  "The fault is all mine, that I admit.  I was away from home when Father died and did not perform the proper rituals.  Even when I learned of his death I refused, out of spite and willfulness, to do the right thing.  As a result he became a hungry ghost, and I was cursed.  I was merely trying to set everything right again."

Jade Maiden 10.5

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[continuing chapter 10]

The Queen Mother of the West was not a giant, nor was she especially hideous.  In fact, for the most part she was a quite beautiful—if rather tall—woman, with long lovely black hair flowing down her back in an ebony river that seemed to have a soul of its own.

Unfortunately, that long black hair flowed all the way down her back to a tail.  A leopard's tail, to be specific, and one evidently bestowed on her as being emblematic of her temper.  Her mouth was open in anger, allowing Wen to see that her teeth, too, were feline.  Tiger, I believe, he found himself thinking.  Plus, she was floating above the treetops, another clue suggesting that, however mortal most of her might look, this was no mortal.

Jade Maiden 10.4

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[continuing chapter 10]

Wen bit his lower lip to keep from crying out.  It was Father, no doubt about it.  But the sight was heartbreaking.  Father wore his only good suit of clothes—Wen remembered seeing it, as a child—but the way the robe, tunic and trousers hung on him suggested a boy wearing his father's clothing.  "Is it possible," he asked Yin Fengzi, pitching his voice as low as he could in order that the officer not hear him, "that hungry ghosts can actually starve, and shrink?"

Jade Maiden 10.3

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[continuing chapter 10]

"Ah, gentlemen!"  Wen bowed to the soldiers with what he hoped was a suitably heavenly flourish.  "You're just in time to help us."

"Help you?"  The soldiers' spears wobbled and waved, and their officer looked confused, or that's how Wen chose to interpret the response; it was hard to be sure, given the lacquered iron fu-dog mask the man wore.  "We're here to arrest you.  You're trespassing on the precincts of heaven, or hadn't you realized that?"

This is why (some) people collect books

Cover of Charles Kingsley's The
Water Babies, (1886) Macmillan

Occasionally I fall for the concept of The Book As Object. (Mostly I treasure books for their content above all, so first editions or authorial inscriptions or even condition don't figure for me.) Today is one of those times. Back in the days when dust jackets were literally that (plain paper wraps that kept dust off the boards during shipping), publishers went to increasingly impressive lengths to make the actual boards do a job of selling their books. The results, in some cases, were spectacular.*

The Public Domain Review (one of a number of lovely websites that make public domain materials easier to track down and enjoy) has published a beautiful overview of some of the best of these covers. I strongly urge what few readers I have to check it out. Some of the examples are of breathtaking beauty, and even the plain ones are impressive.

(The example to the right is by no means the best of what's on display here. Even popular science books, such as The Story of the Sun or Spectrum Analysis, got beautiful coloured covers.)

Lorna and I have a few books in our library with this sort of cover, but as I said we don't really collect books as things in themselves. Willing to bet some of our friends, though, have between them hundreds of these in their collections. Book people are sometimes weird, but invariably interesting to know.

*And expensive. By the time dust jackets could carry that graphic responsibility thanks to inexpensive mechanical reproduction, the art of embossing and colouring board bindings had become prohibitively expensive and most publishers were happy to stop doing it.

Jade Maiden 10.2

Previous    First

[continuing chapter 10]

Heaven didn't look much different from hell, if all you were paying attention to was the landscape.  Nobody would mistake the one for the other, though.  The colors were brighter, the scents sweeter, and the light... There was no light like this anywhere, Wen decided, not even at sunset just of the coast from Měijing.  Heaven was worth attaining to, he decided, if only because you couldn't help but feel better here than anywhere else he'd been.

There was a gate-house in front of the god's mansion, and though it was tiny it was still the most dazzling building Wen had ever been this close to.  Walking up to the window, he rapped his knuckles against the sill.  Should have demanded a fan from that judge, he thought.  "Yes?" a squeaky voice said.  It was more of a demand than a question.

Jade Maiden 10.1

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TEN

Wen rushed to catch up with her, not caring whether the grandfathers were with him or not.  "I don't think I ever thanked you properly for everything you did for me," he said, breathless.  That wasn't what he wanted to say, what he should have said, but he seemed to be frustratingly out of the right sort of words.  "I'm sorry," he added.  "I don't seem to be doing this very well."

She stopped and smiled at him.  "You've said everything that needs to be said," she told him.  Brushing his hand with hers—it was deliciously cool, like shaved ice on a hot day—she added, "I haven't found your father yet, so there really isn't anything to thank me for, Xia.  And it seems to me we're running out of time."

Jade Maiden 9.9

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[concluding chapter 9]

"Whatever else you do," Yin Fengzi said, "Don't eat any peaches you may find on the other side.  Wen, I still think this is extremely dangerous."

"Dangerous?  How could it possibly be more dangerous than what we saw on our way here?"  Wen shook his head; he was never going to be able to forget the sword trees and knife hills they had passed on their way out of Fifth Hell.  "I think the thing that bothers me the most is the way the body parts come back together once the victims have sliced themselves to the point where the bits all fall back to the base of the knife hills."  A shiver gripped him: it wasn't so much the blood or the sliced-off body parts, reminding him uncomfortably of a butcher's shop, that bothered him; it was the beaten-down looks of resignation on the faces of the victims as they prepared to climb the hill again, knowing full well what was going to happen to them.  "Tell me what that punishment is imposed for, and I swear I'll never do it again."

Jade Maiden 9.8

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[continuing chapter 9]

"Of course I can read it!"  Number One Grandfather sniffed his disdain.  "Why are you insulting my literacy?"

"I'm not," Wen said.  "I only asked because I can't read it myself."

"Wretch!  Why didn't you pay more attention to your lessons?"

"With all due respect, oh venerable one," said Fengzi, "shut up."  Number One Grandfather sputtered and raised his hand to strike her.  Then he saw Wen's expression, and his hand stayed put, waving impotently.  "He can't read it," Fengzi said, "because it's hell-writing.  I can't read it either.  And you can, because you're dead.  As you have pointed out, numerous times, to us."

"To me," said Wen, "it looks like the sort of writing I see in dreams; it blurs and runs when I try to concentrate on it."

"Oh," said Number One Grandfather.  "I suppose I owe you an apology, then."  From the expression on his face, it would be some time before that particular debt was paid.

Jade Maiden 9.7

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[continuing chapter 9]

"We are nearly finished with our business here," Wen said, then held up a placatory hand as the judge began to fume.  "It's nothing significant, Excellency.  I just need you to add a sentence informing any reader that everything you've dictated should be done as if you had actually written it yourself.  After all, this is a new clerk, and some unfortunates may not be familiar with his calligraphy."

"There's no room on the page," the clerk said, his voice trembling.  "I'll have to write it again!"

Jade Maiden 9.6

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[continuing chapter 9]

Judge Yanluo Wang leaned forward, and forward, until his neck had extended like that of the mythical qilin beast, and he was face-to-face with Wen on the opposite side of the dais.  "This is most unfortunate," the judge said, "and given the nature of my relationship with the General of the Mirror of Retribution, not something I would wish to have bruited about.  Do you take my meaning?"  The expression on the judge's face almost, but not entirely, failed in any way to resemble a smile.

"Certainly," said Wen, standing his ground.  "I understand fully how unfortunate it would be for your position should the General of the Mirror of Retribution have any cause to hear of this."  He smiled back at the judge.

Jade Maiden 9.5

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[continuing chapter 9]

"What is this?" asked the judge, smiling (and betraying three additional rows of very sharp teeth in the process).

"My apologies, Excellency," said Wen, trying his best to look concerned.  "This gift was supposed to appear a bit more... discreetly."

"I am compelled by the dignity of my office to condemn your indiscretion," the judge said.  "But at the same time my duty to my name and family allows me to give friendly acknowledgment of your enthusiasm."  He nodded a command to the guards, who began to gather up the hell-money, stuffing the bills into their helmets.  "You were about to say?" the judge added, this time to the clerk.

Jade Maiden 9.4

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[continuing chapter 9]

Wen had, he realized, become very interested in the precise details of the downfall and overthrow of the Ming.  But he couldn't afford to indulge himself, not so long as his father's fate condemned him to the sort of luck that had placed him in Chin Gwai's and Governor Li's hands.  "No, not either confession or sentencing," Wen said hurriedly.  "My position in the administration here is quite secure and I'm very happy to have it, truly I am.  No, Excellency, I'm here because I'm sorry to have to report that an error has been made and I believe that you have the information necessary to correct it."

"An error?!"  The judge seemed to lift into the air, snake-like hair flailing.  "You are accusing my court of an error?  You horrible little man, I'll have your skin for a prophylactic and your bones for toothpicks if you dare to accuse me or my staff of anything untoward or outside the limits prescribed by my office!"

Jade Maiden 9.3

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[continuing chapter 9]

"All hail Yanluo Wang, General of the Five Ways, Judge of the Fifth Hell!"  The clerk's voice sounded like that of a carrion-bird, and Wen found himself stuffing fingers into his ears.

"Let go of my fingers, please," said Fengzi.

"Sorry," said Wen.  "That clerk has a truly horrible voice, that's all."

"His voice is no worse than his face."  Fengzi nudged him.  "This is the part where we bow, remember?"  Wen quickly pressed his forehead to the floor, hoping nobody had noticed the delay.

"I forgot to ask you earlier," Wen said to her.  "Does One-Eyed Lum have any way of communicating back to you when you send him a message?"

Jade Maiden 9.2

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[continuing chapter 9]

The courtrooms of hell have it all over the courts of Fusang, Wen thought.  "I only hope that Governor Li doesn't see one of these places until well after it's too late for him to copy any of the ideas they've used," he said.

"Quiet," said Fengzi.  "Your Number One Grandfather is talking with the clerk."

Wen shut up, and looked around the room.  It was, as one might expect in hell, considerably larger than any earthly court Wen had encountered.  The main hall seemed to stretch off into nothingness, but Wen guessed this was probably illusion, since when he looked at the judge's dais the back of the room seemed to swim into focus.

Jade Maiden 9.1

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NINE

"I would have thought that bureaucratic foul-ups weren't possible where the gods were concerned."  Wen pointed to a group of demons dragging corpses along a road.  As they watched, the corpses reanimated and got to their feet, shuffling along for a few minutes. Then the demons slit the throats of the prisoners, one by one.  After pausing to let the blood pool around the bodies, the demons resumed their dragging.  "You can't tell me that's a mistake."

"No," Fengzi said, nodding her agreement.  "That's one of the more mild punishments you'll find down here.  And as near as I can tell, they're doing it by the book."

She slowed a bit, and Wen kept pace with her; the ancestors slowly pulled ahead of them.  "I have to warn you, though: the bureaucracy down here isn't a whole lot different from what we know on earth.  They do make mistakes, Wen.  I've read about them."

"I didn't need to know that."

Jade Maiden 8.7

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[concluding chapter 8]

The ancestors were happily engaged in a violent discussion of comparative religion when Fengzi slammed her tiny hand on the demon's desk.  "Are you here to help or not?" she shouted.

Number One Grandfather sidled over to Wen.  "You really ought to reconsider that one," he said.  "That's a temper you aren't going to enjoy dealing with."

Suddenly feeling about twelve years old, Wen stepped away from the old man.  The flush was, he was certain, painted all over his face; he could only hope that Yin Fengzi hadn't seen it.  "Please, Grandfather," he said, "can you read that scroll or not?"

Jade Maiden 8.6

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[continuing chapter 8]

"I thought he'd never go," said Fengzi.

"And I suppose we should, as well."

"Not yet."  She stepped around to the other side of the abandoned desk and began pulling on the scroll resting on the writing surface.  Only now did Wen realize that the scroll had no beginning and no end; as Fengzi pulled back, older bits of the scroll emerged from the floor in front of the desk, while the newer bits seemed to vanish into the floor between the desk and the demon's stool.

"Damn."  She stepped away from the desk, pushing at the scroll in disgust; it rucked up in unruly curls, threatening to spill over onto the floor.  "I can't read this," she said.  "It's in a script that won't stay still."

"I have the same problem with that pass, or whatever it was, that you showed to get us in here," said Wen.  "Can you read that?"