Tuesday, June 18, 2013

"Antiagon Fire"

L. E. Modesitt, Jr., is the bestselling author of the fantasy series The Saga of Recluce, Corean Chronicles, and the Imager Portfolio. His science fiction includes Adiamante, the Ecolitan novels, the Forever Hero Trilogy, and Archform: Beauty. Besides a writer, Modesitt has been a U.S. Navy pilot, a director of research for a political campaign, legislative assistant and staff director for a U.S. Congressman, Director of Legislation and Congressional Relations for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a consultant on environmental, regulatory, and communications issues, and a college lecturer. He lives in Cedar City, Utah.

Modesitt applied the Page 69 Test to Antiagon Fire, the seventh installment in the Imager Portfolio, and reported the following:
While I’ve written several page 69 entries, this time I’m going to have to reach for the implications and the like, because page 69 has something like seven and a half lines on it, ending with:
As the squad leader vaulted up the steps, Vaelora turned to Quaeryt. “What will you do now?”

“Sit with you and watch the canal go by for half a glass – until we join up with Skarpa and the regiments.”
At this point Quaeryt and Vaelora have just begun their journey along the Great Canal of Bovaria, the waterway that links the capital – Variana – with the River Laar on their long journey to meet with the High Council of Khel, the land briefly conquered and then lost by Kharst, the ruler of Bovaria defeated by Quaeryt and the armies of Lord Bhayar of Telaryn. They have just taken possession of a compact but luxurious canal boat that had belonged to Kharst, but along the way they will confront disobedience, disrespect, and outright rebellion, sometimes sleeping in comfort, sometimes in adequate but hardly luxurious quarters, and sometimes not sleeping at all.

In a real sense, the setting is symbolic of Quaeryt and Vaelora’s journey together, seemingly often in a position of privilege, but more often than not they are no more than a few moments or steps from threat, difficulty, or danger.
Learn more about the author and his work at L. E. Modesitt, Jr.'s website.

The Page 69 Test: Princeps.

The Page 69 Test: Imager's Battalion.

--Marshal Zeringue