“Holy Mary mother of God!” gasped Pat as he downed Sasha’s Bulgarian spirit which was stamped Plum Slivovitz over the label. “That makes Sean’s poteen seem positively refined and ladylike.”

The others seemed to be in agreement and Sasha asked, “I take it then if I get the offer of any more I accept?”

“God yes,” said Gerry. “Just not too often. I really don’t want to get used enough to it to say I like it.”

CASTLE THE SERIES – 00001450
IF THEY WERE MINE I SHOULD - GEORGE (12)
Neither Mari nor Ford nor indeed any other had suspected Minxie was pregnant, and George explained, “There’s just a little bit more of her, just here. Isn’t there, girl?”
.

CASTLE THE SERIES – 00001500
THE CRUIT - MORGELLE (13)
“Tune it, Morgelle, and play something for me, aught, aught at all. I have never hearet it playt.”
.

CASTLE THE SERIES – 00001550
NO NEED FOR POLICEMEN - LUKE (34)
“You will not be able to attract a woman of the Folk if you are not prepaert to be a father to her children, or at least have children with her.”
.

CASTLE THE SERIES – 00001600
PROBABLY AT SCHOOL - ERIN (34)
Looking at herself in the mirror, for the first time in years she felt at peace with herself.

.

CASTLE THE SERIES – 00001400
DIFFERENT PLACES, DIFFERENT TIMES
AFTERNOON - WAVERLEY (11)

Late one Saturday night in the new year, Jonnie had been working, and Mr. E. was taking him back to the hostel when he heard over the radio, “Dynamite! Dynamite! Dynamite! Yanky forty-six is in front of the Square Edward and one of the bros has a knife at his throat. Dynamite! Dynamite! Dynamite! Yanky forty-six is in front of the Square Edward and one of the bros has a knife at his throat.” He knew dynamite was the drives’ emergency call for help, though he had never heard it in use before, and wondered what was going to happen, if anything.

WARNING – This is a disturbing account of child abuse. It is based on a reality many would prefer to pretend didn’t exist. The language used in this chapter is the language that would have been familiar to and used by Waverley which is very different from that used by Bling and Suzie in the last chapter.

The Minehead ambassador was blunt. ‘Hand over our citizen’s sperm in perfect condition or the catalysts won’t be arriving at all.’

CASTLE THE SERIES – 00001150
THE ANGEL OF DEADTH
AFTERNOON - INCOMER CAMP - KYLE (29)

That’s how it works here, you help us, we help you, you hurt us, we kill you. It’s simple, straight forward and easy to understand.

CASTLE THE SERIES – 00001100
THOMAS SPAEKS – 0001100
AFTERNOON - INCOMER CAMP
“Better to let my staff kill them now, Thomas. It’ll be less trouble at the far end of it.”
~o~O~o~

NOBODY’S FOOLS – 00001120
AFTERNOON - MERCEDES (29)
She hurried there with her feet barely touching the ground, her heart was singing for the sheer joy of being alive.
~o~O~o~

THE MILKING OF THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS – 00001135
AFTERNOON LLYLLABETT (38) AND YOOMARRIANNA (42)
“Look at those poor animals, Yoo. That’s wicked. They must be in terrible pain. This is not a good place we have come to.”

“Her conversation was curiously, completely literal. All figures of speech, metaphors and use of idiom went completely over her head, and she never used any. I know she only read non-fiction and not much of that deeming most non-fiction to be implausible. She described newspapers as lies and fantasy and didn’t read them. I never saw her reading any of the magazines in the waiting room here. I know she’d never been to the cinema nor a stage production, and perhaps most curious of all that she said she had hated listening to stories as a girl. That was the only time she ever referred to her life as a child.”

This tale was inspired by a comment made by ‘Outsider’. Thank you, Dave.

CASTLE THE SERIES – 00000700
PREGNANT WITH ATTITUDE
HELEN AND THE CAMP (28)

“You are mothers to be.” Gosellyn had explained, “To the Folk, both you and your unbirtht are precious. Don’t be surpriest if you receive an offer of marriage from someone you have never met before, and don’t reject it out of hand. Say you will consider it, and then have spaech with one of us or a member of the Master at arms office if you need advice. We have a lot of men who loes their wife to the fevers a year over. Their year of mourning is now over, and many are seeking a wife and a mother for their children. Your pregnancy makes you very attractive and desirable as a wife to our men, and you will be well come to their families, kin, clan and kith. The Folk value a mother and her children.”

CASTLE THE SERIES – 00000650
KILLED WITH A SPADE
INCURSION AND FORENOON LLYLLABETT (38) AND YOOMARRIANNA (42)

Yoomarrianna heard her screams and ran to the barn to see his wife struggling on the ground as a stranger was attempting to rip her clothes off. He picked up the nearest tool to hand, a spade he used for chopping fodder beet which was as sharp as a razor on all three edges after his morning’s work sharpening tools, and hit the man with it’s edge in the middle of his back. Llyllabette’s struggles pushed the screaming man off her and Yoomarrianna hit him again with the spade.

CASTLE THE SERIES - 00000600
THIS ISN’T THE HOSPITAL IS IT?
INCURSION AND FORENOON - MERCEDES (29)

By this time, Mercedes was so disconnected from the world she rarely did more than sit in the empty flat staring at nothing. She had tried to explain how she felt and why to her doctor, but he barely listened and told her she was suffering from depression. He’d prescribed her tablets saying, “These will help you to cope.” There was nobody she wished to speak to, and nothing she wished to do. The tablets, when she took them, disconnected her even further from the world. Eventually, she stopped taking the tablets and could no longer be bothered to eat. She would have died, but for the chance visit of an old acquaintance who called an ambulance. She had been a patient in the psychiatric hospital for four months when she awoke on Castle.

CASTLE THE SERIES - HUNTERS OF THE FAR NORTH - 00000550
THE FELL PRINCIPLE

28th of Towin Day 1

Chaunter beckoned Waxwing over to her and asked quietly, looking across the cabin at Flame staring at naught, “How is she?”
Waxwing was the closest they had to a healer, she’d had the emergency healing training, but she was no more skilled to deal with Flame than the others. “She has fully recovert from the deepcaltth, but she is still too deeply shockt by the loss of Irune to be reacht yet. Perchance, Gosellyn or Campion could reach her but…” Waxwing’s words trailed off as she thought of Flame, the young woman who had only just reached agreement with her wife Irune on the voyage north and who had lost her love within a tenner. “Ceël keeps spaeking to her. Neither of us is sure how much contact is being maekt, but Ceël keeps spaeking of Irune’s children and how much they will need her. Her eyes flicker when she hears the names of the children, but that is the only sign of contact so far.”

CASTLE THE SERIES - INCURSION 568 - 00000500
TEN BELOW
DAY 1 - THE INCURSION OCCURRED AT 11:46 LASTNIGHT 27th of Towin

.

Three hundred or so persons from various places and times on Earth arrive on Castle, and they must begin life anew or die.

Though there are numerous prequels and pages of explanation in my manuscript that occur before this, Hwijje and Travisher and First Incursion were examples of prequel chapters and I am currently working to make the explanations suitable for posting, this is where the series begins. Marcy, chapters 1-6, was posted out of order, early, in order to provide some story first, so that the explanations make sense, even though it would be done the other way around in printed format.

Where necessary or possibly helpful to some, there are notes at the end on word usage.

CASTLE THE SERIES - 00000015

The story starts in the year 568 after the Fell Year and these 10,000 words or so are not essential reading to enjoy, if you so do, the story. However, much is clearer if you have read them, for they explain what the Folk know of themselves, and to some extent how they think. They also explain some of their history and the structure of the castle they know as the Keep and their nearby settlements. If the language is difficult you have my sympathies, but I’m not going to change it.

I have provided explanations of word usage at the end and will continue to do so as long as I keep posting. If I get that far I shall post the more technical appendices later, things such as the linguistic conventions that govern the language (and the irregular forms), the calendar, tables of sunrise etc., and if I can work out how to do it the maps and schematics for the Keep too. If you don’t like it, and it is a matter of taste, all I can suggest is that you read something else. However, constructive criticism and suggestions are welcome. I may ignore them, but naytheless they are welcome.

Silvermane had reported her pregnancy late and Elgal had celebrated his virility at impregnating his new and very beautiful mare of the once so proud Magellsi clan immediately. He was blissfully unaware Silvermane had chosen to give herself to him because she’d considered, due to his arrogance and stupidity, he was the stallion most likely to be duped regarding her foal should it prove to be a colt.

I’m really scratching my head to remember the details on this one. It was another life, another time, and I was reminded of it by something someone said the other day. It’s not that I’d rather forget, it’s just the details have been blurred by the passage of time. Let’s start with now and then cast back.

I’m Victoria Garcia, and I’m sixty-seven, a grandmother many times over and still married to Jesus. I’m Scottish whilst Jesus as you may have guessed is Spanish. We adopted and reared six children because I’m trans. Though me being trans has only a small bearing on what I am going to tell you about. I transitioned and had SRS somewhere in my early thirties I think. I’m not going to look it up because this story happened when I was I think sixteen in 1969 long before then and it’s besides the point.

“There are no stories that old, Father!”

“Indeed not many, Naomi, but there are some. Most are not told often, for many are incomplete, some just fragments, and often they disagree with each other. One of the most popular girls’ names for centuries has been Scowla, so would you like to hear of Our Lady of Niok and how Saint Scowla was visited by her with the passion in front of thousands and viewed by millions?”

The idea of having a job and working with more girls who would ignore me and more boys who would hit me terrified me. I was depressed and thinking about ending it all because the idea of possibly another sixty years like the last twenty was too much.

I’m having the surgery next month but there will be traces of it left and there are of course implications if he wants a family.

CASTLE THE SERIES - 00001004
MARCY 4 – DRESS CODE FOR GIRLS AND BOYS

.

Marcy has started to dress as a girl in public, but was worried her interest in fishing would affect her gender consultant’s belief she is a girl. However, her consultant proved supportive and to Marcy’s surprise said she is interested in steam trains, and she and her husband went on a steam train enthusiasts course on their honeymoon.

Where necessary or possibly helpful to some, there are notes at the end on word usage.

Concerning ℕ, ℤ, ℚ, ℝ and ℂ.

The doctor said I had ambi-something genitals. I found out later it meant, not fully girl or fully boy. Later still I found out it just meant uncertain, which I think was just a fancy way of saying they didn’t know what they were talking about.

My brother David said, “There is no way Caro is a boy. No boy would be seen dead in her clothes.”
My sister Alice added, “There’re more than a few girls, including me, who wouldn’t either.”

“You saying you believe in ghosts, Geoff?”

“You saying you’ve got the balls to tell Karen she’s delusional, Alf?”

“No, I see what you’re saying. Ellen scares me badly enough. Your missus is…, nah you carry on, Geoff.”

Gladys was smiling at Alf’s strategic withdrawal.

I could see Belle’s breasts underneath what I was about to learn was her shift, and I hesitantly asked, “Is there any way we can make me look more like a girl, you know?” I pointed to her breasts.

Belle blushed but said, “Good idea. My breasts will shew through my shift anyway, but if you put my bra on with your socks in it and then my dress that will do it.” I mentally gave Belle her due she was no shrinking violet, once committed to a plan she followed through on it immediately.