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Tagged in: Untagged |
Nov 11, 2008
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Posted by: pablo
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Introduction to:
The Horn - a Novel by PABlo Bley
- Excerpt from Part I: When Heimdall's Horn Blows Jazz
Heimdall (Dall for short) is the God of Light according to Norse mythology. He is also known as Rig, but that is another story.
Dall is on a mission for Wodin, as the official liason for the All-Father's agenda with human kind. While he has been enjoying the pleasures of being an Earth-bound Diety, he suddenly feels a pressing need to get back into communication with Asgard.
After all, it's been over 3000 years since his last instructions were given by old One-Eye himself, and he has gradually lost his recall of what it means to be a messenger of the Elder Gods. Since he no longer clearly recollects what it was that he was sent here to do, there have been some unfortunate side-effects, and to make matters worse over the long years, his magic horn Gjallar, has become exhausted and in need of a recharge.
He still retains certain kinds of secret knowledge though, including a kind of calling, that indicates the whereabouts of the only existing Bifrost Bridge in Vineland. This Bridge will provide the means for re-establishing communications with headquarters back at the Halls of Valhalla.
So now he has made plans to set out on a cross country journey to get to the Bridge. His informants have brought him information about how inaccessible the Bridge really is, since it is located deep inside a cavern situated 7,000 feet above the desert floor on the west side of a sacred mountain known as Baboquivari Peak. As the last step, he is preparing for a 3 day climb by programming the prosthetic hand that he created to replace his absent right hand, lost long ago to the gigantic wolf known as Fenrir.
The story opens on the eve of his preparations to strap himself and all of his accoutrements into his new-fangled skycraft, which is his own modified version of the flyer that he designed for Orville and Wilbur in '03.
In the darkness of the impending pre-dawn, he is about to proceed aloft from his secret hideout somewhere amongst the rooftops of the dark and seedy ragtime clubs in New York City, out to the wide open and sacred lands of the Tohono O'odham people, in what is now known as the Arizona Territory. The year is 1905, and the weather is perfect for flying.
And so it begins!
