44 Results in the "Bear House Serials" category
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Chapter
Villa Servi
I made a cornball map of Villa Servi, a unique structure built in the years following Hannibal's failed invasion (when Rome amplified the colonization of the Alps). Magnus Servius came to the Leontine's to oversee his grandfather's immature walnut grove and father's apple orchards. He spent most of his adult life adding a second-story to the farmhouse, and planting pears alongside the first orchard. His son, Rufus never left, marrying a Cisalpine Gaul, be began selling their crops to Rome proper. His…-
645 • Ongoing
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Chapter
7
The third building down from Coney Island Avenue loomed like a cold giant, its gray-brick façade adorned with multiple AC units jutting out like unpressed buttons. Standing among the Brighton numbers, the tenement was a typical six-story bracket styled in the least brutal Eastern European aesthetic. Toy trucks and sand pails littered its tiny courtyard, while the front door glass felt more industrial than residential. There was no real lobby, just a foot of white tiles flanked by built-in postal box…-
39.7 K • Completed
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Chapter
6
Andrew woke beneath the noisy Grand Central Parkway, and for the first time in weeks, he’d napped lightly and without nightmares. After a long stretch, the 74th Street sign appeared, and a traffic marker on its pole revealed them in Queens. Radek turned on Hazen Street, where he and Samil quickly took out their wallets. There was no passing through the booth ahead without stopping, and the man behind its barred glass wasn’t there to exact a toll. Armed and wearing a uniform, his smooth jaw tensed…-
39.7 K • Completed
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Chapter
5
Andrew celebrated his first month in New York with a jumbo cupcake, after Samil arrived at lunch to remind him that it was Friday. The portly young man stunk of Aramis, and his ears were spotless—ears were something Andrew sought on men since he loved having his ears touched and kissed when making out. Aftershocks of what brought him to this city blunted his sexual desires, and he hadn’t fully mourned that loss, thanks to meeting Sam. The cute chub didn’t arouse him, but his energetic…-
39.7 K • Completed
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Chapter
4
The late morning sun burned away last night’s rain, turning the streets into a sauna. Despite the sticky air, both wore dungarees and white cotton shirts. Samil’s masculine visage and airy voice blended like sugar and water, and his thin goatee turned black in the shade of an occasional awning. “When did you get to NYC?” “The day before you hired me,” said Andrew. “Where you living?” “I got a room at St. Marks,” he noted his concern. “What?” “I heard that place…-
39.7 K • Completed
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Chapter
3
Another two days passed before Andrew willed himself out of bed. He needed a haircut but would wait for the golden waves feathering his ears to take over his neck before finding some scissors. He pulled on his audition attire, a white button-down shirt with short sleeves and black dockers. Violin case in hand, he stepped out of the room, determined to do something that didn’t involve closing his eyes and forgetting the world outside. The subway car proved a cool respite from the heat. Across…-
39.7 K • Completed
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Chapter
2
The term historic hotel in the year of our lord Nineteen Ninety-Three clearly meant cracked paint and a spartan collection of Salvation Army furnishings. A twin mattress with a matching boxspring sat on a slightly larger wood frame, its sheets clean enough until he noticed stains on the pillowcases. The only window hid behind thick, dark blue panel curtains with an AC unit stuffed into its narrow bottom pocket. Someone had broken a portion of the unit’s hard plastic knob and jammed a pencil into its…-
39.7 K • Completed
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Chapter
1
It’s hard waking up when you’re hurt. Birds rattled over the whirl of passing cars, and the air stank of tilled corn and car exhaust. Cold grass tickled his bare feet, and while socks and clean underwear would make the moment tolerable, acquiring them meant popping open the Rabbit’s hatch. Andrew swallowed hard and willed his stomach to settle. Eyes trained on the trees, he opened the driver’s side door and let his memory find the steering wheel. Just a hand away was the hatchback…-
39.7 K • Completed
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Chapter
The Servian Plantation
I made the map above with Paint-shit Pro, using various other maps as a guide. The Servii keep a grand villa rustica on the same ridge as their plantation village. The two-story villa sits on the shoreline of a deep glacial pond with views of a nearby forest and the surrounding mountains. Using existing designs found on the web, I tried to configure details as my narrative presents. The Servii live in the Lepontine Alps, very near the Swiss border (close to the Adula peak). I mapped the journey…-
645 • Ongoing
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Chapter
The Servian Village
The Servii do not keep slaves but employ Romano-Gallic workers (mostly Gallic with Vitas and Scipio sending war prisoners to make up for the Roman's leaving during their absence). Many of the families there are generational due to the security the plantation provides. The pay is low but the harvests are seasonal, and when not harvesting, these people live rent-free in a village with walls, gardens, animals, baths, and fresh water. I used an existing graphic featuring a Roman farm from the Late Republic…-
645 • Ongoing
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