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Román Leão

Román Leão

Burn Your Starry Crown: A nascent cyclical triptych

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Category: 1889—First Pass

8:1 Sure Shot at Sea

June 29, 2018August 11, 2018 ~ Román Leão ~ Leave a comment

THE PACIFIC OCEAN  |  1889 Philomena awoke with a start in an opulent stateroom below decks on the Pride of Jefferson. A single electric bulb shone brightly under a Bohemian glass shade throwing colored geometric shapes against wood paneling of Hungarian ash and French oak. As one of the first steamships to be equipped with … Continue reading 8:1 Sure Shot at Sea

7:2 Two Soldiers

June 26, 2018August 11, 2018 ~ Román Leão ~ Leave a comment

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA  |  1889 Urias awoke in the damp and the dark. It was a good few minutes before he realized the pounding he was hearing was coming from inside his own skull. He reached inside his vest pocket for a match and his fingers closed on the business card. So my kind benefactor … Continue reading 7:2 Two Soldiers

7:1 A Proposal in Plaid

June 22, 2018August 11, 2018 ~ Román Leão ~ Leave a comment

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA  |  1889 “Excuse, me! Mr. Urias,” the desk clerk at the Union Hotel called after the tall figure dressed in gray sack coat and matching vest. The gentleman’s dark trousers were splattered with bay mud at the cuffs from walking the docks and the streets north of Montgomery where the burgeoning city … Continue reading 7:1 A Proposal in Plaid

6:2 Islands of the Dead

June 19, 2018August 11, 2018 ~ Román Leão ~ Leave a comment

FARALLONES ISLANDS, CALIFORNIA | 1889 Boarding the steamship Pride of Jefferson with a tired and emotionally distraught eleven-year-old was easier than Fox imagined. It turned out that every adult he saw traveling with children had the same look of exhaustion and mortal dread that he himself wore. He wondered for a moment if they all … Continue reading 6:2 Islands of the Dead

6:1 Leaving California

June 16, 2018August 11, 2018 ~ Román Leão ~ Leave a comment

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA | 1889 A wet, gray blanket lay over the bustling San Francisco waterfront as Fox and his ersatz daughter rushed to make the steamship that would take them across the Pacific Ocean to Hawai‘i. The pair had been traveling a day and night, taking the Central Pacific Railroad down from Sacramento where … Continue reading 6:1 Leaving California

5:3 Becalmed

June 11, 2018August 11, 2018 ~ Román Leão ~ Leave a comment

MILAKALE, KAUA‘I, THE REPUBLIC OF HAWAI‘I  |  1889 Jun was in the small taro patch he had cultivated just out the back door of his kitchen when Maleko Mahoe, the nephew of one of the native staff employed by the Lanthiers, came running up from the direction of the beach. “Mr. Jun!” the breathless boy … Continue reading 5:3 Becalmed

5:2 A Place at the Table

June 8, 2018August 11, 2018 ~ Román Leão ~ Leave a comment

MILAKALE, KAUA‘I, THE REPUBLIC OF HAWAI‘I  |  1889 The strikingly beautiful Anias Casey hadn’t yet turned twenty when she met her dashing young sugar baron at a society ball on San Francisco’s Market Street. The young Miss Casey had been busy making quite an impression in the rough-and-tumble city with disarmingly attentive eyes the color … Continue reading 5:2 A Place at the Table

5:1 The Big House

June 6, 2018August 11, 2018 ~ Román Leão ~ Leave a comment

MILAKALE, KAUA‘I, THE REPUBLIC OF HAWAI‘I  |  1889 The Lanthier House at Milakale, which everyone on that part of the island simply called the Big House, lounged atop the ridge overlooking a verdant sloping valley running all the way down to the ocean. The dazzling white two-story main structure was surrounded with expansive lanais, or … Continue reading 5:1 The Big House

4:2 Is There No One?

June 3, 2018August 11, 2018 ~ Román Leão ~ Leave a comment

FIESTA, CALIFORNIA  |  1889 The preacher followed Philomena’s instructions to a dusty blue clapboard house on the main street of town. The girl jumped down from the horse and ran across the hard, sunbaked yard. “Hold up!” Fox shouted. It slowly dawned on him that there might be something in that house that a child … Continue reading 4:2 Is There No One?

4:1 Smoke and Ash

May 31, 2018August 11, 2018 ~ Román Leão ~ Leave a comment

FIESTA, CALIFORNIA  |  1889 What Philomena considered her second life began with a fireball streaking across the night sky, an apt metaphor for the way her adoptive father Mordecai approached the world. Fox hadn’t so much adopted the young girl as he had grabbed her as one would grab a valise before escaping out the … Continue reading 4:1 Smoke and Ash

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Eras (Three Different Ones)

  • 1889—First Pass (28)
  • 1972—Second Pass (28)
  • 2055—Contact (14)

The Story So Far

  • 24:3 Nature Always Wins
  • 24:2 General Shorty
  • 24:1 In Good Hands
  • 23:5 Beyond the Plastic Curtain
  • 23:4 A Blast of Static
  • 23:3 Light’s Out
  • 23:2 Mercy is Given
  • 23:1 When Mercy Is Shown
  • 22:3 My God, It’s Full of Stars
  • 22:2 The Body Wants What It Wants
  • 22:1 Inside the Snow Globe
  • 21:3 One Hell of a View
  • 21:2 Spacewalk
  • 21:1 Don’t the Sun Love Its Satellite?
  • 19:1 Out of the Blue
  • 18:5 Lost Footage: Chae Burton
  • 18:4 Lost Footage: Zongo Khumalo
  • 18:3 Lost Footage: Charlie Danger
  • 18:2 Lost Footage: Enrique Bravocado
  • 18:1 Lost Footage: Police Chief Warren Burton
  • 17:4 He’s Gone
  • 17:3 Nobody’s Priest
  • 17:2 Palace of Delights
  • 17:1 Hiding In Plain Sight
  • 16:5 Lost Footage: Enrique Bravocado
  • 16:4 Lost Footage: Chae Burton
  • 16:3 Lost Footage: Charlie Danger
  • 16:2 Lost Footage: Zongo Khumalo
  • 16:1 Lost Footage: Enrique Bravocado
  • 15:3 There Be Dragons
  • 15:2 My Sweet Angel
  • 15:1 A Man Who Can Get Things Done
  • 14:4 Lost Footage: Charlie Danger
  • 14:3 Lost Footage: Karoline Rosenda
  • 14:2 Lost Footage: Zongo Khumalo
  • 14:1 Lost Footage: Enrique Bravocado
  • 13:1 A-OK
  • 12:2 A Civilized Cup of Tea
  • 12:1 Charlie Does Surf
  • 11:3 Lost Footage: Celestial Records
  • 11:2 Lost Footage: Zongo Khumalo
  • 11:1 Lost Footage: Charlie Danger
  • 10:3 The Miracle
  • 10:2 A Carpet of Flowers
  • 10:1 At the Landing
  • 9:2 The Captain’s Folly
  • 9:1 Below Deck
  • 8:6 Unfinished Business
  • 8:5 An Uncanny Stowaway
  • 8:4 Unknown Tongue
  • 8:3 Just Like Icarus
  • 8:2 The Captain’s Table
  • 8:1 Sure Shot at Sea
  • 7:2 Two Soldiers
  • 7:1 A Proposal in Plaid
  • 6:2 Islands of the Dead
  • 6:1 Leaving California
  • 5:3 Becalmed
  • 5:2 A Place at the Table
  • 5:1 The Big House
  • 4:2 Is There No One?
  • 4:1 Smoke and Ash
  • 3:4 Tortured Shadows
  • 3:3 Almost Showtime
  • 3:2 Don’t Look Back
  • 3:1 Summer’s Over
  • 2:3 Fireworks
  • 2:2 School Holiday
  • 2:1 Three-Fingered Puppet Show
  • 1:1 The Letter

Characters—1889

Mordikai Fox
Itinerant tent preacher turned religious cult leader, voluptuary, impromptu father

Philomena Fox (née Gilliam)
Orphaned illegitimate daughter of the mercantilist, talks to ghosts

Emilia Gilliam
Philomena’s mother, Fox’s lover, Mortimer’s widow

Mortimer Gilliam
Owner of the Fiesta mercantile, deceased, ghost

Niall Hendry
San Francisco haberdasher and man who can get things done

Jin Jun
Cook at Milakale, the Lanthiers’ estate on Kaua‘i

Makana Kealoha
Kahuna kupua, traditional Hawai‘ian healer

Anias Lanthier
Sugar baroness, hostess, and true believer

Alexander Lanthier
Wealthy sugar baron and poor equestrian

Romo Laurant
Sailor aboard the steamship Pride of Jefferson

Maleko Mahoe
Nephew of Noelani, Philomena’s partner in crime

Noelani Mahoe
Works at Milakale, surrogate mother of Maleko

Capt. Kasper Munk
Captain of the steamship Pride of Jefferson

Lucette Narcisse
Childhood friend of Philomena

Aaron Urias
Fox’s aide-de-camp and partner since the War Between the States

Jeremiah Erasmus Washburn III
Confederate soldier, deceased, ghost

Dr. Coleman Whitaker
Doctor aboard the steamship Pride of Jefferson

Visitors

  • 2,191 hits

Characters—1972

Zev Avidan
Head of Celestial Records, a mensch

Devon Bentley
Supposedly deceased rock star turned cult leader

Enrique Bravocado
Humboldt County transplant, Milakale’s Minister of Agriculture

Chae Burton
Charlie Danger’s ex-old lady, Devon Bentley acolyte

Charlie Danger
Vietnam veteran, surfer / chopper pilot, Zongo Khumalo’s partner-in-crime

Ikaia “Sticky Icky” Keala
Native Hawai‘ian Milakale communard

Zongo Khumalo
The former Fred Williams, Milakale’s caretaker

Lucette Narcisse
Inheritor of the Milakale property, hip nonagenarian

Karoline Rosenda
Head of A&R for Celestial Records, Devon Bentley babysitter

Bearach “Bear” Shane
A man who can get things done. Zev Avidan’s fixer

Raenbeaux Starr
Trouble with a capital T

Characters—2055

Ancher Bjoern
Norwegian astrogeologist on the Jefferson One / reprogrammed sex robot

Gustavo “Gus” Clement
Guidance, Navigation and Controls System Engineer (GNC) at Mission Control

Nika Polina Konstantinov
Russian second-in-command of the international spacecraft Jefferson One

Luciana Laurant
Electrical, Environmental and Consumables Manager (EECOM) at Mission Control

Capt. Thomas Major
Captain of the international spacecraft Jefferson One

Soléne Pape
French exobiologist on the Jefferson One

Gen. David Wadis
Leader of the Glorified Liberation of the World (GLOW) terrorist group

Dr. Bide “Peter” Zhang
Chinese medical officer aboard the Jefferson One

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