City of Roses

@thecityofroses

The ten thousand things; the one true only. An urban fantasy epic set in Portland—47 novelettes (so far): paperbacks, ebooks, zines, and on the web. thecityofroses.com | bookshop.org/shop/thecityofroses

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City of Roses@thecityofroses· 24d

(Don't never let it be said I didn't give you nothing.) thecityofroses.com

City of Roses novelettes in zine form, scattered haphazardly across a table, each cover a colorful glimpse of the magic of life in the City: a City of Roses motel sign, abandoned above a wild bush of roses; a welter of overlapping posters and notices illegibly stapled to a telephone pole; a mechanical sun shining against a cloudless sky of blue; gem-like nodules of broken glass on pavement; and more besides.

City of Roses@thecityofroses· 24d

Forty novelettes—40!—of acclaimed urban fantasy, available to read, on the web, for free! thecityofroses.com/contents/#di...

A selection of City of Roses novelettes in paper zine form, arrayed in a grid on the table, each with a quickly magical snapshot of a colorful glimpse of the City: a pair of sling-back pumps, hung forlornly from a power line; a chalk drawing of a bird and a woodsy figure on a column face; a crepuscularly lavender view of a reservoir, and a lone streetlamp; an Oregon Lottery sign, cheerfully bright; and more besides.

City of Roses@thecityofroses· 25d

The 40th novelette is almost done, which means the 41st novelette, " – arms - legs - heaven – ", is about to begin... thecityofroses.com/chapbooks/no... (In which omens are taken, credit is bandied, meetings are held, a promise is broken, and a challenge is made, all under an unseen moon.)

No. 41, “ – arms—legs—heaven – ”. A densely fretted criss-cross structure of iron beams and girders, interlocked but open to the air, rises silhouetted against a pitiless blue sky, as if the ghosts of every building ever to stand at this corner suddenly, fitfully overlapped.

City of Roses@thecityofroses· Jul 2

The next two weeks, on Mondays, Wednesdays, & Fridays, the 40th novelette of the epic, " – dirty white noise – " thecityofroses.com/chapbooks/no... (In which forensics are seen to, and a beloved companion, a gift is given, and a window restored, portions are measured, and measures will be taken.)

No. 40, “ – dirty white noise – ”. The particolored façade of a mid-century office building, alternating rows of flat blank panels of window-glass with panels in colors from the 1950s, or the 1970s, avocado, fawn, kelly green, canary yellow, burnt orange, fire-engine red. Caught in one of the panels of glass the reflection of an older building, across the street, the stonework, the decorative cornice, the windows neatly hung with curtains.

City of Roses@thecityofroses· Jul 2

The 39th novelette in City of Roses, " – Beautiful, we are – ", is almost done: thecityofroses.com/story/?c=bea... (In which one sword is retrieved, and another, an interview is side-stepped, a memory’s restored, a necessity’s indulged, and a dog is scritched.) #WebSerials #FantasyLit #IndieBooks

No. 39, “ – Beautiful, we are – ”. Stood outside a bar at night, looking up at the neon sign, red lights that once spelled out TAVERN, but some time ago something, the top of a truck, perhaps, crumpled the one end of the sign, breaking the first two letters, so now the red light spells out VERN. Blue-white lights run along the edge of the shallow porch above the door. The street recedes into the distance, dim lights of the next block along far off.

City of Roses@thecityofroses· Jun 5

For the next two weeks, appearing Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays—the 38th novelette, " – Ekumen ain't everything – " thecityofroses.com/chapbooks/no... (In which morning ablutions are seen to, a carnival’s attended, by various bodies, a middling blow is struck, and a number of cats is itemized.)

No. 38, “ – Ekumen ain’t everything – ”. A blue sky pierced by sunlight, criss-crossed by white support cables descending from upper left to lower right. A pole with streetlights branching off to either side and brackets to hold up streetcar powerlines, and it can be seen the pole is before some of those slanting cables, and behind others, making them suddenly much thicker and much further away than they might've seemed. A freeway bridge, the roofs of far-off buildings, a speed alert sign all can just be made out along the very bottom.

City of Roses@thecityofroses· Jun 2

The third volume, collected: In the Reign of Good Queen Dick —the City of Portland (the visible world is merely their skin). Comprising novelette nos. 23 – 33. thecityofroses.com/books/in-the... "Long, complex with a lyrical rhythm to it that's intoxicating." #Booksky #IndieAuthors #FantasyLit

Vol. 3, In the Reign of Good Queen Dick. High above downtown, towers of white stone and red brick rising above the cars parked on the roof of a grey concrete garage, the glass belvedere atop a bunker of a department store, the treetops lining the streets between and among them, all lit by watery afternoon light, and the darkening rainbow, falling from the blue-grey clouds above.

City of Roses@thecityofroses· May 29

We're halfway through the 37th novelette of the epic, " – and 'thirsty wilds' – " (In which rooms are secured, business is conducted, boundaries are set, a mind is changed, and you will be warned, if necessary.) #FantasyLit #UrbanPastoral #WickedIncantatory #PDX

No. 37, “ – and ‘thirsty wilds’ – ”. The corner of a windowless, doorless, single-storey grey building juts forward, brightly sunlit on one side, deeply shadowed on the other, beneath a peerless blue sky with a fluffily white bit of cloud. The ground at the base of it a narrow strip of neatly swept bark mulch verging a pinkish sidewalk. All is neat, precise, orderly, composed, the loose curl of cable dangling from the roof a stochastic bedevilment adding focus to the rest.

City of Roses@thecityofroses· May 26

“ – carnival was ringing – ” Where the barkers call the Moon down, and soon enough, all will be well. thecityofroses.com/story/?c=car... (In which a knife falls from the sky, a demand is made, a show’s put on, a tear is turned to gold, and a question’s asked—again.)

No. 33, “ – carnival was ringing – ”. Sunrise over a grassy fairway between two lines of squared-up tented booths, all of a size, flaps of white and gold and blue closed up, awaiting the coming crowds. Yellow bulbs still lit are strung from cords that cross from one side to the other, and flags are hung about, green and white and red, for Cinco de Mayo.

City of Roses@thecityofroses· May 25

"It is fast, funny, sexy, and sometimes violent—" "The surrealism, the lush detail, and the loving attention to local Portland culture…" "—over the top, long winded, unnecessary, grossly elaborate and just bloated beyond all proportion." thecityofroses.com/books #Booksky #FantasyLit #PDX #Roses

Vol. 1, “Wake up…” A bright red fire hydrant thrusts up from a striated sidewalk, and behind it, along the diagonal of the curb, a bright yellow no-parking stripe. Scattered about in remarkable profusion are hundred if not thousands of tiny pink flowers, fallen some time ago, pasted to macadam and concrete and rust-flecked municipal paint by long-since rains and unknown steps, but still with some glory left to spend.

Vol. 2, The Dazzle of Day. The sun rises bright but indistinct behind icy clouds over a fog-bound river, girdered bridgework crossing it to the right there, to lose itself in the haze before reaching the other side, and tiny trees lining this side, weirdly sharp against the water gelid and still. Low riverfront buildings below, a hotel, perhaps, some old brick-walled offices, all still bluely dimmed despite the rising brightness.

Vol. 4, —or Betty Martin. The wall of a building, painted with simple flower-shapes in blue on blue, angled away among flat roofs and other buildings in an industrial district under the rising sun. Set between and among the windows along the wall are polished aluminum pots, each with a small green tree planted inside, a tidy vertical copse.

City of Roses@thecityofroses· May 20

Burlesque performers Nicole, Erica, and Jaclyn, the Dahm Triplets, pose in a generic cinderblock garage, their bare backs to us, their blond hair washed out to featureless white by the too-bright lights, as two photographers, faces obscured by their cameras, snap away. Photographer(s) unknown.

City of Roses@thecityofroses· May 19

“ – only to sit – ” Having increases hunger, and several things happen at once. thecityofroses.com/story/?c=onl... (In which a window, a spell, and a fast are broken, councils debate, and counsel is taken, and one last hope is found, and lost again.)

No. 32, “ – only to sit – ”. A stretch of undergrowth just off the path, overwhelmed by fallen rhododendron flowers, petals creamy pale and speckled with reddish oranges and orangey reds, and nestled among them a plastic juice bottle, wide-mouthed, green-capped, the label of it peeled away, but the sort that usually holds fruit juice, orange, lemon-yellow, cranberry magenta, but the liquid in it, just a splash, made out through clinging condensation, is a slick of milky white, frothed at the edge with bubbles, shot through with a hint of gold.

City of Roses@thecityofroses· May 16

We're halfway through the epic's 36th novelette, " – so powerfully strong – " thecityofroses.com/contents/#so... (In which beers are fetched, a game is tied, fortunes are told, various privy councils meet, light changes, and a worm does turn.) #FreeBooks #IndieAuthors #FantasyLit #CityOfRoses

No. 36, “ – so powerfully strong – ”. A couple of tables outside a restaurant or a bar, slathered in freshly fallen rain. The one in back a green picnic-style table, barely visible, the one in front stained a deeply unwoodlike red, and set atop it a small black plastic pot filled with fuchsia cineraria flowers and a tin ash tray, the bottom of it specked with ash, and two dry butts, one of them rimmed with a bit of red lipstick.

City of Roses@thecityofroses· May 12

“ – marble sends regards – ” Named after us, but what? thecityofroses.com/story/?c=mar... (In which the body, the water, the sun; the air, those teeth, the light—)

No. 31, “ – marble sends regards – ”. Looking down on rippled water, but the sun’s so bright it’s almost monochromatic, piercing whites, fathomless blacks, crisp demarcations between them. Running at an angle along the top a long thick silhouette depended from thick dark columns, the shadow of an unseen bridge, leaping over the water it crosses.

City of Roses@thecityofroses· May 6

• Good neighbors • Ghost bicycles • Supermarket sword-fights • Riverside carnivals • Urban pastoral • Wickedly incantatory • Gonzo noir • Cater-cornered • Unfussily sexy • Primly queer • Quietly radical • Esoterically allusive • Genderfunk • Genrepunk thecityofroses.com/books #Booksky #FantasyLit

Four fat paperback books on a featureless white field, stacked one atop the other with their spines facing you, and the one on the bottom is yellow, vol. 1, “Wake up…”, and then the next one is blue, vol. 2, The Dazzle of Day, and the third is pink, vol. 3, In the Reign of Good Queen Dick, and the one on top is orange, vol. 4, —or Betty Martin.

City of Roses@thecityofroses· May 5

“ – on pretending that – ” Dying, but in due time. A city's varied riches are cataloged, and a vase is broken. thecityofroses.com/story/?c=on-... (In which friends are found but also lost, blood’s shed and water spilled, someone’s fired, and someone tries to quit, and then the thunder.)

No. 30, “ – on pretending that – ”. A half-enclosed payphone outside, on a sidewalk, the metal shelf of it and blinds overwritten with exuberant blue graffiti, and black graffiti scrawled over the face of the phone itself, none of it terribly legible. The handset dangles loose from its jointed metal cord, the earpiece of it somehow broken off and gone. The phone books’s still attached to its bracket. Little yellow leaves litter the concrete beneath it.

City of Roses@thecityofroses· May 3

Paperbacks! bookshop.org/lists/city-o... Ebooks! thecityofroses.itch.io Zines! thecityofroses.com/chapbooks/ The City of Roses! thecityofroses.com/trivia #Booksky #UrbanFantasy #PDX #IndieAuthors #WareTheGuidNychburris

High above downtown, towers of white stone and red brick rising above the cars parked on the roof of a grey concrete garage, the glass belvedere atop a bunker of a department store, the treetops lining the streets between and among them, all lit by watery afternoon light, and the darkening rainbow, falling from the blue-grey clouds above.

City of Roses@thecityofroses· May 2

We're halfway through the 35th novelette, " – many Christian eyes – " thecityofroses.com/contents/#ma... #FantasyLit #FreeBooks #IndieAuthors #CuteLittleDog

No. 35, “ – many Christian eyes – ”. Looking through the front window of a fast-food restaurant in the middle of some sort of remodel or restoration. A confusion of reflections in the glass, of the trees behind and above, of the upper storeys of the brick building across the street, tangle and overlap with the lit fluorescent ceiling panels within. Stainless steel islands of kitchen equipment have been wheeled out to mingle with the tables and bussing stations in bright primary colors.

City of Roses@thecityofroses· May 2

A femme-presenting figure stands before a featureless blue background, her yellow hair spilling over her shoulders and her breast to loosely drop about her hips, and she wears heavy armlets and wristlets of brass and bronze, and a diadem on her head, with a single clear white stone set just above her deep blue eyes, and a heavy golden chain about her neck, and she's drawing a broadsword from a leather sheath set with golden accents, and the throat of it of gold, and the shape of a flower beaten into it. Model unknown, photographed by Matti Klatt.

City of Roses@thecityofroses· Apr 28

“ – shiver & headache – ” It’s all grown one way. Interviews, audiences, space left for love. thecityofroses.com/story/?c=shi... (In which a bandit's unmasked, loss is shared, an interview is held, a talisman broken, and a theory of art's propounded.)

No. 29, “ – shiver & headache – ”. Rough pavement stretches away, ruddy with old mud and a bit of dried grass growing there at the verge, and scattered across it dozens if not hundreds of oblong greenish kernels of shattered safety glass, the detritus of a broken car window like so many forgotten gems.

City of Roses@thecityofroses· Apr 28

Burlesque performers Zero and Zen, the Porcelain Twinz, sit on a red couch in a nondescript living room, the both of them in loosely comfortable lounge wear, the one in leopard-print tap pants and a camisole, smoking a cigarette, the other in blue-striped boxers and a cropped grey T-shirt, a highball glass in her hand, and they're watching a movie on a small flat-screen monitor on the glass-topped coffee table, a close-up of two femme-presenting faces pressed close in the sort of exaggeratedly lickerish kiss most often found in pornographic films, and a stack of VHS cassettes by the monitor, and an overturned container of popcorn. Photograph by R.B. Kane.

City of Roses@thecityofroses· Apr 26

Free shipping continues today, at @bookshop.org, to celebrate independent bookstores—get yourself some gonzo noir urban pastoral incantatory fantastic! bookshop.org/shop/thecity...

City of Roses@thecityofroses· Apr 24

The 34th novelette in the epic, " – up and stand.", now available on the website in its entirety: thecityofroses.com/story/?c=up-... (In which the sun does shine as night does fall, coffee is served, compromises are made, walks and meetings are taken, and an understanding’s reached.)

No. 34, “ – up and stand – ”. Looking down from just above a curb, a grassy verge, a small toy horse, a prancing bay with white fetlocks, is tied with a thin steel tether to a hitching ring embedded in the concrete.

City of Roses@thecityofroses· Apr 21

“ – Hands of an Angry – ” An arsenal against all odds. Consequences lead to more decisions. thecityofroses.com/story/?c=han... (In which a window is broken, an indulgence curtailed, a sermon delivered, swords are swung, and a match is struck.)

No. 28, “ – Hands of an Angry – ”. The sun’s just rising over the horizon back thataway, rays of it striking sharp shadows from the stonework of the lone tower rising before us, the sort of modest skyscraper one might find in any mid-range city, thirteen storeys high, counting the mezzanine. An American flag at the very top of it whips in the wind blowing from the east. The store windows along the sidewalk are dark, and the streets are empty.

City of Roses@thecityofroses· Apr 14

“ – tends to crumble – ” The way out of most antinomies. Decisions begin to realize consequences. thecityofroses.com/story/?c=ten... (In which a city is built, a game is played, a weekend is indulged, a deal is struck (though reluctantly), and a slight is not unnoticed.)

No. 27, “ – tends to crumble – ”. Across the street stretches the mostly empty wall of some warehouse at least a couple storeys tall, blandly grey but with patches where underlying coats of white paint and peachly orange paint show through. A couple-three shallow steps lift off the sidewalk to the ghost of a doorway, long since walled over. In the middle of that wall, the threshold of it six feet up at least, a single blue door with a nondescript knob, and no way to get to it. A tree, leaves just folding, grows from the sidewalk before it.

City of Roses@thecityofroses· Apr 11

Starting next week, the novelettes from the fourth volume, —or Betty Martin, will begin appearing on the site: thecityofroses.com/books/or-bet... #FantasyLit #WebSerials #FreeBooks #IncantatoryFantastic

City of Roses@thecityofroses· Apr 10

The first three volumes of the epic are now up, online, free to read—there's your weekend, sorted: thecityofroses.com/contents/ #Booksky #FreeBooks #UrbanFantasy #GoodNeighbors

The covers of the first three volumes of City of Roses, set side by side: “Wake up…” (a fire hydrant, covered with pink blossoms); The Dazzle of Day (a frozen sunrise over the river); In the Reign of Good Queen Dick (a rainbow, over downtown).

City of Roses@thecityofroses· Apr 10

And now, the 33rd novelette, " – carnival was ringing – ", is complete: thecityofroses.com/story/Carniv... the Gold, the Gold– “Come and get it” #FantasyLit #FreeBooks #IndieAuthors #TheQuestion

City of Roses@thecityofroses· Apr 8

Burlesque performers Zero and Zen, the Porcelain Twinz, glimpsed in a mirror set on a dressing table, away across the room, and the one is dressed in a black gown, leaned back against lush blue velvet drapes, an arm up and back, for balance, her hand gripping, crushing the folds, and the other dressed in a black suit over a white shirt, and a black top hat on her head, her hands cupping her sister's face as they share a heated kiss. Photographer unknown.

City of Roses@thecityofroses· Apr 8