I, Uqétme hiTetengkáino of the Clan of Black Mountain, Senior Scholar Priest of Lord Ksárul, the Doomed Prince of the Blue Room in His exalted refuge of Hauninngákte Monastery, Distinguished Functionary of the Refulgent Blue Curtain Society, Master of the Secrets of the Strider unto the Encroaching Nullity, do make these notes for those of the faith of the Ancient Lord of Secrets who would learn.  May the Shining Silver of His Unknowable Intellect, and the Azure Effulgence of He Who Confronts the Inner Being of Reality guide my hands as I record these words, and protect me from the foolishness of others’ mistakes.

The first and only question concerns the transcendent Introduction to The Book of Ebon Bindings.  Our consummate hosts discuss the perspective of the Introduction, and why the Professor chose to write it in this fashion.

Show Notes:

[00:01:20]  The Book of Ebon Bindings begins with an introduction written by Tsémel Qurén hiKétkolel, a high ritual priest of Ksárul.  This is unusual because the priesthood of Ksárul is known for its secrecy.

[00:02:52]  Even in the first paragraph, there’s a lot there.  He’s not just telling you who he is, but a bunch of important information about his perspective.  Tsémel is not unbiased; to the contrary, he’s writing as a High Ritual Priest of Ksárul, among other things.

[00:04:47]  “May our Ancient Lord of Secrets hold me safe from error,” has several interpretations.

[00:07:00]  While we could perhaps trust the words of an author belonging to the priesthood of Thúmis more than those of a priest of Ksárul, The Book of Ebon Bindings details far more beings who have some kind of relation with the Gods of Change than the Gods of Stability.  As a result, they are more properly addressed by a representative of Change.

[00:07:42]  The Temple of Ksárul is more than likely not giving us the whole truth, but they would remind us that you would be naïve to consider a similar work from the Temple of Thúmis as motivated by unbridled altruism.

[00:08:25]  There are also bracketed editorial comments.  Who is supposed to have written these?  It’s left open to a certain amount of interpretation.  On a surface level, it’s Prof. Barker, the author.  But he would argue editorial license as far as who is the actual writer within the fictional world of Tékumel.

[00:10:30]  Prior examples of this kind of authorial conceit are noted, included Michael Moorcock’s The Warlord of the Air.

[00:12:44]  In the Preface, the editor thanks people and addresses them as “Mr.” and “Miss.”  The implied conceit of something from Tékumel existing in our world is unusual in Tékumel’s corpus.

[00:14:38]  Victor thinks this provides a sense of verisimilitude.

[00:16:15]  Prof. Barker did write similar “transportations” in letters.  Victor notes a specific letter where Prof. Barker apologizes to the recipient because the Temple of Karakán prevented him from shipping a Ssú skeleton.

[00:17:24]  Was this a device that Prof. Barker found useful early on, and abandoned as Tékumel evolved?  Victor doesn’t think so.

[00:19:10]  Writing in this fashion allowed the Professor to translate his very active imagination, from a world that existed only in his mind.  It helped him to give his characters a kind of “fictive reality.”

[00:20:37]  It also always allowed him an out.  This narrative device preserves his subjectivity.  Phil was always concerned that even a dry recitation of facts (whether historical or fantastical) is written from the writer’s point-of-view.  He might be horrified by the label, but in some ways he was a post-modernist in this respect.

[00:22:30]  This introduction can be contrasted w