"I had sent away for a plan of Anaskol and had received this map in return.
It was accompanied by a note saying Anaskol did not exist, but would this do."
I wrote before, here, about my ambivalent relationship with maps of non-existent worlds at the beginning of books, but non-maps of non-existent worlds compliment fantasy's undependability far better, and so are fine... Once, last century, when I was allowed to be a film critic for the university paper, I watched Peter Greenaway give an interview in which he said film was the perfect medium for him because he was interested in text and images, and I remember thinking, maybe he should be working in comics instead, because film isn't just words and pictures, it's also time, and his films are quite boring. But I hadn't yet grown to appreciate drifiting in and out of a work, nor had I yet seen his early funny stuff.
"According to Tulse Luper, Antilipe in Syria was the home of a unique species of
black maritime rook that mated with seagulls. That was obviously another Antilipe."
"I am the watchman! How do you do? What is the matter?"
