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A much needed outing -- perhaps so enjoyable that some of us returned to our roving home, surprised that while the world outside has indeed changed -- offered us pleasure, beautiful sights and the deepening of friendships -- the interior echoes the same old dreary stories. Angry Inmates -- they were angry even when I was one -- the authoritarian Wardens versus the free-minded ones -- attacks, death, cries for justice.

It almost puts me in the mind to write a fairy story or two, if only to introduce a little more colour to the palette.

However, I think instead that I might begin publishing chapters of the very long work I have been creating in my silence here these last few weeks. It might offer some illumination on our present course, if not a little nostalgia for those of you that have been here as long as I.

[Private (tentatively) to Henry West]

I understand you are feeling better.

Le Barge - The Afterlife and Adventures of a Libertine Condemned - Chapter 1

[What lies below is a transcribed copy of the book the Marquis is working on. He has placed it under cuts on the network so that those that don't want to read it do not have to.]

To my beloved. What follows in these pages are the account of my extraordinary experiences after the final great experience. The tales I tell are many and varied in tone, ranging from the cheerful to the debased, and with tremulous fingers I relate them to you now. I caution you that its content is more often than not scandalous by its nature, unrepentant in its brutal honesty, and perhaps a little under-edited. I cannot even guarantee you a happy ending. In terms of style and scope, it is an undertaking quite unlike any I have assumed in the past, so I warn you. There is no real ending as yet, even. But if you’ve a love for my old stories, submit some of that loyalty to me, now. If you are curious, turn the page. Tread with me faithfully, reader. It is an experience we all share.

 

( Chapter 1 - Further Tutelage in Death )