Dean Francis Alfar - How to Traverse Terra Incognita

Dean Francis Alfars stories contain fantastic worldbuilding, crisp prose, and contemplative, poignant storytelling. Several of these stories made me cry. If you arent reading Alfar yet, you should be. Hugo Award winner Lynne M. Thomas, Editor-in-Chief, Apex Magazine

Dean Francis Alfar is one of the most inventive writers of speculative fiction today. Its criminal that his often playful, sometimes serious, gloriously literate tales arent better known around the world. Although hes a very different writer, his lyrical style seems to me to make him a Ray Bradbury for the 21st century. John Grant, Joint Editor of The Encyclopedia of Fantasy, and author of Warm Words and Otherwise: A Blizzard of Book Reviews and many others

Dean Francis Alfar is a wondrous storyteller, creating tales that take the reader far and wide. From reluctant dragon fathers and dueling weather gods to demanding, dying queens, he has a way of pulling you into his captivating worlds and never letting go. And really, who would want to leave anyway when there is something extraordinary around every corner? Hugo Award winner editor Ann VanderMeer

Dean Francis Alfars ambitious but aptly titled collection is a revelation. In these wide-ranging stories youll find the melancholy magic of Kelly Link mixed with the clever wit and bite of Etgar Keret mixed with the unrestrained passion of Harlan Ellison. Yet, How to Traverse Terra Incognita is utterly original. Its like that amazing new band that you fall in love with instantly and want to share with everyone. Then you and your friends will be gladly building replicas of your kingdoms, barricading the house against fathers, and packing for the moon. Paul Tremblay, author of The Little Sleep and Swallowing a Donkeys Eye

How to Traverse Terra Incognita is a kaleidoscope of strange realities. Dean Francis Alfars elegant prose offers tantalizing glimpses of broken fairy tales, urban magics, and everyday sadnesses. Ditmar Award winnner Tansy Rayner Roberts, author of Creature Court trilogy and Love and Romanpunk.

Dean Francis Alfar is an amazing talent. Profound, luminous and lyrical, How to Traverse Terra Incognita is the masterwork of an artist at the very top of his game. This collection is a must-read for anyone who cares about the magic of rubbing words together. Ted Kosmatka, author of The Games

When Dean Francis Alfar is at his best in stories like The Ghosts of Wan Chai and Securing Doors from Fathers, he illuminates human emotion with deft surrealism that merges the familiar and the unfamiliar, allowing the reader to view both in a new light. His clever use of sustained metaphor allows him to play with subtext, memory, and the intersection between personal and communal experience. Nebula Award winning author Rachel Swirsky

Like water coming and going from some strange invisible well, arresting style and uncanny subjects flow in the short fiction of Dean Francis Alfar. An innovative force behind him moves in each compelling story. With Dali-like detail, Mr. Alfar coolly raises hanging coffins, replicas of maritime kingdoms, phantom brides and Hong Kong suicides, whirling chatty lobsters, Mr. Suns face, and the remarkable art of making love to twins. He is never afraid to go out and seek what strange thing he may find. I wont say this writer merits only finding a wider readership in the West: it is better to say that we are entitled to find him. Read something from this collection before you go to bed; rise with the wonder of what happened to your dreams. Danel Olson, editor of the Exotic Gothic series

For my three muses: Nikki, Sage, and Rowan; and for my first storyteller, Monjierra Alonto Disini.

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

While writing is a solitary endeavor, Ive been fortunate to have wonderful traveling companions along the way.

Much gratitude to Alex and Kate Osias, Andrew Drilon, Vin Simbulan, Kenneth Yu, Charles Tan, Ian Rosales Casocot, Gavin Grant, Ted Kosmatka, Danel Olson, Lavie Tidhar, Jeffrey Ford, Donald Webb, all of the LitCritters, Sarge Lacuesta, Joel Toledo, Joel Pablo Salud, Alma Anonas-Carpio, Katrina Bolasco, Susan Lara, Marjorie Evasco, Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo, Butch Dalisay, Ichi Batacan, Joey Nacino, Ruel de Vera, Carljoe Javier, Paolo Chikiamco, Honey de Peralta, Adam David, and Kristine Reynaldofellow authors and publishers whose support and encouragement kept me going.

Special thanks to Jacque Calixto, who never lets me down.

Great thanks to Nikki Alfar, partner, relentless editor, and kakampi; and Sage and Rowan Alfar, daughters who read and inspire.

RESEARCH YOUR DESTINATION

SIMONS REPLICA

I N THE FINAL decades of her rule that was characterized by an intense yearning to preserve memory, Mon Jiera, Reina of Lusan, Protector of Bisyas, and First Citizen of Danao, decreed the creation of a precise replica of her three maritime kingdoms.

Those were days of incontestable bounty and quiet peace, when the network of roads and island-spanning bridges were new and led to uttermost parts of the kingdoms, when fishermen did not have to go beyond a cigarettes distance from the deep harbors to make a days wage, when being a policeman was a part-time job due to the indolence of the dwindling number of criminals, and when the theatrical recitative was at its creative zenith, inspiring narratives about knowledge and devotion, mostly in the vulgar tongue for the edification of the masses.

Within the Royal Enclosure of Lusan (that part of the grand manse where royalty of old celebrated with tuba or witnessed beheadings), Mon Jiera summoned Simon de los Santos, multi-decorated architect, composer, playwright, perennial beauty pageant judge and champion stock car driver; at forty-eight years old, already famous for the intricate pneumatic fountains at the Gate of Idad, the choreopoetic transliteration of Ibn al Farans Gestures Under Rainfall, and for being the five-time off-road record holder of the Seibu Annual Rally.

Favorite, the withered Mon Jiera addressed him. Would you say that, under our rule, our lands have come to a remarkable state of prosperity?

I would, My Queen, Simon de los Santos replied, with a graceful bow.

And would you say that what we have built with our hands and hearts will last forever? the queen asked.

My Great Lady, Simon said, choosing his words with care. Only the human spirit is immortal. That, and the legacy of free will, beauty, and law that we pass to those who come after us.

But will we be remembered? the queen asked. Will everything that we have created, all that we have worked for, will everything be remembered as things are?

As things are? Simon repeated. Books will be written, of course, My Queen; paintings, murals, photographs commissioned. But those cannot possibly cover everything.

We need everything to remembered, the queen said, closing her eyes. Everything.

But Simon began.

Favorite, Mon Jierra interrupted him. She opened her eyes and looked at Simon directly. You will undertake a task for us that will make all your previous achievements pale like virgins about to be taken by brutes.

As you will, My Queen, Simon nodded, smoothing the near-invisible wrinkles on his white linen suit. I am your servant.

Yes, yes, the old woman said. And spare no expense. We will wear our funeral shroud soon.

A gasp resounded throughout the Royal Enclosure, flitting from lips to ear to lips, from courtiers to officers of the court, before escaping down the hallway in the mouths of secretaries and serving boys, and from them to the scullions, washers, mechanics, deliverymen, and gardeners on the palace grounds, then off into the polished streets where beautiful brown-skinned women with dark hair trembled in sadness, and handsome men with broad noses daubed their eyes with handkerchiefs, and into the mosques, gas stations,