The writer gives life to a story, the reader keeps it alive.
After reading Guild Master Merek’s orders and ignoring them to pursue the remainder of her rehearsal, Ivana Cockatoo, threw herself into the most magnificent display of her drag career, even if it was only for twelve shady drag kings and queens and her husband, Antoine.
Katherine, Ajeeta Kothari and Jay Varma work together to identify the virus responsible for infecting members of the resistance, and to analyse both Alexand, Katherine and Juba Apfvarzian’s blood, to isolate their immunity, to find a cure.
Filius Anderson and Helga Ritter are conducting a social experiment into Juba Apfvarzian’s reaction to being observed.
Juba Apfvarzian moves around Mogadishu, to escape from some very suspicious people, who seem to be observing him from a distance. He has spent a few good months at peace, without feeling followed, has even met a girl, called Lucy, and they are living together. He performs street magic to make money. They’re happy, and everything is going well with his life, until he gets that feeling of being watched again.
Lord Filius Anderson is keeping close tracks on the enigma, Juba Apfvarzian. There is something in the boy’s blood, which allows him immunity to the catalyst, and Lord Anderson needs to know what this is.
Juba Apfvarzian moved to the other side of Mogadishu, to escape from the people who have been watching him. He has to make a living, and like any good magician, the streets are the place to achieve his dream. (For Carrie Fisher. This world is emptier without you, but you will live forever amongst the stars.)
Katherine woke up the day after her birthday, and made her way down to her laboratory to continue with her analysis of Juba Apfvarzian’s blood. When she arrived there, all of the samples had gone. There was no trace of her findings, and her research over the past few weeks has vanished.
Juba has a feeling someone has been watching him. He returns back to his boarding house, and bolts the door, closes the curtains, and switches off the light.
Lord Filius Anderson and Lady Helga Ritter have been following Juba Apfvarzian, taking blood samples, tracking his health. He is still completely free of the project ghost ship strain.
Katherine waited a week, not expecting to be visited by a future version of Juba Apfvarzian, but after a spate of feeling very sick, there was a knock on her apartment door, and standing there was a man, with dreadlocks, much older than the boy she’d seen performing magic. CLICK HERE for next chronological story.
Katherine is taken to Mogadishu, Somalia, by the Guild Master’s General, to observe a young magician called Juba Apfvarzian. CLICK HERE for next chronological story.
Helga Ritter and her team of scientists have been given a new batch of test subjects to inject with ‘Plague,’ (In an attempt to spread panic and paranoia throughout the world. In preparation for the Amanojuko takeover) Juba Apfvarzian is amongst the test subjects who have been injected, but something is not quite right about him, and Helga Ritter is unsettled. CLICK HERE for next chronological story.
Juba Apfvarzian is a 16-year-old street magician. He spends his days entertaining the locals of Mogadishu with his plethora of magic acts. It’s getting late and the sun is going down, and the last of the daylight crowds are dispersing, so he begins to walk home. CLICK HERE for next chronological story.
Juba sat in front of a huge meal prepared by a very concerned Alexand. She gave him clean clothes, a bath and healed the wounds on his feet with a strange contraption she called a writer. He has told Alex of his wife and Son’s death. It’s mid afternoon, Abouna Panak’s gone and Alex has given Juba some wine to comfort him. She sits nursing contractions, attempting to figure out how to help her old friend. CLICK HERE for next chronological story.
Abouna Panak transports a very disorientated Juba Apfvarzian away from the Nevada Desert, (See issue 105: Post Asylum Blues Part 2) to a more comfortable place. (Alexand’s army apartment.) Hopefully, Juba will now find the help he’s been searching for. CLICK HERE for next chronological story.
After being ‘rescued’ from an army cell, by the rather sinister Field Marshal Panak, Juba Apfvarzian finds himself unexplainably transported to the desert. CLICK HERE for next chronological story.
Juba Apfvarzian was released from the floating asylum, and found that his wife Lucy and son Ayo died during an influenza pandemic. With no one else in the world to turn to, he has traced the one person who he believes could help him clamber out of the mess he’s in. Traveling from Somalia to India, he has found Alexand’s location. He discovered she is back in the military, living in a base called Saskatoon with her husband and son. Unfortunately security didn’t let him in because of his asylum record and he is being held in a detention cell on the outskirts of the city. CLICK HERE for next chronological story.
Lucy Apfvarzian’s husband Juba, went missing, whilst he was out performing as a magician on the streets of Mogadishu. Lucy and their son Ayo haven’t eaten for five days and have come to The Bureau of Complaints to attempt to find out where he’s gone. (See The Floating Asylum which is the next chronological story.)
After being given the option to take a pill which stops ageing, the group of Abouna Panak’s rebels decide whether or not to take the life altering drug, SIR2HX. (Thank you so much to Pamela Spiro Wagner, a very talented poet and artist, who inspired and encouraged me to finally complete a series of stories rather than tease the reader into gouging out their (and or my) eyes. This is dedicated to you, Pam.) (CLICK HERE for next chronological story)
Toreth Rek-cho has been offered eternal youth, by the mysterious Field Marshal Panak. She has also been shown a bleak future, and has ten minutes to decide her own fate. (CLICK HERE for next chronological story)
After breaking into a high security room onboard the Floating Asylum, (see The Other Side Parts One and Two) Abouna Panak and Heyem Merek, race to retrieve proof of an Amanojuko takeover plan. (Note: Back on Christmas Island, the resistance includes (Alexand Merek) Inajda Rekaya, Juba Apfvarzian, Jarad Vijay, Anesidor Sumian and Toreth Rek-cho.) (CLICK HERE for next chronological story)
Abouna Panak has brought a disbelieving Heyem Merek to the Floating Asylum to show her proof of an Amanojuko conspiracy to take over the world, in the near future. The Other Side Part 2 will be released same time next week. (CLICK HERE for next chronological story)
After her daughter, Alexand was released from a Floating Asylum, Inajda spent six months helping Alexand’s husband, Jarad to care for Alexand. Alexand returned in a catatonic and emaciated state, but eventually woke up. A month after Alex woke, Inajda is trying to help her daughter come to terms with what has happened to her. Unfortunately Inajda wasn’t there for most of Alexand’s childhood, but is trying her best to make up for the missing years. CLICK HERE for next chronological story.
Juba Apfvarzian wakes inside his home, after spending years onboard The Floating Asylum. He has no memory of being released. He expects to see his wife and son, but his home has been looted and is full of broken furniture and dust. CLICK HERE for next chronological story.
After returning from the science laboratory, (read The Floating Asylum 2) and further experiments, Alexand and Juba manage to remain together, but something is happening to Alexand, and she needs Juba to help her as her hair begins to fall out. This story is part of a series which concludes next week, and is taken from Juba’s perspective. (Trivia: Hair-loss is associated with a ‘plague’ sweeping through communities on the outside of the ship. Alexand’s wife Katherine De Somme died from it after being ‘silenced’ by the military, but Alexand is convinced this is not the same condition.) CLICK HERE for next chronological story.
Alexand Merek and Juba Apfvarzian have survived inside a floating asylum ship, whilst being experimented on by scientists. Others have not been as fortunate. Most die after a few days, and neither Alexand nor Juba understand why they are still alive. (See The Floating Asylum Part one) Alexand has been in the asylum for almost four years and her hopes of returning home to her family are now a distant memory. This story will be told in three parts. This is the first instalment from Alexand’s perspective. (This story features Helga Ritter, known to Alexand as ‘Ophelia’.) CLICK HERE for next chronological story.
Juba Apfvarzian was a good magician. He woke up in an asylum ship, after performing a particularly skilful illusion. Magic can apparently get you into a lot of trouble, in an increasingly intolerant world. Alexand Merek has survived for three years inside the asylum, outliving everyone. She doesn’t know how she has survived, she just wants to be somewhere far away. (This asylum is responsible for the events leading up to issue # 1 of this series.) You can also read The Floating Asylum Parts Two, Three and Four. CLICK HERE for next chronological story.
Juba Apfvarzian needs to forget his past. He spends a lot of time taking drugs and drinking with his best friend and fellow drunk Alexand Merek. They met decades ago on a floating asylum ship for the criminally insane. Juba had a wife, Lucy and a son, Ayo, before he went to the asylum. When he was released, he discovered that they had both died of influenza, and he was alone. He and Alexand met up again after her release and discovered that they had a lot in common. Alexand had also lost her wife, Katherine to an unknown virus and her husband Jarad to an unbeatable war. Her son, Sam and daughter, Anastasia had been stolen when they were children. Alexand’s surviving daughter Ancille has grown up and Alexand and Juba spend a lot of their lives trying to run away from bad things. This is one of those days. (A Spanish version is now available to read, translated by Hernán Jara Droguett.) CLICK HERE for next chronological story.
