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SIX   WARLOCKS   MY   AGE


Tales of Contemporary Supernaturalism

a collection of six short stories dealing with religious and nonreligious supernaturalism here and now





  SIX WARLOCKS MY AGE
-- Tales of Contemporary Supernaturalism
by Vinsent Nandi,
45 years after the Second World War
ISBN 90-9003699-7
205K (89p+vi)

FICTION

Belief in the supernatural or paranormal is a phenomenon not only found in medieval times or distant lands but also here and now.
It is this important aspect of the contemporary human condition with which the present collection of short stories deals.

When its mood is serious this is not without being funny at other times, or at the same time.
Even the author's use of the term warlock, to denote supernatural­ists of either sex, can be regarded as anything from etymologically justified and historically transparent to clearly absurd.
But if the latter, it is still meant to enhance the effects intended.

Notwithstanding its satire and irony, this book emerges as the literary offspring of a world-view and life-stance that is in truth a constructive one.
 




CONTENTS


PREFACE
  1. WARLOCKS AT THE DOOR
    about supernatural disturbance after Macbeth

  2. THE DEATH OF THE WITCH MOTH
    or Warlocks Burning For Fire

  3. NOTCHING THE BOAT
    To Seek the Warlock's Word
    This story was added to this collection in the 63rd Northern Mid-Lent and replaces Warlocks on the Wireless, a tale in reflections.

  4. MERRY MYTHMAS, beginning only
    or The Warlocks' Word Made Meat

  5. WARLOCKS IN POWER
    after 1984

  6. NUMERICALLY SUPERIOR
    or The Number of Warlocks m/f
    There is a parallel version of the children's song in this story, called "the Six By Six" in This language and "Liu Cheng Liu" in Zhezhong Yuyan.
EPILOGUE


All stories are original with the exception of Warlocks in Power, which is based for a large part on George Orwell's 1984, published 4 years after the end of the Second World War. Moreover, the central part of Notching the Boat is based on an ancient story in Zhezhong Yuyan*.

The original third tale, Warlocks on the Wireless, dealt with the BBC World Service's strong Christianist, or more generally, theocentrist, or more generally, religious bias. It was written about 40 aSWW, when the abbreviation BBC could, indeed, be read as British Broadcast Christian(ist)s. More than 20 years later, the BBC has become considerably less religionistic, and considerably less exclusivistic at that. The story may still be a good reflection, or still too mild a reflection, of the situation at other state broadcasting corporations in other countries, it does not adequately represent the situation at the BBC anymore. The Model of Neutral-Inclusivity, published 41 aSWW, features a normistic reflection as an alternative to the (former) BBC's type of reflection.

Like the Model, Six Warlocks My Age is still available in print (with Warlocks on the Wireless as the third story).



* 刻舟求剑: Mark the Boat to Seek the Sword. One version by Chen Jin-an can be found at many different locations on the Internet. Use the search terms 刻舟求剑 and 陈金安. The Appendix to Tale Three provides a translation of it. Another version, Nick the Boat to Seek the Sword, can be found in Easy Way to Learn Chinese Idioms, pp. 108-9, New World Press, by Scott Hillis, 52 aSWW/1997 ChrE.



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