June 2017 – Jack Sanger

Minor Keys No. 12

Some lines of poetry guide you through life. Believers may find them in the Koran, the Bible or the Vedas but for me the distillation of meaning that a poet achieves occasionally is inextinguishable, burning like pure sulphur on water. Here is a quote from one of Rilke’s poems about The Unicorn. O this is… Know More
Read more: Minor Keys No. 12
Minor Keys No. 11

As an agnostic, Buddhism has many attractions, not least its refusal to give any oxygen to discussions about the possibility of a god. Azimuth debates whether a god exists but surreptitiously, like a niggling little voice at the back of the reader’s mind while s/he is engaged in the Ulysses-like adventures of the Magus or… Know More
Read more: Minor Keys No. 11
Minor Keys No. 10

The last character to catch my eye in Azimuth, The First Journey, is revealed briefly in the following action and dialogue. Again, a minor individual, meriting just a few lines of prose, is actually a prime mover in a grand narrative. In philosophical terms, you and I are here today because of a ludicrously cosmic… Know More
Read more: Minor Keys No. 10
Minor Keys No.9

Late on in the first book, the Magus, now beginning to really question his role as a warrior who kills, sets out a strategy to encourage villagers to protect themselves. He teaches the art of bow making and offers a reward to the best bow-maker; -Who made this? No-one stepped forward, –I repeat, who made… Know More
Read more: Minor Keys No.9
Minor Keys No. 8

I came across a minor character towards the end of the first book of Azimuth and realized I could have made him the first to occupy my pen since he appears early in the first chapter. He is Sabiya’s most loyal guard. You cannot imagine him turning on her like Indira Ghandi’s assassin or any… Know More
Read more: Minor Keys No. 8
Minor Keys No. 7

Sometimes characters in books have no description to make them physical entities in the mind’s eye yet they still provide volition to a narrative. One such is an envoy in a city where the Magus agrees to protect a young princess from assassination. There is a deadline, for the attempt on her life must take… Know More
Read more: Minor Keys No. 7
Minor Keys No. 6

The next characters momentarily to cross the pages of Azimuth are the Spice Traders. They make me think of Fellini’s Satyricon, strange creatures that inhabit the margins of social life. Given that Azimuth is an arterial river of a book, fast flowing and dangerous enough for the intrepid adventurer on the surface but with depths… Know More
Read more: Minor Keys No. 6
Minor Keys No. 5

A tiny character (in every sense of the word) that next catches my eye in Azimuth is the girl who works in the brothel that the rather staid and portly librarian, Kamil, visits. Nothing much is said about her, even in inference save that she appears conditioned by the culture of prostitution so that she… Know More
Read more: Minor Keys No. 5
Minor Keys No. 4

The barber stepped forward nonchalantly, his attendant following with a tray of combs, razors, scissors, brushes, oils and hot water. Kamil sat while a towel was placed around his shoulders. The man was quick and sure. His face moved round Kamil’s, close enough for him to see the coarse skin filled to smoothness with stiff… Know More
Read more: Minor Keys No. 4
Minor Keys No. 3

Our next minor character is the physician who tends the king in the City of White Stones (I turned the pages of Azimuth Book 1, just a moment ago and this character caught my eye thus, I am going to write about him as a stream of consciousness now and see where we get.) It… Know More
Read more: Minor Keys No. 3

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