Italo Calvino is a writer I’ve admired for some time, particularly his book, Invisible Cities.
Somewhere in the middle of my new collection, The Gates of Polished Horn, is a short story inspired by that work.
If you haven’t read it, the book is about Marco Polo telling Kublai Khan about all the marvelous cities in the Khan’s empire. If he pleases the Khan with these tales, Polo might live. But it’s so much more. It’s a prose poem, a paean to the limitless nature of human creativity. Don’t look to it for plot or character development, but in terms of style and imagination it’s not to be missed.
My story is set in one of Polo’s cities, Eutropia. I’ve taken the vignette and done world-building around it, and then set a romance in that setting. Eutropia is a city obsessed with changing itself and the lives of its people. Every year, there is a vote: change or not. If there is a vote for change, then everyone receives a new job. If they’re married, a new partner. And the city itself moves its location.
This has resulted in a massive complex of ruined buildings, stretching from the ancient and original city in the mountains to the distant ocean. A metaphor for over consumption.
Marco, the main character, works in the Reclamation Corps. Marco is a wayfinder. He studies the ruins of former locations of Eutropia, deciding if any buildings are still inhabitable, if they could be renovated. For the ancient parts of the city, there is nothing but ruins. It’s in that wasteland he meets Abrianna, and their lives are forever changed.
But you’ll have to read the story to find out what happens next 🙂
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“Mark A. Rayner’s formidable storytelling is on full display in this thoughtful and diverse collection. He’s a fine and creative writer whose characters and storylines are quirky, inventive, and often very funny. Bravo!” ~Terry Fallis, author of The Best Laid Plans & two-time winner of the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour
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Art at top created via Midjourney.