Shel Graves' Sensorium

Visitors climb volcanoes and watch lava floes in mountainous Excited.   “It has the most brilliant sunrises and sunsets,” Miss Doe Friend exclaims.  It teems with rodents: mice, rats, voles, chipmunks, and squirrels. Mountain goats and lions perch. River otters squirm and play. Herons land in the lakes.  "The sky is filled with birds and birdsong,” Doe says.  Meandering trails wind into forests and grasslands.  “No need to pack provisions. Delicious and intoxicating Excitement berries grow everywhere," says the Guide.   Travelers marvel at the peaks and exclaim over vistas. The inhabitants of Excited are mountain climbers, far trekkers, and river rafters. They live in high mountain chalets but often sleep outdoors under the wide and winking moon. They watch raccoons clean their food in the river, beavers build dams, and deer traipse through the meadow. In their sleep, the denizens of Excited turn into animals. They shapeshift back and forth b...

Soft breezes flow through Relaxed and filtered light falls. The muted sun casts blue morning tones and orange sherbert nights. Willows shake with rain. Sloths hang in their drooping branches. Herd animals low. Fish circle in large ponds. Hippos lumber below water gazing out of the reflection. Bears loom over the waters gazing in at themselves. Fruit plops from trees easily gathered. The denizens make jam to eat throughout the mild winters.  Relaxed-i-zens live in soft tents, easily collapsed, and moved from grove to grove. They are fruit and berry-chasing nomads. When they have extra, they trade jam with other lands.  Visitors come to the Relaxed lake.  “We had a lovely time, just lovely,” says Miss Doe Friend. "We picnicked by the lake. Then we visited Content, a weathered house atop a grassy hill surrounded by wild raspberries and apricot trees." The caretakers of Content have tired of wandering. They make up guest beds and welcome Travelers to the house. "We visited ...

Boldness has vast, clear skies and crisp and cold. Boldness glaciers rise from the Boldness seas. Miss Emeline Traveler looks out from the edge of the cliff at the milky sea filled with churning waves and ice chunks. She leaps from the cliff and her thick robes fly up around her. She lands gently atop the sea and walks to Bold island, with its slick green shore, stepping around the ice chunks.  “I feel the mastery of this place,” Miss Emeline says.  Visitors climb the stairs to Boldness Mountaintop and shout their claim and their words echo —  heard around the land.  "They seem impervious to harm and criticism," says Miss Doe Friend. The island Pointless rises in the icy Bold sea. Adventurers climb the Pointless Mountaintop where they proclaim their heart’s intent which echoes over the land.  The denizens of Pointlessness keep fires lit along the island shores. The drink from the streams and write poetry upon tiny leaves and sail them down the Pointless river...

A wide rocky road circumnavigates the hills of Exhausted. The Exhausted nomads travel the country along the loop making several rotations every few months.  “They guard the capitol Fatigued and care for the land which they know extensively,” says the Guide.  They plant crops, as they pass, for the nomads behind them. If any group stops, the group behind them will starve. All must continue the journey.  As the go, they record the geographic features of the land and note how it has changed. They prune thorny vines and remove pebbles, rocks, and boulders from the path. They trim overhanging branches.   “Always there is more to do,” says Nomad Vill.  The animals snore curled in meadows beside streams or lounging on rocks in the water. The birds perch in trees and stand on one-leg in rivers eyes closed, and at rest.  The stone amphitheater of the capitol Fatigued marks half the journey round Exhausted. Here the nomads come to rest. They camp many days sl...

Confidence shines with fertility and fruit. Peaches grow heavy. Trails lead up sparkling falls and gleaming lakes. Grains grow fat. Everyone comes to help with the huge harvests. The crops take the people easily though long winters while they stay warm and make art. Confidence experiences all seasons. The smiles of the denizens never waver. The people walk up to visitors arms outstretched. Animals approach bounding, flicking their tails. They never shy.  “Visitors to confidence are always pleased by the accommodations,” says the Guide.  In the museums of Confidence are portraits of heroes. It’s a small land with strong borders. It does not share its good fortune. Confident horses with long manes and tails roam the plains. Their leader is the golden stallion Montague.  It takes a day's journey by sailboat to get to Imperious Island. From the wooden dock,  there's a path through dry grasses up a steep hill. Rock walls line the path and a stone staircase ascends to ...

In Tortured, everyone’s mouths are sewn shut. Their bones scrape as they walk. Shards of teeth line the streets. Denizens speak to each other via their ghosts. The spirits of those who they have harmed or slighted surround them. Enormous haunts of those wounded or killed howl, whine, and loom over them.  “I’m surrounded by armies of ghosts,” says the Guide. “No one will go near me. I always eat alone.”  The denizens of Tortured moan as they walk cradling their bloated bellies which gnaw with hunger. Rocky with teeth, Tortured offers nothing to eat and nothing sweet.  Visitors arrive in the capitol Despair. They are dropped into it from the air or burrow up from below. Trolls rule Tortured. They can master ghosts with shouts of, “Silence!".  TheTrolls of Tortured wish to attack nearby lands but high seas surround them and the trolls cannot swim and fear the water.  "We'll fall in and melt," they whine.  Their haunted howling scares away flying creatures. N...

Taste: apricot nectar Sound: crunching popcorn; high-pitched wailing; crows cawing; scratching  Smell: coconut oil  Sight: a forest path; an ant walks a corpse across my keyboard  Touch: walrusing; dog in lap; her head on my writing wrist; hip pain throbbing; startle response; a fly touch, landing on heel  Extra: "Could we decide that training is, ideally, a partnership of sentient animals—one human and the other non-human—which has the goal of increasing the joy of both partners as well as everyone around them?" — Plenty in Life is Free - Reflections on Dogs, Training and Finding Grace , Kathy Sdao  Grateful for: Lily and Tish

The Three Castles Delight with gardens, ballrooms, and libraries attract artisans of all types: chefs, bakers, decorators, sculptors, weavers, costume makers, theater folk, poets, gardeners and musicians. They come to share and celebrate. "Visit Castle Delight by the Shore. Castle Delight nestled in the Mountains. Castle Delight on the Dunes," says the Guide. “Always fresh and delightfully unexpected!”  Animals roam. Press their paws together. Roll in the meadows. Mew and coo. The everlasting flowers taste of gingerbread.  “The air is intoxicating!”says Amma-Pom running, spinning, and leaping with delight. The denizens of Delight dance, eyes shining, with anyone who asks. No one tires of delight, or overstays a visit. It is just enough and never too much.  The castles lie in Birthday where statues rise from platforms on the sea and planetariums scan the sky.  The denizens are excellent party-planners and bake the best cakes.  Wine flows from the fountains. Th...

The lunar landscape Awe looks up onto five suns and many moons. The celestial bodies rise above it. They color the world when they set. The soil has a silvery sheen. Rainbow lights play over its surface at dusk and at dawn. The trees are silver too, with silvery bark and metallic leaves that fall clinking.  "You will never get bored of its beauty," the Guide advises. "Even our own professors and scientists are unsure what will happen next." The people are subject to the whims of the Awe's celestial changes — but also inspired by the uncertainty.  Many wondrous innovations come from Awe. They have moving roads, automatic houses, and whirligigs.  The vast cities of Awe are low offering a clear view of the land.  "No one wants to mar the view or hide, beneath too much light, the constellations which point to the future and foretell our fate," says the Guide. "Many visitors awe and all are welcome." The capitol Awestruck is a circular park with v...

Fallow Frustration: Denizens import fertilizer from other lands in attempts to improve the soil. They compost and gather manure and work it into the soil. First rocks must be hefted from the ground. Walls of displaced rock form. Then the woven sheath of grass which lies over the soil must be penetrated and uprooted. It clings to the land — a thick mat. Frustratians gather food from trees: bruised, rotted, wormy or unripe stone fruits. Flies and gnats swarm at the base of the trees. Visitors eat the rotting fruits of Frustration.  “Work, work, work,” the Frustratian Council says. Many signs say, “Work!”  Earthquakes shake the land. Then floods, droughts, and hurricanes. Just when the corn begins to grow the ears become infected with mold, the stalks fall flat in a storm, and the roots rot in the flood. Scrawny, hungry, and weary Frustratians walk over the hills of Frustration. Travelers arrive, hoping to help, but they soon become residents of Frustration themselves.  ...

No one lives in Extinction the size of a small aquarium apparently filled with gray sand and pebbles. No one visits this absence. The denizens of Extinction are long dead. The Hermit Historian of Extinction carries about the aquarium full of dead sand. He knew the names of all the extinct plants and creatures and everything about them. He tells everyone he meets about Extinction and shows them the empty aquarium. He wanders from land to land as a warning. The hermit looks mild and innocuous or large and looming depending upon the perspective of those he meets. Some look into the aquarium and peer at the sand unconcernedly. Others see void and hear howling winds. It fills them with a terror from which they never recover. They spend the rest of their lives pleading — “Protect! Preserve!”  “Look at The Hermit Who Carries Extinction,” they say. “That could be us one day.” The capitol Small, located outside of the aquarium, is the Hermits Home, where he rests when he is not wa...

Inhabitants walk from pool-to-pool in Remorse in peering into the waters and looking for what they have lost. Brittle grasses poke from the yellow soil between the grey-blue pools. Inhabitants live in huts made of the stiff Remorseful grasses. They eat the Remorseful grains milled into Remorseful flour. They pat the sticky doughs into flat shapes and bake them hard. Their hands are dry and dusty with flour. They wear long aprons when cooking and long hooded cloaks when walking the marshlands. They listen to the cries of loons. Waterbirds fly over the land and dive into the pools looking for lost loves. The birds of Remorse mate for life. Visitors enter Remorse from the surrounding lands, walking down mountainsides and along the pathways into the marshlands crying and weeping. Within the pools of Remorse gleam colored stones when the waters are still or reflections of lost lovers’ faces when the waters are  rippled. Everyone looks in with longing. They stand gazing in the cool, ...

Everything falls from the sky in Ominous and lands at the feet of the denizens walking by.  “Oh my!” even Miss Emeline Traveler exclaims in surprise.  Airships pilot past the debris maneuvering slowly.  Shooting stars!  Falling meteors!  The denizens practice catapulting rocks from trebuchets.  The sky darkens — total eclipse!  “Will the light ever come back?” the Guide asks.  “Your science was proven wrong. It was replaced,” the Mayor of Ominous says to Miss Emeline.  “Gravity does not always work,” says the Guide.  Explorers, intrigued by the land’s unpredictability come to stay in Ominous.  “I have been to Boredom,” says one. “And I hope that this will be better.”  “I found it terribly unsettling,” says Miss Doe Friend. “Not ever to know what will happen next, and yet, to be sure it will be completely unexpected and certainly bad.”  Trees fall in the forest over the trails. Whirlpools appear in the middle of swimming h...

Vanity: beautiful now and always — symmetrical mountains, valleys, and pyramids. Inherently beautiful denizen gowned and glistening bedecked with shimmer. Vanity’s Bureau of Tourism Affairs promotes itself endlessly. It erects billboard in other lands. Vanity’s songs play on their radios. It’s landscapes and people shine in the pages of their magazines. The denizens of Vanity love to see themselves — a mirrored kingdom. The worn paths of Vanity lead to castles and ballrooms where the Vanitians dance before mirrors delighted with their reflected beauty. Ornamental animals prance through the rooms and gardens — shimmering ibises and many cats. Koi circle the ponds. Parrots preen in the windowsills. Lapdogs adorn the couches.  “Why don’t more tourists come to Vanity?” the Vanitians often sigh. “There’s so much to admire.”  “Come honor the Queens of Vanity,” the advertisements read.  Everyone in Vanity considers themselves a Queen as they walk the hall of mirrors....

Waterfalls crash down the hill of Energized. Foam churns. Cities overlook the Energized Falls, but do not impede their progress. Denizens feel the refreshing spray. They ride chutes down and trams up the Falls. Birds whose wings span the Falls fly over. Dragons dip their wings into the cascades. Mermaids bathe in the rainbow-infused pools below. Visitors come to feel the Energizing Mist. They meet the mermaids and fall in love. They leave with their skin tingling.  In the green mountains of Energized grow berries and beans. Energized exports these crops and its clear water infused with the rushing energy of its waterfalls.  In the capitol, the mountain city Invigorated none of the tree-homes are taller than the falls.  The Invigorated Council meets in a cave below Energized Falls and they decide on the land's next projects.   Vines grow up the tree-homes and bloom with sweet, flute-shaped blossoms.  "The vines symbolize our growth and vibrancy," says th...

Taste: pink frosting, bubblegum  Sound: churning, clinking-dishwasher  Smell: puppy paw  Sight: droplets falling from a cold glass, dripping down the sides  Touch: ice cube, pressed between two fingers and a thumb and sliding around in a palm Extra: remarkable; a dream of a true life scene; a large, fluffy good-natured dog Grateful for: alligators

Nihilistic lies: a large smooth lake lined with pocket-sized rocks, then boulders, and mountains. Visitors attempt to swim to the island in the middle of Nihilistic. With stones in their pockets, they sink to the bottom before they ever arrive. At the bottom of Nihilistic creatures walk with rocks in their pockets. They can breathe underwater, but lose their ability to speak.  "If they could speak they’d say, ‘We have nothing more to say to one another.'” the Guide says.   Sharp-toothed fish swim in between the visitors who feed them treats. The fish are the happiest of anyone.  Travelers to Nihilistic never leave the lake bottom. It’s covered in tourists. They eat algae and wear gowns of dead leaves that sink into the lake from the surrounding maple trees. In fall, yellow, red, and green spatulate shapes top placid Nihilistic. Birds fly far overhead and usually pass Nihilistic by.  On rare occasion, a crane dives into the lake and returns with a fish or stand...

The golden hills of Humble lush with nourishing grains feed the denizens who vow fealty to Humble and all within it. They love Humble in a quiet, consistent, and unromantic way. They love the sparrows in the sky, the mice and rabbits in the field and meadows, and minnow in the lakes and streams. A slat fence runs around the little land to keep out grazing animals in neighboring lands. Visitors come to Humble to work in its fields. They remove rocks, plow and harvest, shuck, and grind corn into flour between two heavy stones. In return for their service, they can take home bags of Humble flour, enough to feed them flatbreads for a year.  “There was nothing remarkable, but something restorative about the experience,”says Miss Emeline Traveler. “You ought to try it. The denizens of Humble welcome all who wish to share their labors.”  The old capitol, Plain, is a stone encampment with smooth paths that circle around the ruins.  "It felt very familiar," said Miss Doe Friend...

Gray poisonous clouds lie low in Moral Ambiguity. Few can survive in this harsh climate. The unwary perish on the outskirts. Prepared visitors wear gas masks and cover their mouths with black bandanas.  “People think there are monsters to slay and treasures to find in Moral Ambiguity,” says the Guide. “They want to become heroes. But the hollows of Moral Ambiguity hide nothing but danger — deep wells, holes, caverns, and crevasses. They simply are. Still, exploration for its own sake is often rewarding for the traveler. Beware the gassy swamps, mires, and quicksands. We’ll pass many skeletons. None from my tour groups, but others and sole wanderers.”  The mist of Moral Ambiguity passes over other lands. The mists may be thinner, but no less deadly. Denizens breathe in the air and find themselves filled with hate or a paralysis of love, the kind that prays and waits. Non-human animals stay away from Moral Ambiguity. Their keen noses smell danger.  All of the animals, esp...

In Resolved all citizens walk the path along the sea and climb the cliffs to Mount Resolve to view the sea and city. They take the Oath of Resolve to care for each citizen, each wild animal, each plant, each natural feature. Clouds fly over Resolve: puffs of peace. When the rain falls, it comes down determined. The wind blows with fierceness. Wildfires roar through the hills. Always the people stand firmly: “We Resolve to care for you always and forever!”  Resolve does not accept visitors.  “Anyone who wishes to immigrate must walk the entire route around the land and take our oath and then spend the rest of their life in service to that oath,” says the Guide.  Miss Emeline Traveler visited by special permit (but Miss Doe Friend and Amma-Pom were not allowed to accompany her, so firm was Resolve on this point).  On holidays the Resolvians hold hands and chant in unison. They recite poems. They show each other love, friendship, and solidarity. Resolve once kept a...

Disgust smells of rot, mold, and blood. Corpses — smashed, torn, and bloated — lie strewn along the road. In the taverns, gnarly men with paunches, warts, and crooked noses drink sour beer and eat salty, gray stews with chunks of jellied meats out of wooden bowls.  “Only the worst live in Disgust, but everyone visits,” says the Guide.  Tour groups gawk at the fly-covered dismembered heads stuck on spikes on the path to Disgust. Black-winged bearded vultures with long grey talons perch on the crossroads and tear meats from the bellies of hanging sufferers. They wait in the tavern windows. The old men toss them chunks of meat. An oily gray sky hangs over Disgust. It grows red at night. Visitors can’t inhale the smog long.   “It poisons the lungs,” the Guide says offering the sensitive gas masks. “And if you stay too long you lose all sensibility. What repulses you now, becomes mundane later.”  Some lands send teachers to help the young of Disgust, but they can...

Disbelief rests in slender-limbed treetops in a green mist of clouds. It wavers in the breeze. In a storm, Disbelief rocks.  “When the bow breaks the cradle will fall…” the Disbeliefian caregivers sing.  The leaves sigh. Slim-limbed Disbeliefians leap from home to work across the canopy of Disbelief. Sometimes part of the city of Disbelief falls and the residents spring away shrieking.  Visitors travel to Disbelief in hot air balloons. No one is denied entry. No one shoots down the colorful balloons.  Miss Emeline Traveler looks down on Disbelief from a purple and orange balloon. The land looks painted like a picture. When the balloon lands in the treetops, visitors are afraid to disembark.   “I am not suited to climbing,” Miss Emeline says, but she is surprisingly (or unsurprisingly, as isn't she good at everything) agile. "Look at how powerful their legs and arms are," Miss Doe Friend observes, watching the Disbeliefians leap.  "I could have watched...

Sandy Fatigue lies under overcast skies by the sea. Consistent temperatures in the mid-70s and high humidity hang over the beaches unbroken by rain or storm. Visitors come to sleep on the beach and meander up and down, down and up the shoreline picking up shells, turning them over and sighing as they toss them back into the ocean. The waves wash in and out, in and out. “What did you do in Fatigue?" Alobar asks Doe.   "I sat beside the sea," she writes. "There wasn’t much good to eat, but I was never very hungry.”  "Everyone likes the beach," says the Guide. Fatigue is proud of its beaches When the rare rain comes visitors sleeping on the sand get very wet.  “Don’t worry you’ll dry off soon enough,” the Guide says.  Denizens live in tiny houses back among the sand dunes or on the open sea in houseboats. Gulls fly over Fatigue. Sandpipers run along it. Whales watch from the shore.  The large lighthouse Uselessness sits on a rocky outcropping. A family l...

Denizens pack Invisibility. The city teems with life: the Invisible go to work and parties, loiter on the streets, walk up stairs, play in fountains, make art, and eat apples off of the fruit trees. Yet, unseen, they  move through Invisibility as if alone. The architecture hides. They move silently around each other and objects — a graceful skill of maneuvering which all the Invisible possess. Visitors quickly tire of the Unseen city. “It would be nice to wake up one day and see the others,” Miss Doe Friend thinks on day three of their visit. “If you fall in love, the other one becomes visible only to you,” says the Guide. "Visitors ask, 'How can you fall in love with someone you’ve never seen?' and we tell them, 'You walk the same paths each day until they appear.'" The intricately sculpted gold clocktower Preoccupation sits ornately in the center of Invisibility. It is decorated with filigree, carved animal shapes and stars, and cutouts of triangles, circles...

Dry creek beds run through barren Insignificance. Rain becomes mist when it falls on the dry cracked land. Glaring sun flattens those who walk upright. Beetles climb sparse prickly stalks and skitter over steaming rocks. Visitors pass by on their way elsewhere. A horned owl flies over Insignificance at night and stretches its wings over the moon. It eats lizards and frightens travelers away. The owl holds all the knowledge and wisdom of Insignificance in its claws.  In the owl's nest, Procrastination,  lie unhatched eggs. The owl glides across Insignificant when she ought to warming the eggs. Instead she patrols and watches for desert bandits while the eggs sit cold.  Procrastination is made of warm fluff, but it is not enough. It rests atop a craggy half-dead tree with great long roots that stretch into the cool, dark water of an underground stream.  When Moid returns to the nest Procrastination and perches beside her eggs (but does not brood) she does not see tha...

The path through the rolling hills of social awkwardness twists and turns. Well-manicured trails lead nowhere. Rocky difficult to traverse paths end at waterfalls. They lead to palaces surrounded by moats raised drawbridges.  “It’s usually the last place visitors want to go,” the Guide says. “But it’s never a trip without it.”   Visitors stand awestruck. "The landscape is both beautiful and disturbing," says Miss Emeline Traveler. The clouds may be red or violet. The waters pearlescent yellow and orange.  "Explore caves. Find the chambers in the woods. Visit the coliseum in the meadows," advises the Guide. Visitors never stay long, but never forget the experience.  Most of the residents of Social Awkwardness live on the outskirts. Many apply for asylum, trying to find a way out.  In the capitol, Nonchalance, a pillar of stone with a flat top rises. Miss Emeline Traveler ascends a spiral staircase carved into the pillar with a sharp ledge. Thankfully, she is...

Powerlessness stretches long and desert low forever. Shrunken shrubs grow alongside the way in. Almost every one walks along the Powerless road for a good portion of their lives. Every one is born beside the road. Denizens walk, walk, walk unknowing their destination. The smooth Powerless Road road slopes down. A deep river lies beneath the it. “What is to become of us?” a Powerless One says. Castles and chalets in the mountains look down upon the road. No trail leads up.   “It’s so hot today,” says one. “It was yesterday, too," says another. “Don’t hurry, we have plenty of time,” the Guide says to visitors. “Talk amongst yourselves.” But there isn’t much to say and the Powerless walk in silence.   “All the better the hear the birdsong and insects buzz,” says the Guide. The way out of Powerlessness lies straight ahead. “For how long?” a visitor asks. “No one knows,” says the Guide. “Eventually, the road just disappears and the Powerless beside it." From atop a high hill, shin...

The River of Love flows through all lands — a network of veins. It streams the lifeblood which fertilizes everything. It receives pollution, filters it through the love sands, and the renewed water runs clear and free through wild lands. The River Love grows wide where nurtured and flows slowly through welcoming lands. It trickles or rushes through polluted places. It melts from the glaciers of Empathy and Compassion in the center of all the Emotions. It flows to a reflective lake, crashes down waterfalls, and pours into all the lands singing. Everyone loves to swim in it. Beloved fish, cetaceans, and merfolk are always in it breathing. Everyone returns to Love, even those who walk for days across the dry Deserts Despair. Love rushes over everything and shape shifts. It can be contained briefly and then evaporates and rains. It must be given space and allowed to float free. In some lands, denizens enjoy making boats and sailing across the River of Love. Above Love lies the gla...

Smoke-filled Fear burns. There aren’t enough firefighters. City centers burn and dense smoke chokes the outskirts. Denizens wheeze. “I can barely breathe," says Miss Doe Friend. "It feels as though my lungs are already black." The animals run with burnt paws and scorched tails. Half-roasted, homeless, and vulnerable they cringe away from helping hands. “We'll not stay long,” says Miss Emeline Traveler. “We might get trapped here by the fires." “There’s not much to see except smoke," says the Guide. "And all of our food tastes charred. If you have some place better to go, get there. But we Fearful have not." It’s a relief when Miss Emeline, Doe, and Amma-Pom can breathe clean air again. "But what can we do for those folk?" asks Doe. "Doe, our mission is exploration, not reform," chides the Traveler. "But I understand and share your distress. I will ask our Great Auntie." In the bottom of Fear valley sur...

Visitors make strenuous climbs up rocky cliffs searching for the gemstones of Anticipation. Collectors gather agates, quartz, and marble chips. Anticipation borders the ocean. Lighthouses send beacons over the water. Conch shells lay upon the black, white, and pink striped sands. The restless folk of Anticipation wander. Beachcombers search in early morning and late at night. Some tend the lighthouses and wait for visitors. “We left disappointed. We were expecting more,” travelers say. “It’s best to visit in spring and wait patiently,” says Miss Emeline. “The flowers bud and nearly bloom forever. It's the most beautiful sight. Miss Doe Friend is working on a painting.” Doe dips her head shyly, "I don't know if it will ever be finished. It was much to capture: the green, the pink, the white." "You are modest, Doe," says Miss Emeline. "The painting is coming along wonderfully." From Anticipation a long staircase leads down to the mine Un...

High in the rocky, infertile claustrophobic hills, crowded rats crawl over mountains of things in Disgust. Whiskers, claws, paws, and naked tails touch everything. Disgustians wear blindfolds and hoods. They hide in an illusion of spaciousness. They crash into mushy, squirmy, moistness. Visitors come to disgust curious and quickly leave. A fast train brings them in and out. “We keep to our rituals,” the Guide says. “And we love our land in this way. We grow accustomed. We adapt. It becomes palatable to us.” “But it’s so high up, the air is thin, and the stench so strong it’s hard to breathe here,” says Miss Emeline Traveler. "And how are all these things brought here, so high up?" “Well, it’s burdensome work carried out by the denizens of Disgust,” says the Guide. " They look down upon their own people and those of other lands, too," notes Miss Doe Friend. "I found it most unpleasant." “Too much of anything is too much,” said Miss Emeline. ...

Rocks pierce. Grasses slice. Thorns sting. Boulders crush. The inhabitants of Bodily Fear wear bruises and expect pain. Bones break. The land of Bodily Fear inflicts wounds on its brave, but desperate, inhabitants. They see no way out. Visitors arrive not by choice, but by accident. The inhabitants of Bodily Fear disguise the iron taste of blood in their water with nettle tea. Fruits and vegetables won’t grow in the rock strewn fields. Farmers get pounded by falling rocks. Instead, the inhabitants eat meat praying that the flesh will not be their own. They licks shards of ice, piercingly cold, to drink. The sun scalds in summer. The cold burns in winter. They pray to the gods to protect them, but the gods mete out physical punishment. They inflict harm on all. They punish the Fearful. “Our Gods punish all who come here and make them live in Bodily Fear. That is their purpose before any other,” says the Guide. The capitol Uncontrollable is scratchy stone sponge that expands in...

Becalmed stretches along a ridge above the sea. In rosy light, pink blossoms fill its meadows. Denizens walk peacefully from place to place. Bunnies nibble grasses between twitching whiskers. They lift their heads to look at passersby, but do not run. A hedgehog crosses the meadow. A sparrow alights on a cherry tree. A possum walks through clover. Sometimes on a summer evening thunder breaks, lightning flashes, and a storm begins. Everyone stays indoors in their cottages and reads under a warm blanket. The ocean crashes on the rocks below the cliff, but in the land of Becalmed it sounds soft — lush, wush, hush. Faint sea scent mingles with lavender and heather. “The air is so fresh,” says Miss Emeline Traveler. "But it has soporific qualities." She brings some famed Becalmed tea back to her spaceship, the S.S. Emeline. Becalmed exports tea renowned for soothing and soporific qualities. "Visitors come for a Becalmed vacation, but rarely stay long unless they a...