A SINCERE APOLOGY

My dear Readers,

Some of you will be asking: “Who, in the name of the Great Goddess, is Judge Rosa Somberly?”

“Shouldn’t Colly be writing book 3 of the turbulent Madrigal Phipps  speculative cli-fi trilogy?”

“Writing an eco-fantasy is a swerve, a hive off the path, an unmitigated distraction!”

I hear you, and I’m happy to report I am in the middle of Madrigal, book 3 (as yet untitled). 

For some non-context – this week marks the 100th anniversary of the official founding of Surrealism (October 15, 1924, Paris) with the movement’s manifesto on the unconscious in art, and this prompted me, dear readers, to provide an explanation.

Judge Rosa ambushed me in a dream when I was asleep in the bongo van on a camping trip by the Abercrombie River in 2021.

 Bongo van dreams

I wrote down the dream in my diary and then Rosa and her disreputable Judge’s Associate Benji, took me along for their ride. The characters were impossible to shake off, I swear, as they bonded as a legal team and learnt the business of judging or to use the big-arse word, jurisprudence.

Unlike the surrealists, who were all about the id, I recalibrated my dream into a conscious narrative. Rosa and Benji learn to mete out justice for the wild things of the world and they wanted their time-twisty tale to be told

Caiman, Protector of the Rivers and Forests was also in the original dream – possibly because the campsite was on the banks of a beautiful flowing river. The Ogre, Tau al-Gorz: Sweeper of Progress (and no friend of rivers and forests) was in the dream along with his malevolent tattoos. The gold and silver chess pieces, the roof garden. And Rosa of course. The dream was the whole of Chapter One. This was something of a grisly dream. Maybe I was searching for some sort happy ending after waking in shock when I started hurriedly writing the story down.

Rosa, Benji, the Caiman, the big black bull, the urbex gang all challenged me to keep the dreamlike quality throughout the narrative. And I loved it.

BUT to keep the cli-fi fans up-to-date and reassured – in the Madrigal universe* Andaman Marko is currently lazing on a beach in southern Madagascar, Dr Madrigal Phipps is in balmy Oslo for a naughty rejuve (don’t tell anyone, especially not the old ladies on country) and Todd and Lissa are in the Fecundity Appeals Court sweating on approval to have a baby.  I promise, I’m a third of the way through the final in the trilogy.

I hope this answer is satisfactory,

Your humble and obedient author,

Colly

*I use the word “universe” loosely here, as a trope of contemporary culture. There is only one universe/world/existence until quantum physics actually advises us otherwise. That’s why we must look after the beautiful universe we already inhabit.

** Head to the home page to buy a copy of Judge Rosa Somberly or use the handy links to download an e-book.