Joshua Wander: Two fragments

The following are two basically unusable snippets about my favorite non-Mâvarin character, Joshua Wander. You can read about his history on my LJ blog, Mâvarin and Other Inspirations. - Karen

The Lives and Times of Joshua Wander
by Karen Funk Blocher

It wasn't the castle itself that was unusual, at least on the outside. If anything, it was unusually ordinary, a standard late Norman keep--four walls and square turrets, with none of the later architectural styles tacked on as so often happens over the centuries.

But then, Toujours Chez Moi wasn't centuries old.

Inside, it had such features as an elevator, central heating and air conditioning, and modern electricity. Except for the elevator, that wasn't all that unusual for a modern-day castle, especially ones that have been refurbished for the tourist trade.

However, Toujours Chez Moi wasn't in the 20th Century. Usually.

Just at the moment, the castle was in a country called Mâvarin, a land with an agrarian economy and a rather laissez-faire take on medieval sensibilities. Two days before, it had been in a country ruled by a talking dog. The week before that, it had been on a planet somewhere in the vicinity of Betelgeuse.

Still, it wasn't primarily the castle that was unusual. Its owner was. So was the rock from which (and on which) Toujours Chez Moi was built.

The owner was called Joshua Wander. He'd had another name in his youth, but he'd left it behind, many years and many worlds ago. He had once considered renaming himself Billy Pilgrim, but didn't want to be accused of copyright violation. Like the Vonnegut character, Joshua Wander had come unstuck in time. But unlike Billy Pilgrim and many other fictional travelers in time and space, Josh got to bring his home along with him.

***


"Time pollution ," Josh muttered.

"What?"

“Time pollution. Too many people mucking about in time. It’s in all the literature. Everyone wants to time travel until they actually do it, and then they can’t leave well enough alone. Kennedy’s dead, then alive, then dead again, people show up at the Cavern club with camcorders, and half the people at the Crucifixion are tourists. Time pollution.“