John T. Cullen has authored over 20 books, including The Generals of October (Simon & Schuster, 2004)—pulse-pounding political-military suspense fiction set in a near-future U.S. Constitutional crisis.
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John T. Cullen also writes screenplays, including one for Nebula Express (adapted from his SF novel) and the violent, darkly glistening, utterly strange tale of a serial killer in Scorpion.
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If you like what you read here, please send at least two other avid readers here so a growing readership can enjoy these books. That would be a great, painless, easy way to provide a huge assist. If you'd like to do more...click.
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The Sibyl's Urn
a novel
by John T. Cullen
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XLV. EPILOG
Hey, you! Remember me? I’m the little garden genius. I am the real meaning of ancient Rome in a nutshell. In case you hadn’t guessed, genius and genie (like in the bottle) and Arabic jinni are pretty much the same thing (me). Glad to see you got back in one piece. Did you sit on the whoopee cushion? Not yet? Wait until you do. Ha ha ha. I won’t go inside your home, of course, because to be honest, the shadows scare me. That’s for the penates, the cupboard gods. They will put moths in your cereal and ants in your sugar unless you honor them with a little poem or a sign on the wall. Throw a crust in the fireplace and they’ll keep still. I’ve looked in the window and I see that, while you don’t do the thing with the wax death masks anymore, you do have pictures of a lot of dead people sitting around on your shelves. Those are the ghosts of your ancestors, who watch over you. They don’t care much for me, because I drove them nuts. When your picture sits on someone’s piano 100 years from now, and nobody has a clue who owned that strange mug that’s hanging under your hair, you’ll look strange and stiff like people in these pictures. You hear me giggling outside, and won’t be able to do a thing about it. We’re all numina here, my kind and the leprechauns and all the spirits from the world beside yours. Numina means ‘those who nod’ which is what gods do. That’s how the really ancient Romans saw the world, before all those fancy gods of mythology moved in with their soap operas. Even I must blush when I think of those pale, naked butts on those statues, and those shameless paintings. What was anyone thinking? I simply enjoy the fresh air, the scent of flowers, the drone of bees, the twitter of birds, the shadow cast by a passing cloud, the glitter of a ray of sunshine in a drop of water, and tormenting you who take yourself too seriously. Do you ever remember, even for a moment? You were a garden sprite once too, when you were small.
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If you like what you're reading, please send at least two other avid readers to this website.
—Thank you! …Your grateful author, John T. Cullen.
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Other gripping books by the author:
Copyright © 2005 by John T. Cullen. All Rights Reserved.
John T. Cullen has been a pioneer in digital publishing since 1996. He is listed by digital publishing historian Karen Wiesner as the sixth digital publisher in history, and the second person to publish serialized chapters on line (starting 1996). His web magazine Deep Outside SFFH was the first to be listed along with the professional pulps in Writer's Market (1999) and was at one time the oldest professional SFFH magazine in the world. John T. Cullen continues to explore new ways to adapt the primordial power of storytelling to emerging new digital opportunities as the Third Millennium springs to light.
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A Walk in Ancient Rome John T. Cullen (Simon&Schuster May 2005) innovative, acclaimed walking & teaching tour—explore every corner of the Imperial capital at its zenith almost 2000 years ago; learn its history—smell and taste the very air of Classical Rome.
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= Summer 2008 =
A Walk in Ancient Rome, Second Edition John T. Cullen (Clocktower Books 2008)—New! Many new maps; images from the unique scale model of AndréCaron of Quebec. Read this innovative book, with its acclaimed walking & teaching tour. Explore every corner of the Imperial capital at its zenith almost 2000 years ago; learn its history. Smell and taste the very air of Classical Rome. The new edition is bigger, like an atlas. Some people have carried the 1st edition with them to Rome, and found it ggreatly enhanced their experience. Preorders start Spring 2008.
Dead Move: Kate Morgan and the Haunting Mystery of Coronado, 2nd Ed. John T. Cullen (Clocktower Books, San Diego, Summer 2008). John T. Cullen has tackled the mystery of the ghost at the Hotel del Coronado. He has assembled a dramatic new theory about how and why she violently died on the back steps of the hotel in 1892. A first-class ghost story and whodunit wrapped in one. Don't miss it! Preorders start Spring 2008.
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