Taking liberties with Baron P

 

Peter put down his glass of claret. “Sir, I’m sorry to tell you this but I hear that awful namesake of mine has been at it again.” 

     “Really?” Baron Parzifal sat up in his chair. “You mean spreading terrible stories about me?”
     “Yes, I’m afraid so. In Shadows and Pagodas he perniciously described our first adventure together when we travelled all the way from Paris to darkest Siam in search of that mysterious treasure of yours. And now he’s re-telling the story in fragments.”
     The Baron frowned. “Fragments?”
     Peter leant across the table and whispered, ““Yes, sir. Fielding has started posting succulent morsels of his novel to tempt readers as yet unfamiliar with our adventures. And he has even included what they call photographic images. In order – as he rather colourfully claims – to spice these fragments up and prick the readers’ interest yet further!”
    “Merde!”
    “But it gets worse, sir. I hear he’s now given away the actual location in modern north-east Thailand where we found your treasure!”
     The Baron began to slowly drum his fingers on the table edge. “First there’s this scurrilous novel,” he said. “In which I’m portrayed as some sort of demented scoundrel, cheating all and sundry then dragging them across the known world in search of a fabulous treasure and hidden knowledge. That literary piece of assassination has caused me no end of embarrassment, I can tell you. The police, the Australians and the Inquisition all asking damned awkward questions – poking around, prying from the backstreets of Toledo to the public conveniences of Timbuktu. Even the Emperor disowned me. And now Fielding’s raking up the whole damned business again. Next thing you know, he'll be telling God knows who about that unfortunate misunderstanding with Queen Cleopatra. This is all hugely annoying, Peter!”
     “Yes, indeed, sir.”
     “Honestly, I mean do I look like the sort of person who goes around the globe lying, cheating and stealing things that don’t belong to him?”
     Peter ran a finger around the rim of his glass. “Er, well, no.”
     “Quite.”     
     The two men lapsed into silence. The sound of a billiard ball being struck.
     Then the Baron suddenly stood up, downed his claret, donned his hat and drew his rapier.
     “Where on earth are you going, sir?”
     “I’m going to find that damned Fielding fellow and when I do I’m going to run him through!” 
     With that the Baron strode out of the cafe.
     "But wait, sir!" called out Peter. "I don't think I've got enough money to pay our bill!"
     

"Darkened relations..."

The Baron's final stand featured in Shadows and Pagodas is back in the news. In the novel it's called the Pagoda of Earthly Delights (thank you, Hieronymous B) but in real life is actually Khao Phra Vihear, the Khmer temple complex nestling above a precipice on the Thai-Cambodian border. Hotly disputed between the two countries, wonderful views and Peter's ghostly whispers amongst the colonnades have been replaced by the thud-thud of mortar shells and exchanges of semi-automatic fire. Strictly off limits.

http://tharum.com/blog/2006/06/06/photo-prasat-preah-vihear.html

But it seems the UN has finally ruled on who owns the disputed temple and the land around it - Cambodia. 

"Darkened relations"  have been threatened.

So are the knives of fervent nationalist being sharpened or will convoys of air-conditioned tourist buses now drown out the whispers...?

http://www.thephuketnews.com/updated-both-sides-claim-win-in-khao-phra-viharn-border-dispute-42793.php   

A picture in fragments

After re-reading Shadows and Pagodas I thought I’d start sharing some of my favourite scenes and dialogue from the novel. Roughly in chronological order – always better to start at the beginning as Abbot Od says – these brief extracts will include the comic, the dark and the dramatic. The idea is to paint a tantalising ‘picture in fragments’ of the Baron and Peter’s first adventure together. I hope you enjoy them as much as me.

My very first extract is taken from the beginning of Chapter 1, Disturbing Encounters:

“You idiot, Fielding!” Something odd back there and he’d nearly overlooked it! Peter trotted back to Myrmidon and there it was, sitting on the bank, unattended: an enormous and very peculiar sedan chair. It was made of a wood that seemed to suck in the moonlight and decorated with a Fantastical Creature that reared up from the roof.

     But most remarkable of all was the apparent lack of any windows or doors. 
     Peter bit his lip, moved closer but was careful not to touch. He tried to find some way of getting in and then, on the far side, discovered the outline of a door or panel and then a small grille, oblong in shape, and a row of thin bars.
     “Good grief...”