The Effects of Entropy

The planet grew increasingly unstable, touched by
a vast manifestation of Chaos revealed through the
Biloxi Fault. Decaying energy produced sudden
flurries of power blazing with an unhealthy
intensity before they were tapped or disappeared.
The effects of entropy were everywhere. Sometimes
these effects were spectacular, miraculous and
uncomfortably alien, the stuff of hectic nightmare or
ecstatic vision. Few believed the Earth would ever be
healed of her physical or her mental wounds.

It became clear that soon the planet must perish
and death consume all memory.

Perhaps fearing this inevitable end, many placed
increasing value on the moment, learning to relish
every remaining second of life. Amongst these
were Jack Karaquazian and Colinda Dovero who
were considered by many to be the king and queen
of their calling, both jugadors of the highest calibre,
the admiration and envy of their peers, the moral
exemplars of all aspirants. They were lovers and their
story is told here.

This is also the story of Sam Oakenhurst and that
mysterious woman who claimed to be half animal
and half plant, and was known as the Rose.
Mr Oakenhurst’s appetites and pastimes had
become, some would say, neurotic and perverse,
but his love for the Rose was as honest and
enthusiastic as any emotion he had ever
known. Her love for him was, some think,
not entirely selfless.

Two pairs of lovers, famous gamblers all. Even when Chaos threatened to engulf
the multiverse, when the entire quasi-infinite was in upheaval, they staked their
mortal lives and their immortal souls against all the forces of Singularity, that
deadly alternative, refusing the trap of simplification and reduction.

This is a love story. It is also an adventure story. A tale of blind devotion.