The Prosperian Papers Vol. I

About the Book

Introduction:

The Prosperian Papers were originally prepared by James M. Gargle following a visit to the Kingdom of Prosperity some time ago. Gargle, a forgetful man, took to writing down events as he saw and heard about them, so that he would know what was happening to him.

During his career, selling tiger lilies to Prosperians and buying potted Grungeon cactus plants, he recorded many adventures. They were the stuff of the day-to-day life of people and creatures in Prosperity, neighbouring Asperity and, sometimes, the Outside World. His notes became the basis of the Prosperian Papers which we offer to you here.

The Kingdom of Prosperity is, in fact, a mixed blessing. While Prosperity has the famed Euphoria Pleasure Gardens and the renowned Royal Flying Desert Corps, it also has the Great Grungeon Desert with its fearsome heat, Grungeon Cactus and Gormless Grass. It is rather rainy in the winter too and desert tracks and trails are sometimes blown away by summer winds.

Asperity, for its part, isn't much fun at all. In addition to the Great Vinegar Works with its pucker-causing fumes, Asperity's capitol, Woe, is about as tumbledown as a Prince's home town can be. The Prince Wilbur Swamp has two and a half times more creepy- crawly things than most other swamps. Asperians, talking through puckers unless they have rock candies on hand, tend to sound irritated a lot of the time--sort of like older sisters.

In their part of the world, Prosperity and Asperity are more appreciated for their people and animals than for their geography. They make friends easily. They aren't too suspicious. And they think it is silly to work too hard. A Prosperian or Asperian--person or creature--is fun to have around, most of the time.

James Gargle's stories provide Prosperian and Asperian history as it really happened. From them, it is possible to understand the rock candy-vinegar trade between Prosperity, the candy source, and Asperity, the vinegar producer. The problem of puckers--long a puzzle to scientists in the outside world--is explained in Zachariah Wince's monograph "Thoughts on why vinegar fumes make us pucker." The international scope of Prosperian rock candy is revealed in the sales records of Sweet*Tooth Farms. And the Prosperian belief in Asperian vinegar for Prosperian french fries is revealed as the obsession it truly was.

The Prosperian Papers also tell us about the Royal Prosperian Flying Desert Corps--going past Watch Reports to the flesh and blood of General T. Oliver Grumble and his feisty band. Their efforts to protect the rock candy-vinegar trade from Moustapha and his Rock Candy Bandits offer tales of blood-tingling daring.

For more information about the rockcandy bandits please visit www.rockcandybandits.com

About the Author

Donald R. Gordon is an author, teacher and consultant. His publications include Language Logic And The Mass media and The New Literacy on communications, four novels, several children's books and hundreds of newspaper, magazine, radio and TV reports and articles.

After working for The Canadian Press, The Financial Post, and as a CBC European Correspondent, he served as a consultant to groups as diverse as the Screen Writers' Guild of Hollywood; the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists, Toronto; The Task Force on Government Information, Ottawa; Design Canada, Ottawa; The Federal Sports Secretariat, Ottawa; The Royal Commission on Violence in the Communications Industry, Toronto and the Special Senate Committee on Mass Media, Ottawa.

He was also a member of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada.

Formerly an Associate Professor of Political Science and Communications Studies at the University of Calgary and the University of Waterloo, Gordon now is a Senior Instructor with the Long Ridge Writers' Group, West Redding, Connecticut.

Born in Toronto, Gordon was educated at Queen's University, the University of Toronto and the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is married, with three grown sons and has made his home in Waterloo since 1967.