Bret James Stewart

Codex Rosmanicus Bret James Stewart

Codex Rosmanicus: Twelve Tales of Enchantment Compiled by Jaren the Traveller The literature of the past fascinates the modern reader. Part of this fascination is the paradox of the time and distance that creates a sense of the alien while remaining relevant in the present. Such literature is both ancient and modern. Some of the most interesting examples of such work can be found in the codices, such as the Exeter Book, that are frequently compilations of anonymous older texts. Codex Rosmanicus ("The Book of Rosman"), as the title implies, is modelled after such works. The codex is a collection of writings compiled by the fictitious narrator/compiler Jaren the Traveller, a retired bard. The corpus consists of twelve bardic tales. The lines between fiction and reality are nebulous as the book contains personages/settings from the real world as well as those that are fictitious/fantastical. No attempt has been made to separate the two, and the result is a work that could be real but isn't. In keeping with the feel of an ancient compiled work, the codex contains a mixture of literary forms: poetry, a play (a dramatic tragedy), and short stories. Thematically, they can be divided into the genres of fantasy, dark fantasy, high fantasy, horror, supernatural, and/or magic realism. This book is populated by the bizarre. A death knight, an Ice Maiden, and a collection of the denizens of faerie lurk within its pages. The text struggles with light and dark, wrong and right, and the sometimes obscure border between fantasy and reality.