Bonus: The Triverse Times

Morning edition. August 27 1974. Price 50p.

The Triverse is
Mid-Earth, an alternate 1970s London
Max-Earth, a vision of the 26th century
Palinor, where magic is real

Previously: Tensions are rising across the triverse. In the Kingdom of Great Britain on Mid-Earth, a general election has seen an unexpected swing to the right-wing party Earth First. The new coalition government is wasting no time in flexing its muscles…

[TRANSCRIPT FOLLOWS]

Morning edition
August 27 1974
Price 50p

THE TRIVERSE TIMES

PORTAL STATION IS CLOSED

In one of their first actions following last week’s general election, the new coalition government has ordered an immediate closure of the London portal station.

The concourses, so used to bustling foot traffic, are eerily empty this morning as all non-essential portal transit is suspended. Although presented as a temporary security measure, there is currently no announced date for the re-opening of the station.

To shutter such a vital trade and travel hub is unprecedented in the history of the triverse. London has long been considered the centre of the three worlds, but in just twenty-four hours this position has been shattered.

A press conference will be held by the Prime Minister later today. An unnamed Conservative MP contacted The Triverse Times with a simple message: “The Earth First maniacs said they would do this if they were ever elected, and now they’ve bloody done it. I hope the electorate is pleased with the result.”

Stock markets were immediately down, although the economic, social and cultural impact has yet to be seen.

Full report on page 3.

BRITAIN TO WITHDRAW FROM TRIVERSE ACCORDS

Newly elected Earth First MP for Canterbury Simon Donnelly declared the closure of the portal station the first step in the “long road to reclaiming our sovereignty”, even while official government sources were insisting it to be a temporary and necessary security measure.

There are rumours circulating in Whitehall that the coalition’s next move will be to begin the process for withdrawal from the Triverse Accords.

Oxford University scientist Dr Erik Faliszek made a statement to this paper just before publication, noting that such withdrawal would cause irrevocable damage to Britain’s inter-dimensional standing and cause an immediate crisis in scientific funding. And that, Dr Faliszek says, “is just the tip of the iceberg.”

ALL EYES ON THE ATLANTIC PORTAL

The new rules are still being confirmed and clarified: it seems that diplomatic travel is still permitted, and any Palinese citizen currently on Mid-Earth will be allowed a single transit back home. It is unclear what this means for trade, and the backlog of shipments can already be seen on the streets around the station and along the Thames.

Those paying attention claim to have seen this coming. “I shifted my shipping routes to Ethiopia six months ago,” said Trevor Wedgewood, CEO of Wedgewood Exports. “Businesses need certainty, and we’ve had precious little of that this year.”

The Addis Ababa portal transits between Mid-Earth and Max-Earth, which leaves the question of how Palinor will be accessed. The only major portal outside of London that has been identified lies in the middle of the Atlantic, which makes it wholly unsuitable for civilian transit and most trading.

Full report on page 16.

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Thank you for reading!

Well, that was fun. How’s your week been?

This article by Joel Snape over on The Guardian caught my attention. It’s about recognising the last time we do things, and how it’s difficult to spot those moments except in retrospect. I’ve been somewhat obsessed with this since my son was born a decade ago, because those first ten years are packed full of such moments. The last time he has a nap. The last time I have to crawl through ridiculous soft play tunnels with him. The last time he needs me to carry him around town. The last time he needs my help building Lego. The last time he needs me to walk him to school. All of these, in this context, represent progress: I’m proud of him growing up; at the same time there’s a loss there, and that cognitive dissonance frequently sends me head whirling.

Then, as you get older, you start to realise that there’s more time behind you than ahead of you. I used to rewatch Babylon 5 every year, back when I lived on my own in the early 2000s. I don’t really have the time to do that now, and part of me wonders if I’ll ever get to do it again. Every holiday or journey can feel like the last time I go to a place; when I was younger, it always felt like there was the potential to return one day.

To loop this back around to writing: this feeling of the end is what spurred me to really focus on my writing back in 2015. Seeing the progress my son was making, and becoming aware of all those ‘lasts’ made me realise that if I was going to ‘be a writer’ I had to get on with it. I was always deeply sceptical of fantasy stories in which immortal creatures lament their longevity and envy the short lifespans of humans - but I get it now. It really is the most intense motivational thought. It’s a way of flipping that dread of mortality into something a little more positive.

Meanwhile.

• Sarah Fay published a handy list of interesting writing newsletters. It’s angled towards trad publishing, and has some great writers to discover.

• The Cull finished its current arc with #4. Beautiful art (seriously, how does one create this level of detail on a comic schedule??), and an intriguing story. Perhaps a little bit technobabbly towards the end, but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it.

• There was a cool Substack party in London! Did you go? Alas, I couldn’t go due to childcare commitments and having only 24 hours notice. But still! I hope we see more of these meet-ups. Sounds like there was a gathering up in Scotland recently, too. Which I suppose for me begs the question: are any of you based in the East of England?

• We had an interesting little discussion over on Notes about the weird phenomenon of forgetting stuff that you’ve written. Apparently it’s not just me, which is a relief.

Right, let’s hop into notes for this week’s episode.

Author notes

I did a newspaper-ish bonus back in October 2022¹:

It was a lot of fun to put together. This week I was a little tight for time and didn’t want to dive into the next storyline just yet, so it seemed like a good opportunity for a bonus chapter. Given the political upheaval in the background of the story, it was a natural subject to tackle.

In terms of making it, I employed Canva for the most part. While I have been teaching myself Affinity Publisher, it would have been rather overkill for this particular project.

I found a handy template as a starting point, then heavily customised it with new fonts and motifs. Canva is great for this sort of thing - very drag and drop and instant.

The photo was a stock image from Unsplash of an airport, which I recoloured to look more of a piece with the rest of the page.

After I was happy with the layout, I exported it as an image and brought it into Affinity Photo. That’s where I applied an additional ‘old newspaper’ texture and then had some fun with the warp tool to give the image a proper crinkle.

New storyline next week. See you then!

If you know someone who might enjoy Triverse or the Write More newsletter, do pass it along:

1. HOW? How was it October 2022? Over a year ago! I don’t understand how time works.