Cupid Fact File #315 — The Szaclowk & the Halfworld, subtitled Part 1 of 2 is a prose story, written by Aristide Twain. The fifth Cupid Fact File, it features the Crew of the Copper-Colored Cupids and the Szaclowk.
Description[]
Like other Cupid Fact Files, the short story purports itself to be a digitized version of a file from the Crew of the Copper-Colored Cupids' Archives, detailing information about a target that is, or was once, of interest to the Crew. In this case, it is the dimension known as the Halfworld and the sentient species that inhabits it, the curious "half-beings" who call themselves Szaclowk.
References[]
- The Szaclowk call the event that split them in half "the Halving", and, in their mythologies, depict it as an intentional decision by their distant ancestors.
- The Cupid Intelligence Institute includes a Department of Phenomena, a Department of Cutlery and a Department of Applied Mathematics.
Behind the scenes[]
This short story was released in 2019 on the Crew of the Copper-Colored Cupids website and later collected in The Quintessential Cupid.
In a bit of metatextual play, the Fact File presents itself as “Part 1 of 2” and contains a link (reading Continue Reading) to the supposed Part 2. However, Part 2 does not exist, making the article about the half-things of the half-world itself a half-story. As a link could obviously not be used in a book, the edition of the story in The Quintessential Cupid instead refers readers to page 89 for Part 2 — even though the book only has 83 pages (plus covers).