One of the nice things about this little project, this blog, is that it has brought back to me stories that have gotten lost in the mix. Seriously, I've put out a rather large amount of stories in these last couple of years and not all of them remain that long in ready recollection as I've moved on to others since. As well, I've taken to reading through my works of the previous year not long after the new one has started and I haven't done that yet with "A Sestina Writ in Darkness" under construction and this blog going... until now as the stories of 2020 have caught up. Thus some of these I have not read since I set them aside a year ago to move on to another. "Mister Jonathon S. Mortenson Has Arrived" is one of those.
The story itself arrived as "Mythic Proportions" was wrapping up and it began as a repetition of terms seeking the proper one, pretty much the way the story itself begins. From there, it was a conclusion I knew must be, one hinted at multiple times over the course of these Tales in letters from lawyers back in New York. I had been privy to them and I knew what needed to be must need be taken care of. Thus I figured it would be best to take he who needed to be taken care of to the very threshold of his crowning glory... and take it away from him.
This is the story of Jonathon S. Mortenson, the man who organized and financed the expedition which found gold in the waters of the creek they named the Bajazid. It is a respectable 4,923 words long and it was completed on March 10 of that most immemorial year. Having just read it since, well, it was finished a year ago, I'm delighted by what is here. Before touching this Tale with determination, I knew only that his goal was to be recognized in those highest of social halls. I had not known why. The motivations came through in the writing of the story, the reasons why this remained his goal and why it was birthed in the first place. I thoroughly enjoy it when this happens, when the telling of the Tale reveals to me things I did not know.
As I went through this text, with realization that I really need to submit this somewhere, I recalled its construction. I remember looking at maps of New York for the years needed to ensure the location of where the needed points were as I couldn't have him staying at just a "really nice place". Hell, there were really nice places there then and I wanted to put him in one which would have been very, very nice and real and there and at a distance from his destination that was real and there and that would encourage the hiring of a carriage rather than a brisk stroll. I now know more about the geography of that mysterious place in 1872 than I do 2021. Yup... my impression of New York City is mostly from Marvel comic books in the 1970s and it kind of stuck there.
"Mister Jonathon S. Mortenson Has Arrived" is a story that I needed to tell. That is why I included it when I did. This is an example of me turning to that List, that collection of titles of potential stories written down and selecting one with dedicated purpose. Thus the repetition of my "working title" into the Tale that needed to be. The device I used in setting this up proved useful throughout, allowing me to transition the character to where I needed him to be. The result of this story as well needed to justify those hints left throughout these Tales and I believe it did... as soon as I had him at that moment of anticipated glory.
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