CONTENTS - condensed & detailed
Chart - Characters - Glossary A-F∙G-Z - Maps - Storylines
A work in progress, The Fractal Heart mixes sci-fi, fantasy, comedy, romance, espionage, erotica, satire, etc. The main storyline, 🎲 The Great Game, deals with the conflict between the Vicinese and Fallarian empires. It links to cosmic scenarios in ⭐️ Soul Star & 🔮 Baulomorph, to earthly stories in 💍 Ring, 💚 Three Graces, 🧚 Fairy Tales, &🗽Green Lady, and to Matthew’s life in ✏️ Letters.
CONDENSED
► 1. LINES - 🎲 Nights - Professor - Sky - ⭐️ And Yet - Algoritmo - Damascus 🎲 Fractals 1: Orb 💍 Actress - Equations 💚 Parma 🎲 F2: Years 🎲 Lactar8 🔮 Guests - Light ✏️ Works - Homework 🎲 Eggs ► 2. CHANGES ⭐️ Life 2.0 - 6&7 - 2 Priests - 🧚 Apple - Selection - Grim∙Quest 🔮 Human 🎲 Matterhorn 🎲 Lingua -1 -2 🧚 Seduction - Carbunkle ► 3. DISCOVERIES - ⭐️ Antiny 💚 Pietro - I, Claudia 🎲 Z&Q - Swarm 💚 Clark ⭐️ Hidden 🧚 Mirror 🧚 Sheets 🎲 F3: Sages ► 4. ATTRACTIONS 🎲 Vicino 1: Damsel - Bubble - Melif 🧚 Prester 🎲 Fangs 🧚 Alien ✏️ Maidens - Constellations 🎲 V2: Letters ✏️ J. 🧚 Mothership 🎲 Spectra ► 5. SCHEMES - ⭐️ Fra 🧚 Dreamers - Diamond ✏️ Alfred 🧚 Merman ✏️ Ulysses 🧚 Tailor 🎲 Tarry ⭐️ Poetry 🎲 Doom - Plans 🔮 Ascendency ► 6. COUNTRY 🧚 Maria - Road 💍 Enigma - Academic 🧚 Street 🎲 V3: Caffè - V4: Auberge 🧚 Alicia - Espejo - Spin ⭐️ Flight 💚 Garden ► 7. CHANCE - 🧚 Dreamer 💍 Probabilities ✏️ Hammer 🎲 Bar - Venus - Worlds 🔮 M&M 🧚 Corridor - Pangolin 🎲 Game 💚 Firenze 🧚 Hills 🎲 Chance ► 8. TALES 🧚 Mariner - Claudine - Yunnan - Tea 🔮 Stories 🎲 Tale 💚 Rebound 🧚 Waitresses ⭐️ Wizard ✏️ Völva 💚 Infraction 🎲 Songs ► 9. GIRLS - 🎲 Spirals🗽Climate 💍 Lestatique 🎲 Muffs 🔮 At Sea 🧚 Belle 🎲 Book - 7 Veils - 5&6 - 7th ✏️ Black - Lindisfarne 🎲 Friends ✏️ Girl 🎲 White 🧚 Valley 🎲 Assembly ► 10. OTHER GIRLS 🗽 Jason 💚 Roma I-II 🔮 Waters🗽Fax 🎲 Farenn✏️ Times 🗽 Medea 💍 Dupont ✏️ Monkey 🧚 Dolls🗽Elkbalam ✏️ 1825 🗽 Proust ✏️ Ships 🗽 Molotova ► 11. DOOM ✏️ Loki - Trans 🎲 Talfar 🧚 Güsfreude 🔮 Virus🗽Twi 💍 Shook 🧚 Fou 🗽 Storm 🔮 Extraction 💚 Roma ✏️ Collapse 🗽 Lux 💚 An ✏️ Metaphor ► 12. EARTH 2.7 ✏️ Screen 💚 Flowers 💍 Mouches 💚 7th House ✏️ Dear 💍 Sight - Contact 🔮 Beginning 🔮 Route ✏️ Maid 🗽Rablanar 💍 Orange ✏️ Seine 💍 Star ✏️ Get It On🗽Battery ► 13. NEW LINES 🔮 2.7 ⭐️ Crazy 🎲 Condensation - R&G 🧚 Bind - Flies 🎲 Ephemera 🧚 Monster 🎲 Hill [In progress]
DETAILED
Main Storyline / 🔻secondary storyline / ◆ under revision
1. LINES — 🎲 The Great Game: Kollarum Nights (Kollarum, in the Aatari Lok universe): Farenn recalls some wild nights - The Professor from Palermo: Tarnar gives Farenn his disquieting take on the upcoming Baulian takeover of Earth - The Bright and Swirling Sky: Farenn has misgivings about his plan for cosmic peace - ⭐️ And Yet (The Soul Star): Algotodo determines to defeat Death - Algoritmo (The Soul Star): Algobrith spends his afterlife sitting in caffés and studying history - Fractals in Damascus (The Soul Star): Algobrith takes an underground history trip - 🎲 By the Light of Fractals 1: The Orb (Vicino Prossimo, Purple Pulse universe): Talfar uses The Book of Fractals to ponder Earth’s centrality, the Soul Star’s mystery, and the struggle between the Vicinese & Fallarian empires - 💍 The Ring: The Actress - Equations (Paris): Martine tells her story about ESP to Kenneth, a visiting lecturer at the Collège de France; Kenneth ponders Martine's story, unable to imagine a world with telepathy or angels - 💚 The Three Graces: Di Parma (Parma): Lucia attracts the attention of Gianluca, a curator of celestial art - 🎲 By the Light of Fractals 2: 3 Million Years (Vicino Prossimo): Talfar reviews the history of the Kraslika - 🎲🔻 On Lactar8 (planet Lactar): Qualini the librarian helps K the astronomer interpret strange images of a woman and child - 🔮 The Baulomorph: Dinner Guests from Baulis Prime - Light - (Vancouver): Berry wonders what the neighbours would think if they knew he was an alien - ✏️ Letters: The Collected Works of Humpty Dumpty (Vancouver): Matthew is driven by trauma to study literature - ✏️ The Homework Blues: Matthew stares at his final exam, having spent all night studying like a terrified maniac - 🎲◆ The Eggs of Cosmic Chance (The Allspace & Ovular 1): The Looking-Glass Beings emerge from empty space
2. CHANGES — ⭐️ Life 2.0 (Algoritmo): Algotodo reflects on his first week on Algoritmo - ⭐️ Six and Seven (Algoritmo): Algotodo thinks about his previous friends - ⭐️ Two Priests (Algoritmo): Algotodo copes with new arrivals - 🧚 Fairy Tales: Beneath the Old Apple Tree (Alberta & Fallar Ultima, Black Pulse universe): Following his Fallarian nature, Antonio adopts the persona of the Devil and plots revenge against his Father - 🧚 Natural Selection - The Grim Brothers - Quest (Alberta): Antonio scours Heaven and Earth to find the perfect victim - 🔮 On Becoming Human (Vancouver): Berry recalls the trauma of his infraction, and confesses a soft spot for humans - 🎲🔻 The Matterhorn (Kollarum, Aatari Lok universe): Farenn reminisces about meeting Qayam at the Language Conference; Tarnar gives Farenn his disquieting take on the upcoming Baulian takeover of Earth - 🎲 Lingua Franca 1 - 2 (Kollarum): Farenn speaks at the Language Conference - 🧚 Seduction - And Carbunkle His Eyes (Alberta): after using black Fallarian magic to entice Beatrice, Antonio snakes into her rose garden
3. DISCOVERIES — ⭐️ The Soul Star: Antiny the 23rd (Antigua, The Great Void): An alien from the isolated planet of Antigua travels through the Great Void and sees a blip at the edge of his screen - 💚 Pietro Parlante - I, Claudia (Palermo): Pietro finds a rare mineral and accepts a challenge to find something even more rare; Pietro stumbles upon Claudia, who ponders a life beyond the definitions of her parents - 🎲 Zadar & Qualini - The Swarm (Lactar): Zadar the Heretic confronts Qualini’s parents and tells her about a Fallarian Swarm - 💚 Clark Kent - ⭐️🔻 The Hidden Star (The Soul Star, Violet Hoop universe): Astronomers from distant galaxies search for the Soul Star - 🧚 Mirror, Mirror (Alberta): Antonio uses a magic Fallarian mirror to hypnotize Beatrice - 🎲 Between the Sheets (Alberta): Antonio spies on Beatrice’s sexual fantasies - 🎲 By the Light of Fractals 3: Sages & Priests (Vicino Prossimo): Talfar concludes his review of the cosmic situation
4. ATTRACTIONS — 🎲 One: The Water Damsel (Vicino Prossimo): On the first day of university, Talfar sees Thalphemera from his kitchen window - 🎲🔻 The Blue Bubble (Kollarum): Qayam the host spies a dangerous Fallarian in his bar - 🎲🔻 On Meliflorium (Pink Sea universe): The decadent X tells the conservative Y about his interest in a Fallarian Swarm - 🧚 Prester John (Alberta): Antonio enacts his evil plans, while Beatrice takes advice from Prester John, the town priest - 🎲 The Lady with the White Fangs (Kollarum): Dactalla exerts her Fallarian charms on Qayam the host - 🧚 On Becoming Alien (Alberta): Prester John’s theology resembles science fiction - ✏️ My Own Personal Rheinmaiden - Constellations (Vancouver): A desperate Matthew enlists the help of water spirits, Norse gods, rheinmaidens, & Sylvia; Matthew confronts his desire for Sylvia 3:08 - 🎲 Two: Golden Letters (Vicino Prossimo): Talfar and Talphemera discuss the infinitesimal - ✏️ J. Alfred (Vancouver): Matthew watches as Old Rex and Juniper go at it - 🧚 The Mothership (Outer Space): Prester John finds himself in a Heaven of sorts - 🎲 Spectra & Sentience (Kollarum): Qayam and Dactalla are immune to what’s around them, but not to each other
5. SCHEMES — ⭐️🔻 Fra Sole (The Nexus): Fra Sole dices Earth into shape - 🧚🔻 The Blue Dreamers - Black Diamond Arts (Alberta & Yunnan): Ragor the Clerk’s home world, Premium Blue, sends him to spy on the humans; Ragor spies on Antonio, who yearns for an heir - ✏️ J. Alfred & the Great White (Vancouver): Matthew recalls watching Old Rex wrestle with Moby Dick - 🧚 The Little Merman (Alberta): Baldric makes his first epic sea journey - ✏️ Ulysses, Son of Laërtes (Vancouver): Old Rex tries to land Moby Dick - 🧚 The Brave Little Tailor (Alberta): little Baldric outwits his parents - 🎲 The Tarry Dot (Aatari Doom): Qayam finds himself in a planetary death cult centred on the planet of Tarry Dot - 🎲 Poetry in the Deep (The Great Void): Antiny sees a tiny blue dot from deep within the Great Void - 🎲 Escape from Aatari Doom (Aatari Doom & Ataari Prime): Qayam and Esther makes their way to Ataari Prime - 🎲 The Best Laid Plans (Fallar Discordia): Knifestream’s little experiment is over - 🔮🔻 The Ascendancy of Baulis Prime (Baulis Prime, Orange Hoop universe): The Baulians rise from the Pink Well to create an Empire
6. OUT OF COUNTRY — 🧚 Maria de Tondo - The Narrow Road to the Deep North (The Philippines): Ragor meets Maria and travels around the islands - 💍 The Enigma - The Academic (Paris): Ken and everyone else finds Martine impossible to understand; Ken waits for Martine and curses Antoine - 🧚 Across the Street - 🎲 Three: At the Caffè - ◆ Four: Auberge Espagnole (Vicino Prossimo): Talfar and Talphemera meet Farenn, who adapts to life on Vicino Prossimo - 🧚 Alicia∙Alicia del Espejo∙Spin the Bottle (Alberta): Baldric talks to the girl of his dreams - ⭐️ The Flight of the Chronus (the Great Void): Antiny the 23rd makes contact with the Wizard of a Looking-Glass ship - 💚 The English Garden (Palermo): Claudia attends the lectures of a visiting scholar; Pietro squares off with Claudia’s Superman
7. MASTERS OF CHANCE — 🧚 Dreamer: Baldric follows Alice into his own subaquatic Wonderland - 💍 Probabilities: Kenneth thinks about probability while still waiting for Martine - ✏️ Hammerfest (Vancouver): Matthew ponders the magic of Black Metal - 🎲 In the Contabri Bar (Kollarum): Qayam and Dactalla get to know each other - 🎲 Venus & the Fly (Kollarum): Venoozia gets the attention of Horsefly - 🎲 A Tale of Two Worlds (Kollarum & Skrakta): Horsefly and Venoozoa tell their tales - 🔮◆ Fractal Masters & Fractal Mystics (Baulopolis): Rablanar considers a frightening possibility - 🧚 The Tyrian Corridor∙At the Pangolin Gardens (Alberta & Yunnan): Baldric lies in a Chinese dormitory, thinking about his recent travels; Baldric gets heartburn at a restaurant and hallucinations in a cafe - 🎲◆ The Nature of the Game (Diopolis, Black Pulse universe): Players compete in a cosmic game - 💚 Di Firenze (Florence): Lucia suffers from a rare condition - 🧚 The Bright Hills of Yunnan (China): Baldric encounters aliens and a hill-tribe girl - 🎲 The Chancemasters of Die (Diopolis): The head croupier eyes a famous player
8. TALES — 🧚 The Ancient Mariner - Claudine de Montréal - Yunnan Gold & the Madeleine - All the Tea in China (Alberta & Yunnan): Gavan wonders what his neighbour Ragor is up to; Ragor waylays Baldric with memories and prophecies; Baldric meets a pretty girl from Québec and travels downward in time, just as Ragor said he would - 🔮 The Stories They Told Themselves (Vancouver): Berry puzzles over the human addiction to stories - 🎲◆ The Librarian’s Tale (Kollarum): Qualini tells her story while Qayam falls further for Dactalla - 💚 On the Rebound (Rome): Claudia realizes Clark Kent isn’t who she thought he was - 🧚◆ The Waitresses of Chengdu (Sichuan): Baldric travels to Chengdu and has culinary visions - ⭐️ Antiny & the Wizard Ship of Albinon (The Great Void): The Wizard travels to the last known location of LGB 822 & Antiny makes first contact - ✏️ The Völva: Matthew journeys into the misty realms of Norse myth - 💚 Infraction 101 (Rome & Outer Space): Clark Kent reveals his true nature - 🎲◆ Bar Songs (Kollarum): Qayam hosts Qualini, Zadar, X, Y, Talfar, Galdrimera, and Dactalla
9. GIRLS WHO — 🎲 Spirals (Kollarum): From deep cover, Dactalla communicates with a Demon Priest∙🗽 The Green Lady: The Political Climate (New York): Curtus Rufius monitors the political scene from New York 💍 Lestatique (Paris & Tokyo): Ken mocks Antoine’s cartoon universe∙🎲 The Finest Ear-Muffs Money Can Buy (Fallar Discordia & Aatari Lok): Knifestream, Dactalla, and Farenn of Caldemar swap data∙🔮 At Sea (Vancouver & Vicino Lontano, Purple Pulse universe): Berry pities humans and their belief systems∙🧚🔻◆ The Belle of Bel-Aire∙⭐️ The Book of Fractals (The Soul Star)∙🎲 Dance of the Seven Veils∙Five & Six∙The Seventh Veil (Fallar Discordia): Knifestream recalls his first encounter with Dactalla, who reminds him of his mother∙✏️ Back to Black (Vancouver): Juniper re-arranges the brain of Old Rex, and Matthew laments the death of the epic∙ Lindisfarne (Vancouver): Matthew breaks the news about the Greeks to Old Rex∙🎲 Two Friends (Kollarum): Farenn meets with Dactalla and Qayam∙✏️ The Girl Who (Vancouver): Juniper gives a presentation on feminism and Lord Byron∙🎲 White Light on Fractal (Vicino Prossimo): Talfar ponders his next move∙🧚◆ The Valley of Paradise∙🎲 The Great Assembly (Kollarum): Aliens debate the fate of the cosmos
10. OTHER GIRLS WHO DO TOO —🗽🔻 Jason (Florida & NYC): Remy and Françoise take their kids on a trip to Disney World∙💚 Roma I∙Roma II: Sandra reflects on the allure of difference and recalls a previous attraction∙🔮 Still Waters (Vancouver): Berry contrasts human and Baulian views of outer space∙🗽Fax Americana: Curtus Rufius editorializes on history and American power∙🎲 Farenn (Kollarum): Farenn assures the Assembly they can count on the Fallarians∙✏️ Times New Roman (Rome): Matthew contemplates the future of writing while on a Roman holiday∙🗽Medea (Florida & NYC): Françoise feels ambivalent about her family∙💍 Madame Dupont: Madame Dupont, an elderly French widow, returns to the Collège de France∙✏️ The Monkey King (Vancouver): Matthew threatens to globalize the Epic∙🧚◆ 25 Russian Dolls∙🗽The Elkbalam (Washington, D.C.): Molotova plots the fall of the new regime∙✏️ 1825 (Vancouver): Matthew introduces Odysseus to Hrothgar∙🗽Proust in the Morning: Curtus fantasizes about billable hours and his secretary Phyllis∙✏️ Drive Our Ships to New Lands (Vancouver): Matthew gets a job as a conductor on the doomsday train∙🗽Molotova the Whip (Washington, D.C.): Molotova keeps the Revolutionary factions in line
11. IN THE GENERAL DIRECTION OF DOOM — ✏️◆As Loki Steers Us (Vancouver): Matthew sets off from scorched Earth on a westward journey∙Transcanada: A Dream of Combustion (Vancouver): Mathew, Sylvia, & Loki go on a road trip∙🎲 Talfar (Kollarum): Talfar addresses the Assembly∙🧚 Güsfreude (Alberta): Güsfreude gives advice & confronts her destiny∙🔮 Virus (Vancouver): Berry reviews the case for not exterminating humans∙🗽Twilight of the Idols (NYC): Curtus is scandalized by parody∙💍 All Shook Up (Paris & Tokyo): Kenneth botches a lecture at the Collège de France & Akiko encounters the Devil∙🧚◆ Bien Fou∙🗽The Storm Troopers Return (NYC): Conflict brews in the Big Apple∙🔮 Alien Extraction (Vancouver): Berry feels conflicted about the value of humanity∙💚 Di Roma (Rome): Lucia and her boyfriend stroll into the Pantheon∙✏️ Total Collapse (Victoria, B.C.): Earth gets visitors∙🗽 The Luxorium (NYC): Curtus climaxes at an opportune moment∙💚◆ The Anunnaki (Rome & Vicino Concordia): Lucia and Sandra find themselves far from home∙✏️ An Elusive Metaphor (Victoria): Matthew tries to grasp the moment
12. EARTH 2.7 — ✏️ Screen Time (Vancouver): Matthew realizes he didn’t have a poetic death after all∙💚◆ In the Field of Flowers (Rome): Lucia and Sandra take stock of their situation∙💍 Les Mouches (Paris): Kenneth and Madame Dupont find themselves on the banks of the Seine∙💚 In the Seventh House: Lucia, Sandra, & Claudia meet again∙✏️ Dear Matthew (Vancouver): Matthew receives information about his new life∙💍 At First Sight (Paris): Madame Dupont walks to Notre-Dame∙💍 First Contact (Paris): Madame Dupont meets the new master race∙🔮 In the New Beginning (Vancouver): Berry starts to live a double life∙🔮 En Route to the Old Cafe (Vancouver): Berry contemplates his next move∙✏️ The French Maid (Vancouver): Matthew meets Baulixia, a French maid∙🗽Rablanar & the OC (NYC): Rablanar worries about the hidden powers of Occasional Cortez∙💍 La Vie en Orange (Paris): Martine decides it’s time to let Kenneth know what’s going on∙✏️ Au Bord de la Seine (Paris & Vancouver): Paris gets a makeover, and Matthew decides to write a story∙💍 The Soul Star (The Soul Star): Madame Dupont goes to a novel reunion; from The Book of Fractals∙✏️ The Baulomorphs Get It On (Vancouver): Matthew gets scriptor interruptus and goes to an alien sex party 🗽◆ From the Battery (New York): Remy meets Francine for lunch
13. NEW LINES OF CONTROL — 🔮 Rule 2.7 (Baulis Prime) The Baulian High Council passes Rule 2.7, allowing Earth to continue in its violent and chaotic ways ∙⭐️ The Crazy Diamond (Vicino Lontano & the Soul Star): While intergalactic cosmographers speculate on the nature of the Soul Star, its nature is described in The Book of Fractals∙🎲◆ The Condensation of Demon Saints (Fallar Discordia): Farenn gives counsel to the Demon Saints of the Black Horde∙◆ 🎲 Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Alive (Fallar Ultima): Farenn gives confusing counsel to the Black Horde∙🧚◆ The Ties That Bind∙The Bind That Flies (Alberta & the Soul Star): Güsfreude determines to help Beatrice; Antonio scours the skies for a glimpse of the Soul Star∙🎲◆ In the Ephemera Café (Vicino Concordia & Fallar Discordia): Talfar sips claret in the Hanging Gardens and visits an old friend∙🧚◆ The Monster in the Manor (Alberta): Antonio lounges from his temple to his living room, where he awaits Güsfreude∙🎲◆ The Golden Hill (Vicino Concordia): Thalphemera, a Magnet Dreamer, tells the Bright Council about her travels
Table of Contents - Chart of Contents - Characters - Glossary - Maps - Story Lines