The study
Inside the world of
The First Silence
Paintings, books, papers, and locked files open the documented history behind the novel.
The paintingBabelBeyond the windowIona
Select an object to open its field note
The Tower of Babel, anonymous, c. 1490. Rijksmuseum, public domain ↗
Objects in the study
Choose an object to open its field note.
Object 01BabelThe unfinished tower and the question of a first languageObject 02IonaBooks, relics, and memory carried across the seaObject 03The Dead Sea ScrollsAncient texts of protection and the unseen worldObject 04A reading shelfThe Monk, The Brothers Karamazov, and The Name of the Rose
Object 05The novelThe First Silence: The Reliquary of IonaDossier in preparation
The Watchers
1 Enoch, forbidden knowledge, and the beings behind Genesis 6
Dossier in preparation
The Vatican Apostolic Archive
The records preserved behind the Archive’s guarded doors
Dossier in preparation
Ogham
The earliest writing in Irish, cut along the edges of stone
The Tower of Babel, anonymous, c. 1490. Rijksmuseum, public domain ↗
On the bookshelf
A reading shelf beside the novel
- 01
The Monk
Matthew Gregory Lewis
Gothic terror, religious life, temptation, and corruption.
- 02
The Brothers Karamazov
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Faith, doubt, guilt, freedom, and the consequences of belief.
- 03
The Name of the Rose
Umberto Eco
Monastic learning, forbidden texts, interpretation, and murder.
The complete index
Every open field note
Readers who prefer a conventional list can open every published article below.
- Folio 001Iona: An Island of Books, Relics, and Dangerous Memory →7 minute read
Why a small Hebridean island became one of the most consequential centers of faith, learning, pilgrimage, and manuscript culture in the medieval world.
- Folio 002Babel: Language, Pride, and the Violence of Fracture →6 minute read
Genesis gives the collapse of a city and the confusion of speech only nine verses. The questions created by that silence have lasted for millennia.
- Folio 003Demons, Protection, and the Dead Sea Scrolls →7 minute read
The ancient response to evil was not limited to expelling a demon after attack. Some texts sought protection before the danger arrived.
The launch register
Continue into The First Silence.
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