Our Writers

A PERSONAL ADDENDUM

One of the reasons why this blog spent so many years on hiatus was because I couldn't make heads or tails of the "Books of Sand," the notebooks my brother and his friends left behind, as I soon realized they were: a) not in chronological order, and: b) written by several authors who didn't usually sign their work. This made the assembly of a timeline uniquely challenging. I could have simply continued to translate and transcribe stories as I found them in the notebooks, but I feared that if I wanted to make sense of my brother's legacy, I'd have to take a more active role. So I tried tracking down the other contributors to the Books of Sand. And that's the other reason why this took so long to update.

In a later addendum I'll try and explain the circumstances I’ve been through over the intervening years; it’s been nearly a decade since I began posting these stories online, and I’m incapable of expressing my gratitude to anyone and everyone who’s still interested in this yarn. For now, and after having untangled most of the knots in this story, I’d like to clarify who the writers of the Books of Sand were (to the best of my knowledge).

From now on, I'll go back to adding my personal observations to the end of every text posted here. I will also make an educated guess, based on writing style and cross-referencing, as to who the author of each posted text is.

Our writers were and are:

B., my late older brother. Though he appears in almost all the Books of Sand stories, he only wrote some of them. He does seem to have been the unofficial “record-keeper” of the project, since he was in possession of the notebooks, and seems to have taken it upon himself to write down some of these stories, even when he wasn’t the author. He did, however, write “Xochipilli,” “Monica,” “Origin: Multiple Births,” and “Dog Killer,” and the “Interview with J.” was also conducted by him.

T. (also called Tati), a female friend of my brother. She’s one of the most prolific writers. She went to school and university with my brother, but later dropped out and moved to New York. She wrote “A Memory,” “Miranda Cassette Exchange,” “Origin: Crawl Space,” and “Faith Healing.”

A., a close male friend of my brother. He appears in many stories, but doesn’t seem to have personally written a single one. This matches his personality. He went to school and university with my brother, and the two remained friends until his passing. Though he didn’t write it, “Origin: To Remember” is about him. I also interviewed him in “Short Exchange with A. at the Harbor.”

F., a friend of my brother’s group. He and my brother and seem to have grown close in university. He’s also one of the more prolific writers in the notebooks. He seems to have disappeared overseas after dropping out of university. He wrote “Record Store,” “The Children of District 11,” and “He’s Not Setting Out to Hurt People.” “A Letter from F. Loosely Attached to Notebook #4” is also from him, obviously. He also seems to have conducted the interview with X that became “Yuga Park under Watch.”

These four seem to have written, narrated, or participated in the brunt of the Books of Sand. But there were several “guest writers” as well, of varying relevance.

N. became a friend of my brother’s group in high school. He seems to have remained friends with them until his death in the Nantes marketplace fire, in 2006. He wrote “Mom & Pop,” “People Who Kill Animals and Other Things,” and the “List of N.,” which is part of the “Lists of Our Lost Friends” entry.

E., a female friend of T. who went to the same school as my brother’s group. They seem to have remained friends until she relocated to Europe. Her father was apparently in trouble with the “Clan of Adoration.” She wrote the “List of E.,” which is part of the “Lists of Our Lost Friends” entry.

K., a female friend of my brother’s group who apparently got into some trouble at school. She seems to be the only writer apart from A. (and my brother) who remained in the city after graduating from university. She wrote and signed “Warning, Goodbye,” which suggests that she didn’t author any other entry in the notebooks. (Or if she did, she didn’t sign them.)

D., a female friend of T. who occasionally orbited around my brother’s group. She doesn’t seem to have been actively involved with the notebooks. However, it seems that she was the narrator of “Sister Zero,” which was later written down in the notebooks by T. She moved to the UK after graduating from university.

J. was a friend of T. who participated in her story “A Memory.” He doesn’t seem to have been actively involved in the notebooks, or even aware of their existence. However, he was interviewed by my brother for “Interview with J.,” so he technically counts.

X is not a pseudonym I’m using to protect his identity; he is literally written down as “X” in the notebooks. His real name, assuming he had one, is never used. It’s revealed that he died under mysterious circumstances in “Faith Healing,” something that the entire group was aware of. He was interviewed in “Yuga Park under Watch,” wrote the “List of X” (from “Lists of Our Lost Friends”), and drew the picture referenced in “Faith Healing” (which I eventually found).

Finally, “The Hissing of Summer Lawns” seems to have been transcribed from a recording. It’s the only entry where almost every single writer seems to have participated.

From now on and until conclusion, new entries will be posted every weekend.