Cities of the Red Night

'Plus recent ... Dix-huitieme ... environ 1702.'

'Et l'auteur, monsieur? Gentilhomme, courtisane, voleur?' And the author? Gentleman, courtesan, thief?

'Pirate americain.'

'Parfaitment.' He opened a little casket with a key from his vest pocket and selected from it another key. With this he opened a cabinet in which I could see packages in cubbyholes, and brought out several packets tied and sealed with red wax.

'De Boston.'

'Parfaitment.' I examined the parchment carefully, holding it up to the light and looking at it under a magnifying glass. I nodded and smiled. 'Tres bien.'

'De l'encre?'

'Oui.'

He opened another cabinet full of bottles and jars and tubes.... 'Ca.'

I brought out my portable kit and ran some tests. 'Ca marche ... ca marche....j'ai besoin aussi de couleurs.... C'est un livre illustre.'

'De couleurs parfumees, monsieur?'

'Mais bien entendu ... d'hachissh, d'opium, du sang, du rhum, encens d'eglise, de latrines, du pourriture ...'

The package came to $10,000 plus $300 of regular art supplies.

'Alors, monsieur, vous avez le temps pour un cognac?'

'J'ai toujours le temps pour ca.'

We start making books. I write the continuity. Jim does the drawings. We have the address of a modeling agency which puts us in touch with the film underground. We are in the right place.

Lima is the film studio of the world for far-out porn and snuff films, mostly on contract to collectors and governmental agencies. Only the third-rate material finds its way into the open market. The best camera work, processing, special effects, and actors of all nationalities can be had here for a price.

Jim sketches a scene in the rough. We stage it with live actors and then photograph it. Then Jim projects the color shots onto our paper for the finished product, which is something between photography and drawing and looks quite a lot like the Iguanas' 'joke books.'

Monsieur La Tour sells quality merchandise. The books seem to age two hundred years overnight. I am working mostly on my pirate story line. but since I am sure of the quality of the goods, I will invest some more money in Mayan and Egyptian papers and colors, and do two snuff films—a Mayan number called The Child of Ix Tab, and an Egyptian number called The Curse of the Pharaohs.

Ix Tab was the patron saint of those who hang themselves, whom she would transport straight to Paradise. In this number a young aristocrat is hanged by Ix Tab, who then gives birth to a superpotent Death Baby. The boy who plays the young aristocrat has a classic Mayan profile, and Ix Tab, spotted with decay, is a versatile pro who also plays in my Egyptian number as the evil sister of Tutankhamen—she has him strangled and gives birth to a Scorpion Goddess.

A million dollars is shrinking to expense-account money at this point. I am already a hundred thousand clams into the $200,000. I figure it is about time to look up Blum and Krup before they come looking for me. It's a small town and word gets around.

A cowboy in the

seven-days-a-week fight

Tamaghis is a walled city built of red adobe. The city stirs at sunset, for the days are unbearably hot at this season and the inhabitants nocturnal. As the sun sets the northern sky lights up with a baleful red glow, bathing the city in light that shades from seashell pink to deep-purple shadow pools.