by Les Epstein (Author)
The companion to the highly lauded "Sleep Cinematic: A Golem's Quarter", "Lorenzo by the Ghost Light: A Spiel" is a mock epic infused with absurdly operatic situations and allusions as well as to an homage to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Lorenzo by the Ghost Light finds its first setting in the same opera house visited by the trio in "Sleep Cinematic: A Golem's Quartet." The main character, Lorenzo, is a theater ghost and his companions are a roach (Hector) and a mouse (Dorabella and Fred's sister). Their quest begins when a stale meatball shatters a Glass Harmonica. Legend has it that demons can be released should such a harp be damaged. So to exorcise the demons and return them to whence they came, the trio sets out to find the right piece of glass to repair the Harmonica. The trio indirectly passes by the Golem and his group while on quest. For the trio it is to find an appropriately fitting piece of glass to repair the Harp; for Dorabella it is a search to find her opera loving brother, Fred; for Lorenzo it is a return to a beloved Tea House in order to finally give closure to a life long since passed. In tone, Lorenzo continues much like Sleep Cinematic: absurd, silly and on occasion scatological, indirectly commenting on an era losing its sense of balance.