by Bill Nye
First published 2013
Queen Isabella moves through the gathering dusk of old Spain, her head bowed in proud humility. She carries a leather-bound volume that catalogs her sins from the day, consulting it as she walks toward confession. The summer evening blooms around her with honeysuckle and olive groves, while bulbuls sing of love and tomorrow's fights before the royal court. Stars emerge like fireflies across the darkening sky. But twilight falls too quickly, and Isabella can no longer read the entries in her sin book. This moment captures the queen at a crossroads between earthly power and spiritual submission, between the beauty of her kingdom and the weight of moral accounting. Bill Nye presents Isabella as both monarch and penitent, moving through a world of sensual pleasures toward the stark ritual of confession. The comedy emerges from the bureaucratic precision with which she has documented her transgressions, only to find darkness defeating her careful preparations.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, american, comedy, 19th-century
Vibes: thought-provoking, whimsical
Tropes: bureaucracy, fish-out-of-water
Setting: Spain
Period: Twilight, Summer Evening
152 pages · Paperback · CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform