A novella by Ridley Park
“Language divides us more efficiently than war.”
A man with no past. A town with too many theories.
On a barren stretch of Route 13, Sena Whitehorse discovers a naked, unconscious man. No ID. No memory. His body is marked with geometric scars, his speech fragmented, phonetic—unplaceable.
As he recovers in a small-town New Mexico hospital, the mystery deepens. Local officers and a hospital psychiatrist attempt to communicate with him, to locate him, to make sense of him. None succeed.
He doesn’t fit. Not in language. Not in place. Not in time.
Unlike most stories that hinge on discovery, Temporal Babel unfolds in silence, misfires, and half-translation.
Characters
- Sena Whitehorse – A philosophy student from the reservation with a foot in two worlds. Her quiet introspection grounds the novel’s emotional rhythm.
- ‘John Doe’ / Djev – A disoriented man with no shared lexicon. His presence unsettles the town’s assumptions about language, memory, and self.
- Detective Gabriel Reese – Skeptical and world-weary, a man who dislikes puzzles that can’t be solved by paperwork and persistence.
- Dr. Lin Shu-ling – A psychiatrist who attempts to breach the communication gap—not with theories, but with patience and presence.
- Officer Maria Lopez – Grounded and competent, she provides a local anchor to the increasingly surreal mystery.
Themes & Motifs
- Language as barrier and thread – Djev’s speech resembles English only in fragments. What we take for granted—the ability to name and be named—becomes fraught.
- Displacement and Geworfenheit – Echoing Heidegger’s “thrownness,” each character faces their own quiet exile.
- Ordinary Mystery – There are no prophecies, no chosen ones. Just a man who cannot be understood, and a town slowly unraveling under the weight of its own explanations.
- Scars, syntax, and silence – Jef’s body bears inscriptions. His speech carries stress marks and diacritics. Meaning flickers—but never lands.
Formats
Available now on Amazon:
Also available in international Kindle storefronts.
United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Japan, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Australia, and India
Press & Links
Author
Written by Ridley Park—a name that sounds like a location, and perhaps is. Also the author of Hemo Sapiens and Propensity.
Ridley Park 