{"id":1607,"date":"2026-05-04T16:53:48","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T23:53:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alessandrob.com\/blog\/?page_id=1607"},"modified":"2026-08-21T09:11:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T16:11:17","slug":"the-sign","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/alessandrob.com\/blog\/?page_id=1607","title":{"rendered":"Hoofbeats on Ice"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The\u00a0mind was dreaming. The world was its dream.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233117&quot;:false,&quot;134233118&quot;:false,&quot;134233279&quot;:true,&quot;134245417&quot;:false,&quot;134245529&quot;:false,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:1,&quot;335551620&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:0,&quot;335559731&quot;:720,&quot;335559738&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:480}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u2015 Jorge Luis Borges<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233117&quot;:false,&quot;134233118&quot;:false,&quot;134233279&quot;:true,&quot;134245417&quot;:false,&quot;134245529&quot;:false,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:1,&quot;335551620&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:0,&quot;335559731&quot;:720,&quot;335559738&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:480}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233117&quot;:false,&quot;134233118&quot;:false,&quot;134233279&quot;:true,&quot;134245417&quot;:false,&quot;134245529&quot;:false,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:1,&quot;335551620&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:0,&quot;335559731&quot;:720,&quot;335559738&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:480}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-1571\" src=\"https:\/\/alessandrob.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/DSCF6191-scaled-e1777939636405.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"386\" data-kale-share-title=\"The Sign\" data-kale-share-url=\"https:\/\/alessandrob.com\/blog\/?page_id=1607\" \/><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The day before she died, his Nana told him the story of the evil jinni who would shape-shift into a beautiful woman and lure men to their death.\u202f<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233117&quot;:false,&quot;134233118&quot;:false,&quot;134233279&quot;:true,&quot;134245417&quot;:false,&quot;134245529&quot;:false,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:1,&quot;335551620&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:0,&quot;335559731&quot;:720,&quot;335559738&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:480}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cWhy would men go with the bad\u00a0jinni?\u201d\u00a0the\u00a0twelve-year-old Raj asked.\u202f\u202f<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233117&quot;:false,&quot;134233118&quot;:false,&quot;134233279&quot;:true,&quot;134245417&quot;:false,&quot;134245529&quot;:false,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:1,&quot;335551620&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:0,&quot;335559731&quot;:720,&quot;335559738&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:480}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cBecause men follow a pretty girl anywhere.\u201d\u202f<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233117&quot;:false,&quot;134233118&quot;:false,&quot;134233279&quot;:true,&quot;134245417&quot;:false,&quot;134245529&quot;:false,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:1,&quot;335551620&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:0,&quot;335559731&quot;:720,&quot;335559738&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:480}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cI wouldn\u2019t.\u201d\u202f\u202f<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233117&quot;:false,&quot;134233118&quot;:false,&quot;134233279&quot;:true,&quot;134245417&quot;:false,&quot;134245529&quot;:false,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:1,&quot;335551620&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:0,&quot;335559731&quot;:720,&quot;335559738&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:480}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cJust wait,\u201d\u00a0his Nana\u00a0told him,\u00a0\u201cyou\u00a0just wait.\u201d<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233117&quot;:false,&quot;134233118&quot;:false,&quot;134233279&quot;:true,&quot;134245417&quot;:false,&quot;134245529&quot;:false,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:1,&quot;335551620&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:0,&quot;335559731&quot;:720,&quot;335559738&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:480}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>#<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cHoofbeats on Ice\u201d <span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233117&quot;:false,&quot;134233118&quot;:false,&quot;134233279&quot;:true,&quot;134245417&quot;:false,&quot;134245529&quot;:false,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:1,&quot;335551620&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:0,&quot;335559731&quot;:720,&quot;335559738&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:480}\">(about 4000 words) <\/span>is a work of literary psychological horror rooted in Middle Eastern jinn folklore. It follows a man whose jealousy and obsession begin to blur the boundary between imagination and supernatural reality. Set against an unnaturally cold California winter, the story draws on forgotten folklore, desire, and memory.<\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;134233117&quot;:false,&quot;134233118&quot;:false,&quot;134233279&quot;:true,&quot;134245417&quot;:false,&quot;134245529&quot;:false,&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:1,&quot;335551620&quot;:1,&quot;335559685&quot;:0,&quot;335559731&quot;:720,&quot;335559738&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:0,&quot;335559740&quot;:480}\">&#8220;Hoofbeats on Ice&#8221; is currently looking for a home.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jinn (plural of jinni) exist in a subterranean connection between everything, a stratum of space-time we cannot perceive. Jinn may take human form and exist among us but only as long as they traverse the threshold between the two dimensions during the second phase of the moon. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1135,"parent":1156,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-full.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1607","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alessandrob.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alessandrob.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alessandrob.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alessandrob.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alessandrob.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1607"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/alessandrob.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1651,"href":"https:\/\/alessandrob.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1607\/revisions\/1651"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alessandrob.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1156"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alessandrob.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alessandrob.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}