Cabinet Noir
The Cabinet Noir was an office in the French goverment that was given over to the opening of letters of suspected persons. These letters were intercepted by the cabinet du secret des postes (more colloquially known as the cabinet noir), read, and then forwarded on to their destination. Came into being during the reign of Richelieu and Louis XIII (1610-1643) but wasn't given its common name until Louis XV (1715-1774). Used by Napoleon and, officially, still a policy of the French government. Most governments actually. England used this policy during the 18th century and confirmed it with the Post Office Act of 1837.
Richelieu's second-in-command was François Leclerc du Tremblay known as Father Joseph. He was also known as Éminence Grise (grey eminence) for his work in the shadows. He was a Capuchin monk. I'm not really surprised anymore to find a dedicated website for any topic.
When was St. Germaine around? What were the alchemists doing during the 17th century in France? What was Dee (1527-1608) doing in London?
writing
This is a reasonably comprehensive list of my published work, both virtual and physical.
THE MISFIT LIBRARY
I am Nine of Thirteen, one of the members of the Misfit Library, a writing collective which puts out a quarterly journal of our respective work. We are scattered across the globe and determined to change the face of the planet one story at a time. The link above will take you to Misfit Central where you can acquire copies of the journal as well as read exclusive online material.
SYMBOLIC
I wrote a column for OPi8.com's Transmit blogs: journals of the new dark underground. SYMBOLIC tracked the novel I was working on, referencing the process and the research materials which mad up the backbone of the work. In addition, SYMBOLIC busied itself with ruminations and considerations on the nature of language and communication. And a wee bit of mythology. The first 100 entries of SYMBOLIC can be found here on this site as well as at OPi8.com.
LITERARY REPRESENTATION
I am represented by Scribe Agency as my literary agents. Please contact these gentleman if you have any queries about my work.