Multi-Layered Narratives

In The Van Rijn Method:

Francis L. Minamoto introduces "The Saturn Game";

Hloch introduces seven stories that had previously been collected in The Earth Book of Stormgate;

Vance Hall and Noah Arkwright, respectively, introduce two stories that had previously been collected in The Trouble Twisters;

Le Matelot introduces one story that had previously been collected in Trader To The Stars.

Hloch informs us about the fictional authors of the Earth Book works. Thus, a daughter of the hero of "Esau" wrote both "Esau" and "The Season of Forgiveness" and both these stories had been published in the Avalonian periodical, Morgana, before Hloch collected them in the Earth Book. The main action of "Esau" is framed by a conversation between its hero and Nicholas van Rijn. Thus, throughout The Van Rijn Method, we experience multiple layers of narrative and historiography. In the case of "Esau":

Emil Dalmady in action

Dalmady in conversation with van Rijn

Judith Dalmady/Lundgren writing for Morgana

Hloch compiling the Earth Book

Or again, in the case of "The Problem of Pain":

Peter Berg on Gray/Avalon

the unnamed narrator in conversation with Berg

that narrator in private correspondence on Earth

a historian obtaining a copy of the correspondence

a transcription kept on Esperance

Hloch's mother, Rennhi, finding the transcription

Hloch explaining all this to his Avalonian readers