Millie Niss - Outline of a Novel by the Storyteller Laureate of Hazlahan

I can feel the axe on my neck as they read me my contract
before the fatal swing:
The Storyteller Laureate of Hazlahan must produce one major literary work a year
and a story or poem each month
or else face execution
I thought it was a great honor to be appointed to the position
I had written a book a year for six years
that no one had actually read
(small presses don't market very well, you know)
The Storyteller Laureate publishes under the Imperial seal of Hazlahan
and his works are read in all the Universities
and papers are assigned to schoolchildren about each and every minor little poem
and it is extremely rare to get rejected
because the Storyteller Laureate is the head rejecter of all of Hazlahan
he is the ultimate arbiter
if someone wants to fight a rejection slip
they can request an audience with the Storyteller Laureate
to have justice done
but if it is dreck
the Storyteller Laureate
can recommend execution of the author in severe cases more..