Monday, March 24, 2008

150 or So

I closed my story and I'm too weary to open it again for the actual numbers, but it is growing. I think it will be done in two or three more days. By done I mean written to the end, not ready to be sent out for publication or anything. Thank you all for your support and welcome to the new . . . faces? Names? Still haven't wrapped my mind around blog etiquette just yet.

R.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Got my 100, barely

115 today
743 total for this story.

R.

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Three Points, or Maybe Four/ MS&T II

It will depend on how many I recall by the time I am done with this post.

1) I wrote 300 words this morning, moving right along with the Railhead story.

2) Where can I get one of those daily word count dealies that the Word Count Unioners all have on your pages?

3) You might wonder how I could be ranked so highly in my Shogun Wars posts and continually falling in the the link at the top of my page. The answer is that right now Shogun Wars has two games going: Genshu and Pheonix [sic]. Genshu is getting my main efforts, Pheonix [sic] is getting maintenance. Therefore I'm holding onto the top ten in Genshu and sinking like a stone in Pheonix [sic]. Perhaps the day will come when I do well in both. I'm not going to hold my breath.

4) Notice the nifty little music player to the right. I got it from my brother Zilla's new blog and loaded it with some of the music that I spoke of in my 25 album post a while back. If you haven't heard any of those songs I recommend taking a listen.

5) I finished The Dragonbone Chair. In update to my last post, I noticed that Binibak keeps dragging Simon along, but it is not because he is known to be the secret hier of the world, but because Binibak feels obligated to fulfill Dr. Morgenes request that he be looked after.

That's it for now. Write on.

R.

Friday, March 21, 2008

100 Word a Day Challenge

I've been reading about this challenge for several days and been wondering if I am up for the commitment. I still don't know, but I'd like to find out. Therefore, I am going to participate. I didn't want to post until I'd written something, and I got a little over-excited and did 320 words instead of a hundred, but hopefully I erred in the right direction. I will be writing some more short stories for now - still not ready to become immersed in the novel at this point, but I figure that as long as I'm writing, that is the important thing.

Tonight I worked on the intro to a story called Birthday at the Railhead, another Hobb in his youth story. So far I have the young lads crammed into a pickup throwing around some insulting banter. My brother Zilla might recall the real-life experience from which I'm pulling some of the setting for the story.

I feel like I am a fringer here not knowing anybody in the Union but Daeruin, but with any luck I will "airn" my place therein.

And a thank you to Ing for the kind words and quote over on Blog Ing. Write on.

R.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

It can happen to anyone . . .




Even Riotimus. A moment of glory some time starting around 5am but definitely over by 8:30 caught forever by the handy snipping tool. You might also notice that we had three in the top twenty, a wonderful moment for the League.
R.

Friday, March 07, 2008

Shogun Wars 3/6/08


The League has 7 players in the top 100. It's true. If you don't believe me, you'll have to sign up and find out.
R.

Sunday, March 02, 2008

MS&T I


For a long time while I was trying to get through school I have wanted to re-read Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy. These are great books that take common fantasy concepts and smash them with a smithy's hammer. For those of you that are reading Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series, he claims that it was MS&T that renewed the belief that good adult fiction could be written today. I am going to try to post the occasional thought, quote, or insight from these books as I read them. I should have started doing this when I first cracked open volume I, The Dragonbone Chair, but I didn't, so you will get a couple of ideas crammed into one post. But who am I kidding - that is probably the way all of these posts will be.

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My first thought will be regarding the main protagonist, Simon. He is a dislikable young man. That is how I have been thinking of him. But then I asked myself, "Self, what is your issue with young Simon?" I realized that he is just too real for comfort. He thinks things, says things, does things like everyone I know did when they were young (I was trying there to avoid using myself for the example, but I think it is true based on my observations). His foolishness creates a sense of discomfort and embarrassment as I remembered doing similarly ridiculous things.
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The thing that impresses me about this tale is that even though Simon is the "hero," he doesn't get the help that are the mainstay of much fantasy. No one is looking out to protect his secret heritage (ala the Belgariad) or pushing him into a quest (ala the Shannara series) or hunted because of his special powers (ala Wheel of Time). On the whole the only consideration he gets is from Doctor Morgenes who had a fondness for his deceased parents, everyone else is fairly apathetic to his existence and what he does with his time. He does end up with the guide in the form of Binibak the troll, but since Binibak doesn't know what is going on either I don't put that on the level with Gandalf, Allanon, Belgaroth, or many others who are filled with secret knowledge and power. In TDC the guides don't hide information and speak cryptically because the are supposed to be mysterious, they simply don't have any answers. The major events of this book that will have repercussions through the series are all results of his own decisions, at least at 2/3's way through. It has been a long time since I read these last, so I will try not to say too many things that are wrong because I've forgotten what happens later.
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Now for a little quote from Tiamak the Wrannaman, who is pondering the gods and his unbountiful hunt that leaves him eating root soup: "As he climbed the long ladder from his moored boat to the little house perched in the banyan tree, Tiamak vowed to be content with soup and a biscuit. Gluttony was an obstacle, he reminded himself, an impediment between the soul and the realms of truth. As he reeled the ladder up onto the porch he thought of She Who Birthed Mankind, who had not even had a nice bowl of root soup, but had subsisted entirely on rocks and dirt and swamp water until they combined in her stomach and she whelped a litter of clay men, the first humans."
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So what does that make the humans? Tiamak doesn't say, but Williams has given us a good hint, has he not? Oh, the irony. I didn't know that was considered whelping.