Now reading [books]

[Draconifors]

I finished re-reading Cecelia Ahern's The Year I Met You and now it's time to re-read her Love, Rosie (also known as Where Rainbows End).

Definitely one of my favourite authors, and the favourite at least outside of the crime and horror genres. A mix of drama, romance, humour, and in some cases mystery and fantasy (things that are almost something that could really happen, but clearly fictional).

This current book has a rather unusual format in its story, which took some time getting used to when I was reading it for the first time. But it works great for the story it tells, and it's refreshing because it's so unusual.

 

[tarumat]

Colin Woodard "The Public Of Pirates"...

 

[northwold]

I thought it was time to read Atlas Shrugged given how big an influence it's had on people. All I can say is that, 50 pages in, I'm not sure I'm going to be able to stick another thousand pages of Ayn Rand telling us how she's the most amazing person alive while writing what is to all intents and purposes a comic book... (!!)

 

[Guest 3847602]

Re-reading Sapkowski's Hussite Trilogy, halfway through "Warriors of God". Much, much easier to follow the events properly and notice all the details this time.

 

[Tucoffin]

Heh. Ay, it's not going to appear on anyone's 'best reads' list. It's merely another part of an ongoing dialect project for a bit of fantasy I'm writing.

Whoa, what a nice surprise! Can you elaborate a bit more on the specifics, such as what type of piece you are writing and whether you have any idea when it'll be finished? I had a bit of a writing hobby a decade ago.

 

[Jesting-Jack]

Heh. Ay, it's not going to appear on anyone's 'best reads' list. It's merely another part of an ongoing dialect project for a bit of fantasy I'm writing.

What's it about?

 

[Riven-Twain]

Whoa, what a nice surprise! Can you elaborate a bit more on the specifics, such as what type of piece you are writing and whether you have any idea when it'll be finished?

What's it about?

To quote Geralt, 'Take forever to explain.'

However, boiled down, it's mediaevalesque fantasy (surprise!), set in a fictional world, based on my readings in Arthurian and German legends, European Folklore, and just a bit of Old Norse. It's a tale of a fallen knight's quest to regain his family's honour as King's Champion, and how he goes in search of an ancient legacy of the royal household. Along the way, of course, lies the fun stuff of adventures, monsters, and a dash of magic. An enthusiastic young Huntress, and a Dwarven Dragon-Slayer become the Knight's companions. Their journeys together take them to a Cursed Cemetery, the Dwarven Halls, the ruins of the Cloister of Sorcerers, the mountain-lake lair of a pair of dragons, and, at last, the World of the Elves. It may not sound terribly orignal, but it's not really meant to be, as I've tried to stick close to the inspiration of the old material, adding twists of my own, naturally, and -- hopefully -- avoiding more modern fantasy tropes.

The studies in Scots, Shetland, and Orkney are for the Huntress character, who hales from a small island; therefore, her speech is a bit different from that of the other characters.

I've been working on it, on-and-off, for the past twenty years, during which span it's changed form several times over. It likely won't see the light of day for a few more years, either, as it still needs quite a bit of writing. Thanks very much for the interest!

 

[Jesting-Jack]

it's mediaevalesque fantasy (surprise!)

No way! I would never have expected that from you.

Did you go heavy into worldbuilding? Have you drawn maps and stuff?

 

[northwold]

To quote Geralt, 'Take forever to explain.'

However, boiled down, it's mediaevalesque fantasy (surprise!), set in a fictional world, based on my readings in Arthurian and German legends, European Folklore, and just a bit of Old Norse. It's a tale of a fallen knight's quest to regain his family's honour as King's Champion, and go in search of an ancient legacy of the royal household. Along the way, of course, lies the fun stuff of adventures, monsters, and a dash of magic. An enthusiastic young Huntress, and a Dwarven Dragon-Slayer become the Knight's companions. Their journeys together take them to a Cursed Cemetery, the Dwarven Halls, the ruins of the Cloister of Sorcerers, the mountain-lake lair of a pair of dragons, and, at last, the World of the Elves. It may not sound terribly orignal, but it's not really meant to be, as I've tried to stick close to the inspiration of the old material, adding twists of my own, naturally, and -- hopefully -- avoiding more modern fantasy tropes.

The studies in Scots, Shetland, and Orkney are for the Huntress character, who hales from a small island; therefore, her speech is a bit different from that of the other characters.

I've been working on it, on-and-off, for the past twenty years, during which span it's changed form several times over. It likely won't see the light of day for a few more years, either, as it still needs quite a bit of writing. Thanks very much for the interest!

Somewhere in the dark recesses of the internet, there used to be a website with pages and pages (and pages and pages) devoted to lighting in mediaeval times. I hope you make good use of it. :-D

 

[Riven-Twain]

No way! I would never have expected that from you.

Indeed, it's so out-of-character!

Did you go heavy into worldbuilding? Have you drawn maps and stuff?

Not as deeply as others have, I'm sure, since I've focused more on the specific location settings, where the adventures take place, rather than the broader world. It has its role, of course, but there are many areas of the world which remain mostly blank, since they are unrelated to the main story. I've focused primarily on the large northern island, where the action of the tale unfolds, and a few southern provinces, across the sea, which furnish background information about the kingdom.

I tend to redraft the map every few years. Currently, I'm between drafts.

Somewhere in the dark recesses of the internet, there used to be a website with pages and pages (and pages and pages) devoted to lighting in mediaeval times. I hope you make good use of it. :-D

That sounds vaguely familiar. I'll certainly have plenty of scenes with descriptions of lighting -- lanterns, torches, braziers, camp-fires, open hearths, candles, crystal lamps, and phantom flames, to name a few.

 

[Jesting-Jack]

lanterns, torches, braziers, camp-fires, open hearths, candles, crystal lamps

What about magical strobe lights made by rave wizards?

 

[Riven-Twain]

What about magical strobe lights made by rave wizards?

Heh. Nay, I'll leave that up to you.

 

[Goatboy_]

Don't laugh but I finally started to read the Witcher Series (in german). Starting with "The Last wish". Hard time for a long time GWENT player to get used to "Rittersporn" (Dandelion) and "Plötze" (Roach" haha.

 

[Riven-Twain]

Don't laugh but I finally started to read the Witcher Series (in german). Starting with "The Last wish". Hard time for a long time GWENT player to get used to "Rittersporn" (Dandelion) and "Plötze" (Roach" haha.

No worries. I read the first books in German, myself (as an exercise in language), though I finished the series in English. Personally, I prefer the name Rittersporn, and think 'twould have been interesting if the English name had been rendered as 'Larkspur'.

 

[Draconifors]

I did a complete genre switch to thriller/espionage, and am now reading John le Carré's A Most Wanted Man (but a translated version).

I didn't even remember I owned it before finding it in my bookshelf, even though I've read it before. I have a LOT of books.

 

[incomingdamage]

You poor souls, robbed of the blessing of reading the Witcher books in polish
Jokes aside though, wonder when will the time come for me to read the whole stuff again...

 

[Draconifors]

You poor souls, robbed of the blessing of reading the Witcher books in polish

I considered buying one of them at an airport in Warsaw, but I'd heard the language Sapkowski uses is really tricky and knew I'd never get my Polish to a high enough level.

 

[kofeiiniturpa]

Dune

 

[incomingdamage]

I considered buying one of them at an airport in Warsaw, but I'd heard the language Sapkowski uses is really tricky and knew I'd never get my Polish to a high enough level.

Mr Sapkowski definitely stands out among polish sci-fi and fantasy writers, not only in terms of great story-telling, but also in terms of the writing craftsmanship. His language is sometimes a bit sofisticated and often deeply rooted in polish culture, but not that hard to read as some people think. Other times he uses words an terms from other languages (often from english) and humorously transforms them to create a sense of high intelectual language used mostly by the upper folk, like wizards. These parts for example might by tricky to understand by a non-polish speaking person, but this actually goes the other way around - I have some problems understanding various subtleties in books written by english authors, and pretty sure that many of such nuances get lost in translation (if one chooses to read a translated book) Those things are rather unavoidable, I guess, although I'm not a specialist in this field

 

[quintivarium]

Sounds like something is definitely lost in translation. I read Sapkowski’s witcher books (in English) — but was sufficiently unimpressed I probably would not have done so we’re it not for my interest in Gwent.