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Me Again
Yes, so, I've been quiet for a while. Things have been busy, one way or another. I attended the funeral of a friend from church on Friday, which was enough to make me draw into myself and think for a little while. The mundane chores of life caught up with me, too, so I've been busy with the offline world. (Bought myself a Dyson! Woo! Hurrah for British innovation!)
Anyway, my copies of Houses of the Fallen arrived via the FedEx fairy this morning. Very nice it looks, too, especially with my girl Magdiel on the cover in full-colour glory. I've been Mr Slayer since the inception of the line, so it was nice to give them a deeper treatment here and say goodbye to the line on a high note. The art, as![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
docredfern has noted, is significantly better than the Demon norm, too. One of the essential books for the line, I think. Just one more modern WoD book that I've worked on left to be published: I did the opening fiction of Shadow Games for Orpheus. I'm looking forward to seeing that one.
Meanwhile, over on the White Wolf forums, somebody posted a very complimentary review of my opening fiction for Tribebook: Fianna Revised, which I'm going to stick behind a cut in its entirety, so I have a record of it for posterity. The guy got exactly the point I was making, and seems to have taken great comfort from it. Given that the story was written in the immediate aftermath of the death of my Dad, I'm glad he found echoes of that experience in there.
Stalks-the-Ice - 11/13/2003 16:36:01 - sackcarthage@yahoo.com
Call me a crazy American, but I got a copy of 'How the
Irish Saved Civilization' next to 'How the Scots Invented
the Modern World' on my desk. Once I get done with the
latter you can bet your sweet aunt fanny I'm gonna post
alla my questions, since its clear there is a large Scotch
presence here. Anyway, once more, Kudos on opening fiction
to Tribebook Fianna. You could really feel for the
characters, and there was conflict. The bulk of the story
was about the relationships between characters and
identity, along with dealing with the darker stuff that
comes as a side effect of searching for identity. Leaps
seems to speak as one of the jaded gamers, on Fianna
identity, when he rejects the drinking and revelry (I'd
quote the book, but I left it back home this semester), and
his uncle explains a lot of it. In the end, it is
meloncholic and beautiful. It really gave me more a sense
of the emotional life of Garou than any other book I've
read, and emphisized a lot of the tragedy, while also going
along with the theme of the book as a whole (Meloncholy,
family, joy fighting sadness, bravery, wit and honor).
Opening fiction like this is the sort of thing that really
adds a lot to the book, because it questions the tribal
identity, and any good case has to have a sense of what the
counter arguments to a point are gonna be (This was also
done well in Tribebook: Shadowlords with the main
character's questioning of what happened, and if it was all
really worth while, even for the cause the tribe typically
will do anything for. This is sort of the case in the
opening to Tribebook: Red Talons, when the protagonist
gives a brief nod to her humanity before ripping apart a
child- never before has the word "Sun dress" given me the
shivers). This sort of doubt makes the characters more than
two dimensional stereotypes- and while the characters in
the opening fiction were drinking, dancing, and making
dirty jokes, they weren't stereo-types- they had a depth
that was tangible, and allowed for those traits to be
viable.
Not to go too far off, but Leaps' uncle reminded me very
much of my late father. Very down to earth, very
comfortable with mortality, enamored to existence, very
loving and wise. Their conversations reminded me very much
of the ones I used to have with my dad when I was growing
up during my angsty teenage years. Some of the words
almost sound verbatim. My father's death was long and drawn
out, as he was in a coma. During that time I graduated
high school and left for college, and I often had trouble
dealing with a lot of what was going on- the conflicting
sadness, the slim hopes, and the excitement of college life
and a new beginning, but still with a memory of what had
happened and what persisted, and moving on the next
phase of my life without someone I loved and cherished
dearly. Suffice to say, I found myself re-reading the
opening fiction quite a bit during that hard first year,
and it always made me feel a bit better. So, maybe I took
more than most from the book, but I thought it was a great
read that perhaps due to timing in my life, affected me a
lot more than most things I read. Thanks for all the
melancholy guys
Anyway, my copies of Houses of the Fallen arrived via the FedEx fairy this morning. Very nice it looks, too, especially with my girl Magdiel on the cover in full-colour glory. I've been Mr Slayer since the inception of the line, so it was nice to give them a deeper treatment here and say goodbye to the line on a high note. The art, as
docredfern has noted, is significantly better than the Demon norm, too. One of the essential books for the line, I think. Just one more modern WoD book that I've worked on left to be published: I did the opening fiction of Shadow Games for Orpheus. I'm looking forward to seeing that one.Meanwhile, over on the White Wolf forums, somebody posted a very complimentary review of my opening fiction for Tribebook: Fianna Revised, which I'm going to stick behind a cut in its entirety, so I have a record of it for posterity. The guy got exactly the point I was making, and seems to have taken great comfort from it. Given that the story was written in the immediate aftermath of the death of my Dad, I'm glad he found echoes of that experience in there.
Stalks-the-Ice - 11/13/2003 16:36:01 - sackcarthage@yahoo.com
Call me a crazy American, but I got a copy of 'How the
Irish Saved Civilization' next to 'How the Scots Invented
the Modern World' on my desk. Once I get done with the
latter you can bet your sweet aunt fanny I'm gonna post
alla my questions, since its clear there is a large Scotch
presence here. Anyway, once more, Kudos on opening fiction
to Tribebook Fianna. You could really feel for the
characters, and there was conflict. The bulk of the story
was about the relationships between characters and
identity, along with dealing with the darker stuff that
comes as a side effect of searching for identity. Leaps
seems to speak as one of the jaded gamers, on Fianna
identity, when he rejects the drinking and revelry (I'd
quote the book, but I left it back home this semester), and
his uncle explains a lot of it. In the end, it is
meloncholic and beautiful. It really gave me more a sense
of the emotional life of Garou than any other book I've
read, and emphisized a lot of the tragedy, while also going
along with the theme of the book as a whole (Meloncholy,
family, joy fighting sadness, bravery, wit and honor).
Opening fiction like this is the sort of thing that really
adds a lot to the book, because it questions the tribal
identity, and any good case has to have a sense of what the
counter arguments to a point are gonna be (This was also
done well in Tribebook: Shadowlords with the main
character's questioning of what happened, and if it was all
really worth while, even for the cause the tribe typically
will do anything for. This is sort of the case in the
opening to Tribebook: Red Talons, when the protagonist
gives a brief nod to her humanity before ripping apart a
child- never before has the word "Sun dress" given me the
shivers). This sort of doubt makes the characters more than
two dimensional stereotypes- and while the characters in
the opening fiction were drinking, dancing, and making
dirty jokes, they weren't stereo-types- they had a depth
that was tangible, and allowed for those traits to be
viable.
Not to go too far off, but Leaps' uncle reminded me very
much of my late father. Very down to earth, very
comfortable with mortality, enamored to existence, very
loving and wise. Their conversations reminded me very much
of the ones I used to have with my dad when I was growing
up during my angsty teenage years. Some of the words
almost sound verbatim. My father's death was long and drawn
out, as he was in a coma. During that time I graduated
high school and left for college, and I often had trouble
dealing with a lot of what was going on- the conflicting
sadness, the slim hopes, and the excitement of college life
and a new beginning, but still with a memory of what had
happened and what persisted, and moving on the next
phase of my life without someone I loved and cherished
dearly. Suffice to say, I found myself re-reading the
opening fiction quite a bit during that hard first year,
and it always made me feel a bit better. So, maybe I took
more than most from the book, but I thought it was a great
read that perhaps due to timing in my life, affected me a
lot more than most things I read. Thanks for all the
melancholy guys