Unbraiding the Narrative

Posted on June 5, 2014 by H. Anthe Davis

Because I really have nothing to say about today’s Fantasy Review Barn Tough Traveling episode, I figured I should talk about what I’ve been working on.  After all, I haven’t done much content recently.

The reason is that I’ve started with the rewrites for Book 3, The Living Throne, and they’ve been taking up almost all of my head-space.  And I thought writing the damn book was difficult!  But no, the editing process on this thing will probably kill me, because in order to fit it into the CreateSpace parameters for a printed work, I need to cut a sixth of the text.

I am DOOMED.

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Tough Traveling with Fantasy Review Barn — Immortals

Posted on May 29, 2014 by H. Anthe Davis

Time for another travel-date with Fantasy Review Barn!  This time, the topic is Immortals.

Immortals are fairly common in Fantasyland  There are three kinds:

1) Goddesses and Gods, who exist forever unless people stop believing in them.

2) Elves or Dark Lords, who live forever unless someone kills them.

3) Humans who are (a) Cursed and have to spend Eternity drearily Questing and/or hating everything (see Curses and Quests), or (b) Magic Users.  These generally find plenty to occupy the long years and mostly have rather a good time.

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Tough Traveling with Fantasy Review Barn — Hidden Kingdoms

Posted on May 22, 2014 by H. Anthe Davis

Time for another Tough Traveling with Fantasy Review Barn.  Unlike last week when I had absolutely nothing, this week I actually have a few examples to showcase!

The topic for this round is Hidden Kingdoms:

Usually reached through Caverns or after an arduous trek into the heart of the central massif, this is often the object of the Tour Quest and much of the Tour will be devoted to getting directions to find it.  When you get there you will discover it is very beautiful and very orderly.  The Dwellers will be either Mystical Masters or Elves, or both.  The ruler, who will be grave, wise, and comely, will talk to you long and seriously about Magic and your aims in life.  People will play fine, restful Music.  You will be able to relax and feast.  One good thing about this place is that they will either not serve Stew, or if they do, it will be strangely spiced and vegetarian.  For a few days, you will think this is the perfect place, but after that you will be anxious to leave because it is really very boring.  The Dwellers want you gone too.  They find you unrestful.  So they will give you a magical preview of what you do next (see Prophecy) and fresh supplies of Waybread and send you on your way to Saving the World.

So.  This entry might as well be stamped Lothlorien.

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Influences: Pulse (and other Supernatural Horror)

Posted on May 16, 2014 by H. Anthe Davis

I haven’t done an Influences post in a while, which is weird because I’d yet to talk about one of my biggest influences: supernatural horror.  I may present mostly the superficial fantasy trappings on this blog, but my dreams get darker…

Then again, I can’t really talk about the horror aspects because they’re full of spoilers.  So I’ll talk about horror media that I love.

I’m a big fan of Japanese (and generalized Asian) horror.  I’m not sure quite when I picked the habit up; did I branch out to live-action horror movies after really enjoying anime as a teen, or was it an evolutionary convergence sort of thing?  One of my favorites is the original Pulse (Kairo), with its themes of ennui and social detachment, its disintegrating world and people….its slow and fatal slump into despair.

Yeah, I’m a real barrel of laughs, aren’t I?

There’s something about the mood and the threat in an Asian horror movie…  A sort of inevitability, a curse — something you can’t fight or even survive, but can sometimes redeem through sympathy.  That last bit is what gets lost in translation in most of the Western remakes: the fact that the supernatural monster is usually pitiable — a victim — and may be actively reaching out for comfort or to help, not really understanding that what it’s doing is terrifying and/or deadly. Continue reading →

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What I Do With My Downtime

Posted on May 10, 2014 by H. Anthe Davis

Not that anyone asked, but since I’m taking a few days to cool down between finishing the rough draft of The Living Throne and starting the edits, I thought I’d give a glimpse at what I do when I’m not slaving over prose.

It’s not exactly exciting, but it’s kind of relevant and I get to show off some of my favorite things, so shush.

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Tough Traveling with Fantasy Review Barn — Dark Lord

Posted on May 8, 2014 by H. Anthe Davis

I know I’ve been quiet this week, but I was (mostly) occupied with finishing up the final chapter of the rough draft of book 3, The Living Throne.  I got the last bit done today, and though the path ahead is still long and rocky, I’m glad to have finally gotten so many of these scenes out of my head and onto the pages.  I’ve been waiting to write some of them for almost a decade.

This actually dovetails with today’s Tough Traveling, because as the third book in the War of Memory Cycle, it gets us involved with the series’ version of a Dark Lord.  Mind you, this may be the third but it isn’t the last book; in my head, it’s a six-book story, but I am hitting a few traditional beats as I go along.

Remember: it’s not bad to use some traditional tropes, as long as you’re aware of them and willing to play them a bit differently.

Anyway, the Dark Lord:

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Tough Traveling with Fantasy Review Barn — City of Wizards

Posted on May 1, 2014 by H. Anthe Davis

I think the only book in the FRB post for today that I’ve read is the Harry Potter series, though I do have Shadow and Bone on my list…somewhere down in the hundred-somethings, perhaps…  No reflection on the book’s perceived qualities, just the fact that my eyes are bigger than my reading-time.

However, I have plenty to say on the topic, which is ‘City of Wizards’.  As the Tough Guide defines it:

City of Wizards is usually a Good thing, since only Good Wizards seem to be able to live together.  This City will be on a hill in some place that is hidden/hard to get to and surrounded by inviting green lands tilled by non-Wizard underlings, who also perform all domestic chores.  Houses will be of stone, often white, and their shapes gracious but odd.  Perspective and distances will be a bit strange too.  If the effect of all this is rather stately, the City will be full of white-robed Mystical Masters, out of whom no one will be able to get any sense.  If the effect is more homely, the Wizards will be more like human beings and may quarrel a lot–in fact, they will seldom agree on anything.  If the place is organized as a college, do not expect anything but Wizardly bickering.

There have been Cities of Evil Wizards in the past.  Tours will occasionally come across the sites of these, reduced to glassy slag during the ultimate disagreement.

Basically, it sounds like the Good city is the one pictured on the cover above (minus the volcano).  Which brings me to the Citadels — both the current one at Valent and the old one at Darakus.

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Recent Reading: Stray Souls, Johannes Cabal: The Detective

Posted on April 27, 2014 by H. Anthe Davis

I don’t read very quickly anymore.  I used to be able to devour a book within a few sittings, sometimes devoting all my spare time across a day or two to it.  Now, what with the day job (part-time though it is) and the writing and editing I do, I don’t seem to have the headspace for that kind of dedication.  I read mostly while on breaks at my day job, and then when I’m at home I get sucked into the vegetating mindset of the internet.

Tsk, me.  TSK.

But as should be evident by my previous Recent Reading post, I do manage to chew my way through books slowly, and I like to take recommendations where I can.  So this is another of those posts.

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Tough Traveling with Fantasy Review Barn — Guild of Assassins

Posted on April 24, 2014 by H. Anthe Davis

Once again, Nathan at Fantasy Review Barn is going through some examples of a popular fantasy trope as featured in the lovely Tough Guide to Fantasyland.  Check out the link for his take, then down below I’ll talk about the trope in my world!

Assassins, Guild of… – The second most frequent guild after the Thieves Guild.  Indeed, it is possible that these are the only two, and that in Fantasyland crime is the sole organized activity.  They are said to be very good at their job, which is of course killing people for money, and to proceed on all occasions with strict regard for laws and protocol.

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Upgrades Ahoy!

Posted on April 22, 2014 by H. Anthe Davis

I’d planned to do a content post yesterday, but shop-talk basically ate my time away.  On the plus side, shop-talk forced me to finally commit to this: my own domain!

I used to have a website for my writing world on Angelfire, waaaaay back in the day.  Well, technically I still do; some of the less important information still lingers there, though I’ve redacted anything spoilery.  I just didn’t have the heart to tear it all down.

Likewise, I haven’t had the nerve to put up something new until now.  Not that this can really be called nerve.  I’m only doing it now because I plan to go conventioning — and even plan to staff a booth! — this year, and warofmemory.com looks much nicer on a business card than warofmemory.wordpress.com.  No offense to the wordpress bit, it’s just the way things are.

So!  New domain (though still the WordPress back-end).  Plans for convention-going (though not really a books- or writing-related one).  Also now trying out this Publicize option that will apparently cross-post this to Facebook and Twitter without me having to do it manually, so we’ll see how that goes too.

Onward and…slightly…diagonalward?

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