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January 21, 2004
What are you reading? I'm reading Alice Borchardt's The Dragon Queen. Subtitled "The Tales of Guenivere" it's an Arthurian tale set in dark ages Britain (as these stories usually are). For the longest time, I couldn't decide if I liked it, and I'm still not 100% sure. There are some things about it that bother me, but there are other things that I think are really interesting. First of all, the story not only changes point of view pretty regularly, it changes voice as well -- large sections of it are in first-person, as Guenivere is telling the story of what happened to her. The other parts are told in third person -- it makes for a little bit of a strange narrative flow. Another thing that bothered me at first is the presence of Maeniel (the werewolf from her other series). Inserting him into this Arthurian tale struck me as a little bit gratuitious, but as the story has progressed his role has diminished. I appreciate that. The novel does a couple of interesting things with the traditional Arthur canon. Merlin is made out to be a villain; he is interested in holding power over Arthur, and by extension, the high kingship of Britain. Uther is alive and well, knows Arthur is his son, and had him fostered by his aunt Morgane (aka Morgan LeFay). Guenivere, rather than being made out as a foolish Christian pawn (as she is in MZB's Mists of Avalon), is a noble descendant of Boadiccea, the celtic queen who fought against the Roman invasion. She was raised by Maeniel and his wolves, and has a strong celtic, neo-pagan philosophy. She refuses to bow to the will of Merlin, and Merlin (rightly) fears the influence she will hold over Arthur. There is so much juggling of the canon here, I'm not sure where the story is really going. Right now both Arthur and Guenivere are involved in separate quests to save the Flower Queen -- a manifestation of the Goddess -- in different times. Or something like that, I'm not really sure. It's an interesting book, but it's a slow read. If you like new takes on classic stories, this one may suit you. If you're a hard core Arthurian devotee, you may be insulted by the liberties this novel takes. January 19, 2004
The first post... It's funny -- last week, before I set this whole thing up, I had a whole bunch of ideas about things that I wanted to write about. Now that I have an easier way to update my site (particularly with small bits of news)... all the ideas seem to have vanished. We played Earthdawn tonight. In our group of five, we have three players who are new to the setting and the system. It's fascinating -- I'm getting a new perspective on the game through their eyes. Concepts and ideas that I take for granted are being met with wonder and amazement. It kind of reminds me of my early days with the game, when all was fresh and new. They're on to their third adventure now. The first one was created as an introductory adventure, and it went pretty well. My original plans for the second adventure were aborted as they chased off after phantoms. After a quick web search, I found a nice little side trek in the archives of the Earthdawn Journal, which they wrapped up tonight. After some downtime (where some of the PCs advanced to second circle), I sent them off to Parlainth, and the beginnings of Mists of Betrayal. I haven't run the adventure for many years, and I'm looking forward to their first real encounter with a Horror. In other news, Mary (my lovely wife) got a letter yesterday letting her know that she's been accepted into college. It's a tremendous boost for her -- she's been feeling rather frustrated with her career in retail management. She's going to study Biology Education, and plans to become a high school teacher. I'm proud of her. That does it for now. Hopefully my brain will kick back into action, and you'll get more from me than just the latest news items from my life. January 17, 2004
So, I decided that I wanted to get into this whole "Blogging" thing... I've had a website for a few years now, and always wanted to update it more often than I do. Coding and verifying the HTML, posting it, and all the other stuff that goes along with an update just always seemed like a pain. Not anymore! Thanks to wonderful free stuff like this on the net, I can have a blog of my very own... what a warm, fuzzy feeling it gives me. Expect a real eclectic mix of stuff here, folks. My brain is a strange and varied thing. -- Josh |
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