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bedlamsbardI want to write colonial fantasy. I'm not really sure what I mean by this notion -- except that I don't want to write urban or historical fantasy -- except that for some reason the idea fascinates me. (And if you people keep telling me that this is basically what I wrote in the Warsverse, well...you may be right.)
Also Western-esque fantasy -- you know, cowboys, ranches, gold miners, the whole craze for the west. Except not historical. Whole new world. And I don't think I necessarily want it to be magic fantasy -- not your classic sword and sorcery -- but I'm not sure I want it to be just humans, either.
So -- maybe the Narnia gig (nonhumans, talking animals, etc.) in this new world. Although I'm not entirely sure if I mean American style colonialism (er, in America, I mean) or more along the lines of India or Africa. (Look, when I say colonialism, it's best just to assume I mean the British Empire unless I say differently. And, okay, I'm in New Orleans, there's reason to assume that, I suppose.) And I kind of want a New Orleans style city -- that whole mess of different cultures blending and mixing and the sheer bloody history of it all.
I also still want to do the fantasy special forces story, but I'm not sure if I can reconcile it with taking place in this world, because it's more along the lines of high fantasy. (I have been playing with the idea of it taking place in a colony that was abandoned; it's gradually grown out of the survivors and the natives. But I'm not sure it fits in with the rest of the world very well; I think it may be a different world entirely.)
*prods idea carefully* It's not a plot bunny. It's a world-building bunny. No characters, either. (And, uh, it's me, so I'm in debates over whether they have guns or not.)
I want to write an original this year. I haven't even thought about original fic since May and I finished up my senior project novel (military sci-fi, I swear that one day I will go back to it because it is epic like whoa but it is also way steeped in the politics and issues of the time. Which is, uh, also known as now, but there are parts of it that are just bitter. But it has potential), but I do want to write, and in my happy dreams I am one of those authors who gets published and gets good reviews and may even make money. Also, clearly, this whole mess showed me that if I want to read something, I damn well have to write it myself.
And on that note: Bernard Cornwell, yay/nay? I have never read Cornwell, but looking at his books on Amazon they seem to be along my general lines, and I do not immediately hate the writing style. Gregory Maguire, yay/nay? Never read him, either, but I have heard good things, and I didn't immediately hate the writing. And Charles de Lint, yay/nay? Never read him, had him recced to me once or twice. China Mieville, yay/nay? Again with the reccing -- once by my AP English teacher -- and I actually own Perdido Street Station, I just have not read it. Also, it is not here; it's at home.
In other news: I think I'm going to have to chart out the next couple chapters of Dust, just to see how everything lines up time-wise, because I have at least three chapters that are all supposed to be taking place at once (Peter, Susan, Tirian) and also the last three chapters were more or less concurrent (Jill, Eustace, Edmund), so I want to make sure nothing impossible is happening.
It'll get even more exciting when I have to chart out the (major) battles; after my betas get back to me with Water, I'm probably going to be changing the end battle even more than I already have, although perhaps not, we shall see. And there are several big battles in Dust, of course, although I really need to get someone to Archenland so that the plot could START MOVING ALONG, PLEASE. I'm going to pass 80K this chapter and we've still got a fair ways to go. Possibly I subscribed to the "all fantasy epics come in trilogies!" newsletter very early on. (Or I can blame Stirling and Martin. That's the other option, and...probably more likely.)
Also Western-esque fantasy -- you know, cowboys, ranches, gold miners, the whole craze for the west. Except not historical. Whole new world. And I don't think I necessarily want it to be magic fantasy -- not your classic sword and sorcery -- but I'm not sure I want it to be just humans, either.
So -- maybe the Narnia gig (nonhumans, talking animals, etc.) in this new world. Although I'm not entirely sure if I mean American style colonialism (er, in America, I mean) or more along the lines of India or Africa. (Look, when I say colonialism, it's best just to assume I mean the British Empire unless I say differently. And, okay, I'm in New Orleans, there's reason to assume that, I suppose.) And I kind of want a New Orleans style city -- that whole mess of different cultures blending and mixing and the sheer bloody history of it all.
I also still want to do the fantasy special forces story, but I'm not sure if I can reconcile it with taking place in this world, because it's more along the lines of high fantasy. (I have been playing with the idea of it taking place in a colony that was abandoned; it's gradually grown out of the survivors and the natives. But I'm not sure it fits in with the rest of the world very well; I think it may be a different world entirely.)
*prods idea carefully* It's not a plot bunny. It's a world-building bunny. No characters, either. (And, uh, it's me, so I'm in debates over whether they have guns or not.)
I want to write an original this year. I haven't even thought about original fic since May and I finished up my senior project novel (military sci-fi, I swear that one day I will go back to it because it is epic like whoa but it is also way steeped in the politics and issues of the time. Which is, uh, also known as now, but there are parts of it that are just bitter. But it has potential), but I do want to write, and in my happy dreams I am one of those authors who gets published and gets good reviews and may even make money. Also, clearly, this whole mess showed me that if I want to read something, I damn well have to write it myself.
And on that note: Bernard Cornwell, yay/nay? I have never read Cornwell, but looking at his books on Amazon they seem to be along my general lines, and I do not immediately hate the writing style. Gregory Maguire, yay/nay? Never read him, either, but I have heard good things, and I didn't immediately hate the writing. And Charles de Lint, yay/nay? Never read him, had him recced to me once or twice. China Mieville, yay/nay? Again with the reccing -- once by my AP English teacher -- and I actually own Perdido Street Station, I just have not read it. Also, it is not here; it's at home.
In other news: I think I'm going to have to chart out the next couple chapters of Dust, just to see how everything lines up time-wise, because I have at least three chapters that are all supposed to be taking place at once (Peter, Susan, Tirian) and also the last three chapters were more or less concurrent (Jill, Eustace, Edmund), so I want to make sure nothing impossible is happening.
It'll get even more exciting when I have to chart out the (major) battles; after my betas get back to me with Water, I'm probably going to be changing the end battle even more than I already have, although perhaps not, we shall see. And there are several big battles in Dust, of course, although I really need to get someone to Archenland so that the plot could START MOVING ALONG, PLEASE. I'm going to pass 80K this chapter and we've still got a fair ways to go. Possibly I subscribed to the "all fantasy epics come in trilogies!" newsletter very early on. (Or I can blame Stirling and Martin. That's the other option, and...probably more likely.)
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(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-23 07:17 pm (UTC)Charles de Lint - BIG YAY
China Mieville - in my to-read pile based on people I trust
(*goes back to work*)
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-23 08:24 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-23 08:39 pm (UTC)Charles de Lint is classic urban fantasy.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-23 11:43 pm (UTC)I think
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-24 12:13 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-24 12:24 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-23 07:27 pm (UTC)how about steampunk? viz. steampunk!starwars!
re: abandoned colony of survivors and natives
i couldn't helped but be reminded of australia. not that it was abandoned, but that it was just so distant. and the strangeness of how it grew from penal colonies and there are strange animals due to isolated evolution. and the bloody history, tensions between natives and colonists, though i guess this happens everywhere anyway.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-23 08:28 pm (UTC)Australia! Yes. Although I don't know that much about Australia. *muses*
I kind of want to do something along New Orleanian lines, but I don't know what. It's like, okay, I have the world, I'd like characters and plot now, please.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-23 08:41 pm (UTC)THE DISTANT COLONY. and how there are many similarities between it and the mother country of course, but it's like going through the looking glass. what is the fantasy equivalent of this discombobulation: the seasons are backwards and the toilet flushes the other way (not that you ever noticed which way the toilet flushes back home, but you notice it here now, now that someone's pointed out how different it is).
and when people from the mother country talk about the colony, they vacillate between talking about it like it's a wild frontier or like it's eden.
y/n/m?
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-23 08:48 pm (UTC)YES. And, like, you can't eat the same food, it's similar but not the same, see: a French roux vs. a Cajun or Creole roux. And New Orleans French bread is much lighter than French French bread because of something in the flour. (Look, I live in New Orleans, they really like their food.)
And how the damned colonists always build their cities on that one spot that the natives know is haunted and/or cursed. (See: New Orleans. I...have this info available first hand, at least?)
I just don't think I've ever actually seen colonies in fantasy, aside from urban/historical fantasy. And the possibilities!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-23 09:14 pm (UTC)i didn't get HDM at first. i was like, "i thought this was a fantasy...? what is going on?" but once i started thinking of it as a steampunk, it felt better.
TELL ME MORE ABOUT FOOD AS CULTURAL SYMBOL. 'cos omg, i love talking about food, i don't even know where to begin.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-24 12:24 am (UTC)OH MAN i live in new orleans, and heaven knows new orleans LOVES ITS FOOD. (if you ever come here, i will take you to the southern food and beverage museum. OH YES.) i actually just bought a cookbook for my mom, so i will quote stuff from it at you.
"In New Orleans, food is culture. Food is family. Food is comfort. Food is life."
you get this sort of thing in a lot of cities, probably, but it seems like especially in new orleans. i mean, sure you got your new york pizza and your philly cheesecake, but in new orleans, you got your cajun food and your creole food. which, let me tell you, are not the same thing. cajuns are the french acadians who came down to louisiana, got chased out of new orleans, and set up shop in the bayous. cajun food, according to wikipedia, originates from traditional french peasant food that had to be adapted to use local ingredients, like gumbo (which comes from bouillabaisse) and jambalaya (similar to paella, which, okay, is spanish, but whatever). obviously you don't have a lot of the same ingredients in louisiana as you do in france, so in louisiana, you have crawfish, for example, and catfish. (gosh, they put crawfish in EVERYTHING. speaking of which, i just had gumbo.)
and don't even get me started on people sucking the heads off crawfish. so they can EAT THEIR BRAINS, you see.
and bein' as it's new orleans, in the south, you got this whole mix of culture in the food: cajun, creole, american, french, italian, spanish, african because of the slaves (this is the south: okra. EVERYWHERE), anything else from anyone that happened to wander by...
and then! you have chicory coffee, cafe au lait (in new orleans, it damn well better be chicory coffee if you're calling it cafe au lait), because they couldn't get regular coffee, so they made it with chicory (which is bitter like WHOA), and now it is a classic thing. you eat it with beignets, of course.
more quotes from the book:
"Marcelle also remembers her mother admonishing her, 'Don't eat boiled crawfish in front of people you don't know. They will think we are uncivilized.'"
"Unless you're from south Louisiana, courtbouillon is a seasoned broth for poaching fish or seafood. Here, it's a dish. In New Orleans, order "COO-be-yon," as it's pronounced, and you're likely to get a baked whole fish with a tomato-based sauce. But in Acadiana, a courtbouillon is a thick, tomato-based stew made with a roux, in which fish fillets or chunks of fish are cooked."
"'My Creole mother taught me how to make the gravy," said Landry, "although we always prepared the seasonings in the roux rather than separately. And she always told me that a Creole gravy must never be red, always rusty. A red gravy looks more Italian.'"
"Fried shrimp and fried oyster po-boys are arguably the two most popular types of po-boys. The oyster loaf, as the sandwich is also called, is sometimes known as a peacemaker, or la mediatrice in local lore. If a husband was detained in town, he would carry home an oyster loaf to make peace with his wife. (Nowadays, the half-oyster and half-shrimp po-boy is sometimes called a peacemaker, too.)"
i should also add that this is the cookbook that includes a recipe for "rabbit or squirrel sauce piquant", which requires "1 cleaned wild rabbit, 1 domestic rabbit, or 1 chicken; or 4 cleaned squirrels, cut into serving pieces."
*cough* that was probably way more than you wanted to know about new orleans food. the book is Cooking Up a Storm: Recipes Lost and Found from the Times-Picayune of New Orleans (http://www.amazon.com/Cooking-Up-Storm-Recipes-Times-Picayune/dp/0811865770/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1232756625&sr=8-1), which tells you a hell of a lot about new orleans right there.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-24 01:32 am (UTC)YES YES, adjusting to local ingredients! curry from subcontinent traders became kare in indonesia, etc. in the philippines, they put hot dog slices in the spaghetti. i'm not on board with that, i don't like filipino spaghetti anyway. the sauce is too sweet.
I HAVE NEVER HAD CRAWFISH. is it very much like lobster? that's all i can guess, from the pictures the interwebs is showing me. people suck shrimp heads too (i hear in norway? but i'm sure other places too), but i am not on board with this either because shrimps SHIT THROUGH THEIR HEADS. D: this is why indonesians have the insult 'otak udang' (shrimp brain, otak meaning brain) because then one has SHIT FOR BRAINS. AND THEY ARE VERY SMALL BRAINS.
ppl get so uptight about coffee! it is hilarious. TANGENT: I HATE THAT NEW MCDONALD'S FRAPPUCCINO COMMERCIAL WHERE PPL ARE LIKE "YAY I DON'T HAVE TO PRETEND TO BE SMART". IT FILLS ME WITH SUCH RAGE. not about the coffee, but just the whole anti-intellectualism thing OH MY GOD SUCH RAGE. LIKE BEING SMART IS A BAD THING. "PARAGUAY?!"?? GEEZ.
anyway.
the peacemaker! adorbz! OMG SQUIRRELZ :-O. i would love to try squirrels. AND CRAWFISH. and rabbit, i've never tried that. i regret that i didn't try gator when i had the chance :(
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-24 01:44 am (UTC)or like, with sushi, each city (in america, at least) has its own kind of sushi roll. seattle rolls, california rolls, etc., putting in whatever's local.
lobster is better than crawfish. oh man, now i want lobster, there is this fantastic restaurant in victoria b.c. that makes the best steak and lobster ever.
it's...i don't know, it's crawfish. sort of like shrimp, sort of like lobster, sort of like itself. oh man, speaking of shrimp heads, i quote some more: "Barbecued shrimp always contains copious amounts of butter, and head-on shrimp are always used in southeast Louisiana. The fat in the heads melts and becomes the secret ingredient in the sauce."
oh! or this quote, which i find kind of adorable: "In 2001, Monique Y. Wells's French cookboo La Cuisine Noire Americaine was published in English under the title Food for the Soul. Wells, a native Texan with Louisiana roots, and a veterinary pathologist, had followed her dream and mvoed to Paris. There was one problem, however. She found herself scouring the Parisian markets for sweet potatoes and okra."
oh, man, and bread pudding, oh my god. created so that cooks didn't waste stale french bread. BREAD PUDDING. so good! and it's not real bread pudding without alcohol; there are, like, five recipes for bread pudding in this book and most of them use either bourbon or whiskey.
the most famous place in new orleans to get cafe au lait and beignets is cafe du monde. apparently, starbucks once opened up across the street in order to lure customers away from the cafe du monde.
there is no longer a starbucks across the street from the cafe du monde. (there are only, like, three starbucks in the whole city. I AM FROM WASHINGTON. MY TINY TOWN HAS FOUR STARBUCKS.)
i have had quail, whale, and gator, but i have not had squirrel, rabbit, or venison. i want to try venison. *frowns* i have had buffalo, too. (i think. i know i've had beefalo, but i'm not positive on the buffalo. and oh my god, piglet, i had the best piglet in this hotel in thailand one time.)
trufax: i am half-japanese. i put soy sauce on my steak. for, you know, randomness.
THAT ICON ALWAYS MAKES ME WANT TO WRITE PETER/SUSAN CUDDLES.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-24 02:25 am (UTC)sometimes i love watching food shows on TV sometimes i hate it, 'cos it's such a tease. I JUST WANT TO EAT IT. i feel likewise with this post.
HAHAHA SUCK IT, STARBUCKS
VENISON. I TOO WANT TO TRY. what the hell is beefalo?! i kind of look askance at fish recipes that use thick sauces. just grill that shit. or deep-fry it, or smoke it. (OR DRY IT THEN SALT IT, YUM.) SMOKED MILKFISH AND DEEP FRIED GURAME OMG, deliciousest.
fhsdjkkl SPIT-ROASTED PIGLETS ARE LOVE. DELICIOUS LOVE. spit-roasted calves are pretty great too. ANYTHING ROASTED ON A SPIT. they say the best parts to eat are the cheeks of the pig, because it is tender. I WANT SPIT-ROASTED PIGLET CHEEKS omg this post is making me hungry.
I WANNA GO TO THE MUSEUM OF SOUTHERN FOOD AND DRINK OMG
I KNOW RIGHT?! THAT ICON AND ME WAS LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT. I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW AMAZING THAT ICON IS. I ALSO LOVE THIS PETER&SUSAN ICON VERY MUCH. i have so many peter&susan icons saved on my computer, it's ridic.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-24 02:50 am (UTC)beefalo is what you get when you breed a cow (a beef) and a buffalo together. they sell it at the fair, and also at fred meyer (which, before you ask, since no one west of the rockies has heard of it, apparently, is a department store. sort of like walmart, but less soul-devouring). it's leaner than beef.
apparently the best parts of the fish to eat are the fish cheeks! which i have had. in thailand. OH THAILAND. land of crazy, that is.
THEY HAVE A SPECIAL BRAND NEW COCKTAIL SECTION IN WHICH THEY DETAIL THE HISTORY OF MIXED DRINKS. they do not, alas, have samples, but man, you can pretty much eat your way through new orleans.
new orleans! we also have turducken: "Cajun invention of stuffed deboned chicken inside a deboned duck, which is stuffed inside a partially deboned turkey. Popularized by Paul Prudhomme and, later, football announcer John Madden, who orders custom six-legged versions at Thanksgiving from the Gourmet Butcher Block in Gretna."
also, this is the town where at football games, they serve (of course) beer, but also fried turkey legs and bowls of gumbo and jambalaya. OH NEW ORLEANS WHY SO CRAZY?
now i want peter/susan cuddles! but instead i have stuff like this: "Peter hisses out through his teeth and scrambles up onto his knees, leaning forward with most of his weight on his forearms. It's a nice picture; the purely shallow part of Susan's brain approves. A more jealous part is wondering if he's ever done this for anyone else. Osumare Seaworth, Aliecer Greyjoy, Eskil Sigurdsson...Edmund. How many people does the High King of Narnia get on his knees for?
Just one today. Just his queen."
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-24 06:05 am (UTC)fhjlkshd MY EYES :-O
bits of fic have been flying through my head, though i haven't written any down. i am contemplating a leverage/o11 crossover. one time, rusty ryan tries to pick nate's pocket and nate almost breaks his hand.
and then they have sexalso, with morgana being a refugee in narnia, i have all these ideas brewing in my head. here are some facts about it:
1. merlin helps morgana escape to the other world using his magic and the last thing she sees before the world washes out is merlin saying, "i'll miss you." the last thing she hears in the darkness is him saying, a little sadly, "don't come back.""
2. gwen steps back, her breath hitching and her eyes averted (from guilt? fear? some lingering reverence?). "i've made my choice," gwen says softly, and morgana laughs to cover the hurt. it is a harsh laugh, followed by: "it's not a choice. there are no choices, don't you see?" but no one sees like she can.
3. the pevensies are initially suspicious of morgana and the first to really trust her is, of course, lucy. "you remind me of someone i knew," morgana says, when it is juts the two of them. lucy smiles, "someone good, i hope." and morgana says, "the best i know."
4. morgana sees what will happen to the kings and queens when they hunt for the white stag, and doesn't tell them. what good would that do?
5. "take care of her," morgana tells the high king, as they watch susan dance with a nobleman from the seven isles. peter raises his eyebrows, says, "my lady, i always do." morgana adds, "no matter what," looks into peter's eyes as if she could make him see what she sees. but she can't of course; that's not her gift. she doesn't know what else to say. "let us dance," peter suggests, and they are both glad for the distraction.
6. "you and queen lucy become closer with each passing day," says edmund, with menacing casualness. morgana is more careful after that. she sees much of herself in him, and thus knows to be wary.
and i'm not sure about this aspect of the story: when the pevensies leave, morgana gets pissed off at the world and its higher powers all over again, and becomes the lady of the green kirtle. i think exploring her path to this is going to significantly up the word count though, and i got not time for that.
i mean, not like i said i was gonna write this fic at all though.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-24 06:29 am (UTC)OOH. I LIKE IT YES I DO. *encourages shamelessly* and she...takes rilian because caspian and ramandu's daughter remind her of someone she once knew back in camelot?
meanwhile, peter is musing on the universality of prison cells across timelines and worlds. and thinking about the time he got picked up for drunk and disorderly and assault in london, but the charges got dropped when the sailor he hit realized that he'd just gotten the shit kicked out of him by a sixteen-year-old kid.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-24 07:26 am (UTC)it should be a bumper sticker
this is the part where i kick and scream and yell OH NO I AM NOT WRITING FIC I AM NOT NO WAY I HAVE NO TIME TO COMMIT TO FIC and yet when i'm supposed to be paying attention to regression analysis i will be thinking about morgana/lucy. DAMMIT.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-24 03:22 pm (UTC)reward yourself with fic? because heaven knows i never pay attention in class; my professor is talking about the odyssey and i'm writing about diplomatic sea voyages in the golden age where edmund is all, "THANK YOU ASLAN THAT IS NARNIA AND I HAVE BEEN AWAY FOR MONTHS IN ANSKETTELL, WHERE THEY GROW A FINE CROP OF ROCKS."
or, you know, earthquakes. and porn.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-23 08:58 pm (UTC)This sounds fascinating, even at such an embryonic stage. Or these, if you do decide they are two seperate 'verses. I quite like the idea of the contrast of one verse though: the bustling, crowded, varied life of a big city, probably near a harbour with access for different nations and species, against the isolation of a bleaker, abandoned colony, with the fight for survival. And yeah, the early exploration and history of Australia or Africa. (Though Africa doesn't have the brumbys!)
As for the authors - never heard of the latter two (though I'll have to look them up now) but you know I read Bernard Cornwell! I haven't read his 'Albion' series yet, but I've read the Sharpe & American civil war books. He may adapt actual events slightly, but they are always very carefully researched - right down to the tinest details as far as I'm aware. He's also not shy of showing the bloodyness & brutality of fighting & war.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-24 12:32 am (UTC)And you can't say that about many things in fantasy.
Well, the main draw of the fantasy special forces story would be the, well, fantasy special forces part, and from what I know of it, it is more of a typical high fantasy kind of world. (I've basically been thinking of it as what Narnia would have been if the Pevensies hadn't vanished, a century or so on.) But -- it could also be a colony that was abandoned a generation or two ago, and now the original colonizers have come back, and the residents are torn between, "Do we go with our ancestors? Do we protect our right to an independent life? What do we do?" And the special forces unit could come into play there. But yeah, now that you mention it, I do like the contrast -- the one New Orleans-ish colony, by the river, bustling market and whatnot, and the country-colony that's fought its way out of the ruins. I think I'd have to prod at it a little more to see how to combine the two, but...
Hmm.
The excerpts you sent are what got me curious about Cornwell in the first place! (Thank you for those, by the way!) Because he seems like a fairly decent action writer, and that's hard to do.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-24 08:51 pm (UTC)I love 'The Blue Sword' - simply because it *does* deal with both sides, showing the humanity and complexities of colonisation, and how two nations could move to work together. That descriptions in that book remind me of India - only the Indians & the British overlords never reached that kind of agreement - both sides preferring to fight. *sigh*
I'd love to see those issues dealt with - and you've got the writing chops to do it. I've always liked a contrast within one country - usually divided by a mountain range, or huge river. Wealth and fertile land on one side, links to the outside world and trade. Struggling for existance on the other side, cut off, alone - a place where a special forces team would be invaluable & desperately needed, to stop those who had 'gone rogue' for whatever reason.
You could see this happening in Narnia if the Pevensies hadn't been snatched back. Peter would have added vast tracts of land to Narnia, established settled rule (with his siblings help!) - yet he couldn't ensure that his descendants could keep those lands together, keep the posterity, the peace between all species. Myriads of possibilities here!
And I will get on with the tactics of Waterloo - and I'll put in more BC quotes, as I love the Richard Sharpe books (and his great friendship with Patrick Harper. Englishman & Irishman who understand each other totally). If you do start reading them (and there are loads!) I'd start with Sharpe's Rifles (where Richard & Pat meet) or Sharpe's Eagle (the first one he wrote). The ones set in India are earlier chronilogically, but better read once you know the character well.
*Throws another huge lettuce to the world-building bunny, and adds some carrots too...*
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-24 10:28 pm (UTC)So a generation later, you've got the young king/leader, who was (you know, for thematic purposes) the first baby born in the new country and his, uh, siblings (look, the siblings have been a part of this forever) and all of the sudden the mother country comes back to take over, which means politics, and suddenly the leaders of the new community are thrust headfirst into, I don't know, the other colonies...
I am seeing potential. I am seeing a lot of potential. I am prodding at it carefully to see what it actually does get me. (The main problem here isn't the colonialism aspect so much as how to reconcile the colonists with the natives/locals/indigenous peoples (god, there is no good way to say that) without falling into either cliche or something that's going to get me shot.)
*watches bunny carefully* I think I'm even figuring out how to work the special forces team in. Slowly.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-25 04:00 pm (UTC)*has sudden image of them all negotiating while sitting at a round table...*
//Especially if I borrow more from the colonial/imperial age in our own world, and rather than just have one major power out there planting colonies, have several. England and France and Spain...a war with which might be one of the reasons the colony was abandoned.//
Very realistic - call back the troops & as many able-bodied men, as we need them... then the colony either moves base, or the maps with their exact location are lost and... "I heard a rumour that there were people here once..."
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-25 06:00 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-25 11:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-25 11:43 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-26 07:11 pm (UTC)(History GSCE coming in useful once again!)
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-26 08:28 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-24 12:42 am (UTC)The first book in the Abhorsen series is about a young girl who was raised in the equivilant to a British girl's boarding school and now has to cross the border to her native land where she fights the undead and tries to find her missing father. She's aided in this by a talking cat and some books. There are three books in the series.
Katherine Kerr's novels are essentially an alternative Celtic history complete with magicians, elves, reincarnation, disgraced princes, and mercenaries daughters. It has something like ten or twelve books broken up into trilogies and pairs. Very, very good. I can't wait for the next book to finally go to paperback. The first in the series is called _Daggerspell_.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-24 01:45 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-24 05:08 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-01-24 05:48 am (UTC)