Because you can never have too many links, right? And they don’t even all have to be about me … though some of them are, of course.
Let’s flag a couple of reviews of The Edinburgh Dead, first.
Neth Space likes it ( ‘a very good historical gothic mystery horror urban supernatural thriller’ !)
So does Civilian Reader ( ‘a superb, slow-burning horror suspense. Very highly recommended.’ !)
Come to that, so do the folks at RT Book reviews, who’ve got it listed as a nominee in the Fantasy category for their annual awards. That’s nice, don’t you think?
And here’s something that tickles me. As regular visitors here may have noticed, I’m a big, big podcast fan, so it’s particularly nice to be able to report my own podcast debut. It has to be said, life is full of small lessons in humility, and one of them for me is hearing my own voice as others do: never fails to chip away at my self-image. I did have a bit of a head cold at the time of recording (fully congealed sinuses, if you must know), but sadly I have a feeling I always sound much like this. Ho hum.
Anyway, of all the places I thought I might end up talking about one of my books, the venue for my first podcast appearance wasn’t one of them, but it was a jolly pleasant experience: the National Review’sBetween the Covers podcast. You do, of course, come away from a quick, unedited interview like that with your brain buzzing with all the things you should have said and didn’t, but I don’t think I said anything that invites legal action or anything, so that counts as some sort of success in my book.
Now, on to some less self-serving content netted out of the great ocean that is the internet.
First, two podcasts of possible interest to those, like me, with a near-limitless appetite for learning more about history:
The Seige of Tenochtitlan got talked about on BBC radio’s In Our Time programme recently – available on BBC iplayer here, or you can probably find a downloadable version in this list. Difficult to think of a more extreme example of clashing cultures in all of human history, really …
And Max Hastings talks at some length about the Second World War on the BBC History magazine podcast – direct link to audio here, or find it in the list here (it’s the 21st October edition). I found it interesting mostly because he concentrates on some of the details that often get overlooked or ignored in discussions about the war (like how many Chinese soldiers and civilians were killed … i.e. a very, very large number).
And now one of the most remarakble demonstrations of fan dedication and craftsmanship I’ve ever encountered. The ultimate Star Wars documentary, in that you get to watch the film while simultaneously getting deluged with background information, annotations, creator interviews etc. etc. Very, very clever and entertaining, and all the more remarkable because the same fan has done the same thing for Empire Strikes Back and Jedi. Here, for your viewing pleasure, then, is Star Wars – all of it! – as you’ve never seen or heard it before.
I mean, seriously: that almost justifies the entire existence of the internet by itself, doesn’t it?
But let’s end on a less cheery note and dip our toes into the muddy waters of the impending bookpocalypse. It’s mesmerizing, watching the turmoil into which the whole publishing industry is descending bit by bit. Here’s two markers along the way to wherever it is we’re heading that caught my notice recently:
Ewan Morrison asking Are books dead, and can authors survive? The answer to the first bit of that is clearly Not Yet. Print books are clearly going to fade into a niche, but e-books aren’t going to be dying any time soon. The answer to the second bit, I’m not so sure about. The folks who sell really, really big numbers of their books are going to be just fine, of course. The rest of us? Actually: maybe not.
The picture Morrison paints is the worst case scenario, and I can’t really buy into it unreservedly, but … but … there are more than enough folk out there around the internet hailing the digital revolution as the best thing since sliced bread, and I increasingly find myself inclining towards a much darker prognosis, not only for publishers (turmoil hardly covers what they’re looking at) and writers (I strongly suspect if – like me – you’re not a bestseller, things are about to get uncomfortable, to say the least) but also for readers (be careful what you wish for … low prices and an explosion in self-publishing don’t come without consequences).
The weird thing is, there’s so much going on that looks at best inadvisable and at worst potentially disastrous if, like me, you value the work of writers and the survival of a diverse and high quality output of books, and yet … I can’t think of a single thing anyone involved could do, or is likely to, that would change the outcome. Pretty much everyone is coming at this from the point of view of their own individual best interest (personal or corporate), and that’s entirely reasonable and justifiable when looked at at the level of each specific decision, but the overall effect, seen in big picture terms, is … well, alarming just about covers it, I guess.
The Edinburgh Dead is reviewed at Dark Wolf’s Fantasy Reviews (‘Ruckley steps on a different path with “The Edinburgh Dead”, but he does it with remarkable and magnetic style and before it I’ll take my hat off and bow’ !)
And I am interviewed over at My Bookish Ways, though it’s not quite your average author interview: not particularly the place to go if you want to learn more about The Edinburgh Dead, but certainly informative should you be curious about what’s my favourite line from a book, or what’s my favourite part of the world that I’ve visited.
And, in a development entirely unrelated in any way whatsoever to The Edinburgh Dead, but included here because it’s Friday, and every so often we must have Moving Pictures on a Friday: the late, lugubrious Carl Sagan comes over all eloquent and wise, on the subject of The Earth Seen From Space.
Welcome to 2011, everybody. Let’s hope it brings us all at least some of what we want and hope for.
I make an appearance in the French blogosphere this week, with something called a Chinese Portrait over at the Eclipse blog. They’re publishing the French edition of Winterbirth, and the Chinese Portrait thing is not something I’d come across before but it’s a fun little exercise in coy authorial self-definition. For those not fluent in the French language, I thought I’d put the English version up here, so that others can see what I think of myself. So here we go:
If you were a quality, what would you be?
Patience
If you were a flaw?
Sloth
If you were a work of art?
A painting by Monet – probably one of the haystacks
If you were a sound?
Running water – a small stream, not some great raging torrent
If you were a song/music?
Hello Darkness My Old Friend, by Simon and Garfunkel
If you were a word?
Capacious
If you were a book?
War and Peace
If you were a motto/a quotation?
If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, you have seriously underestimated the gravity of the situation
If you were a movie?
The Godfather
If you were a time period?
Late 19th century: Victorian Britain
If you were a personage of fiction?
Hamlet
If you were an animal?
Raven
If you were a mythological being or supernatural creature?
A Hobbit – one of the hobbits who stays at home in the Shire, rather than going off on adventures
So there you are. My Chinese Portrait. Revealing or not; you decide.
Second, I do the fantasy casting for the movie-of-the-book thang at My Book the Movie. Not something I actually gave any thought to while writing the Godless World, but I think some of the casting possibilities I came up with are quite promising. And – I only realised after I’d finished – it’s shaping up to be an all-Brit cast, which either means I’m terribly parochial or that we’ve got all the best actors. I incline towards the latter possibility.
Third, someone else does the review thing for the small press anthology Rage of the Behemoth I’ve got a story in, over at The Cimmerian. A fitting home for a review, given the anthology’s focus on heroic fantasy of the sort Robert E Howard excelled at. Nice, too, that the book gets the thumbs up. I’ve been gradually working my way through my author’s copy, and can confirm there’s some fun stuff in there for fans of this kind of thing (i.e. warriors, monsters and mayhem). Copies still easily available for purchase in both the UK and the US.
Some minor stuff about me, me, me – specifically my recent adventures in short fiction – that’s shown up on the web.
First off, I answer some questions over at the Rogue Blades Entertainment site, partly relating to the story – ‘Beyond the Reach of His Gods’ – I’ve contributed to their Rage of the Behemoth anthology. Imminently available, I believe.
Second off, Pat of Fantasy Hotlist fame provided a brief update on progress regarding the anthology he’s editing for Subterranean Press, titled Speculative Horizons. As reported there, I sent in my story for the anthology – ‘Flint’ – a little while ago. Some minor tweaking is currently underway, but Pat’s basically given it a thumbs up. No confirmed publication date for this one yet, as far as I know, but it shouldn’t be too long.
(And since I’ve been poking around Pat’s site to find that news update, I might as well indulge myself by pointing out his jolly nice review of Fall of Thanes, too.)
About time we had something a bit different around here, I figure.Couple of weeks ago, someone got in touch with me via Facebook (the Winterbirth fan page, to be precise), and I thought the story they had to tell was so interesting that … well, here it comes. Meet Richard Alvarez, a real live knight in shining armour. Some of you, it turns out, know exactly what he looks like already. He’ll introduce himself, and then I’ll pitch him a few questions. Hope at least some folks find this as interesting as I did!
(Note, the photos appearing are, in order of appearance, by and copyright Cat Connor, Ron Koberer and Linda Alvarez. No use without permission, please).
RA: I’ve always been fascinated by the renaissance and medieval eras. In college I studied fencing, and went on to pursue teaching as a Classical Fencing Master. Simultaneously, I’ve pursued my interests in media production, theatre and film. This parallel track led me to performing at the first Renaissance Festival I ever attended in Houston Texas, back in the early seventies. A friend and I formed a Dueling Team we called “Triomphe”.
We performed as “Triomphe” for eleven years at the Texas Renaissance Festival. In the early eighties, I met four young men who had been hired to perform the joust. A few years later, they invited me to joust with them at a show in Chicago that summer. ‘I can’t ride,’ I told them. ‘That’s okay, we’ll teach you.’ So in the summer of 1984 I started my career as a professional jouster. A few years later, I was asked to take over the managing duties of the company, and I formed “International Action Theatre”. We had three companies of men, with four to six horses each – touring the country all year long. In addition to renaissance festivals, we did Wild West shows and stunt work for films and theme parks.
In 1994, I officially retired from the renaissance festival circuit. I have focused on my filmmaking and screenwriting endeavors for the most part since then, though I did manage to merge my two interests in 2005, when I produced my award winning documentary American Jouster.
A few weeks ago, I was sitting at home when I got a text from a friend. It was a jpg, and I couldn’t quite make out the image. I handed my phone to my son, and he squinted at it saying, ‘It looks like YOU! Yeah, I think it is you, on a poster or maybe a book cover … Fall of Thrones? No, the Fall of THANES?’
I downloaded a larger image from your website, and couldn’t for the life of me remember where the photo came from. I know I didn’t pose specifically FOR the cover, so the photo had to be an old one. I began to scour my hard drives, trying to match the shot on the cover with something I might have on hand.
Bingo! In 2005, I responded to a call from a student filmmaker, John Joynert, who was working on his senior thesis film. It was called Pro Meus Rex – and the story centered on two live chess pieces who meet in a fantasy forest setting to battle it out. I played The Black Knight and another actor played The White Pawn. During that shoot, unit photographer Ron Koeberer took a number of still photos (Ron does amazing work, and you can view some of his shots at www.koberfoto.com). It turns out that Ron had listed a few shots from Pro Meus Rex with stock photo companies online. Apparently whoever did the layout for the cover of Fall of Thanes licensed the image through one of the stock agencies.
And that is how I wound up on the cover of Fall of Thanes.
BR: Given that you started out as a classically trained fencer, to an outsider like me it looks like a pretty radical shift in weaponry and fighting style when you get into the medieval end of things: possibly in my ignorance, I imagine much less finesse and much more brute force being involved. To what extent are skills or instincts or techniques transferable between the fencing and the medieval side of things?
RA: “Mixed Martial Arts” is a very popular form of sport entertainment right now. You see fighters combining different skill sets from different martial arts training against competitors with other skill sets. This is possible, primarily because the main component is the same for all martial arts – The Human Body.
In terms of using a blade – the target is the same regardless of era – the weapon has a point and/or edge. The human body moves the same regardless of era. What changes are the tactical applications of point and edge – especially in response to terrain and armor. So it really was just a matter of understanding what the weapon was designed for, and what the target area was supposed to be. Probably the most difficult of the medieval weapons to master (for me personally) was the flail – damned unpredictable rebound. And of course, getting used to wearing armor and the limited visibility of a helm.
BR:I’m fascinated by the practicalities of this whole business. The horses in the jousts, for instance. How much specialised training is needed to get a horse to do what you need it to do? Can any horse be suitable, or only those with particular physical or mental attributes?
RA: We have always selected horses primarily for their temperment. They have to be sound of course, and capable of supporting the armored rider. (Rule of thumb – a sound working horse can carry/work with one third of it’s own body weight … this is a ‘rule of thumb’ – not a hard and fast law). Breed was not as important as temperment. We ‘auditioned’ horses by asking them to do a specific set of drills. Such things as passing another horse, riding with flags, riding close to/at a man on the ground. The horse didn’t have to perform well, it just had to show an aptitiude to be trainable. We didn’t always have the luxury of time in training horses.
BR: There must be risks involved, no matter how skilled and practised someone is. Have you ever been injured yourself or – and I suspect this might be even more alarming – inadvertently injured someone else?
RA: Bumps and bruises happen every time you fall off a horse, and we did scheduled falls in every show – so sure, people got bumps, bruises, scrapes and the occasional dislocation or break. In stage combat – you can generally expect to get the odd scraped knuckle and bruise from your partner – but you really do train hard for safety’s sake.
I’ve probably given my share of knicked fingers, and clipped hands – but I don’t keep track of those any more than I keep track of the ones I’ve recieved. It’s part of the game. My own worst personal injury came fom a ‘knee to knee’ collision in a cantering pass with another rider. We were NOT armored – this is the same sort of injury one typically gets in playing polo.
BR: I know you played a specific character during your jousting career – Sir Richard, Early of Greyhame. Is this name just an identifying badge, or did you have personalities (good guys and bad guys!), plots and backstories developed for the characters you all played? I guess I’m interested in how much of this is theatre – complete with fictional narrative – and how much is demonstration, stunt show, sport etc.
RA: The character I portrayed “Sir Richard – The Earl of Greyhame” was usually a bad guy. Tall dark and bearded – yeah, I looked the part. And lets face it, it’s more fun to be the bad guy! Our shows were carefully choreographed, and scripted. There was always room to ad-lib lines with the court and each other, but we all knew where we were going, and what was supposed to happen on the field.
In the jousting business you will sometimes hear the distinction made that a particular company does ‘Theatrical Jousting’ while another company does ‘Sport Jousting’. What this usually comes down to is whether or not the hits delivered during the joust passes are choreographed or spontaneous.
In a theatrical joust the hits are planned, usually a specific number of hits, with a ‘dismount’ at the end. This is a running, full speed fall. The fall is followed with horse to ground combat – and another dismount – followed by ground combat and possibly a bloody ‘kill’. (Depending on the philosophy of the company and/or the faire regarding kills and blood).
In a ‘full contact’ or ‘sport joust’ show the jousters are trying to unhorse each other. Again, there is usually a prescribed number of passes. They may or may not succeed in unhorsing their opponent. They may hit, or miss. There may or may not be a fall. After which, they will usually give a demonstration of combat that may or may not be choreographed.
Understand, the EXACT SAME SKILLS are needed in either version of the show. You MUST be able to controll your lance to hit a target, and control your horse. You must have an excellent seat to maintain or deliver a hit. THE HORSES DON’T KNOW if the combat is real, or ‘choreographed’. They are being asked to perform the same tasks either way.
BR:Given your professional involvement in film and media, have you got any particular favourite movies set in the medieval or renaissance eras, either in terms of entertainment value or the vividness or accuracy with which they capture those eras? How about books, fiction or non-fiction?
RA: My favorite fight choreographer has got to be William Hobbs. (A Brit as it happens). His best films in no particular order – Robin and Marion – the end fight between Sean Connery and Robert Shaw as the aging Robin and Sherriff is a classic (One of my all time favorite films too). The Three and Four Musketeers – Dick Lester’s version – shot as one film but released as two, starring Michael York as D’Artagnan and Oliver Reed as Athos. Still some of the best rapier work on film. The Duellists – Ridley Scott’s first feature film – and the film that turned me into a Napoleonic Era buff. Excellent smaill sword and sabre work – and the best film ever for capturing the gut-wrenching terror of personal conflict. All these films are William Hobbs work. (He also did Zefferelli’s Romeo and Juliet and the latest Count of Monte Christo and Man in the Iron Mask – so yeah, if his name’s on it, I’ll watch it).
Best written description of the mindset and action of a duel … for my money, is the final duel between Oscar and The Eater of Souls in R. A. Heinlein’s Glory Road. Of course, Heinlein was a sabre fencer – and it shows.
For just plain fun, and insider’s reference – The Princess Bride – the book and the film, with their reference to actual period fencing masters and books. The fight in the film is also extremely well done – in the classic Old School Hollywood tradition.
As for recommended reading – one should read the actual period fencing manuals. Many are now available on-line. (Back in my day, you had to got to a real library, and check out the books IF you could find them).
BR: Thanks, Richard. I’m very grateful to you for taking the time to satisfy my curiosity! And to round things off, a nice clip of Richard talking about his film American Jouster, and the life of a touring knight:
Sometimes it’s hard not to be a bit despondent about the way bookselling is going. Latest manifestation of the increasingly uphill slog bookstores are facing in the UK is that Borders UK seems to be heading for the exit. (Not the same company, incidentally, as Borders in the US, which is having it’s own possibly even more severe problems). I know this is just the market doing what it does, and I know online book sales, and the brutal discounting of best-sellers in supermarkets, and eventually – even in the laggardly UK – the rise of e-books all have their pluses for the consumer, but it still feels regrettable that it’s becoming so difficult for even those with some scale on their side to make money out of bricks and mortars bookstores. I can’t help but think that the domination of the mass bookselling market – online and offline – by so few players is not going to prove an unreservedly good thing (to put it mildly) for either readers or authors in the long run.
On a more cheery subject, one of the entirely unpredictable amusements the internet offers is provided by the mindless working away of the automatic translation gremlins. Latest manifestation I’ve noticed is a version of an sf signal mind meld I was involved in the other day, on the subject of gloominess in sf. It’s clearly been translated into French and then back into English again, with the results that I apparently said, amongst many other similarly weird things:
The unhurt put candid, in its chichi quieten, is a youngster of the 20th century
When writers are more interested in how lavish shades of bloodless they can reproof up with than in hellish and unblemished, you inevitably aim up with a more less rose-tinted phantom of charitable possibilities.
There seems to be some kind of poetic, profound wisdom hiding in there somewhere: much more poetic and profound than what I said in the original interview. Perhaps I should put all my answers through a couple of rounds of online translation before submitting them in future?
And finally, I was pleased to discover that one of my favourites amongst the innumerable cgi shorts that show up on the internet these days is moving towards expansion into a full movie. Here’s the original short, a fun slice of sf:
Item 1: First winner of the Facebook signed Fall of Thanes giveaway has been duly selected. One more chance to win – this coming Friday – so there’s still time to sign up as a fan and thereby get yourself entered in the prize draw.
Item 2: According to this review of Fall of Thanes, it appears I might have made someone cry. Good. I mean that in the nicest possible way, obviously.
Item 3: I did an interview at a slightly more unusual venue than my usual online habitat of sf/f book blogs: Grinding to Valhalla, which as far as I can tell is a sort of mass interview site for mmo bloggers/podcasters. As a result, there’s a little bit more in there about my gaming habits/history than is usually the case.
Item 4: And finally … well I’m not really sure what to say about this (found via CBR), other than that I am at once strangely fascinated and strangely repelled:
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