A fantasy author is just another name for one who has a foot within the borders of Faerie
Hall of Fantasy
- Home
- The Spirit of Tolkien
- Types of Fantasy
- The Nine Magics
- Faerie
- I am Ian E.S. Adler
- The Bookshelf
- Hidden Gems
- Fantasy Book Tiers
- R.I.P.
- Quotes
- Song Triad
- Riddle Mastery
- Heroine Archetypes
- Champions of Light
- The Role & Proper Usage of Magic Thingamajigs
- GRRM the Anti-Tolkien
- Rumors of the Wheel
- Race in Fantasy
- Here Be Dragons
- The Power of Names
- LGBTQIA+ in Fantasy
- The History (& Golden Age) of Fantasy
- Artist vs. the Art
- Magic vs. Mental Illness
- How to make your own System of Magic
- The Final Lesson
- Golden Sun
- Contact Me?
- AI's impact on Fantasy Art & Writing
- Misc
Sunday, March 18, 2018
Friday, March 16, 2018
Just started The Healer's Keep by Victoria Hanley
Just started The Healer's Keep by Victoria Hanley, companion to The Seer and the Sword and part of her Healer and Seer series.
Cannot say much save that I expect a grand time and look forward to meeting the daughter of two old friends.
"Killing the strong to prove your strength is foolish weakness. Killing fools is easy weakness. Killing the weak is evil weakness. Accomplished your ends without killing, mastering your mind when you want to kill - that is strength!"
– Landen of Bellandra
Cannot say much save that I expect a grand time and look forward to meeting the daughter of two old friends.
"Killing the strong to prove your strength is foolish weakness. Killing fools is easy weakness. Killing the weak is evil weakness. Accomplished your ends without killing, mastering your mind when you want to kill - that is strength!"
– Landen of Bellandra
Wednesday, March 14, 2018
My father and I just finished Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones
My father and I just finished Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones, book #2 of her Howl Series.
So I ended up pounding my fists against the bed multiple times; nothing new about that when reading a Jones book and getting surprised...nay, stunned, time and times again. She took the "rescue kidnapped princesses" trope to the point of hilarious absurdity/genius plus identity tricks that had me howling (pun intended). Arabian Nights with a twist indeed.
Nice to meet you Abdullah and Flower-in-the-Night, nice to see old friends from a certain moving castle again as well.
So I ended up pounding my fists against the bed multiple times; nothing new about that when reading a Jones book and getting surprised...nay, stunned, time and times again. She took the "rescue kidnapped princesses" trope to the point of hilarious absurdity/genius plus identity tricks that had me howling (pun intended). Arabian Nights with a twist indeed.
Nice to meet you Abdullah and Flower-in-the-Night, nice to see old friends from a certain moving castle again as well.
Monday, March 12, 2018
Just finished La Belle Sauvage
Just finished La Belle Sauvage, Volume #1 of The Book of Dust trilogy by Philip Pullman.
Pullman's skill has not diminished, making it a masterfully written book insofar as technical ability goes. Yet Pullman said that it could have called "His Darker Materials" and that, as an author, "I’ve got older and perhaps more cynical, closer to despair...It is a darker book, I don’t deny that, but that’s the story that came to me and wanted to be told.”
Hence I liked the book yet cannot put it, storywise, in the same league as the His Dark Materials trilogy. I only hope that lack is due to dear Lyra being a baby and that, in the next book, her fire will brighten the whole thing. (Honestly this one was not unlike a Fantasy Thriller). Though, due to Pullman's new attitude, I now fear for her (and Will, if we see him).
Pullman's skill has not diminished, making it a masterfully written book insofar as technical ability goes. Yet Pullman said that it could have called "His Darker Materials" and that, as an author, "I’ve got older and perhaps more cynical, closer to despair...It is a darker book, I don’t deny that, but that’s the story that came to me and wanted to be told.”
Hence I liked the book yet cannot put it, storywise, in the same league as the His Dark Materials trilogy. I only hope that lack is due to dear Lyra being a baby and that, in the next book, her fire will brighten the whole thing. (Honestly this one was not unlike a Fantasy Thriller). Though, due to Pullman's new attitude, I now fear for her (and Will, if we see him).
Farewell Malcolm and Alice (and Dr. Hannah Relf & the rest of
Oakley Street). It was a pleasure getting to know and see you outwit
enemy agents, a mad scientist, and Fairy.
Wednesday, March 7, 2018
Riddle Ranking System
Riddles in the Dark; one of the Fantasy genre's most iconic riddle games. I judge all of Tolkien's riddles to rank from Upper Middle-ranking to Master. |
Easy – Simple riddles that have a token of complexity but can be solved fairly quickly by 1st graders. These are always (at least for me) Logic riddles.
Example: When alive I am green, when I die I am brown, when I live I stay up, when I die I fall down = leaf
Middle-ranking – The most common level of riddle and, for me, the easiest to make. Sophisticated enough in wording, playing with words and logic, to pose a challenge to most for several hours. I typically use these to judge a person's (3rd grade to adult) skill in riddle-solving. Most tend to be Logic riddles.
Example: What can’t you keep until you give = a promise / your word
Hard – Difficult to describe this level as these are typically just short step above Middle-ranking, being of more complex wording and often having slightly less obvious answers. Indeed, I call them Upper Middle-ranking at times. Both Logic and Wordplay riddles are common.
Example: You saw me where I never was and where I could not be. And yet within that very place, my face you often see = a mirror reflection
Master – Few and far between are these riddles, both in terms of people able to make as well as solve them; even I have very few. As the name implies, only true master riddle-solvers can answer these, often only after hours of thought, for they require one to truly think outside of the box.
Example: ---- (Sorry, but I am going to keep these to myself. Torturing people with them is too much fun to spoil by posting the answers here.)
Grandmaster – Answering one of these puts you in the riddle-solver hall of fame. Always Combination riddles (at least all of mine are), these can be counted on the finger of one hand and are hardly ever solved even by those who can answer Master-ranked ones. I have one myself and, though I have given it to hundreds of people over the years, only fifteen have ever solve it (and most of these took a few days to do so).
Example: ---- (Sorry but, as a rule, usually, it is never given unit a person or group has proven themselves at the Middle-ranking level.)
Championmaster – Those insane riddles a hair's breath away from being unsolvable. I honestly do not know why I even bother listing this as a rank as, to date, my single riddle of this kind has only been solved once: by siblings Chloe and Heather, each of whom individually was a master riddle-solver, though it took them, working together, a full week to solve it. Frankly I only created the Championmaster riddle because my friend Devin, who had solved the Grandmaster, challenged me to craft a harder one.
Example: ---- (Sorry, but today I only tell this riddle to those select few who solve my Grandmaster...though none have solved it since the sisters).
Friday, March 2, 2018
A quick note
Yes, I am still reading The Book of Dust.
Slowly, ever so slowly so as to savor every word and page. (That, and life interferes with my reading schedule)
Slowly, ever so slowly so as to savor every word and page. (That, and life interferes with my reading schedule)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)