"Weird! What a shape! This is money?" - Ron Weasley

Ron Weasley (and the Wizarding World in general) may not think much of Muggle coinage but, fortunately for the people of England, the Royal Mint does not share that sentiment. Indeed, they just made the following announcement:

"We are thrilled to announce that we will be releasing a new collection of UK coins celebrating 25 years since the publication of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, a book that continues to inspire a love of reading in countless people all over the world. The idea for Harry Potter, the boy in glasses who didn’t yet know he was a wizard, first came to J.K. Rowling during a delayed train journey from Manchester to London. From that moment of magic, the Boy Who Lived was imagined into being – an unassuming, eleven-year-old hero destined to face terrible danger, but also find greatness within himself. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was published by Bloomsbury Children’s Books in 1997, the first of J.K. Rowling’s spellbinding adventures of Harry Potter, and his unforgettable friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. In 2015, Bloomsbury commissioned artist Jim Kay to create the first fully illustrated edition of J.K. Rowling’s classic story."

Followed by a proclamation from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II: “determining the specifications and designs for a new series of two hundred pound, twenty-five pound and fifty pence gold coins; a new series of ten pound, five pound, two pound and fifty pence silver coins; and a new series of fifty pence cupro-nickel coins.”

These coins will have a variety of classic and in some cases comic Potter quotes. In fact, I suspect the classic comic ones will be the most prevalent, as I have it on good authority that one will be the Latin words for “never tickle a sleeping dragon”, with another being Dumbledore's immortal "Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!" So we can chalk up another, this time royal, piece of evidence of the power of Fantasy. Now the English (& Scottish & Welsh) can buy Fantasy books with Fantasy-inspired coins.

I just started Quintana of Charyn by Melina Marchetta

I just started Quintana of Charyn by Melina Marchetta, book #3 of her Lumatere Chronicles.

 

A baby must be born to break the curse, two lovers must reunite to save a kingdom, any numbers of secrets must be revealed, and anger must be put aside if all can truly live together in love and peace. The Lumaterans search for Froi, Froi seeks Quintana, all seek truth in a tangle a ball of yarn would envy - the necessary untangling of which will be painful for all involved. Nothing like a good quest to get the blood pumping.

I just finished Froi of the Exiles

I just finished Froi of the Exiles by Melina Marchetta, book #2 of her Lumatere Chronicles.

Assassination attempts and successes, plots and counterplots, truths and lies, traitors betraying those friends and enemies they had once betrayed and vice versa (try to work that out), a half-mad princess and good old angry and caring Froi with a song and redemption in his heart plus a fierce love entwined with a relentless curse and tangled politics. All amounting to a maze of hurt and love and foul acts done with the best intentions coupled with a desperate desire for peace. The question now is, can Froi find Quintana of Charyn?

Magic vs. Mental Illness

If you did not note it above, here is the newest page: Magic vs. Mental Illness

The Rings Of Power - Stories from the Legendarium Featurette

Before people start complaining about them butchering the Second Age, ask yourselves how else they could have done it and be grateful we have this instead of nothing.

 

 

Eragon TV adaptation for Disney+

If you laughed on reading the title of this then rest assured I did the same when reading it on Shur'tugal. Truly HBO's Game of Thrones deserves a vote of deepest thanks! Not only has Amazon created TV adaptions for The Wheel of Time and J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth in the Second Age, plus Radar Pictures working on Mercedes Lackey's The Last Herald-Mage trilogy, but now an Eragon TV adaptation is in the works at Disney+! Eragon being the first volume of Christopher Paolini's internationally acclaimed The Inheritance Cycle, a series which caries a special place in my heart as Eragon was the first Fantasy I read on my own, back in the 5th grade, after my father read The Lord of the Rings to me.

What are my hopes for the show? Well, every Inheritance Cycle fan knows and tries the forget the travesty of a job Fox did with their Eragon movie back in 2004, so Disney+ knows that taking an artistic license to the plot and characters is not something fans will be forgiving about. Beyond that, since Christopher Paolini is co-writing the series my hopes, like his, are quite high. Luck to them as they bring Eragon & Saphira and all the rest from the wondrous world of Alagaësia – land of the Dragon Riders and the Ancient Language – to the big screen!

I just started Froi of the Exiles

I just started Froi of the Exiles by Melina Marchetta, book #2 of her Lumatere Chronicles.

As Lumatere struggles to rebuild, Froi seeks his place in a changing world and trust in himself even though others already trust him... just as a song and prophesy from their hated enemies calls out to him. I love daring missions into enemy kingdoms.