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Books Music

The Last of the Giants

Oh, I am the last of the giants,
My people are gone from the earth,
The last of the great mountain giants,
Who ruled all the world at my birth,
Oh, the small folk have stolen my forests,
They’ve stolen my rivers and hills,
And they’ve built a great wall through my valleys,
And fished all the fish from my rills
In stone halls they burn their great fires,
In stone halls they forge their sharp spears,
While I walk alone in the mountains,
With no true companion but tears
They hunt me with dogs in the daylight,
They hunt me with torches by night
Oh, I am the last of the giants,
So learn well the words of my song
For when I am gone all the singing will fade,
And the silence will last long and long

From A Storm of Swords.

Categories
Books

Book 3 vs Fallout 4

Every day at 4:00 CST, we’ll tally the donations. And if people have ponied up and demanded I write more of book 3, I’ll give up my gaming time and put in another three hours above and beyond my normal writing time for the day.

What’s more, I’ll stream my writing session on Twitch.

If the will of the people is that I play Fallout 4, I’ll do a live stream of that instead. Since I haven’t gamed in a while, I expect the result will either be the live stream equivalent of riding a unicorn made entirely of orgasms. Or, if my mad skillz have atrophied, it might be an embarrassing train wreck as I’m endlessly killed by rats in the basement of whatever inn we start the adventure in.

Pat Rothfuss has some fans eagerly awaiting the third book in his Kingkiller trilogy. Some lean more heavily towards eager than awaiting. Some are just dicks. He’s written a great post about his life and balancing that with work on Book 3 and given fans the chance to decide (albeit for a limited time) how he spends his time, writing Book 3 or playing Fallout 4, and helping end hunger and poverty in the process.

To throw in my tuppence on reader entitlement, Neil Gaiman summed it up best with:

George R.R. Martin is not your bitch.

But even beyond that if Pat didn’t do panels at conventions I would never have read Declare by Tim Powers, the book that reinvigorated my love of reading, if he didn’t give talks in cafes I would never have re-read my Pratchetts this year, if he didn’t do Acq Inc I wouldn’t now have a collection of D&D manuals that I adore, if I hadn’t heard him talk about world-building I’d wouldn’t have started drawing again, and #Ootsays never fails to make me laugh or smile.

And Pat doesn’t have to do any of that. I’m no more entitled to any of that than I am to Book 3 but I’m so glad he does it. And as long as he enjoys doing those things and I enjoy watching and reading them, I will. And if he decides he doesn’t want to do those things then that’s his call, he doesn’t owe them to me (or anyone). No more than he owes anyone Book 3.

Categories
Design Film

Guardians

I meant to post this back when the movie was still out but now seems as good a time as any.

guardians

By Cakes and Comics

I’m off to see Ant-Man tonight, anyone after further Marvel fixes:

Why does Marvel clash with its directors?
GRRM likes Ant-Man but wants some asymettric hero-villan powers
– A brainteaser (this is tough):

Categories
Books Comics

Bookshelf suggestions

What I’m reading at the minute:

East of West

A futuristic sci-fi Western. Death has abandoned his apocalyptic duties to track down his love, aided by Crow and Wolf, the other three Horsemen have been reincarnated as murderous children, and the great nations are trying to avert/bring about the Apocalypse complete with all manner of political manipulation, backstabbing and out-and-out war.

The character design is outstanding, the art is beautiful.

eastofwest

The Magician King

I read The Magicians last year and it was ace. I’d heard it described as ‘Harry Potter for grown-ups’ but that does it a disservice, sure there’s a school for magic and the (far greater) overtures to Narnia but it’s a great book full stop whether you get the Narnia/Fillory parallels or not. The Magician King is raring to go once I’ve finished…

Raising Steam

I’m enjoying it but I’m not gripped. When I was younger I’d start a Discworld novel and not sleep till I’d finished but I’m getting through this one. I struggled with Unseen Academicals too if I’m honest but Snuff I lapped right up, I guess Watch/Witches are my thing.

Saga

This is Star Wars-esque in scope. An intergalactic war, a forbidden love, bounty hunters, a ghost babysitter, magic, the coolest cat in science fiction. I’ve read Vols 1-3 and have 4 waiting for a Saturday morning in bed.

lyingcat

Plus a couple of new ones I haven’t read yet:

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August

It was cheap on Amazon and it’s supposed to be good I think?

Harry August is on his deathbed. Again.

No matter what he does or the decisions he makes, when death comes, Harry always returns to where he began, a child with all the knowledge of a life he has already lived a dozen times before. Nothing ever changes.

Until now.

As Harry nears the end of his eleventh life, a little girl appears at his bedside. ‘I nearly missed you, Doctor August,’ she says. ‘I need to send a message.’

This is the story of what Harry does next, and what he did before, and how he tries to save a past he cannot change and a future he cannot allow.

Reminds me a little bit of Unsound Variations the GRRM short story.

Jupiter’s Legacy

I remember reading about this after I saw Frank Quitely on “What Do Artist’s Do All Day?” on iPlayer, if was £5 on Amazon:

The story, which is influenced by Star Wars, King Kong, Roman mythology and origin stories from the Golden Age of Comics, is written as Millar’s treatise on superheroes’ connection to the American ideal. The story explores the generational conflict between a group of aging superheroes who used the powers they gained in 1932 for the betterment of mankind, and their children, who are daunted by the prospect of living up to their parents’ legacy.

Might have a read of him tonight.

Talking of cheap on Amazon, you can get the first three series of Korra for £5, £7 and £7 respectively. Bargain!

Categories
Books

A Song of Ice and Fire

Highlights from the original outline for GRRM’s ASOIAF:

Sansa marries King Joffrey, bears his son, and, Martin writes, “when the crunch comes she will choose her husband and child over her parents and siblings, a choice she will later bitterly rue.”

Tyrion Lannister falls in love with Arya, who only has eyes for Jon; this leads to “a deadly rivalry between Tyrion and Jon Snow.”

Daenerys Targaryen still marries Khal Drogo, who has no interest in capturing the throne of the Seven Kingdoms and kills her brother Viserys when he refuses to let it go. Presumably, Viserys is less of a jerk in this version than in the published book, because Daenerys actually kills Khal Drogo to avenge him.

Categories
Books Funny

GRRM’s Naughty List

Sort of spoilers. But not. But maybe?