Priorities

Today, my rambling won't focus on fantasy itself, but on the creation of it, the writing of it. As the drama in the first paragraph of my first post of this blog may have hinted at, I was worried that starting this project may take away time better spent working on my novel. So far, I can positively say that it has. Yes, it has interfered with my working schedule and I've written less then I would have liked since I started this project.

You may wonder, how much interference could there have been? I've only made 2 posts so far and they're not even especially long. True, but that's not what takes up my time. I've spent several hours researching for posts to come. Research means, looking at blogs, looking at artworks, reading articles, etc. I've actually already started writing another post about the new Star Wars movie, but it's not done yet, so this will be published first.

I enjoyed my research and I don't feel bad about having spent some time away from my stories, but at some point it's time to stop procrastinating with other great projects and start buckling down and getting to work. I already have 70.000 words written and another 30.000 planned for the next 15 chapters.I still have a bit to do, but if I sit down and do it I should be able to have my first draft done within the next few months.

(by Rafael Zanchetin)

Now, on to better things, like this work of art. When I found this it spoke to the fantasy rogue lover inside of me. This all out brawl in a tavern with cards, drinks and knives flying everywhere is wonderfully done. I'm no artist, but I think the details of the knife, hand and face are beautiful.

There are quite a few more wonderful works by Rafael Zanchetin on his DeviantArt page, so if you liked this go and check it out.



On to the next promotion, Auden Johnson's blog Dark Treasury really caught my interest. Especially, this post: Why Do We Write Dark Fantasy? I could see myself in some of what she wrote and although I haven't written too much dark fantasy, I totally get how it can fascinate the reader and writer. It's a way of letting your inner demons run free and do things that you would never consider doing in real life. The tricky bit when writing such things is to make your main character likable, even if he/she is a sociopathic maniac. That's one of the things I'm working on with a short story of mine.

All in all, I think Auden Johnson's blog is very interesting and especially informative with lots of posts and links about different things ranging from writing dark fantasy to world building to writing fight scenes to book marketing and much more.

So if that sounds as interesting to you dear reader as it does to me, then go take a look.

Lions and Demons and Horses! Oh my!

I just found this blog the other day and I think it's one of the reasons why I started my own. Ashana Lian's blog is full of good fantasy stuff. Reviews full of personal opinion that are fun to read. I especially enjoyed reading them, because she pointed out a lot of the same feelings that I felt when reading those same books, but never thought to put into words.

I really like the design of the site and especially the artwork at the top. All in all, the site is similar to what I hope my site will grow up to be one day. I'm still in the early stages of creating this blog and I might change its appearance from time to time. Might even add some cool art in the header like Ashana one day.

On another note, one of Ashana's book reviews was on "The Painted Man", also known as "The Warded Man" by Peter V. Brett. I really loved that book and its sequel. The world, the magic, it was all so immersive. Right down my alley. After a long wait I finally have the third book in the Demon Cycle series and I can't wait to read it. All I have to do is finish up "Lionheart" by Sharon Penman, historical fiction. It's a good read, a bit tough getting into, but also very interesting once you're in the thick of it. Really makes me want to read more about the different Crusades.

(Art by Nikola Yordanov)

Fitting to the Crusades, I chose this piece of art. The little details, like the arrows in the earth, the cross dangling from the knights neck and the fine chain mail really caught my eye. The horses face and the expression caught therein truly gives this painting its spirit. So much so that I feel the horse is the protagonist, not its rider.

New Beginnings

(Art by Alexandra V. Bach)

By the Seven, what have I done? May R'hllor's light shine upon me and save me from this crazy idea. Or may the Great Other take me and draw me into the Long Night.

No Gods have heeded my call, so I better get started. This here blog is a new project of mine that will hopefully catch a spark and spread like wildfire. I read a lot, and I write a lot less than I should. Books, blogs, short stories... Mainly, fantasy, but also science fiction, historical fiction, the occasional comedy-romance, anything really. Sometimes I find myself skipping through Google+, looking at bloggers and their sites, reading what's interesting, saving stuff to look at later. That kind of thing. Today when I did this I found myself wondering how many of these bloggers find themselves searching for more readers and how great it would be if they could share their readership with each other.

So that's what I'm going to be doing with this new project. With every post I'm going to give other writers a shout-out. Let everyone know about the cool things others are writing about out there in the web. As mentioned before and as you can tell by the title of this blog, I'll be focusing on fantasy writers. I'll also be adding some great art to every post. Always giving credit to whom it is due.

And of course, as the title of the blog also implies I will ramble on a bit about the occasional book or movie that I have just read/seen. So lets get started with that right away. For Christmas I got the second book of Brandon Sanderson's 'The Reckoners' series, "Firefght". I devoured that book in no less than 5 days and I'd love to talk about it, but I won't. I'm a stickler for chronological order. So if I'm going to talk about The Reckoners series, then I'm going to start with the first book, "Steelheart".

When I started reading "Steelheart" I thought this idea is great. Superheroes have emerged with the simultaneous ascension of a red star called Calamity. However, it turns out that even though the powers they have are pretty super, their personalities could really use a makeover, because none of the gifted are heroes, they're all villains and they've taken over. It's up to a band of rebels, called the Reckoners, to try and make life better by studying and assassinating these Epics. David is the main character who has a personal grudge against the Epic reigning over Newcago, Steelheart, and wants nothing more that to join the Reckoners and kill this tyrant.

Cool abilities, fast paced action, a true page-turner. I was expecting something in the lines of the TV show "Heroes", but I got so much more. And now that I've read the sequel I can't wait to read the final book of the series coming out mid-February.

And now, as the finishing touch, I'll give a shout-out to The Prediction a fun blog with a weekly contest. You are prompted 3 words and have to write a short flash fiction of 100 words. Many regulars to the site tend to write serials, so it's fun to get to know the characters as the weeks progress. The genres of choice are horror, fantasy, science fiction or noir. It's a friendly group of talented people and I'm glad I found them. I have my own serial that I post every week so why don't you fantasy lovers go and check it out.