Over the Hills and Far Away, to the Land of Deverry

The following is me recommending a series of fantasy books I've been reading for about 20 years. If that sort of thing interests ya, please read on. Otherwise, I'll see you in a bit with another WoW post.


Back in 1989, during my third year of college, a roommate brought in a book he owned but hadn't read: Daggerspell, by Katherine Kerr. It was a sword & Sorcery type of book, which I enjoyed, but it had a completely different take on things. This book was based in a Celtic universe, with feudal clans, the magic of Dweomer, and the reincarnation of souls through an 800 year saga of mistakes frustration and redemption. I was seriously hooked.

It, along with the 5 books that followed while I was still in school dealt with numerous intersting plots, races heroes and a villains. Maybe a *tad* more romantic that I normally like, the books had a depth to most of the characters that let them live and breath in your mind. While it may be a bit less "high literature" (which I feel Lord of the Rings is) the story, world and characters matches (maybe exceeds?) Tolkein's monumental work in a combination of depth and breadth. (in my most humble opinion) The writing style is easy to read, but the story is as complex and wonderful as a Celtic Knot




Over the following 20 years, I followed as books have been slowly published, and as of now, after a total 15 books, it seems that the saga may be over.

If you have the time, inclination and interest, I cannot recommend them highly enough.

Here's the list:

Act one: Deverry
1.Daggerspell (1986)
2.Darkspell (1987) — later reissued in an "author's definitive edition"
3.The Bristling Wood (1989) — US title; issued in the UK as Dawnspell: The Bristling Wood
4.The Dragon Revenant (1990) — US title; issued in the UK as Dragonspell: The Southern Sea


Act two: The Westlands
1.A Time of Exile (1991)
2.A Time of Omens (1992)
3.Days of Blood and Fire (1993) — US title; issued in the UK as A Time of War
4.Days of Air and Darkness (1994) — US title; issued in the UK as A Time of Justice


Act three: The Dragon Mage
1.The Red Wyvern (1997)
2.The Black Raven (1998)
3.The Fire Dragon (2000)


Act four: The Silver Wyrm
1.The Gold Falcon (2006) - US title; issued in the UK as the fourth book of The Dragon Mage
2.The Spirit Stone (2007) - US title; issued in the UK as the fifth book of The Dragon Mage
3.The Shadow Isle (2008) - US title; issued in the UK as the sixth book of The Dragon Mage
4.The Silver Mage (2009) - US title; issued in the UK as the seventh book of The Dragon Mage


I hope you read, and I hope you enjoy!

Not so Blinded by the Light

I was driving in to work yesterday morning, with the 40-odd mile drive taking 90 minutes or there abouts, as usual. Traffic sucks, idiots being idots and all the same crap.

I'm westbound on the I-10 freeway, approaching the 710 freeway, where I want to exit. Like a good little prepared driver, I'm in the right hand lane (exit lane for us Yanks, not the bloody fast lane for you wackos "over yonder" ;) )

Anyhow, I see a tractor-trailer (a big assed lorry) trying to do likewise, being careful and even using his blinkers. I slow up a bit to give him room and flash my lights to let him know it's OK to move.

He does so, and blinks his lights back when he gets over to thank me.

I'm not quite sure why, but this simple, pretty much anonymous exchange, gave me a nice warm fuzzy feeling.

It's a silly, polite thing for both of us to do, and SHOULD be pretty much SOP for "normal" folks. Granted it's kind of rare, but it happens a couple/few times a year, so it's not unheard of.

It wasn't some sort of random act of kindness on either of our parts, it was just two people behaving politely.

I'm not sure if I'm just in a soft mood, or if socially and publicly things have gotten become so rude, brash and unpleasant that even the slightest bit of decorum stands out like a beacon.

I know a part of the good feeling was simply being on the same wavelength as another random person; not really "connecting", but maybe more of a shared nod & small smile of acknowledgement.

It's the same sort of thing you'd get when riding a motorcycle, with another coming towards you in oncoming traffic. Both of you will just lift your hand to each other in acknowledgment.

Yeah, an odd day for me today.

Blogging life with a Polaroid

I've been busy in Azeroth, but haven't accomplished much, and haven't been able to coherently put thoughts onto electrons for a real post, but I wanted to link to another blog.


http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/15131.html

By Chris Higgins.


This blogger ran across a website with THOUSANDS of posted pictures, taken one per day, over the course of 18 years. The pictures were taken by another gentleman, and the linked blog takes you through some of them and a lot of commentary.

One of the more touching things I've read lately, and might lead some of you to pull a Kleenex or two. Both the original website and that blog are the epitome of sharing life via the web.

(many of you may have already seen this, but it's new to me,)

What's Goin' on... The Auction House is Actin' weird....

As I've been grinding through some quest lines and working on some rep, I've ended up collecting a fair number of semi-valuable green items. Some worth (theoretically) 60-80 gold, or occasionally more.

And on a few occasions, I've ventured into the AH to buy something.

But something strange is going on: no one has been buying my stuff (even after discounting it to only a bit above vendor price) and I'm having troubles finding anything *I* want to buy either. What gives?

The end result is that I've been vendoring a HUGE amount of stuff (I can disenchant lower level stuff, but I'm starting to get quite the supply of soul dust, dream dust, etc) Yes, I save on the AH fee, or paying a posting fee every time it falls off, but it still has me bugged.

Does this happen often on other servers or at certain times of the year?

It kinda sucks if you're trying to make some profit from your farming, and it's also frustrating when you want to buy a nice piece of kit (like a nice tanking weapon) and there's just nothing really there.

I've only been playing since May-ish, so maybe I just haven't seen that many cycles in the game, but it has me puzzled. I could "understand" it, if the Cataclysim expansion pack were about to come out, or something similarly HUGE, but even if the Icecrown update/patch were to come out tomorrow, I doubt it would have THAT much of an effect.

*shrug*

What say you?

Cold as Ice isn't Welcome at my Hotel California

OK, this post has NOTHING to do with WoW. At least not as I write this.

I grew up in suburban Detroit, went to college in East lansing (MSU) and finally got fed up with the yearly "freeze my effing nads off" every winter.

So I moved to Southern California.

And this past weekend is a PERFECT example of why: it was about 95 fahrenheit (35C).

This morning?

FORTY FIVE FUKKIN DEGREES!!!!! (thats about 8C for you metric blokes)

Again, this is southern Cal. I don't have insulation in the walls, and hardly any in the attic. It's still "early" winter", so I haven't turned my furnace/heater on yet. Hell, my air conditioners are still stuck in the windows!!!! (remember, it was 95 last weekend...)

And the temperature in my bedroom? 53* when I got out of bed!!!!!

"The boys" were tucked up so far it was tough swallowing my breakfast.


Wait, this is still a WoW blog... let's see...

Consecrate, QQ, nerfed to the ground, level, grind, loot, fish and cook.

*sigh* I'll try to be better tomorrow, but no promises... we're having a Halloween party here at work (which is where I do all my blogging, after all)