tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66472936254852129572024-03-12T19:33:01.184-07:00Tales of the Lindensaga™J R Hardestyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579278817831456921noreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6647293625485212957.post-57956794882106445192020-11-09T13:59:00.002-08:002020-11-28T10:27:57.271-08:00THE LAST GIANT: TRANSGRESSION is now in Italian!!<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">AFTER A FEW DELAYS, some technical and some caused by life, the Italian translation is now being published as an e-book on various platforms and from several distributors. It is currently available from <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1539257457" target="_blank">Apple</a>, <a href="https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/l-ultimo-gigante-trasgressione" target="_blank">Kobo</a>, Tolino and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08NZQNTF5" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Amazon</a>. <a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/lultimo-gigante-j-r-hardesty/1138089923?ean=2940164676223" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Barnes & Noble</a>, Google Play, Streetlib, Inscribe, and Scribd will follow in due time.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">We wish to acknowledge the time and excellent work put into this translation by our translator, <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/giuseppe.raccosta" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Giuseppe Raccosta</a></b>, whose services we obtained via Babelcube. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">THANK YOU, GIUSEPPE!</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xviU647eB-0/X6m389zyhBI/AAAAAAAAAQU/RfxzXbFf1Lk69WyNK1oP9YpSunGO8a77gCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Menannon%2Bfinal%2B%2BCover%2Bpicture%2BItalian%2Bcopy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1382" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xviU647eB-0/X6m389zyhBI/AAAAAAAAAQU/RfxzXbFf1Lk69WyNK1oP9YpSunGO8a77gCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Menannon%2Bfinal%2B%2BCover%2Bpicture%2BItalian%2Bcopy.jpg" /></a></span></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It would not do to not also give somewhat belated thanks to the translator of the Spanish edition as well. She was wonderful to work with and provided a most excellent translation. Herewith we give our thanks and a super SHOUT-OUT to <a href="https://essentiatrans.wixsite.com/essentiatranslations" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><b>Pilar Dueñas</b></a>, a very talented translator. The Spanish edition is available at all the above-mentioned sources.</span></span><br /></p>J R Hardestyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579278817831456921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6647293625485212957.post-68756496293779726072020-09-26T10:27:00.002-07:002020-09-30T08:50:30.074-07:00<h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">After another long absence,</span></h1><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>WE are back. </b>To be sure, I don't maintain this blog as I should, but in my defense, I can only say that life just keeps getting in the way. Much water has gone under the bridge since last I posted here, so let me see if I can bring you up do date.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>The Spanish edition of <i>The Last Giant: Transgression</i> has been completed</b> and is available as an e-book from several sources---see the sidebar for details and links. Jan did a new cover for it using an earlier trial cover and making some changes. We think it is a very nice cover.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>The Italian translation</b> by <u>Giuseppe Raccosta</u> has been completed and awaits a cover. Jan has promised she will get that done next week. We shall see! </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Volume 2 of the <i>Last Giant</i> (<i>Retribution</i>) </b>is still in the works, unfortunately. Menannon gets put through the wringer, of course. He matures quite a bit, as you no doubt have surmised. We learn a great deal about him as he comes to know himself and the part the High One has set for him to play. This book will bring his story to a pause as it sets the stage for the next two books which take up the tale of the Teluri, Lindrahier and in which our Giant plays a major supporting rôle. Actually, he plays a part in most of the rest of the series which is why we are telling his story first. His story has another book yet to appear which will bring it to a close, but that is several volumes down the pike.<br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Our household</b> continues to undergo many changes. As of this writing, it consists of ourselves (of course!), two cats (Griffur and Lady Claire) and three Cocker spaniels (Lily, Bradley and the newest, Sandy). Lily is the Grand Dame of the bunch and the two boys do defer to her...or else! Griffur's full name is rather a mouthful---Sir Tristan of Grayhill, third Baron Gray Fur---so you can see why we shorten it. Lily is more fully known as Darling Lily, Bradley is really EBS Seriously, but Bradley is soooo much better. We named the pup---he's only 6 mos old right now---in honor of two special critters. The first was my very first dog, also a golden cocker, whom I named Sandy. I got her when I was in second grade. Now, the second honoree is Winnie-the-Pooh, whom, as we all know, lived under the name of Sanders. So, this little guy is Mr. Sanders, informally called Sandy. There you have it.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>You may note</b> that I have made a few changes to our suggested reading list to the right, and I will continue to do so from time to time. The books listed are titles that reside in our library and have either read or am reading, or at least started.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>One of our hobbies</b> is collecting and using in a safe manner sharp pointy things. To be precise: swords. We recently enjoyed an outing with some neighbors who are equally afflicted and cheerfully dispatched numerous plastic water-filled gallon milk jugs. We deployed Jan's German <i>zweihander</i> and my lovely Chinese jian. Our neighbor used his brand new Han Dynasty replica jian and it cut like a dream. Mine has a dragon motif in its hardware, his uses a plain design, yet is quite elegant in its black, lacquered sheath.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Here is a photo of one of my swords. It is a replica arming sword made by Angus Trim some years ago. Nice sword. It has been slightly customized. I had the roundels on the pommel added and I did the work on the ends of the guard.<br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><a href="https://i.imgur.com/rpTa2J1l.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="640" height="256" src="https://i.imgur.com/rpTa2J1l.jpg" width="596" /></a></span></div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Here is a photo of my dragon jian:</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://i.imgur.com/MklAkU7l.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="106" data-original-width="640" height="91" src="https://i.imgur.com/MklAkU7l.jpg" width="601" /></a><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">A closeup of the hilt:</span></span></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://i.imgur.com/bcW1Nb2l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="258" data-original-width="640" height="236" src="https://i.imgur.com/bcW1Nb2l.jpg" width="597" /></a></div><br /><a href="https://i.imgur.com/bcW1Nb2l.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></span></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>I suppose</b> some folks might be curious as to how the COVID-19 business has affected us. It has affected us, simply put, not at all. Our lives have gone on pretty much as usual aside from having to slap some piece of cloth on our faces whenever we enter a medical facility. It helps that we live in Montana.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Well, that about does it for now. If I linger longer over the keyboard, I will begin to ramble on aimlessly, searching for something to write. I will spare you the agony of that experience.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Until next time!</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">-- Richard for J. R. Hardesty</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">P. S.: It won't be another year until the next post. Just until I have something worth posting. </span></span><br /></div></div><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span><br /></p>J R Hardestyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579278817831456921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6647293625485212957.post-73190480905979757592019-10-20T17:39:00.001-07:002019-10-20T17:39:44.046-07:00A SPANISH EDITION! RAMBLINGS!After an unplanned hiatus caused by my inexplicable inability to logon to our blog, we have returned. Whether for the better or for the worse is up to you to decide.<br /><br />There is much to catch up on.<br /><br /><b><u>Translations!</u></b><br /><br />Firstly, volume 1 of the Lindensaga™ has been translated into Spanish. We used the services of Babelcube (www.babelcube.com), a website which acts as a middle man by bringing publishers/authors together with translators. The best part of the whole thing is that it does not cost the author a penny up front! It is really a great service for both authors and publishers. Our translator for this volume is Pilar Dueñas of Seville, Spain (o Sevilla, España). She is a talented translator and is very easy to work with, even patiently listening to author suggestions. We were lucky to get her. <br /><br />The Spanish version of Vol. 1 of the Lindensaga™, <i>El Último Gigante: Transgresión</i> will soon be available as an e-book on-line at various retailers (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo, Inscribe, et cetera). A paperback edition will also be available. I am working on the formatting right now, in fact.<br /><br />Sometime in the early part of 2020, Vol. 1 will also be available in Italian. It is being translated by Giuseppe Raccosta.<br /><u><br /><b>Publishing Schedule Update</b></u><br /><br />In my last post before the burp (over three years ago - September 24, 2016) I made some overly optimistic pronouncements regarding the publishing schedule.<br /><br />Obviously, volume 2 (The Last Giant: Retribution) was not published in November of that year, nor was volume 3 issued in December. We are still working on Vol 2 and are hoping to have it completed by the end of this year (2019). Volume 3 (The Gift of the High One: Prince of the Teluri) is finished, but needs a bit of tweaking to bring it completely into line with vols. 1 & 2. It was finished quite some time ago, but publication has been delayed in order to write the first two volumes. We anticipate publication of volume 3 (The Gift of the High One: Prince of the Teluri) approximately six months after volume 2 is published.<br /><br />Other volumes are in varying stages of completion as indicated below.<br /><br /> <i>Gift of the High One</i> — the story of Lindrahier, a Teluri prince.<br /> 3: Prince of the Teluri (99% complete)<br /> 4: High King of the Teluri (∼50% complete)<br />
<br /> <i>The Harper of Rhindol Vale</i> — the adventures of Siglin, an unusual Teluri harper, and his spirit-brother, Biplinder Paddleford of Rhindol Vale.<br /> 5: The Key of Tanguroth (complete)<br /> 6: The Orb of Making (∼50% complete)<br /> 7: The White Tower (∼75% complete)<br /> 8: The Frostrill Stair (outline complete)<br /><br />The remaining seven volumes of the planned fifteen exist as synopses only at this time. Just FYI, here are the remaining titles:<br /><br /> 9: The Last Giant: Absolution<br /> <br /> <i>Serenssaga</i> — the tale of Seren Smithsson. Takes place many hundreds of years after #9<br /> 10: The Ghost and the Ring. (Chapter 1 was re-written as a short story.)<br /> 11: Daylight and Darkness<br /> 12: Forgesinger<br /><br /> <i>The Chronicles of the Black Sun</i><br /> 13: Black Sun Rising<br /> 14: Black Sun Burning<br /> 15: Black Sun Extinguished: The World’s Ending<br /><b><br />Terminus</b><br /><br />Alas! My allotted time for blogging has expired for now. I shall return as soon as I may for another round of blather and pontification. Until then, Happy Trails!<br /><br />– Richard,<br /> for J. R. HardestyJ R Hardestyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579278817831456921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6647293625485212957.post-3103742648613147202019-09-12T15:03:00.002-07:002019-09-12T15:03:54.283-07:00We have returned!<span style="font-size: large;"><b>After a 3 year hiatus caused by not being able to access this blog, we are back!</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;">We have lots of news to catch up on and will do so ASAP, but having just gotten access back, I do not have anything ready, but will in a few days. Please be patient.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b> </b></span>J R Hardestyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579278817831456921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6647293625485212957.post-15155647607698038012016-09-24T13:44:00.002-07:002016-09-24T13:44:30.851-07:00Back at Last!<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Summer's almost over</b>, Autumn is fast approaching and my time in the boonies has but three days to run as I write this. I have had fun up there in Polebridge, but it did shorten my free time to the point where I had none left for this blog, for which I am quite sorry.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Even so, we have not been idle. We have delayed the publication of the one-volume edition of <i>Transgression</i> until October to allow the development of new cover art for the series. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Jan became disenchanted with the original series covers, and deemed new art was in order. For <i>Transgression</i>, she adapted her original digital painting of Menannon and Nirna for the trade paperback and we were able to use the full painting for the d/j on the limited hardcover edition. I'll post the pb cover on Face Book when she is done with it. The full painting can be seen <a href="http://jhardesty007.deviantart.com/art/All-Is-Not-Well-in-Kalyria-597695456" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The cover for subsequent books will be uniform in style, as before, but will all have new art, as we wanted to better showcase her work. She has already begun work on the cover for <i>Retribution</i> (book 2 in the Lindensaga) featuring brand new art and she has as well begun completing the MS which should be finished in time to make the November publication date.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">December will see the publication of book 3 in the series, <i>Prince of the Teluri</i>, which is also the first part of a duology, <i>The Gift of the High One</i>. The MS for this is essentially completed barring only a few small tweaks to bring it into line with <i>Transgression/Retribution</i> as it was written some time ago.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The short time I had available for blogging has come to an end, so I bid you goodbye until next time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">-- Richard </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> <i>for</i> J. R. Hardesty</span></div>
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J R Hardestyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579278817831456921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6647293625485212957.post-90748384630493252892016-04-17T15:26:00.000-07:002016-04-17T15:26:24.494-07:00Paradise at Polebridge<br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_492-Dd_eHg/VxQMFTq7qlI/AAAAAAAAAJg/5OpOcBqRIDM0jlril0OsnE-DAIzvvQbPACK4B/s1600/Polebridge%2Bview.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>Last summer</b> whilst accompanying Jan on her “Roam the Park” day</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">—</span>the “gate Rangers” in Glacier National Park get one work day to wander around the park and get to know it better</span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">—</span>we headed for the North Fork country as she was least familiar with that semi-remote area of Glacier. <br /> The North Fork of the Flathead River serves as the western boundary to Glacier for part of its length and the North Fork valley is home to some awesome scenery as well as the little hamlet of Polebridge. The Polebridge Ranger Station, guardian of the NW entrance to Glacier, is located nearby.<br /> There are many who consider the North Fork Paradise on Earth, and I would not dispute that claim. There are more residences up there than appear to the eye, most of them being for summer occupancy only, but there are a few hardy souls who live up there year around. Polebridge itself is home to two institutions of far-reaching fame: the <a href="http://polebridgemerc.com/" target="_blank">Polebridge Mercantile</a> and its awesome bakery, creators & purveyors of divinely mouth-watering treats fit for the gods, and its next-door neighbor, the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Northern-Lights-Saloon-Cafe/131684670215599" target="_blank">Northern Lights Saloon</a>.<br /> On our little jaunt up the North Fork with Kintla Lake as our ultimate destination, we stopped in Polebridge, of course. After indulging in some heavenly pastries, we headed north on Glacier Drive for the one mile drive to the Polebridge entrance to Glacier National Park. After chatting with the gate Ranger (the official Park Service name for those folk is Visitor Use Assistant or VUA), we headed on north for Kintla. As we left the entrance, I opined somewhat wistfully that it would be a grand place to be assigned for the summer and wouldn’t it be fun! She whole-heartedly agreed.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> Be careful what you wish for.</span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_492-Dd_eHg/VxQMFTq7qlI/AAAAAAAAAJg/5OpOcBqRIDM0jlril0OsnE-DAIzvvQbPACK4B/s1600/Polebridge%2Bview.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_492-Dd_eHg/VxQMFTq7qlI/AAAAAAAAAJg/5OpOcBqRIDM0jlril0OsnE-DAIzvvQbPACK4B/s400/Polebridge%2Bview.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Paradise at Polebridge</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> Around about November last, I brought up the topic of our future plans for our books and observed that we need more capital and perhaps I should get a job of some sort, but that I definitely refused to work retail ever again. She nodded in agreement and understanding, then asked me, ”Well, why don’t you apply for the Park?” I knew that some of the VUAs would not be returning and I said, “What he heck? Why not?” I’d rather sit in the kiosk at the West Entrance where Jan worked than work retail any day. And it might work out that we would work together some of the time which was fine with both of us.<br /> So, I applied.<br /> I jumped through all the hoops and was eventually notified that if I was still interested and available, I had a job—West entrance, of course. Cool. I was tickled pink and quite excited. After filling out more paperwork and getting my fingerprints taken (for the background check—we handle money after all), I settled into a regular routine of checking my e-mail daily for any other communications from the Park people as I did not wish to miss anything.<br /> So one fine day, I found an e-mail not from the usual roster of folk I had been dealing with. Curious, I opened it up, read it, blinked, read it again and then shouted to Jan who was out in the kitchen.<br /> “Hon, they’ve offered me Polebridge!”<br /> “What??”<br /> “I’ve been offered Polebridge!”<br /> “Super! You’d better take it or I’ll hurt you!”<br /> Of course, there was no way I was going to turn that offer down anyhow, so I quickly responded in the positive.<br /> So now, I will take up my station at the Polebridge Ranger Station May 23 after four days of orientation and training. Because of its remoteness, I will be staying in a little cabin up there during my work week and driving home for the weekend over one of the nastiest dirt roads in the state.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> But the rest of the week, I’ll be in Paradise.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">-- Richard </span></div>
J R Hardestyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579278817831456921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6647293625485212957.post-63535151171415515222015-12-06T20:38:00.001-08:002015-12-06T20:38:27.736-08:00NOW IN FT. MYERS, FLORIDA!<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">We are very excited! Our books will soon be on the shelf at<b> P. J. Boox in Ft. Myers, Florida</b>. This store is unique. It features only indie or self-published books and the authors get to keep 98% of the revenues! It is an imaginative solution to the self-published author's problem: getting one's books into a brick-and-mortar store. Thanks, P. J.!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">-- Richard, for J. R. </span>J R Hardestyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579278817831456921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6647293625485212957.post-12685607905494261492015-12-06T20:06:00.000-08:002015-12-27T14:45:18.087-08:00Stumbling Through Fantasyland<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><i>Hands on hips, brows lowering, Emerson stood gazing fixedly at the recumbent ruminant. A sympathetic friend (if camels have such, which is doubtful) might have taken comfort in the fact that scarcely a ripple of agitated sand surrounded the place of its demise. Like the others in the caravan, of which it was the last, it had simply stopped, sunk to its knees, and passed on, peacefully and quietly. (Conditions, I might add, that are uncharacteristic of camels alive or moribund.)</i> — Elizabeth Peters.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: normal;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><br /> You may well ask what this quote, the first paragraph Elizabeth Peters’ delightful book <i>The Last Camel Died at Noon,</i> has to do with fantasy, as she is a well-known mystery writer. <br /> To answer that, we must first mention Allan Quartermain, and in so doing we find ourselves in the realm of Henry Rider Haggard, a writer of adventure tales, many set in Africa. Of the many books he wrote, he is most widely known for two: <i>King Solomon’s Mines</i> (1885), with Allan Quartermain and set in Africa and <i>She, A History of Adventure</i> (1887) with Horace Holly & Leo Vincey set in Africa, both of which had fantasy elements in them. <i>She</i> is considered a foundational work of the fantasy genre and, I think, deservedly so. <br /> Quartermain went on to star in many other African novels by Haggard, including his own encounter with Ayesha (She-who-must-be-obeyed) in <i>She and Allan</i> (1921). Mr. Holly has a further adventure with She in the sequel, <i>Ayesha, the Return of She</i> (1905), which is set in Tibet.<br /> These are lost world/lost race novels and <i>King Solomon’s Mines</i> is regarded as having started that particular genre and both are fun reading. As it happens, Elizabeth Peters shares with us an enthusiasm for H. Rider Haggard. Her novel, <i>The Last Camel Died at Noon</i>, one of her books about Amelia Peabody and her husband Radcliffe Emerson, is an entertaining tribute to Haggard’s books and involves—you guessed it—a lost race and city. Since her Peabody books are all set primarily in Egypt (Peabody & Emerson are Egyptologists), the lost race is tied to the civilization and culture of ancient Egypt as exemplified in the 25th Egyptian dynasty & its successor kingdoms of Napata and Meroë. We loved it and its sequel, <i>Guardian of the Horizon</i>, which takes place ten years later. Peters</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: normal;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: normal;"><span style="font-size: normal;">’</span></span></span> nods to Haggard don</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: normal;"><span style="font-size: normal;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: normal;"><span style="font-size: normal;">’</span></span></span>t stop there, however. In her novel <i>The Snake, the Crocodile and the Dog,</i> a major character is one Leopold Vincey<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">, who, as mentioned above, was one of the main characters in <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">H</span>aggard's novel <i>She</i>. I have no doubt there are o<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ther such tributes to <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Haggard scattered through<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">out <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">her Peabody series.</span></span></span></span></span><br /> We strongly urge you to investigate not only Elizabeth Peters (particularly if you also like mysteries which most of her Peabody books are), but most especially H. Rider Haggard.<br /> Stumbling along off the beaten track, we find an interesting book which is only nominally fantasy, the adventure novel-with-a-spin, <i>The Sunbird</i> (1972) by Wilbur Smith. It’s a lost city tale of sorts. The first half of the book is set in modern times and details the trials and tribulations of the search for the lost city of Opet and involves a rich mining executive, his archaeologist friend and the archaeologist’s lovely assistant/girl friend who, not surprisingly, create a problem for themselves in that the rich guy steals the assistant away from the potboy (yeah, I know — bad cheap pun). The twist: the second half of the book is set a couple of thousand years ago in the ancient city of Opet and concerns a strangely familiar cast of characters. Are they the previous lives of the book’s three-some? Or...?? It’s a bit violent, as Smith’s books tend to be, but it is a romp, certain. Give it a go and see for yourself.<br /> Tripping further along the periphery of Fantasyland, we stumble over some books by Arthur O. Friel. He made a six-month exploratory journey up the Orinoco River in Venezuela back in 1922 and used his knowledge of that area to write some fun adventure novels with fantasy elements thrown in for good measure: <i>The Pathless Trail</i> (1922), <i>Tiger River</i> (1923), <i>King of No Man’s Land</i> (1924) and <i>Mountains of Mystery</i> (1925). Of these, I have read only the first two and thoroughly enjoyed them. Jungle adventure, green men, lost races, man/ape hybrids...oh, yeah! They were reprinted in mass market paperback with cover art by Jeff Jones in 1972 by Centaur Press (a small paperback company established by Donald M. Grant and Charles M. Collins. see <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centaur_Press" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>). All of Friel’s books can be found in the used market, with <i>Pathless Trail</i> and <i>Tiger River</i> being readily available at a decent price. <br /> Friel also wrote about his journey up the Orinoco in <i>The River of Seven Stars</i> (Harper, 1924), which is also fun reading. Unfortunately, this book is not so easily found. I was fortunate some years ago to find a copy in a local used book shop and still have it, although it suffered some water damage a couple of years ago. It is still readable, however. The book was never, to my knowledge, published in paperback and the used market has copies of the first (and only) edition priced at $75.00 and up. If you can find a copy, it would be worth the money, but unless you are bent on having a hardcover, a library would be your best bet for this title. WorldCat shows 70 copies in libraries in the U. S., copies in the National Library of Scotland, Trinity College Library of Dublin, Oxford, St. Pancras, Cambridge University and the University of Essex. Copies can also be found in Germany, France and Australia.<br /> OK, we’ve stumbled along enough. I think next time I’ll discuss mysteries that have had an influence on us one way or another and a some we just read for the love of a good story.<br /><br />– Richard, for J. R. Hardesty</span></span></span></div>
J R Hardestyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579278817831456921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6647293625485212957.post-75569006542768104572015-11-01T23:47:00.002-08:002015-11-01T23:47:26.077-08:00WHAT DOES A WRITER DO WHEN NOT WRITING?<span id="goog_1656773933"></span><span id="goog_1656773934"></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The MS for Part 2 of <i>The Last Giant: Transgression</i> is in the publisher's hands, which means that I doff my authorial hat and don one of my other hats, in this case, two: Editor and Designer/Typographer, with a little CEO (of Purple Mammoth Publishing LLC) thrown in for good measure. Yes, we---with two others---own our own publishing company, such as it is.</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">*switching hats* </span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I am now speaking to you as The Publisher: Part 2 is partly published, with the Kindle version available from the Kindle store and the print version to arrive within a day or two. The design/typography is completed and is undergoing review by a backup pair of eyes---our Art Director who is also the other half ("J") of J. R. Hardesty. We both wear many hats in this operation. Project director is one hat neither of us wear. That honor goes to Dave Blythe, and he cracks a mean whip!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And then I get to don the Marketing Director hat, but that is another story entirely. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">That partly answers the<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> question in the title for us, but <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">w</span></span>hat other writers do when not writing would be a topic for a series of blogs which I have no intention of taking on.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>*switch<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ing</span> hats*</i> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Authorial hat back on. Now off-duty, we have been having a marvelous time doing other things that are utterly unrelated to writing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The primary project involves moving 10" x 11.5" x 12' railroad bridge ties from the pile along the back fence to a new location along the front fence to act as a footing for Greg's garage. Greg is Jan's step-daddy and we are helping him build a garage for the convertible he bought himself for his 80th birthday. Bridge ties are not like a rail tie. Uh-uh. They are bloody HEAVY. We rented a Bobcat KT-55 mini track loader to move them. Had to, otherwise they'd still be sitting on the back yard pile.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">That should give you some idea of what I mean, but to give you a better idea of how much fun this actually was, here's the </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">video for you.</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dx5FBns9qKWk9zJXbJ_xXi7GQy7TmrfpKFTjTpWTCYC2f3reQjk2ZBedNJS7OHVynTQaBe619H0F-ChuZHnbA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ii3wDcg_-w4/VjcN9Q946jI/AAAAAAAAAIw/2ZBGKIJ8tLw/s1600/P1060002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ii3wDcg_-w4/VjcN9Q946jI/AAAAAAAAAIw/2ZBGKIJ8tLw/s320/P1060002.JPG" width="213" /></a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">But all work and no play make for a dull person, so we play a little, too. A few weeks back, we went hiking in Glacier National Park on the <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Highline</span> trail with Greg who was dying to try out his new off-road walker. <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It is</span> the product of Swedish engineering. It lets him walk on rough ground so he is no longer limited to pavement & sidewalks. We were very impressed with how this walker allowed him to go where otherwise<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> he<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> could not. </span></span>The weather was great, the view magnificent and we had an absolute blast. Greg had a grand time of it as he had not been able to hike <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">that trail for many y<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ears and he used to hike it all the time. It was something of a homecoming for him<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">.</span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> These p<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">hotos give you <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">something of the experience of the day<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">, and certainly show how remarkable that walker is. It is called a Veloped and we got it from <a href="http://www.trionic.us/" target="_blank">Trionic USA </a></span></span>and you can definitely consider this a product recommendation! <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">And no, we aren't getting any kickback from them!</span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">That's Greg taking in the view <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">w<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">it<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">h me behind him <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">soaking it all in.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">The view south along the trail. <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">That ribbon-looking thing down below is the <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Going-to-the-<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Sun Road. Looks rather small from up there on the cliff.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Well,</span> that's what these writers do when they aren't writing. We work <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">and we play.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Until ne<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">xt time!</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i>-- Richard, for</i></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><i> J. <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">R. Hardesty</span> </i> </span> </span></span> </span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<br />J R Hardestyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579278817831456921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6647293625485212957.post-58984477425460627362015-10-11T23:49:00.001-07:002015-10-11T23:49:14.472-07:00Release of "The Last Giant: Transgression," Part 2 is getting closer<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Kindle release date getting closer ..... </h2>
<br />J R Hardestyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579278817831456921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6647293625485212957.post-46948375915319598492015-08-22T15:18:00.000-07:002015-08-22T15:18:06.812-07:00Where the heck is Part 2!!! and other woes.<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Ahhhh....yes. Where, indeed? The bad news is that it took far longer to finish Part 2 of <i>Transgression</i> than we anticipated for a variety of reasons and we've had to completely re-do our publishing schedule based on reality, not wishful thinking.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The good news is that Part 2 will be out in October! The initial edit is complete. We now have the read-through and the final edit yet to do. The read-through usually takes a couple of days, and the final edit wherein the whole is viewed with a jaundiced eye can take a few days. I take on the role of "evil editor" for that one. Whole scenes have been known to get cut in that process, but it should result in a better book. Unfortunately, the first part was not subjected to as rigorous a final edit as it should have (not that I was easy on us) as we were under a self-imposed (and unrealistic) deadline tyranny.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">We are now looking at getting two books out per year and as some of the future volumes are already written and need only some minor tweaking to bring them into sync with the <i>Last Giant</i> books (two books in three volumes), we should not have any trouble in making that happen.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The third book in the series, <i>Prince of the Teluri</i>, is complete but for some tweaking, so will not hold up the schedule at all. That is scheduled for Fall of 2016 and it follows the second book of <i>The Last Giant</i> (<i>Retribution</i>) which is now scheduled for Spring of 2016. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Following <i>Prince</i> will be <i>High King of the Teluri</i>, in Spring 2017. The two <i>Teluri</i> books have a common title of <i>The Gift of the High One</i>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The next mini-series within <i>The Lindendaga</i><sup><span style="font-size: tiny;">TM</span></sup> will the 4 book series, <i>The Harper of Rhindol Vale</i>. The first book (<i>The Key of Tanguroth</i>) is complete and needs the afore-mentioned tweaking to be ready to publish in October 2017. It is a big book, running to over 600 pages, but it's a kicker!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">So, to recap:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Books in the <i>Lindensaga</i>:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> <b>The Last Giant</b> - centers on the Giant, Menannon who is a recurring character in all subsequent books, but in a supporting role.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> 1. Transgression</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Part 1 - Pub Dec 2014 </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> Paft 2 - <i>October 2015</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> 2. Retribution - <i> April/May 2016</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> <b>The Gift of the High One</b> - centers on a new character, Lindrahier, a Teluri</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> 3. Prince of the Teluri - <i>October 2016</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> 4. High King of the Teluri - <i>April/May 2017</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> <b>The Harper of Rhindol Vale</b> - centers on Siglin Lightbringer, a Teluri of unusual gifts</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> 5. The Key of Tanguroth - <i>October 2017</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><i> </i>6. The Orb of Making </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><i> </i>7. The White Tower </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><i> </i>8. The Frostrill Stair</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">If it is at all possible, we will publish a book earlier than stated, but the above is the official publication schedule as of today and should be considered as close to final as is possible.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Best wishes to all!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">-- <i>Richard</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><i> 22 August 2015 </i> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br /></span>J R Hardestyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579278817831456921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6647293625485212957.post-39493271583427494782015-06-06T15:22:00.002-07:002015-06-06T15:29:21.704-07:00Update: Where's Part 2 of "The Last Giant: Transgression"? (Lindensaga v. 1)<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">It's coming, we promise! In fact, a preview (the first 3 chapters) is now available on the <a href="http://www.goldencockerpress.com/" target="_blank">publisher's website</a> or <a href="http://www.goldencockerpress.com/Home/Part%202%20Preview.pdf" target="_blank">right here</a>.<span style="font-size: small;"> It's a PDF file and contains a bonus</span></span>:<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> a pencil drawing of Princess Nirna by Jan!</span> <span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This drawing has never before been published and in fact, only one other person has seen it. That person won one of the 5 copies of Part 1 we gave away on Goodreads a while back. Each copy had a different printed drawing by Jan tipped in and I have no idea who got what, but they each have very unique copies.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">We don't know when or if we'll ever again reproduce that portrait, so now's your chance to see it. Just get your<a href="http://www.goldencockerpress.com/" target="_blank"> FREE PDF</a> of the first three chapters of Part 2 NOW!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The balance of Part 2 is 98% written and needs to be edited & formatted. We've been held up by a number of things that have taken up time we normally would have been devoting to writing. When you are a writer, life has a way of blocking you at times, but it's been rather more than our fair share, it seems. Consequently, despite our assurance that it would be out in May, latest, it looks that we will have it out by the end of this month, God willing and the creek don't rise!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">That's it for now. I have to get back to editing.......</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">-- Richard,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> for J. R. Hardesty </span></div>
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J R Hardestyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579278817831456921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6647293625485212957.post-49846475700938889052015-05-03T19:52:00.001-07:002015-05-03T19:52:33.500-07:00Sorry for the Long Silence<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Arrrgh! After several weeks of bronchitis, we are back in harness. We lost writing time and a lot of other time, but we are now once again making progress. Unfortunately, this has further delayed publication of Part 2 of <i>The Last Giant: Transgression</i> until late May. Sorry about that, but we surely did not plan this!</span></div>
J R Hardestyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579278817831456921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6647293625485212957.post-14552235260164259392015-02-15T16:27:00.001-08:002015-02-15T17:12:04.365-08:00WORLD BUILDING: LANGUAGESWARNING: If you found grammar boring in school, you might want to skip this entry!<br />
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It seems that worlds aren't complete without at least one new language or part of one, even if it's only a slim vocabulary. Not being a philologist like JRRT, nor even a linguist by training, I at least have had some exposure to other languages—excluding Tolkien’s creations—having had two years of Spanish in high school and gotten through a nine-month intensive Russian course while in the US Air Force. Consequently, I know how to conjugate verbs and all that sort of thing.</div>
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In the early volumes of the Lindensaga™, the foreign vocabulary is limited to a Teluri word (malinir) and the name of that insidious drink, volnaka, which has its origins in Old Aridian and is ultimately derived from the word for water (<i>volna</i>). Volnaka actually means “little water” and was formed from <i>volna</i> simply by adding the diminutive suffix <i>-aka</i>. The world for water actually means “breath of life” and was derived from <i>volno</i> (water) and <i>ona</i> (breath) and was originally <i>vólona</i>, but over time it has been shortened to simply <i>volna</i> as the middle “o” was typically barely pronounced and eventually disappeared altogether. <br />
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In later volumes, things get a little heavier. Some interesting Teluri cultural concepts are explored and they required a new vocabulary to represent things which are not found in human cultures, either on Linden or on Earth. When those volumes are published, I will go into that subject in detail.<br />
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In order to conjure up the required words, it was first necessary to explore the linguistic origins of those words. For example, there is a poison that translates into English as “freezing death.” I could have just come up with some exotic sounding word, but the thing is that both “freezing” and “death” are very useful words and we might want to use them in some other context in the books. Consequently, I spent some time working up the etymology of both those words.<br />
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In creating many of the Teluri verbs, etc., I was influenced by modern Finnish as a starting point. Like Tolkien, I find that Finnish has a certain appeal that other languages lack. I don’t speak it at all, but the written tongue is very interesting. What’s not to like about heroes named Väinämöinen, Lemminkäinen or Kullervo? Some of our Teluri folks have Finnish-sounding names as you will notice.</div>
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Back to Freezing Death, our poison. I had previously worked up the verb ‘to die’ and from that derived the noun death=<i>narô</i> (to die=<i>narir</i>), so all I needed was a verb for ‘to freeze’ and its companion noun. Basically, I took the word ‘cold’ and played with it to come up with a root ‘kld’ then converted that to a new word <i>kládar</i> for the infinitive ‘to freeze;’ the noun form derived from that was <i>kladû</i>.<br />
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To illustrate the process, here is the full conjugation, etc. of <i>kládar</i>:<br />
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to freeze (inf) = kládar (-ar, infinitive ending)<br />
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1st person sing. = kladir 1st person, pl. = kladár<br />
2nd person sing. = klador 2nd person, pl. = klador<br />
3rd person sing. = kladore 3rd person, pl = kladorema<br />
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Noun (cold) = kladû<br />
Adj (frozen) = kladoja (sing), kladojama (pl.)<br />
Part. (freezing) = kladojina (same for sing. & pl.)<br />
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The Teluri language has only two verb endings, <i>-ar</i> and <i>-ir</i>. Both are regular verbs. There are four irregular verbs, but we’ll save that for some other time. The above example illustrates the <i>-ar</i> conjugation. The <i>-ir</i> conjugation below of 'to die' (<i>narir</i>) shows the second conjugation.<br />
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to die (inf) = narir<br />
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1st person sing. = nara 1st person pl. = naráni<br />
2nd person sing. =naren 2nd person pl. = nareno<br />
3rd person sing. = narenna 3rd person pl. = narennanos<br />
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Noun (death) = narô<br />
Noun (the dead) = urinari [a special noun, from uri (men, people) + nari, a special comb. form of narô <br />
Adj (dead) = naroja (sing.), narojama (pl.)<br />
Adv (deadly) =narojan (sing & pl) [also as adj, i. e. narojan malinir (deadly blade) ]<br />
Part. (dying) =naroja (sing & pl)<br />
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We put together freezing (<i>kladojina</i>) and death (<i>narô</i>) thus: <i>kladojinanarô</i> (stress on middle syllable: <i>kladójinanar’</i>). Note: final vowel is often dropped or only partially voiced, indicated by the ’. Over time, speakers tend to shorten things and this word was no exception. By the time we wrote about this poison in a volume that hasn't been published yet, the word had lost the <i>-na-</i> from the middle and had shortened to <i>kladójinar’</i><br />
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Kladójinar’ is a nasty substance. It is often used to treat sword blades. A cut by such a blade causes the victim to go into intensive hypothermia and eventually die. It works very quickly and can be administered in food or drink as well.<br />
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That’s enough for today, methinks. If you want more, let me know and I’ll provide it.<br />
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– Richard<br />
for J. R. Hardesty</div>
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J R Hardestyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579278817831456921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6647293625485212957.post-37383416936257732032015-01-21T08:07:00.004-08:002015-01-21T08:13:25.633-08:00GIVE-AWAY HAS ENDED. CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERS!<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">We consider our 5-day give-away a resounding success, as 475 hopeful people entered. Five lucky people will be receiving signed copies of Part 1 of <i>The Last Giant: Transgression</i>, each of which has a full page (6" x 9") original pencil drawing by co-author & cover illustrator Johanna laid in.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Congratulations to the winners: <b>Jeremy Adkins, Susan Gannon, Nancy Jones, Jennifer Scull </b>and<b> Kathy Purpura</b>. </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">We hope you will enjoy your book and drawing</span></span>. <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">The drawings included a portrait of Nirna (the Princess Royal and Menannon's true love), a drakta and a spiral-horn. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">-- Richard</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> for J. R. Hardesty</span></div>
J R Hardestyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579278817831456921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6647293625485212957.post-13512507705002743692015-01-13T10:36:00.000-08:002015-01-13T12:04:38.953-08:00THE NEW YEAR BEGINS! and a giveaway is announced.<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">A new year, a new blog. Happy New Year to all and may this year be a prosperous one for you.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I had intended to get a blog out in December, but just did not have the time, as we were in a crunch to get Part One of <i>The Last Giant: Transgression</i> out before Christmas. Between getting a final MS ready, getting the typography done, proofing, getting final cover art ready, etc., it was a tight go, but we managed. The downside was that many typos got through into the printed product. We are currently engaged in tracking those down & correcting them so subsequent printings will not be so burdened.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">And I cannot begin to tell you how frustrating it was getting the Kindle version done. I had never done that before and it took a while to wrap my head around the Kindle concept, which is basically an electronic scroll. And with my limited ability in Word/HTML, the fancy typography had to be jettisoned in favor of a simple but readable text. Getting the maps to work was also a major pain in the, ahhh, neck. At least I now know what to do with Part 2 and won’t have the same ration of problems to deal with.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">However, it is done! The book is out there awaiting our marketing Genius to get off his backside and do his job. We’ve sold some, but since we haven’t really begun to market the book, we don’t expect much ... yet. We plan to make a big effort once Part 2 of Transgression is published, as then the entire book will be available.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Part 2 should be out late Jan or February, assuming the imps of perdition don’t decide to descend upon us and wreak havoc. Dealing with the Typo Tyrant is bad enough, I can tell you! <i>Per ardua ad astra!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Now, about that give-away. We will be giving away 5 copies of Part 1 on Goodreads beginning 15 January and ending 21 January. Each copy will have an original signed pencil drawing by Johanna tipped in. Be sure to sign up! You may be one of the lucky winners!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">With the new year comes the new Tax Season! Erggh. I am just glad we are no longer doing tax prep work. That was a 20 year wild ride! We quit a few years back and will never go back. I get chills down my spine just thinking about it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I’m afraid the well is dry for now, but I should be back in a couple of weeks with a progress report and Lord know what else. You may take that as either a promise or a threat. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">– Richard</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> for J. R. Hardesty</span>J R Hardestyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579278817831456921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6647293625485212957.post-26085253894857735412014-12-16T15:33:00.001-08:002014-12-16T15:33:28.516-08:00Part 1 of The Last Giant: Transgression is published!<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><b>After a long gestation and numerous interruptions</b>, we have finally gotten our first book published!<br /><br />Part 1 of <i>The Last Giant: Transgression</i> is 396 pages long and includes a two-page spread map. A hi-res version of a more detailed map is also available for download from our<a href="http://www.lindensaga.com/" target="_blank"> website</a>. Check it out! Links to purchase the book are on the right.<br /><br />The Kindle version will be available later at a lower price than we have been touting, but the MS first has to be re-formatted to yield optimum Kindle performance. E-books loose a lot of the typographic fireworks found in the printed version, but it should still look fine on a Kindle. We expect it to be available around December 24th, but it could be sooner. Cross your fingers!<br /><br />This has been a heck of a ride and we have learned much. Having ridden over some major bumps in the road (delays, interruptions in the writing, publishing issues, etc.) future volumes should go much more smoothly. We still plan on having Part 2 available in January and the second volume of <i>The Last Giant</i> (<i>Retribution</i>) is still tentatively scheduled for July.<br /><br />Don’t forget that you can download the first chapter for free as a PDF (see link on right) and get a preview of the book before you buy.<br /><br />That’s all for now. I’m going to relax now and enjoy a fine cigar and a snort or two of a good Scotch.<br /><br />‘Till next time!<br /><br />– Richard<br />for J. R. Hardesty</span>J R Hardestyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579278817831456921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6647293625485212957.post-2715288570345073652014-12-02T12:55:00.000-08:002015-01-21T08:12:41.105-08:00Watching the Beasts Within.Within the fence, that is.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mUg9RnDSL20/VH477XtJxEI/AAAAAAAAAGc/q2KzEklyAoE/s1600/IMG027.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mUg9RnDSL20/VH477XtJxEI/AAAAAAAAAGc/q2KzEklyAoE/s1600/IMG027.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our yard on a spring day. Photo by R. L. Hardesty.</td></tr>
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We are fortunate to live
in a small, unincorporated town where the boundary between “town” and
“forest” is rather indefinite. There are many lots around town still
sporting their original timber cover. Our own place has quite a few of
the original trees still here, but many were cleared out for two
reasons: (1) they were where the house was going to go and (2) they were
severely damaged by a major bark beetle infestation. The latter were
largely Lodgepole pine (<i>Pinus contorta latifolia</i>). The felled trees were
replaced with various deciduous, primarily various Maple <i>(Acer</i>)
cultivars and several flowering crabapples, and a few conifers, notably two specimens of White fir (<i>Abies
concolor</i>), which join the remaining spruce and Douglas-fir trees. The
under-story consists largely of Snowberry (<i>Symphoricarpus albus</i>)
and some things we planted. We have little grass to cut, and what
exists is largely native bunch grasses or the insidious quackgrass, so
the lawn mower gets little use. There are two very large groups of
Glacier lily (<i>Erythronium grandiflorum</i>) gracing the sunny spots in the
yard and there a few other native flowers as well. All in all, we have an
interesting biome in our yard and we enjoy watching the critters that
come to visit. Just the other day, Jan had the privilege of watching a doe
Mule deer calmly munching some of the remaining pomes on one of the
flowering crabapple trees in the yard. She was not in the least worried
about my wife’s presence as she passed by on her way to the front gate.
We don’t get deer in the yard that often, but once in a while, one shows
up. We have had bears wander through town from time to time, including a
female Grizzly that wandered down the main drag one summer and we had a black
bear wander down our alley one summer eve some years ago. Moose
occasionally show up as well, but not very often.</div>
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Most
of our visitors are of the avian variety, and we have had some grand
ones stop by. </div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cSXJMgaxUIg/VH4TEz3G1RI/AAAAAAAAAGM/ptmskfeuD94/s1600/1024px-Hesperiphona_vespertina_CT3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cSXJMgaxUIg/VH4TEz3G1RI/AAAAAAAAAGM/ptmskfeuD94/s1600/1024px-Hesperiphona_vespertina_CT3.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Evening Grosbeak, male. Photo by Simon Pierre Barrette.</td></tr>
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Each spring sees the arrival of a flock of Evening
Grosbeaks who hang around for a while before moving on. The males are
just gorgeous. We never tire of seeing them or listening to them though they are a bit noisy. We've also had the pleasure of seeing Western Tanagers, also a very lovely bird, but they have not been seen for some years now. We always had several Steller's Jays in the yard, then one day, an Eastern Blue Jay showed up and a new dynamic began. The Steller's occupied the front yard and the Blue Jay the back. This lasted for a few years, but the Blue Jays got the upper hand and now we haven't seen a Steller's around for some time. The Blues, however, are quite common now. Then there was the time I heard a rather loud knocking sound rather high up in the trees. After looking around for some time, I spotted the source: a very large woodpecker up in a cottonwood tree. I stared at it for some time before accepting that what I was seeing was indeed a Pileated Woodpecker, a most uncommon sight!</div>
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There have been many, many more bird species appear in the yard: grouse, collared doves, finches, wrens, robins, an occasional meadowlark, and on one winter's day, we watched a Pygmy Owl hunt voles in the front yard. That was a rare treat! That reminds me, we also were visited by an owl on the other end of the size spectrum, a Great Horned Owl. He hung around the yard one summer for a month or so before moving elsewhere.</div>
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One resident we've had for many years is a Pine Squirrel, AKA American Red Squirrel (<span class="speciesTitle"><span class="latinName"><i>Tamiasciurus hudsonicus</i>). He keeps us entertained during the summer and sometimes in the winter as well. In autumn, one has to watch one's head, as the squirrel seems to delight in dropping pine cones on one's head! The sound of falling cones is a common sound around the yard then, as is the chittering of the culprit involved. There are several squirrels in the neighborhood and from the amount of chasing that goes on, it would seem that there are males and females. </span></span></div>
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<span class="speciesTitle"><span class="latinName">Overhead, we hear loons calling as they move from the Flathead Valley through Badrock Canyon in the morning on their way to Lion Lake and then back to the Valley in the evening. We often see hawks of one sort or another, eagles & ravens.</span></span></div>
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<span class="speciesTitle"><span class="latinName">We mustn't forget the insects! Now, I do not pretend to scour the yard looking for these six-leggedy beasties, but I have taken note of some. At least two species of Dragonfly and two of Damselfly can be found regularly in the yard, and I have made a detailed list of butterflies that have been found to occur in the yard. That list tallies 44 species seen over the years since I first began keeping track in 1993. However, due to changes in the vegetation in the yard, we have not seen that diversity of late. The gardens have gone to pot and my rock garden, which had many native species in it, was finally given over to the blasted quackgrass. But the lilacs still attract the swallowtails.</span></span></div>
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<span class="speciesTitle"><span class="latinName">-- Richard for</span></span></div>
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<span class="speciesTitle"><span class="latinName"> J. R. Hardesty</span></span></div>
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J R Hardestyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579278817831456921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6647293625485212957.post-37428358454540053802014-10-05T13:51:00.001-07:002015-01-21T08:10:09.268-08:00Sharp, pointy things<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-br_DzraAfVc/VDGsHRBvPyI/AAAAAAAAAF8/1pW-Tazo-qs/s1600/2008%2B11%2B25%2B010%2Bcropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">High Elven King sword</td></tr>
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<b>I have a fascination</b>, nay, love of sharp, pointy things, which is a good thing if you’re writing heroic/epic fantasy. Swords, knives, axes and other weapons of singular destruction---that is, singular as opposed to mass destruction. One on one, face to face combat. You know, the manful, manly and messy way to kill, maim & mutilate your opponent.<br />
I came to this love when I was but a child and discovered those knights in shining armor in books and movies: <i>Robin Hood</i>, both in books and the movie with Errol Flynn; <i>When Knighthood Was in Flower</i> (the 1956 TV showing of Disney’s <i>The Sword and the Rose</i>) with Richard Todd and Glynis Johns and many other books/movies. I shared this love of sharp, pointy things with many of my friends and cohorts, and it seems to be common to most boys of a certain age, or at least it was.<br />
All those knights and sword-wielding fellows instilled in me a desire to own my own sword, so of course, I made one out of two pieces of wood, one longer than the other with the short piece nailed to the long one for a guard. A bit of carving on the point of my “sword” and I was ready to go. My mother, while indulgent of my childhood fantasies, was not so enamored of my use of her kitchen knives to do a little wood carving. But what else was I to do? I had no knife of my own. Yet. That came later.<br />
So, with wooden sword in hand, I joined my fellow Merry Men or knights as the game of the day dictated, sallied forth and had great fun in the depths of Sherwood Forest or on the tournament field, and I was satisfied.<br />
As I grew older, however, wooden swords began to loose their appeal and I increasingly lusted after a real one, not a toy, whether of plastic or cheap metal. No, I wanted a REAL sword, but where on earth was I to get one? In the days before the Internet, finding sources for odd things was not easy, especially when you lived in the hinterlands as did I. Eastern Nebraska and, later, eastern Wyoming were not replete with stores selling arms & armor. Thus, I lived the 1950's, the ‘60s, 70's and on without a real sword. Nor a fake one, for that matter. But the desire to possess one lived on.<br />
It was not until the late 2000's, around 2008 or so, that my need to own a REAL SWORD came once again to the fore. Now, however, I had the power of the Internet at my beck and call! And so it came to pass that I found a website that was guaranteed to feed the need: <a href="http://www.sword-buyers-guide.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sword Buyer’s Guide</a> and the <a href="http://www.sword-forum.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">related forum</a>. This place was my Nirvana for I had found a place that dealt with REAL SWORDS and specialized in those for $300 or less! Oh, wonder of wonders! However, I soon found myself wallowing in a sea of decisions, for the fulsome number of swords available quickly overwhelmed my fevered brain.<br />
A few months lurking on the SBG Forum helped immensely in sorting things out, as one of the more valuable features of said forum was its sword reviews. I finally settled upon my first purchase: the High Elven King longsword, which is, unfortunately, no longer available. It is a fantasy blade, and not an historical one, but that matters not. Its fantasy element is quite restrained and it is a thing of beauty. A two-handed sword it is, but can be used one-handed if you have the strength for it, and it cuts like a dream. <i>See photo above</i>.<br />
What do I cut with it, you ask? Well, one gallon plastic milk jugs filled with water, for one. There are other acceptable targets used, but I stick with the jugs.<br />
My sword collection is small, but I have enough to make me happy. Jan is also enamored of sharp, pointy things and has claimed the huge German two-hander for her own. It’s OK. She can have it. Never argue with a chick with a sword, especially a two-hander! I have only two others. One, an arming sword, was made by Angus Trim and is a very nice work. Sharp, point and handles easily. The other is a custom Chinese jian (straight sword). It was made to fit me and is an awesome weapon. I thoroughly enjoy using it on those terrible milk jugs. Just writing about it makes me want to run outside and hack a few into little pickle chips.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dragon jian - Chinese straight sword</td></tr>
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All this sword-lust translates into our books. Having used swords of different lengths & weights, we have developed some feel for how the weapons handle and we know that having mass which translates into momentum, suddenly stopping or reversing a swinging sword is not going to be easily done. We have also delved into sword-lore and fighting techniques the better to understand how these things were actually used. While no experts by a long shot, we do better appreciate what these weapons can do and how to use them. </div>
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We have weapons galore, and I confess that we show a preference for swords, although some of the characters wield axes, hammers and other lethal weapons to great effect. The swords, however, take front stage, beginning with the sword of Menannon’s father. Gorlanndon, being a Giant of 15 feet in height, wields a mighty two-handed sword. Yeah, I know. Giants use clubs, right? Not THESE Giants!!! Sorry. No muscle-bound dumb-dumbs here. Gorlanndon’s sword is made of a steel alloy unique to Linden, Tanguranya steel, a very interesting metal indeed. The result is a sword like no other. In addition to being bloody huge, it takes a keen edge and keeps it almost forever. Gorlanndon’s sword is longer than his son is tall. One can imagine the amount of damage such a weapon can cause when wielded by a 15 foot Giant! Rather scary, that.<br />
Menannon’s own sword (he gets it later in life) is 8.5' long, just a bit shorter than its owner, and it is a one-hander. Then there are the malinirs, the long knives of the Teluri. There are swords with interesting properties—I hesitate to say magic swords. Some are unique, such as the Sword of the Orb, about which you will learn much later into the Lindensaga™, and there are at least two pairs of these “special” swords, the most important of which are Daylight and Darkness. The other pair, Kalina & Kalana, are equally interesting, but play a very small part in the saga.<br />
I think that is enough about sharp, pointy things for now. Read the books and you will learn much more!<br />
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<u><b>Remember:</b></u> Part 1 of the first volume in the Lindensaga™, <i>The Last Giant: Transgression</i>, is due 10 Dec, will be available from Amazon and will be followed by Part 2 in January 2015. The second volume, <i>The Last Giant: Retribution</i>, will be published sometime in mid- to late 2015.<br />
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– <i>Richard</i> </div>
J R Hardestyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579278817831456921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6647293625485212957.post-56948183038287951362014-08-30T22:15:00.004-07:002020-11-16T11:45:14.578-08:00Thunderbirds, jet trucks and flying.Taking a break from talking about our books, I'm going to digress a bit this time around.<br />
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We went to the air show today---Mountain Madness 2014---at the Glacier Park International Airport just north of Kalispell, Montana. There were some very good performances by several talented aerobatics pilots which we did enjoy very much. And then there was that jet truck, the <a href="http://flashfirejettrucks.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Flashfire Jet Truck</a>. It makes a lot of smoke & fire for show, but when it heads down the runway with throttle open there's no smoke and you'd best look fast cuz it zips by at over 300 mph and isn't in front of you for long. Crazy!! Absolutely insane and we loved it!<br />
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Let's face it though, the main attraction---and what a good many folk came to see---was the <a href="https://afthunderbirds.com/site/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">USAF Thunderbirds</a>. I never miss a chance to watch these fine men and women do their mind-numbing aerobatic maneuvers, and despite my being a former airman, I enjoy the Navy's Blue Angels just as much. Both teams are just flat freaking awesome! I love airplanes and I love flying.<br />
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That love of flying goes a looooong way back. My dad had a private pilot's license and back in the late '40's and early '50s did a lot of flying over eastern Nebraska and western Iowa. We lived in a small farming town north of Omaha called Oakland, and Dad was primarily an aerial photographer, but he often took us up with him on a joy ride. My earliest memory was of one such flight. I was still a babe in arms, and rode in Mom's arms the whole time. I remember looking out the window and being fascinated by all the cars, trucks and people around the little airfield. Then they began to get smaller and smaller and now I was entranced by all the toy cars & trucks outside the window. I had no sense of movement that I remember, either on take-off or landing. but I do remember those toys were replaced with real cars and trucks and I laughed at all that was going on.<br />
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When I told Dad about that memory a few years before he died, he was incredulous and could not believe I remembered that as I was but a few months old, but remember it I do. And I've been crazy about flying ever since.<br />
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I wanted to be a fighter pilot like many a young man before me and since, but that was not to be, as my eyesight was too bad. I started wearing eyeglasses in sixth grade. Well, when the time finally came, since I couldn't be an Air Force pilot, I chose another path: I enlisted and ended up flying on C-130s. Although this aircraft is a cargo plane, it has also filled several other roles, among them gunships and reconnaissance platforms. My flight time was on the latter. I was a Russian linguist and I flew aerial recon missions over the Baltic Sea. There were a few missions over the Mediterranean, but most of my flight time was over the Baltic.<br />
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The aircraft we flew on were owned by the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhein-Main_Air_Base#7406th_Operations_Squadron" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">7406th Support Squadron</a> and we flew out of Rhein-Main Air Base. That base no longer exists, as it was turned over to Germany in October of 2005, but it was very active during the period I was there, 1971-1972. My unit was the 6916th Security Squadron, and we were referred to as "the backenders" and sometimes as "sailors." That last term stems from the fact that the mission supervisor, an enlisted man, was usually referred to as the "admiral." Why that was is a story in itself. Regardless of the terminology, we didn't exist. Our missions were highly classified and so our presence on those missions was not officially admitted to. They were fun, however, and that time period holds some of my best memories. And I was flying. Not piloting, but flying.<br />
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Back to the Thunderbirds. They're flying F-16s right now and they are as impressive (and loud!) as ever. There is something about a fighter jet blasting overhead at a couple of hundred feet that just gives me goosebumps. I love it! My only complaint is that their program is too short. I'd enjoy three hours of it! Ok, I know. It isn't practical. Pilot fatigue and all that. Still....<br />
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Tomorrow is the second day of the airshow. We just bought tickets.<br />
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-- Richard<br />
for J. R. Hardesty<br />
J R Hardestyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579278817831456921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6647293625485212957.post-35261113887132334812014-07-21T13:02:00.000-07:002015-01-21T08:18:04.020-08:00BUILDING THE NEW WORLD<div style="text-align: justify;">
As everyone who has ever read a work of fiction knows, the work has to have a setting, whether it be this world we live in or in a world specifically created for the work at hand. How does one set about building a world? Much ink has been spilled on that subject and much advice given, absolutely none of which have we paid any attention to. We’ve just built the thing as needed. <br />
A character has a run-in with a drakta. What’s a drakta? The answer to that question resulted in a short treatise on draktas, complete with a Linden-ized scientific name. Seems only logical. Need a particular dessert? No problem: redberries with cream and spices, a rare and heavenly treat. So, what’s a redberry? Let us check the Linden Lexicon™ and see what that tome has to say:</div>
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<i><b>redberry</b>, (H), n., </i>plant<i>. The term applies to both the plant and its fruit. It is found only in Rhindol Vale, and is extremely particular in its habit. It requires a great deal of calcium, and thus is limited to limestone outcrops and the resultant calcareous soils. It often grows in close association with creeping-tree but is not as common. Because of its limited habitat, it is very localized but common when found. It is most frequently encountered on the limestone ridges around Last Chance in the northeastern part of the Vale on the route to Garnet Pass, but is found in a few other locations in the Vale, notably in the SE corner around the approaches to Sythra and a few limestone outcrops in the Blue Mountains along the southern border of Rhindol Vale. </i><br />
<i>Its fruit is edible and has a unique flavor that is not easily described, but which causes those who eat of it to go into raptures over it. Consequently, the fruit of the red-berry is the most desired and sought-after fruit in the Vale, the location of particularly bountiful patches being a closely-guarded secret and poachers are treated very roughly. What violence there is in the Vale is usually the result of a dispute over the picking rights to a redberry patch. Some enterprising souls have attempted to cultivate the plant, but without success.</i></div>
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What is the “Linden Lexicon™,” you ask? Ah! It is a growing compendium of every city, town, geographical feature, named person, people, institution, history or anything concerning our world of Linden. It is, in effect, an encyclopedia of Linden. Without it, we would be hard pressed to keep track of everything and everyone in the world and consistency would suffer greatly. With it, we have a plethora of detail that may—or may not—end up in one book or another in the series, With it, as an example, we have recorded within the Lexicon the geological history of the island of Kalyria and the history of the Kalyrian Empire and its capital city, Kirith Kalyria. Some of that gets into the stories and some does not, but knowing those details helps us to understand things more completely and thereby to write better scenes.</div>
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We are constantly adding new entries to it, completing existing ones (I’m a bit behind in that) or making revisions to entries if needed. This normally happens only when the plot or circumstances within a book necessitate a change. Such changes are usually minor, but important. The most frequently changed data in the Lexicon is distances, as an entry may have been made some time ago off the top of my head but as the story progresses, it becomes apparent that the number I came up with won’t work. So, we change the Lexicon to a realistic number. Here are a few samples of what one may find withing the pages of this tome:</div>
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<b>Aridion</b>, <i>political division</i>. With its capital of Aridion City, the empire of Aridion extends from the southern tip of Greater Aridion to Rhindol Vale on the west and as far north as the Snowy Mountains on the east where its eastern border is considered to be a line drawn from the ruins of the Black Teluri realm of Maloria north to the great bend in the River Ludde. In the center of the sub-continent, the northern border is the Sleeping Giant Hills, to the north of which lie the High Plains of Cala between the Sythrin Mountains and the Black Mountains and which are the domains of the Horse Clans. </div>
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Within this area are several Dwarf realms and Teluri city-states which are independent kingdoms in their own right but are allied with the empire. </div>
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Aridion was originally a city-state, Aridion City, founded by the People of the Long Ships in 5337, one hundred years after their arrival on the eastern shores of Greater Aridion. Their initial landing place became their first settlement and was named Blue Bay after the blue waters of the bay in which they landed. This is north of the present-day city of Corellon at the mouth of the Blue River. </div>
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To escape the depredations of pirates and slavers who haunted the eastern coast, the Long Ship people moved inland, eventually settling where the river Ari emerges from the Sythrin Mountains. Safe from the raids of the pirates, the new town quickly grew and prospered and the Long Ship people helped greatly to stabilize the area which was still recovering from the destruction of the Dim Times (ended SW 4001).</div>
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<b>Aridion, Greater</b>, <i>place</i>. A sub-continent of the world of Linden. It's northern borders lie in the Roof of the World, and most scholars consider that the northern borders of the Teluri realm of Lilientharien constitute the northern end of Greater Aridion. It is bounded by the Dawn Sea on the east and the Dusk Sea on the west. The sub-continent extends south to 14º 3' 0' N, a distance of approximately 2000 mi. It is approximately 900 miles wide at the mouth of the Rhindolin River and slowly narrows down to about half that at Gormidad in the south. Within this area, there are extensive mountain ranges (approx. 50% of the total land mass is mountains) which contain many peaks above 15,000 feet, most of which remain unnamed. The named peaks include Silvertop (16,782 ft.) in the Roof of the World, Wind Lord (18,945 ft.) and Thunder Lord (16,323 ft) in the Sythrin Range and the Throne of the High One in the Black Mountains, which at 27,358 ft. is the highest point in Greater Aridion. The non-mountainous regions include swamp, desert, jungle, steppe, plains and hills. The mountain ranges are covered primarily in coniferous forests in the north and central portion, with deciduous trees progressively gaining prominence the further south one goes. South of the southern tip of the Sythrins, the only coniferous forests are found on the western slopes of the southern coastal mountains, the eastern side being too dry to support trees. Consequently, the climate varies from permanently frozen ice in the far north to steamy tropical weather in the south. </div>
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Once home to all of the Greater Races, only the Teluri, Humans, Dwarves and Giants are known to still exist in the region. The Fæorlinga, are now probably extinct, as no confirmed sightings have been recorded since the Dim Times. With such a great geographic range, it is not surprising that the region is blessed with a wide variety of natural resources (e. g. gold, silver, silverstone, etc.) and a vast catalogue of animal and plant life, with over 100,000 kinds of plants known, 3000 animals and birds, 2000 fish, and innumerable insects and vermin. The southern jungles are especially prolific and account for approximately 25% of the total number of plants, 50% of the insects, and 20% of the fish. It is especially rich in kinds of birds. </div>
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Among the notable creatures known to live in Greater Aridion are all five known varieties of draktain (see drakta); the Wild Horse of Ronn; the Blue Lantern Beetle and Demon’s Mouth, a biting fly (see Insects) and the Spiralhorn. There are many more remarkable creatures, both on land & in the oceans surrounding Greater Aridion. It is recommended that the interested reader consult The Greater Aridion Book of Life, by Master Gilhooli, which attempts to catalogue all know forms of life in the subcontinent.</div>
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<b>Aridion City</b>, <i>place</i>. Capital of the empire of Aridion.<br />
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<b>Caldor</b> (D). Dwarf of Sythra known for his long, luxurious red beard. A common oath in the Vale is <i>By Caldor’s beard!</i> Caldor was famous for other exploits which the writer of this work declines to relate as unbefitting proper company.</div>
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<b>Breikka’s Inn</b> (H), <i>place</i>. Town in the rolling northern plains on the road between Pyr and North Ford on the road to Blue Bay. In 6032 and for reasons known only to himself, Breikka Shortbeard left his home in the Dwarf delving of Starkhad in the far northern Snowy Mountains and established an inn at a point between Pyr and North Ford on the road to Blue Bay, the main sea port for Aridion City before the sinking of Kalyria and the subsequent development of Corellon. His inn quickly became known for the fine quality of its food, and he soon added a stable to accommodate the mounts of his guests. Healso added an extension to the inn itself, thereby doubling his dining space and increasing the number of rooms to 75. </div>
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It didn’t take long for other entrepreneurs to take advantage of the popularity of Breikka’s establishment by building other facilities to handle his overflow, and soon a small village grew up around the Inn. People began beseeching Breikka to teach them his method of cooking, and the demand for such training soon became too much for the Dwarf to ignore. He built an attached cooking school to accommodate a maximum of 30 students, which limit is in force today. It was promptly filled, even though the entry requirements were stiff and competition keen, and the fees exorbitant. Breikka’s School of Cuisine got an additional boost when Delanorian I, king of Aridion, granted it Royal status in gratitude for the fine wedding feast that Breikka and his staff had provided when the king married Nirna, the Princess Royal of Kalyria. Breikka promptly re-named his cooking school The Royal School of Most Excellent Cuisine and Fine Cooking.</div>
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Breikka earlier had run afoul of the Most Honourable Company of Bakers and Confectioners, the guild of the bakers and candy makers of Aridion, when he began teaching classes in fancy desserts and confections and thereby intruding into what the Company rightfully considered their exclusive territory. This feud ran on for some years with occasional confrontations ending in fisticuffs and public brawls between members of the rival factions before finally being resolved by Royal Decree during the reign of Delanorian II who settled the issue by making all graduates of Breikka’s school members of the bakers & confectioners guild AND members of their own guild, the Private Association of Practioners of the Fine Art of High Cuisine and Fine Cooking. This served to mollify both the Company and the chefs and kept the peace.</div>
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<b>Ethelendar the Bald</b> (H), 8346 - 8449. The oldest harper ever to make Master, he earned his Master’s cord at the age of 63. He entered the harper hall at Aridion City at age 46 when he was accepted as a journeyman, it being deemed that his time spent as an itinerant minstrel (26 years) was an acceptable apprenticeship. His long-time patron, Jermin Whitehose, wealthy landowner of Rothcrest in Rhindol Vale, was loathe to loose him, but on the other hand, felt that Ethelendar’s successful entry into the Master Hall was due to his influence and thus was a credit to him, but then Jermin tended to exaggeration. Ethelendar went bald at age of 35. It was rumored that he accredited this event to life in the afore-mentioned patron’s household, but this has not been verified. He lived to the ripe old age of 103 and was buried with great honor in the extensive vaults beneath the Master Hall in Aridion City.</div>
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<b>The Downs</b>, <i>place</i>. The villages of High Downs, Old Downs and New Downs in Rhindol Vale are often referred to by this term, as they are each no more than ½ mile or so from the other. Located on the Black Downs, the residents of these villages are, not surprisingly, closely interrelated. High Downs and Old Downs are the oldest of the three, and were founded within a few years of each other, the exact timing a matter of some dispute to this day, but about SW 7835. New Downs was founded about 50 years after Old Downs as the result of an argument between two brothers, Mikel and Edwin Sweetman, over a matter of two coppers. Edwin packed up his family and moved 3/4 mile SW of Old Downs and settled there. Two cousins and their families went with him. These two villages to this day deny their relationship, to the annoyance of the residents of High Downs who have relatives in both of the other two villages.<b> </b></div>
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<b>volnaka</b> (H, n., from Com. <i>volna</i>, water < OA <i>volona</i> [OA: <i>volo</i>, life + <i>ona</i>, breath, spirit] + dim. suffix -<i>(a)ka</i>
). An intoxicating distilled spirit made from potatoes and other,
secret, ingredients. It is the secret ingredients that give the drink
its unique flavor which has been variously described as “unique,”
“indescribable” and “I don’t remember.” It has the capability of wiping
out the memory of ever having drunk it. This drink is unique to Cromb
and is made by a single family whose identity is often disputed and who
guard the recipe jealously. No one has ever succeeded in finding out
what the special ingredients are. Little is exported, the quantities
produced being sufficient for local consump- tion. It is a clear liquid
that is very potent and can be used in lamps in an emergency, as the
alcohol content is about 98%. It has also been used as an excellent,
though very expensive, paint-thinner and stripper.</div>
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–Richard, <i>7/21/14</i><br />
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More on the Linden Lexicon™ can be found at <a href="http://www.lindensaga.com/" target="_blank">Lindensaga(TM)</a>J R Hardestyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579278817831456921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6647293625485212957.post-44748288053216707142014-06-07T18:18:00.000-07:002015-01-21T08:25:27.965-08:00GENESIS<br />
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How did you get into fantasy? My road to realms fantastical was really quite direct, as it started with—as with so many others, I suspect— <i>The Lord of the Rings</i>, but the road to LotR was a long one, and not so direct.</div>
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That work had been in print for some time and I remember seeing the old Ace paperbacks on the book rack at the local Safeway in Douglas, Wyoming, where I lived at the time (1965), and my journey should have started then, but it did not. It was the summer between my sophomore and junior years in high school and the only fantasy I had ever read up to that point was <i>David and the Phoenix</i> by Edward Ormondroyd way back in second grade. Although I had enjoyed that book immensely, it did not cause me to venture further into that realm. I stuck with my non-fiction reading, as all I wanted, like Sgt. Friday, was the facts. Fiction did not interest me. I was interested in mythology which is how I was caught by David, but I considered mythology a section of history, in that it was the study of ancient religions. I read no other fiction until 7th grade, and so those LotR paperbacks meant nothing to me and the outlandish cover art puzzled me more than anything else. I was so firmly entrenched in factual mode that I found such fantastical fiction essentially unintelligible. Seriously. I distinctly remember reading the back cover blurb on one of the Ballantine paperbacks and finding the words simply making no sense whatsoever. I shake my head over that today, finding it hard to believe I once thought that way, but there it is.</div>
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Seventh grade English class included English literature, and so I perforce read the assigned works which included Thomas Hardy (<i>The Return of the Native</i>) and Thornton Wilder’s <i>The Bridge of San Luis Rey</i>. Shakespeare was included as well, of course. It wouldn’t have been English lit without the Bard! Outside of class however, fiction just was not on my plate.</div>
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I must now introduce my good friend Dennis, for he has a large part to play in this little tale. He was a grade ahead of me and lived on the next street over, but here was an empty lot between his street and mine, as we were on the edge of town. By this time, we had moved from the eastern Nebraska of my second grade years and earlier, the place of my birth, to eastern Wyoming where I had started third grade in the small town of Douglas. I got to know Dennis while I was in junior high school. His mother and mine often had coffee together of a morning and it was inevitable that we became acquainted. What really got our friendship off the ground was a mutual interest in butterflies, but that is another story entirely.</div>
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Dennis was solely responsible for my appreciation of fiction. I might never have cracked the cover of another work of fiction without his goading. While I was a sophomore at the University of Wyoming, ca. 1967, he was flabbergasted at my ignorance of certain authors he considered essential reading for any college student and so provided me with a reading list of required reading. These included such things as John Barth’s <i>The Sotweed Factor</i> and <i>Giles, Goat-boy</i> (loved them both), Hesse’s <i>Steppenwolf </i>(mind-numbingly awful, although the tale of the Steppenwolf itself within the novel was fun) and <i>Siddhartha</i>, which I enjoyed. With these under my belt, I began to explore and during this time, I found, read and immensely enjoyed to my surprise Jane Austen’s Big Three (<i>Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice </i>and<i> Persuasion</i>) and Russian literature, among others. But what about fantasy, you ask? Ah, patience, Grasshopper.</div>
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The following summer, Dennis and I were in his basement room/lab talking butterflies when he threw a paperback at me and said (and I quote him exactly), “Read this or I’ll kill you!”</div>
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It was the Ballantine pb of <i>The Fellowship of the Ring</i>. I recognized the cover and was really not that interested, but considering Dennis’ very strong desire that I read it and not wanting to test his resolve to follow through on his threat, I conceded, took the thing home and read it.</div>
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I stayed up all bloody night reading the thing. I could NOT put it down and I was amazed that I had passed over such a fantastic book for so long because it had looked & sounded weird to me. Within those pages, I left my own world and journeyed into a new one, one which seemed so real to me that I wanted to stay there. So, after breakfast, I gave Dennis a buzz on the phone to make sure he was up and about and practically ran over there. Accosting him in his room, I demanded, “This was great! Got any more???”</div>
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Oh, the fiend! Grinning like a slightly demented gargoyle, Dennis, my friend mind you, said in an almost warlockly cackle, “<i>Buy....your....own</i>.” Then he laughed. </div>
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AAAAAARRRRRGGGHHH! He had me good and he knew it. A Tolkien addict had been born!</div>
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Well, what could I do? I said some not very polite things and left, ran home, jumped into my car and headed downtown where I promptly bought the whole trilogy, the went immediately back home, headed to my room in the basement and did not emerge until sometime late on the third day. I had read <i>The Two Towers</i> & <i>The Return of the King</i> back-to-back and had then fallen into a state not far from a coma for hours. Upon arising, I stumbled upstairs to find my mother giving me a quizzing look. </div>
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“Been reading. Finally finished the books. What’s for supper?” That was about all I could muster at that point, as I was still a little muzzy from insufficient sleep. I ate and went back to bed, but was up early the next day and got over to Dennis’ as soon as I was able. I told him I’d read the other two volumes of that trilogy and asked him if that author had anything else out, so of course he told me about el hobbito. It took me a while to locate a copy of Mr. Baggins’ story, but I did and read it straight through, too.</div>
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Those four books awakened in me a flame that still has not been quenched and I doubt e’er will be. I craved more fantasy, and fortunately, Ballantine Books came out with their Adult Fantasy Series (“At the Sign of the Unicorn”) and I bought ’em all right up until the series’ demise. I also discovered Conan along the way, thanks to those incredible Frazetta covers on the original Lancer paperbacks. Bought all of those, too.</div>
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The thing is, fantasy was only the beginning. As I traveled down that road, I kept finding interesting side branches which took me to places I’d never thought of. And each of those side roads had branches and those, too, branched out. So, I’ve spent time delving into the life and times of William Morris, fine printing, Icelandic & Norse sagas, typography & book design, hand bookbinding (self-taught there), the Kalevala, Lord Dunsany, fine printing, Thomas Burnett Swann, H. P. Lovecraft, Immanuel Velikovsky, catastrophism, H. Warner Munn, and the road goes ever on and on.</div>
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The road to the worlds of fantasy leads to many other places and you never know where you will end up!</div>
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I must confess, I haven't read much fantasy lately...been too busy writing/editing it. Our first book, long overdue, is almost finished. Look for <i>The Last Giant: Transgression</i> soon. Seriously! </div>
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--<i>scribbled by R. Hardesty. J has her own tale to tell and I'll let her tell it, if she wills.</i>J R Hardestyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579278817831456921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6647293625485212957.post-156816688344558662014-04-06T13:29:00.002-07:002014-04-06T13:29:40.754-07:00Irrecoverable loss<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">We all have experienced loss during our lives, but some losses are greater than others and more difficult to deal with. Recently, we experienced the loss of a dearly beloved Cocker Spaniel, Christie. She had been part of our family for a tad over thirteen years and was Jan's boon companion. Her loss was felt very deeply by both of us, but Jan has been the most severely affected. And over the years past, we have both had to deal with the loss of parents, something that is inevitable, but which nonetheless can be quite traumatic. Material losses most often can be replaced, but losing a beloved pet or a family member is not always easily dealt with. Yet, these are common losses and occur multiple times throughout our lives and we develop ways to cope with them that allow us to continue on with our lives.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">How, then, would we deal with a catastrophic loss? If your house is lost in fire, flood or other such disaster, it can in time be replaced, but what if your home and all that was near and dear to you is lost so utterly that it ceases to exist? Not just your house, but all your neighbors and friends and the very land itself? Such a loss is irrecoverable. You cannot find them and bring them back. How then? Will you give in to despair or somehow muddle on after a great part of your life has been obliterated from the face of the earth? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Loss is a recurring theme in our books, from the trivial to the catastrophic, and our characters deal with it variously: some appear unaffected, others disintegrate under the pain of the loss while others deal with it reasonably well.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I think Menannon the Giant suffers the most loss throughout the <i>Lindensaga</i>, both catastrophic and significant. The trivial losses he ignores, but how fares he with the life-changing, irrecoverable losses to which he is subjected?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Ah, for that, you will have to read the books! The first volume of the Lindensaga, <i>The Last Giant: Transgression</i> is getting closer to publication. Barring further interruptions, it should be out by Spring.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">-- RLH </span>J R Hardestyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579278817831456921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6647293625485212957.post-17111959676597655882014-03-25T23:46:00.001-07:002014-03-25T23:46:48.843-07:00<h3>
<b>The Return of the Blog</b></h3>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">After</span> a long absence due to various and sundry events in our lives, I'm back. Not much to say tonight (it's approaching 1AM and I am bleary-eyed), but within a day or two, I'll have something to say which you might possibly find of interest. Then again, maybe not!J R Hardestyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579278817831456921noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6647293625485212957.post-32141223356127800632013-04-24T09:49:00.001-07:002020-11-16T11:10:43.438-08:00Editing is Fun. Honestly!<div style="text-align: justify;">
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The way Jan & I work requires a lot of editing, as I edit what she writes and she edits what I've just edited—especially my re-writes—and then we both edit the result. There is a lot of drudgery involved in editing as there is in most tasks, but there are also moments of unexpected humor....</div>
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It is interesting what difference a single word/letter can make. Take this example from <i>The Key of Tanguroth</i>, a yet-to-be-published novel in the Lindensaga™. The phrase was to have been "...a large rose bush..." but the word "a" was accidentally dropped. This struck me as quite funny, and I ran with it, producing the following "out-take":</div>
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<i> “Hey, I thought you weren’t going to come to this little party!”<br /> Bip nearly jumped out of his skin and whirled to find Brandy standing beside him in the shadows next to Large Rose Bush. She was a good foot taller than her cousin, who was thus called Small Rose Bush to avoid confusing the one with the other, but both were quite comely lasses and willing.</i> </div>
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Sometimes, a certain turn of phrase triggers deep memories and when one is writing fast, concentrating on getting a scene down, one writes not what one intended, but the triggered memory. That’s why we edit each other’s work. Again, taking from <i>The Key of Tanguroth</i>, here we have the Dwarf, Tarin, saying “I’m still here on a diplomatic mission for me king....” A simple enough sentence that, but it triggered an ancient memory and what I found that Jan had actually written was, “I’m still here on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan....” You can imagine what that did to my warped brain....<br />
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<i> “Alderaan? I thought you were here representin’ your king. You know, the king of Sythra?” Bip said in confusion.<br /> “Harrumph! O’ course, o’ course. I meant to say that. I’m a dwarf from Sythra. Yes, that’s right.”<br /> “Tarin, you’re scarin’ me.”<br /> “Sorry, lad, sorry. I, umm, well, I just get a little confused meself. Ferget what movie I’m in and all. Y’know. The usual thing. Me agent keeps me too busy. And these shootin’ schedules are enough to drive a man, er, ah, dwarf, yes, dwarf, crazy.”<br /> “Tarin, I think you’ve lost your mind.”<br /> “Could be I have, lad. Could be. We done shootin’ this scene yet?”</i></div>
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This next one, also from <i>Key</i>, just came about as a natural result of using a comment very, very close to a famous quote from an equally famous movie about a little girl and her dog. It wasn’t until I actually wrote that sentence down that I realized how close to the original it was. I liked the idea, and consider it one of our “Easter Eggs,” i. e. references to or paraphrases of some of our favorite punch lines, movie quotes, etc. But at the same time, my mind was off and running in a very weird direction with the following results, but for some odd reason, Jan made me take it out.<br />
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<i>At last the spiralhorn finished drinking and raised its head, its attention drawn away from them and into the dark heart of the trees. It stood thus for a moment, its ears swiveling as though it listened to some call they could not hear, then it turned and faded soundlessly back into the shadows. </i></div>
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<i> When it was well and truly gone, Bip remembered that he had totally forgotten to breathe and gasped convulsively. There was wonder in the eyes he turned on Brandy. The nobleman shook his head, for once speechless.<br /> “Brandy, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore,” Bip said in sudden realization that they had left their mundane lives behind and were now...somewhere else.<br /> “Nope, definitely not Kansas, Bip. Nor the Vale. By the way, Bip, just where <u>is</u> Kansas?? I’m not familiar with that place.”<br /> “And you the great scholar, Brandy. I thought everybody knew where Kansas was.”<br /> “OK, cousin mine, where is it?”<br /> “Why, you head for the second star to the right and then straight on ’til morning,” Bip grinned in triumph.<br /> “No, that’s the way to Neverland. Try again.”<br /> “Ummmm, beyond the beyond?”<br /> “Nope. Quote from Barani, that little genie that travels around in Sinbad’s lamp.”<br /> “Ah, yes. Wellll, umm, uh, two kingdoms south of Florin?”<br /> “Nice try, Bip, but no cigar. You haven’t a clue, do you?” Brandy said, grinning from ear to ear. “Trying to put on over on me, right?”<br /> “No, no. Kansas is a real place. Really.”<br /> “And?”<br /> “It’s, umm, north of Gond...”<br /> “STOP! Don’t say it! You want us to get nailed with a copyright infringement suit?” Brandy’s look of utter horror made Bip realize just how close to disaster he’d taken them.<br /> “Sorry. OK, OK! So I don’t know where Kansas is. You happy now?”<br /> “Yup. I just wanted to hear you admit it, that’s all.”<br /> They stood there in silence, enjoying the beauty of the forest and mountains around them. After a few minutes, Bip cleared his throat.<br /> “What?” Brandy asked.<br /> “Nothing.”<br /> “Don’t ‘nothing’ me! I know that sound. Go on, say it. Better out than in, I always say.”<br /> “You always say?” Bip said with some derision.<br /> “Well?”<br /> “OK, Mr. Flunking Scholar. Do <u>you</u> know where Kansas is?”<br /> “Well, I lied a bit earlier. I have heard of the place and as it happens, I do know where it is.”<br /> “Good! Where is it?”<br /> “Just south of Nebraska.”<br /> “Ahh! Well, that settles it then, doesn’t it? Great! Now we know where Kansas is.”<br /> “Yes, we do. Now, can we get moving?” Brandy said, and matched his movements to his words by stepping out into the stream.<br /> “Sure, Brandy, let’s go!” Bip followed right behind his cousin. They hadn’t gone far when Bip stopped suddenly, a look of consternation on his face.<br /> “What?” Brandy said in irritation when he realized that Bip had stopped.<br /> “Where’s Nebraska??”</i></div>
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I love to edit. I never know when some error or turn of phrase will strike my funny bone and send me off on an enjoyable tangent, even if Jan won't let me keep them in the book.</div>
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<br />J R Hardestyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15579278817831456921noreply@blogger.com0