Ionnia von Sturnidae's page

Saw him put this on twitter.

I'm guessing set in Taldor.

It's time to play some blood-pig!

tor.com is having a sweepstake for a galley copy of the novel over at their site (click the link).

Since Amber is great, I figured this thread could be a good idea.

Come one, come all, and share with us why you think she's great.

Here's my top-three:

1.) Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear - Actually, this is the best book I've read in several years. You can read it as just a fun adventure story about a girl and her scooby gang stopping a nefarious plot by a nasty villain, but scratch a bit at the topsoil and there's so much more in there.

2.) Luna: New Moon by Ian McDonald - It's the Godfather on the near-future Moon. Except McDonald's prose is much better than Puzo's. And yes, it does have a scene of people jogging. (Every book I've read by the author has had that.)

3.) Ring Roads by Patrick Modiano - Atmospheric, moody, and reads like a good crime novel despite about perfectly everyday things.

I'll go first. Are amy of you writers of the novels and web fiction serials interested in answering any questions?

And, if yes to the previous question, how did you first come into contact with the Pathfinder setting?

Hail Vint, the people's hero!

You made a whole lot of people's life better. Thank you.

1. He/she was born and brought up there and is currently living there.

So, I've been meaning to do this for a while now, and here we go.

Now, I've never done one of these before, so don't be surprise if the first few posts aren't very good - I'm sure I'll improve as I go along.

My aim is to do three chapters a week, since that seems a short enough length to not interfere with my other writing. And of course, you're all welcome to chime in with your comments - I'm seriously hoping this won't just be me typing into empty cyberspace.

Chapter 1
Phèdre’s parents elope, she’s born, and because she does not fit the aesthetic criteria of the Night Court her parents must find a way to support themselves that doesn’t involve her mother continuing as an adept of Jasmine House. Phèdre’s father takes command of one of his father’s caravans to Caerdicca Unitas, but it is a failure, so when he asks for a second chance, he is told to put up collateral of his own. The only way to raise this is to sell Phèdre into indentured servitude with Cereus House.

”Lest anyone should suppose I’m a cuckoo’s child, got on the wrong side of the blanket by lusty peasant stock and sold into indenture in a shortfallen season, I may say that I am House-born and reared in the Night Court proper, for all the good it did me.”

This chapter is mostly introducing Phèdre and let us know her very earliest backstory, and to introduce some proper nouns of the world she lives in; the Night Court, Terre d’Ange, Caerdicca Unitas probably being the most important ones.

We do also get some information about the customs of the land and of some of the houses of the Night Court – Cereus House specializing in what I interpret as “the Beauty of Fragility.” This, with a re-readers hindsight, seems to me like a poor fit for the woman Phèdre will become, but since she’s only going to be there until she’s ten, maybe the particulars of each house’s teaching doesn’t start until later in an adept’s training and the early years of childhood are given over to a more general training?

I can also notice that, even on my first read of the book, one of the effects of the first-person past-tense style is that the scene with Phèdre’s mother leaving her didn’t affect me very much. It’s in the first chapter of a very thick book, and there’s clearly going to be more important things going on later in the book. And yet, I would say that being abandoned by her parent is one of the defining moments in how Phèdre later acts throughout the books. Looking at her relationships with other people, she seems more ready to accept friendships with persons old enough to be her parents than with those of her own generation. More on this later, though.

So that’s what I was. ‘A whore’s unwanted get.’

Poor Phèdre.

Chapter 2
Phèdre is raised among other children that have been taken in by Cereus House, but she feels a bit apart from them, since they’re all already marked out for one of the Night Court houses, whereas she knows she will never become a Night Court adept.

She is taught about the origins of the d’Angelines by a former adept turned mystic, called Brother Louvel, who tells her and the other children about Blessed Elua, his companions and their wanderings. After the last lesson, Brother Louvel gives the children flowers to pin on their clothes. In an unwatched moment, Phèdre stabs herself with the pin, and experiences visible pleasure (and pain). An adept who sees this takes her to the dowayne of Cereus House who, after reflexively planning to send her on to Valerian House, which specializes in providing submissives and masochists to their clients, instead sends word to Anafiel Delaunay.

So, if Chapter One is about establishing Phèdre, this chapter is about giving us the mystical background of the setting, and I love it. As far as alternate Earths go, the world of Terre d’Ange is one of my absolute favourites, in no small part because of how a tiny little change in an already existing mythology brings on huge ramifications. And while I skimmed over the tales told by Brother Louvel, I’m sure I’m not alone in wishing there’d be an actual Eluine cycle out there to read. (Carey has written a short text about it which I think can be found over at Tor.com, but I’m hazy on the details of this.)

In addition, the story as told to Phèdre mostly focuses on Elua and Naamah – it’d be interesting to hear how those in the service of say, Shemhazai tells the story. Anyway, if someone reads this, please comment more on it than I just did.

Then there’s Phèdre’s moment of taking her first step on the path that will lead her into so much (exciting and horrid at turns) trouble and glory throughout the trilogy. I don’t have that much to say about it, except that it’s a good thing someone was there to see it, because I suspect that even as a child raised by adepts among adepts Phèdre probably wouldn’t have had a clue what just happened beyond her feeling a bit funny when she did the owie.

Chapter Three
Phèdre runs away into the city below the hill of the Night Court. At a pastry-stall a woman is frightened by the mote in her eye and she rushes off and meets a boy, Hyacinthe (Hi Hyacinthe!). Guards from Cereus House catches her, but as she’s taken away, Hyacinthe tells her where he lives and to look him up.

Later, she is cleaned and prettied up and taken to meet with Anafiel Delaunay (Hi Delaunay!). He recognises the mark in her eye for what it is and quotes some arcane lore about it. The Dowayne sets a bond-price for Phèdre, and Delaunay accepts it (to the chagrin of the Dowayne without bargaining). It is decided that Phèdre will remain at Cereus House until she turns ten and receive such training as a future adept of the Night Court would have.

He writes bawdy lyrics? You mean I’m getting dressed out like a Carnival goose to be sold to some seed-stained scribbler with one hand in the inkwell and the other in his breeches?

I’m amused. Both by Phèdre’s ideas of Delaunay before meeting him, and by the thought that perhaps Carey is commenting about what some people might think of her writing-process – the Kushiel-series certainly qualifies as bawdy prose at some points.

Mighty Kushiel, of rod and weal

Late of the brazen portals
With blood-tipp’d dart a wound unhealed
Pricks the eyen of chosen mortals.

So that’s the first three chapters, I hope to do about that every week, but with more commentary (I’ve been having some sleeping issues this past week that’s eaten up a lot of time). A few passing tit-bits before I finish:

So, did I miss something important ? Please comment, as long as people are polite and remember to stick to the forum rules, I’m sure this could be a long-running and fun thread.

I'm supposed to get a contributor copy of Wayfinder #11.

Can this order please be held until it can be included?

Quite so.

From the Nobel Prize Youtube channel.

I had to change the payment method for my latest order, and I noticed I didn't have to/get to type in the three-digits confirmation code for the new e-number.

Did I do something wrong, or is that the way it's supposed to work?

Yours, Sweating in Sweden

He's not sick, is he?

That's pretty darn good.

Yoink!

Seems the Fantasy Book Cafe website is running a poll on which books by women writers of Science Fiction and Fantasy are our favourites. Anyone wishing to cast a vote can go to here, and do so.

So I deleted a post over in the Gaming stereotypes thread because in the time it took me to write it, Sara-Marie had popped in to (correctly) point out that the thread was beginning to veer off topic, and when I pressed delete, the post vanished.

But... as I asked in the thread-title, don't we get a "are you sure you want to delete this post?" message when we do that, or is the dementia beginning to set in and I'm completely mis-remembering things?

Can be found on BBC's site, and listened to for free.

An excerpt from the anthology An Anthology of Gaslamp Fantasy by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling can be read by clicking the link.

This, sadly unfinished, comic originally ran in the Scandinavian comic-magazine The Phantom, and is an homage to Edgar Rice Burroughs's planetary romances from veteran Finnish comic-artist Kari Leppänen. In it, we get to primarily follow the adventures of one of two survivors on an interplanetary expedition, who have been awakened from cryo-sleep to find the rest of the members in their team deceased, as he finds himself stranded on the planet Xellana - where he is quickly captured by some brutish natives, and his fellow crewmember seems to have ambitions of the evil overlord type...

In case anyone's interested, Pathfinder Comics artist Andrew Huerta is selling some of his original art.

(And if you don't like the art of the comics, this is not the thread to point it out in, please.)

In this article from 1831, which itself is a reprinting of her preface to one of the book's early editions.

On episode 7:43 of Writing Excuses, Sutter comes on to talk about tie-in fiction with Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, Howard Tayler, and Mary and Robinette Kowal.

What I'd like to know is - was Howard wearing any pants during the talk?

Nice start to this one. Colour me intrigued in regards to these magic phrases our so-far-not-named former Gray Maiden is hearing from her helmet.

Also: Walking into a crossbow-quarrel without even flinching - I don't care if you're wearing plate armour, that's 1st degree badassness.

http://www.writingexcuses.com/2012/08/26/writing-excuses-7-36-writing-gamin g-fiction-with-monte-cook/

One of the Missing
Loving Memory
Nouvelles de Henry James
The Hunger (Movie)
Top Gun
Beverly Hills Cop II
Revenge
Days of Thunder
The Last Boy Scout
True Romance
Crimson Tide
The Fan
Enemy of the State
Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael
The Hunger (TV-series)
Spy Game
Beat the Devil
Man on Fire
Agent Orange
Domino
Deja Vu
Numb3rs
The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009)
Unstoppable
As well as a large number (49 on imdb.com) producer credits, including Prometheus and RKO 281

I see pugwampi! *flees in terror*

Still liking it. Very spooky, and the shae is deliciously evil, in a good way (i.e. not evil for the sake of being evil, but it actually has a reason for what it's been doing).

Based on those trees I'll feel right at home if I ever do make it over there. :-D

That's some natty hats.

GAH! Now I want that thing even more!

Hope you have a good time Savannah.

...and I hope you won't mind if I say that you're surprisingly tall for a gnome.

Could we get recently added downloads (say, purchased in the last month or so) highlighted in some way (different colour would seem to be the easiest to my web-design-ignorant mind)?

I'm looking at the My Downloads page, and some areas could really do with something like that to save me some precious time (okay, so it's only about half a second, my point is that, much like this sentence, it's getting a bit cluttered and hard to read, and while I'm sure that, for instance the Pathfinder Campaign Setting part could be split up in different sections, the Open Design section could be divided by magazines and Midgard products and so on, a simple highlight seems like an easy fix).

Hope that made sense.

1-hour discussion with the Guardian bookclub here.

...so perhaps it deserves to not get mangled by the profanity filter?

Because some people asked if they could have a copy of the ones I mentioned having made in the Bestiary 3 thread. Apart from monsters from Adventure Path volumes 25 forward, it also includes a few from earlier APs that have been updated in some other Paizo-source, as well as stuff from the Player Companions, Campaign Setting products, and one or two from Wayfinder.
(spoilered for length)

Anyone else feel their synapses spark to life when seeing this?

The Doombell has been struck!!

Woot!

And this time they've got horses!

From my inbox:

PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARD

DEPTTHE GUINNESS GAME SPOT PROMOTIONSLONDON.
UNITED KINGDOM SW1V3DWhttp://www.guinness.com/en-us/thebeer.html

This is to inform you of the release of email balloting held on the JULY SATURDAY 9TH,2011 by THE GUINNESS IRISH BOTTLING COMPANY on it's anniversary. For the first time ever THE GUINNESS IRISH BOTTLING COMPANY,have decided to celebrate it's anniversary by awarding £750,000.00 (SEVEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND POUND STERLING) each to 5 lucky winners who were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from only Microsoftusers from over 30,00000 companies and 5,000,000 individual email addresses and names from all over the world. This promotion is organizedby Guinness Ireland and Guinness England. However, the results were released on JULY 13, 2011 and your email was among the 5 Lucky winners who won £750,000.00 each on the anniversary ofthe GUINNESS IRISH BOTTLING COMPANY , and your email was attached to ticket number GB38844240 and ballot number 00147. To claim your prize, kindly send your ticket number (GB38844240) and your ballot number (00147) to your fiduciary agent with below information. FIDUCIARY AGENT:- Name: Mr. Andrew James E-mail:Mr.AdrewJamesGuinness@consultant.com Mobile: 0044-70107-07835

NOTE: Because of the volume of fraud perpetrating on internet this day, the board of directors of GUINNESS COMPANY has decided that all winners of Guinness will have their prize in cash. NO BANK TRANSFER, NO CHEQUEDELIVERY, NO PROCESSING FEE. Yours faithfully,Mrs. Sarah Anderson This e-mail is confidential. If you are not the intended recipient you must not disclose or use the information contained within. If you have received it in error please return it to the Guinness® & Co. atwww.guinness.com and delete any record of it from your system.

What nice people. Just giving away all that cash.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEj3UsAl0K8&feature=player_embedded

*sees the Frostfar tribe's location*

Viking goblins!!

Goodbye Big Man.

Very nice costume. :)

Stretched between the lamplight and the cigarette ash
in the corner of the city where the markets crashed
There are boxes of the lonely here and fires of hope
We built a monster

We can take a bit of red a but of white and blue
From across the Atlantic laying trails to you
A little flash of lightning and some bully boy charm
We built a monster

This thing can cross oceans in its seven league boots
It can chew the money tree right down to its roots
The ship of a state can go under in minutes
You don't know the flood is coming until you're swimming in it.

It ain't come from the hungry it ain't come from the bored
It ain't tramping out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored
It spins like a tequila worm inside all of us
We built a monster

(from Thea Gilmore's song We Built a Monster
And so on.

Congratulations Sean. You just sold me a book.

I might post something about the actual topic of the blog-post later (when I'm not half-asleep).

Raul Meireles. There's only one Raul Meireles. (repeat ad nauseum)

[spoiler]And go Daniel Agger!! (only, not in front of the kids)[/url]