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A Tall Tale Told on a Cold Night

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Sorry if this turns into a fantasy discussion thread instead :)

I actually liked the Belgariad the best of Edding's books. Sure it is unoriginal, but it has a sort of simple purity that I find appealing. It's not complicated, but it IS epic in a way. The characters are more archetypes than anything else but it's still nice to read.

I've only read the Fionvar Tapestry, thought of trying Tigana but is currently to busy reading Memory, Sorrow & Thorn for a school project (excellent series BTW, Tad Williams rules, both MMT and Otherland are good)

A Song of Ice and Fire is possibly the best new fantasy series right now... It feels... Well, Eu-pic :) With all the backstabbing and politics going on.

IWD is actually a rather shallow game IMHO... Try Planescape and you'll find a *truly* excellent game, with a story worthy of any novel and superior to most.
 
Storey once again you amaze me, the introduction of flying halflings when everybody know how secluded and afraid of new things those fellows are, is fantastic :D :D

Arilou, I agree that Belgariad is by far his most epic story, by far surpassing both the Elenium, the tamuli and the malloreon, but IMHO the malloreon is by far writtne more flowingly. Belgariad has the best story and plot, malloreon is more philisophical and does more for the characterisation, but still Eddings is a story teller, not a writer. :)

V
 
True, he is a storyteller rather than a writer.

I found the Malloreon to be pretty boring actually... And the sheer amount of powerful people they had travelling together was slightly ridicilous :)

Actually I remember meeting that Fiddlebender person in IWD2... Mostly because his voice actor was the same as did Jan Jansen...
 
Valdemar, Arilou:

Yep Fiddlebender is in IWD2. I agree that IWD2 isn’t nearly as good as Planescape although I liked Balder’s Gate II the best. But for happily wasting some time IWD2 is fine.

Now you two have done it! I’m going to have to go book shopping tomorrow since R.R. Martin is an old favorite of mine. Is A Song of Ice and Fire the first in the series or the name of the series?

The Belgariad was enjoyable in that it showed a lot of imagination but I wasn’t impressed by his other stories.
 
Storey - Great post once again.

George RR Martin is indeed a great read - I just hope he manages to hold it together. 'A Song of Ice and Fire' is the name of the series, 'A Game of Thrones' is the first, followed by 'A Clash of Kings'. Then you have Book 3 vol. 1 'A Storm of Swords: Steel and Snow'; an Book 3 vol. 2 'A Storm of Swords: Blood and Gold'. That is as far as he had got yet, but Amazon.co.uk is saying that Book 4 'A Feast of Crows' will not be out until Feb 2004. :(

I think Belgariad is a better story, but that Sparhawk is the best character that Eddings has ever done.

Fionvar was the first thing Katy wrote, and I think it shows by dint of its weaknesses. IMO Kay has gotten better with every book.

Planescape was awesome, but I never got to complete it (thanks to *drum roll* Bill Gates) :mad: Just started BG2.

Edit: Re: Gearoge RR AMrtin, Book 5 'A Dance of Dragons' April 2004
 
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Suzdal stood smoking his traveling pipe, a smaller version of his long pipe, in the brisk early morning light at the railing of the great airship watching the movement of the score or more men below. The dawn’s rays clashed with the dark blue painted airship but neither the sun nor the ship seemed ready to back down from this minor conflict. Half of the men below were holding onto the mooring lines their hands sweating and muscles straining in their effort to control the airship and prevent it from swaying into any of the nearby buildings. The other half were standing under the hull where they partially supported the rather buoyant ship on their shoulders. A steady if light breeze greeted the dawn and caused the ship to rise and fall as if riding on small swells on a calm sea. Fiddlebender was being his usual absentminded self as he fussed with the last of the preparations before lift off. The rest of the companions stood about the deck helping Fiddlebender as he ran around talking to himself as much as to the others. Finally all seemed ready and Fiddlebender waved a red rag at the men below.

Suzdal watched in amazement as the men below let go of the mooring lines and rushed forward to join the other men below the hull out of Suzdal’s view. The silence lengthened and the tension grew as everyone waited for what they weren’t sure. But then in an eerie silence the men of Everhovel, suddenly let out a single unified shout and heaved upward and the airship rose off their collective shoulders. The great airship gave off a groan caused by her hull protesting if she didn’t want to leave the safety of the earth. The momentum from this push caused the ship to gently float upward in a slow graceful motion to the wonder of the passengers.

Ryazan ran over to stand by Suzdal as the airship rose above the rooftops of the town of Everhovel. They could clearly see the damage that the earlier fight with the Goblins and caused to the town. The men on the ground were already shrinking to the size of ants as Ryazan leaned over the railing in fascination at a sight she had never seen before. The icy world of the ten towns grew larger as they rose and yet the town and people grew smaller causing a thought unknown to Ryazan to emerge. Fear! Real fear of heights! Then suddenly she heard the airship’s propellers start to churn as they dug into the air with a steady thumping rhythm turning the airship in a gentle arc into the morning breeze. Fiddlebender stood at the huge steering wheel looking larger than life with a large silly grin on his face. As they picked up speed they could hear the faint ragged cheer of the men on the ground as they realized that the airship was going to stay aloft this time. It wasn’t till later that the companions were to find out that more often than not the great airship didn’t always make a safe takeoff….or landing. And so all that day they flew East by Northeast passing through and around clouds of various whimsical shapes and sizes. The wonder of their mode of travel lasted for most of the morning but soon the pangs of hunger forced some of them below deck for a welcome repast of meat and cheese.
 
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Thanks stnylan! One of the BIG advantages in starting a series late is getting to read several of the books without waiting. For example I didn't start the Jordan series until he had finished five of the books. However I've since dropped out since I grew tired of waiting for the next one and the next one and etc. Maybe I'll wait until he finishes before returning to them.

Joe
 
A magic airship? Or did I miss a motive power somewhere? :D

Seriously, another excellent installment, but one question nags at me. Are the goblins attacking Everhovel coming from the fort our heroes can't get to except by air? And if so, how?

George RR Martin is indeed a terrific author. His 'Song of Ice and Fire' is great reading. The internal references to the War of the Roses make it very EU-ish.

My favorite book by him is still 'Fevre Dream', but I've always been a 'sucker' for sreamboats.
 
Aha ! A new twist, now the Bard even intervenes into the story. And this elf is decidedly become still more dwarfish (smoking a long pipe indeed!).
And a nice way to avoid the trouble of winter travel in a troubled land. Too bad our armies can't do that in some places in EU, it would perhaps reduce the attrition rate :D .
Well I don't know more about the evil one than others but if that's not Muscovy I don't quite see exactly what some of the alliance will do for the others.

On the fantasy front I agree with the previous posters about Martin's saga. However the waiting for the next volume is turning almost as bad as with Jordan. Somebody spoke of Tad Williams' works; well there the fantasy is good but I think the best is the Otherland series which is in the middle between SF and fantasy in some ways.
 
The Three Legged Pony mentioned here must be the one I bet on last time I was near a race track.

I like Suzdal smoking a pipe. :)

I'm reading. :)
 
Now we have the narrator giving a bit of helpful advice to ye ol' heros. The narrator is both in and not in the story. You have turned the framed narrative on its head, with good results. The last time I saw this sort of method usd effectively was the last time I saw Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie. (While that story has little or nothing to do with your current endeavor, our dear narrator for that story takes himself in and out of the action of the story, much like your bard is doing.)
 
Suzdal stood at the prow of the airship bundled in a thick blue robe lined with silver that kept out the late afternoon chill. He’d been staring ahead for the last few hours looking for something but he wasn’t sure what. He eyes were constantly watering from the cold wind but he stayed because he knew that something wasn’t right. The airship was quickly approaching a ridge of mountains, which uncomfortably reminding Suzdal of the sharp jagged teeth of a great dragon. Old memories of a particularly violent encounter with an obstinate dragon caused him to pull his robe closer to his body. He didn’t know why but he felt the need to stand watch while they crossed this particular ridge of mountains. Behind him Teutonic and Novgorod sat at the bow of the great airship discussing the merits of flying. Novgorod who was more at home with his two feet firmly entrenched on solid ground found it difficult to say anything positive about their mode of transportation.

"I tell you Teutonic if the Dreadmaster of Bane wanted us to fly he would have given us webbed arms. It just isn’t right to play tag with the clouds when we could be walking as man and Dwarf was meant to do one solid step at a time."

Teutonic rubbed his redder than normal nose and placing his right thumb to his right nostril blew hard and relieved the nasal blockage in his left nostril over the rail to hit who knows what somewhere far, far below.

"I couldn’t agree more my short but solid friend." He phlegmatically responded. "I also would rather not tempt the gods by imitating their means of travel but what are we to do? We accepted this quest from the mayor and we are honor bound to finish the task given us."

"Honor be damned if you ask me. You can’t eat honor and it makes a poor threadbare robe to wear in winter. All it’s good for is to make a dwarf a fool and bring about his early death. My great grandfather Gimli use to say, run as fast and as far as you can from a dwarf with honor because it may be contagious."

"Nonsense my stout friend. Where would the world be without honor? Who would you trust? Without honor you have chaos!"

"Without honor you have peace and quiet that’s what you have. Pride is the handmaiden of honor when it comes to a marriage of fools! Bah it leaves a foul taste in my mouth just saying the word honor. Bah there I go again saying that damned word." Novgorod spat over the side of the airship.

"Without honor you have no sense of what is right and what is wrong. Without honor you might as well be a beast in the forest as be a man."

"I’m not a man I’m a Dwarf beet nose!"

"Oh sorry I forgot for a moment. Still even Dwarves must have some type of honor."

"As much honor as gold can buy that’s the honor I have. I keep my word and that is as much as you can get from me and my word doesn’t come cheap."

Teutonic’s eyes each looked around his red nose at his solid companion, which had the undesired effect of causing his eyes to cross. Knowing that to continue with this discussion was going to be a waste of time and also being somewhat quick of mind he steered the conversation in a new direction.

"Why do you think Suzdal won’t leave the ship’s deck and come below where it’s warmer? He’s been standing there since those mountains came into view."

Novgorod looked ahead to the lonely figure of Suzdal and shrugged.

"Hell if I know or care what a Elf does or doesn’t do. He’s a big boy and can watch out for himself. Which reminds me it’s time for dinner."

And with that Novgorod gave a curt nod and marched down below deck.
 
Director: In the EUII game when I declared war against the evil one he sent two large armies against me (Pskov). Fortunately I beat the first one and had enough time to recover my moral before the second one arrived. I won that battle and then went on the offensive. So we have the two battles in Everhovel. Let’s say that was the remnants of the Goblin army that attacked the second time. ;)

Was it Zelazny who did a series with Mark Twain as the main character? He builds a riverboat on this alien world to go up this endless river? The first book was great but it went downhill after that.

T.Fournier: I look on Wizards almost as a race unto themselves. If you work with magical power it has to change you in some way. One way to try to show that in a short story is for the character to do something that none of his race would normally do. A Wizard Elf smoking a pipe working as a mercenary in the far North is going to be one strange dude! :D

The Dwarf is definitely a no nonsense, pay me now, get out of my way or I’ll whittle you down with my axe kind of guy.

I just bought the three books in the Martin saga. Wow! I think they’ll keep me busy for awhile.

Valdemar: Ryazan is a feisty girl. I wouldn’t get on her bad side.

Norgesvenn: I know what you mean. My uncles were jockeys in the California horse racing scene. I learned at an early age that you can’t win betting on the horses.

Secret Master: Thank you for the compliment. I still feel like I’m one of the readers wondering where this story will go next. Well I know but I don’t know how I’m going to get there. This story has changed more times than all the others I've written here combined. :eek: :)

Joe
 
Originally posted by Storey

Was it Zelazny who did a series with Mark Twain as the main character? He builds a riverboat on this alien world to go up this endless river? The first book was great but it went downhill after that.
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No, that's Farmer I think. And I agree with you, the first volume was great but it's better not to mention what comes after.
 
Phillip Jose Farmer, 'The Fabulous Riverboat' perhaps? Also involved were Richard Francis Burton. John Lackland and everyone else who had ever lived. I really wanted to like the book but didn't, much - and I hated the others in the series.

Betting on the horses is easy - just like betting on cards, slots or anything else. The house wins at a statistically fixed rate. :D
 
Teutonic stood gazing at Suzdal uncertain if he should try to talk to him or go below and get something to eat. The land below was deep in purple and gray shadows while above the sun still tried to warm their airship as it floated through the increasingly cold air. It was only when the sun dipped below the mountain tops that Teutonic could sense what had been bothering Suzdal. It was like seeing something out of the corner of your eye but never being fast enough to turn and see what it was. As Fiddlebender steered the airship along a long narrow valley the mountains on either side closed in as if trying to force the airship to follow the only path that they would allow. In the increasing shadows the mountain peaks took on the appearance of individual sentinels guarding the valley from unwanted intruders.

Teutonic slowly moved forward and stood by Suzdal. He glanced at Suzdal when he reached him but didn’t say anything. As they rounded a turn in the valley they noticed ahead of them a tall round topped mountain looking like the top of a baldheaded giant. It had been sliced in half from top to bottom in some ancient cataclysm that still caused the ground to give off spasms of pain. They both felt the tension increase but they couldn’t see how this ancient eruption could harm them, that is until they caught sight of the tiny figures on the mountaintop. They couldn’t be sure but it looked like they were dancing around in a circle in front of a fire on the top of the rock dome that dominated the valley ahead. Smoke from the fire twisted its way upward from the dome and gathered strength as it rose to confront the airship.

As the last of the sun’s light ebbed away the night sky emerged and the stars starting appearing looking like spectators eager to see that night’s entertainment. Suzdal and Teutonic moved closer together as they watched the smoke continue to swirl upward much like a snake climbing a tree. It was then that they noticed the gathering clouds on either side of the valley suddenly rising up looking unsettlingly like anvils waiting for a hammer. Lighting started to flash deep in the cloud masses so that they suddenly glowed with an inner fire followed by a deep throated rumble sounding very much like the empty belly of a giant beast. Suzdal looked back at Fiddlebender who appeared to be distracted as he searched through his pockets looking for god knows what. He yelled to him and Fiddlebender jerked up his head and saw the wall of clouds that were forming before and around the ship. He pulled back on the elevation panels and pushed forward on the throttle as the great airship leaped forward climbing for all that it was worth. The increased whirl of the great airship’s propellers vibrated the entire ship’s frame and seemed for a moment to battle the sudden storm with enough power to tame it when from the mountaintop a faint evil chanting could be heard growing in strength.

Suzdal without hesitation started weaving a counter spell while Teutonic just tried to hang on to the railing and not be blown off by the increasing windstorm. It seemed that Suzdal was successful in his spell as the airship continued to rise and started to leave the dome behind when suddenly a flash of light followed by a deafening blast gave proof of a lighting strike hitting the airship. Suzdal and Teutonic were thrown to the deck where Suzdal distracted by his spell casting hit his head and was knocked unconscious. Teutonic lifted him up and made a dash for the ship’s door where he half carried and half dragged Suzdal down below deck. Fiddlebender seeing the airship start to yaw to starboard into the cliff face of the domed mountain cut the power to the propellers and dived below deck yelling for everyone to hold on. Then a resounding crash reverberated throughout the ship followed by a sickening drop. And then silence.
 
Originally posted by Valdemar


Storey how long are you going to let them fall? Untill sunday? :)

You're almost as bad as Norg, :rolleyes: :D

V
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No one is as bad as Norg.:D

I was going to leave you hanging but I've just about finished the next post so I might be able to get it out today. It's time we meet the last of our heroes.;)

Joe
 
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