Spur of the moment short.
A draft was coming in, the soft breeze cooling the room far more quickly than Vuert would have liked it. Slowly, he unwound himself from within the blanket before the fire and made his way towards the source of the breeze in his bedroom. As he walked along the corridors, his feet making hardly any noise upon the joists as he easily shifted his weight upon the balls of his feet, he wondered idly how that minor lord from Grestenberg would take the news he had delivered. That pompus fool would probably lose sleep for weeks.
A smile played out upon his thin lips, small wrinkles devoloping around his large black eyes. Those eyes had been a source of ridicule since his childhood, often causing fights and forcing his parents to flee to other villages only barely outrunning the shouts and hurled stones. But that had all changed. He had changed it, though he could not remember how or even when. He only knew, the rage had come. It often had in those days.
To be continued shortly, time for sleep. More ideas are welcome and any advice you might have. I am just having fun with this as I use the blog as my own personal hamster.
To log an Idea
As most of my avid fan base, namely me, knows I haven’t been overly active of late in regards to my blogging. Well, I plan on remedying that situation as best I can. In my life, my ultimate goal is to end up a PhD in Literature (specificaly Fantasy/Science Fiction as Literature) and Astronomy (emphasis on Astrophysics). While these two may seem completely seperate entities of education in and of themselves, quite a few of the major Science Fiction and Fantasy authors of the world have degrees in either mathematics or literature. This, I am quick to point out, is not my reasoning for choosing these degrees. Actually, I find that both subjects greatly suit my nature.
The point of my ramblins above, is quite simple; I wish to, on a public forum, announce my intent to write more frequently here. My hope is to start posting some of the content of my future novels (fingers crossed) here and find some critques, if that is, I ever manage to get a base of people who read this non-sense I espouse.
Swords and Armor! CLANG
As you may or may not have noticed (my two avid readers) I am a lover of all things Fantasy and some things Science Fiction. Recently, in my pursuit of riches and glory I stumbled across Payperpost.com, a website dedicated to helping the currency disinclined of the world make some money by sitting and typing away. In surfing through the various companies looking to advertise through my blog, I found Heavenly Sword. While not necessarily fulfilling the Science Fiction of my day to day life, it has never the less pleased the Fantasy that I so crave.
However! Nothing is worth doing unless you have something to compare it against (Enter Museum Replicas). SO PREPARE YOURSELF ! The duel will commence thusly!
Round 1.
Expense
Its Sharp, but will I need it to fight back my creditors?
In comparing two items of like fantastical and/or historical reference. My choices were the Crusader Sword as sold by Museum Replicas and the Sword of Richard the Lionheart. NOW! You there! Stop what you are doing! I don’t want any emails or posts telling me just how different these are. I know how different they are. There is just no good comparison between the two websites. The Crusader Sword is 41” overall and the other is 43 and 1/4”, so it will have to do. The cheapest price between the two is obvious to belong to Heavenlyswords.com for their Richard the Lionheart blade, which tallied in at $85.48. The Crusader Sword as shown by Museumreplicas.com totaled in at $185.00, a significant price jump.
Round one to Heavenly Swords. Next up!
Round 2.
Credentials
(He jerks a thumb over his shoulder) “No ticket.“
I will make this part short and sweet. No credentials? No buy. At least thats my philosophy. And in this part, I think that Museum Replicas takes the cake. They offer the manufacturers name right there on the page with the sword! You can’t go wrong there! They even send you a Certificate. I like Certificates, they make things official, this way I know what I am buying is made by someone who has some idea what sword making is all about (unlike myself, I just like sharp things).
As for Heavenly Swords, they don’t seem to want to show you who made the sword much less give you a Certificate of Authenticity! I mean.. jeez. I want a bit more than a reciept, this is a purchase I may pass down to my children some day! (Unless they have depth perception problems, in which case foam will have to do).
That leaves only one thing to do! Tally up one for Museum Replicas.
The score? 1 and 1!
Round 3. Website speed and ease of use.
Click CLICK BO…. woah. Man.. this could take a while.
Okay so I will have to judge preemptively and say that both sites seem a bit dodgy in this arena. Museum Replicas lets you hold your cursor over certain subjects and they cascade down, for ease of navigation. However the cascading parts are transparent and because of this are barely legible.
Heavenly Swords seems to have slow server issues, however it could be just a bad day for them. Both sites lack good search feature, both being slow and hardly ever taking you where you need to go (even if you know a crusader sword is there typing in crusader sword is liable to help much unless you have the secret hand shake.)
Final score? You be the judge. If you are looking for a good wall mounted piece for over the fire place at a great price, check out Heavenly Swords. If, on the other hand, you are a hardcore SCA‘er, you might be more obliged to check out Museum Replicas for their standard of quality; A word to the wise though! It comes with a price tag.
NEXT UP!
VISTA versus LEOPARD
The legendary battle of the Titans rages on and frankly, I doubt any really gives a damn. They both suck! How’d you like them apples (and pcs)?
Brandon Sanderson is going to finish the Wheel of time!
So it has come to my attention that Brandon Sanderson, author of the Elantris Portal, will be taking over for the legendary Robert Jordan, whom recently passed from a rare blood disease, by writing “A Memory of Light” the final chapter in the Wheel of Time. This was announced on December 14th of 2007 officially, by Harriet, Jordan’s wife.
While I am very excited to read how Mr. Sanderson plans upon finishing the epic Wheel of Time series, I am also slightly apprehensive. Jordan brought a world into view that few could possibly imagine without his words to give it that breath of life. He was passion incarnate in his writing and filled his characters with a certain zeal, as if they stood by his shoulder and whispered their story to him. I simply hope that Brandon is up to the task of writing in this style and I will wait to see how he intends to emulate this world of Jordan’s and finish off, the Wheel of time.
Harry Potter: The Deathly Hallows
Well, its time for me to come clean. I have officially read the final installment of Harry Potter , called The Deathly Hallows. I got a copy of the book the day before yesterday (the twenty-third) and after around four hours of reading managed to finish the book. Although I must admit after reading it that most of the predictions I made concerning the last book came true in the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling managed to stun even me around every corner (cynical reader that I am). Without giving anything away, I feel that even the most staunch supporter of Rowling will most likely hate and love this book because of the various twists, turns and evident darkness within it.
On a different note, if Rowling every gets around to reading this; Don’t stop writing. You have an amazing ability and I do hope that the success and the evident stress of these novels does not put you off from writing further (if not in the same series).
The Wheel of Time
The Wheel of Time, a book written by Robert Jordan, is perhaps one of the best fantasy novels ever written. Often compared to J.R.R. Tolkiens The Lords of the Rings saga, Jordan has created a world truly unique in its depth and clarity of vision.
When I was about thirteen, my older brother Bill introduced me for the first time to this Series. I do not doubt that his introduction caused my zest for reading and I know that since I picked up the first book in the series, The Eye of the World , I have probably read these novels well over fifty times apiece. If you ever got the opportunity I highly suggest it.
