There's a Bloom County (1) cartoon sequence where Opus the penguin has written his autobiography, "A Penguin's Tale"(2). Having finished it he sets up for a local signing, making his elaborate preparations amidst stacks of copies of his book. His sole attendee is a cockroach (appropriately enough for my purposes) who charges in demanding "Does he sign body parts?" It's […]
Last of the nine kinden who play a significant part in Empireare the Scorpions. Significant? Well perhaps their significance is their non-appearance. There are plenty of them, and they keep turning up and showing their nasty, toothy faces, and yet what impact do they make? The Scorpions care nothing for empires, for borders, morality, politics or […]
First of all I abjure, conjure and invoke you to go out and buy the Feb/March issue (issue 17) of the magazine Death Ray, for therein I have an article. Look at me the serious journalist. So: the Adrian Tchaikovsky world tour 2009 part 1(1) commences shortly. Please come along if you're in the area. I'll be […]
It's the turn of the Moth-kinden this week, turning up at the eleventh hour as they always do. David Mumford has produced another of his masterworks here, whilst there's a new short story, Queen of the Night, here. To very loosely accompany the story, there is a new kinden article, concerning the intellectual life of the Lowlands, […]
Literacy in Collegium is close to one hundred percent. Indeed, literacy across the Lowlands is extremely high. Collegium's academic credentials have a lot to do with this. The College and the Assembly ensure that a basic education is available for all, and charitable institutions such as the Way Brothers provide schools in Helleron and other cities. However […]
Well! Less than a month til the release of Dragonfly Falling (1). Another story soon, this time to do with the Moth-kinden, or sort of. Hopefully also a little reference piece on art and literature in the Lowlands. We'll see (3). However, I acquired some new reading material this Christmas, and I wanted to share a couple of quotes with you, […]
Some snips from the back-catalogue. All the best for Christmas, New Year and whatever else you have to everyone.
It's the turn of the Beetle-kinden for December, as we begin the home run to February and the release of Dragonfly Falling. The Beetles are a mainstay of Empire in Black and Gold and its sequels: Stenwold and Cheerwell are two of the most important protagonists, Collegium perhaps the single most key place. Still, this is […]
Fascist Britain! Bit of politics there, as Ben Elton used to say. No, we're not fascist Britain (1), not by a long way, but we've been close before, and we can go there again, and it's worth opening up a few classics of fantasy literature just to remind ourselves. Recent politics brings this to mind: […]
Firstly, the music in my previous post about multimedia is now properly linked, so please go have a listen here. Secondly, and remarkably, Empire in Black and Gold made it into the Amazon "Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of 2008" here. I have no idea how this is compiled or what it's based on, but I feel […]
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