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Black ShipsAcross a Wide Dark Ocean |
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| May. 12th, 2008 @ 06:44 pm Mik-el and Xandros | |||
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| A reader asks about the relationship between Mik-el and Xandros, "the son of his heart", and what it means for Xandros. And so, for djarum99 a story!( Elephants and Angels Remember ) | |||
| May. 11th, 2008 @ 08:17 am Why Don't Gull and Xandros Get Married? | |||
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| A reader asks, "Why don't Gull and Xandros just get married?" Because she will not break her oaths for him. In that sense, Ashterah loves Xandros more than she does, because Ashterah is willing to put him first. ( more ) | |||
| May. 7th, 2008 @ 06:55 am How Did You Find Time to Write? | |||
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| A friend asks, "How in the world did you find time to write Black Ships while working full time and having a family?" I stopped cleaning my house. ( No, seriously... ) | |||
| May. 6th, 2008 @ 03:10 pm Con.Txt | |||
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| Hi folks, I'm working hard on revisions to my new book right now, but I thought I'd emerge just long enough to say that I'll be at Con.Txt in June! Con.Txt is a slash/fanfic con in the Greater Washington DC area, June 13-15 Go see right here: http://www.con-txt.net/ It's super fun, and I'm looking forward to being there! No idea yet what panels I'll be on, but I'd love to meet any of you guys! | |||
| Apr. 30th, 2008 @ 06:39 am Learning to Write | |||
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| A reader asks, "What classes or workshops did you take to learn to write?" None. But I took a class and joined a writing group that made me give up writing entirely for five years! ( Sting, Southern Gothic, and Fanfiction ) | |||
| Apr. 18th, 2008 @ 10:51 am The Answers! | |||
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| chadouf asks me to post the right answers in the Trivia Contest, lately won by tricksterquinn. So here they are: 1. What is the modern name of the constellation Seven Sisters? The Pleiades 2. In Black Ships, Neas forsees the future once. What is the event many years in the future that he forsees himself participating in? The eruption of Mt. Vesuvius that buries Pompeii. The night the People are camped on the beach below Vesuvius, Neas has a waking dream about the eruption, in which he sees himself as the captain of a Roman galley, trying to get people off by boat from the harbor. Pliny, a Roman historian, recounts how his uncle, in command of a number of warships, had his captains come in as close as possible to rescue as many survivors from the disaster as they were able. Neas sees himself taking part in the rescue. 3.What quotation from Virgil is one of Gull's lines in Black Ships, but is also quoted in Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End? And whose line is it in AWE? As a huge Pirates fan, I was thrilled when I saw this! The original line from Virgil translates something like "Descending to the underworld is easy. It's coming back that's the trick." In Pirates of the Caribbean, the line is Captain Hector Barbossa's to Elizabeth, on their way to rescue Jack. 4. What famous Roman general claimed to be descended from Aeneas through his son Wilos? Julius Caesar, as we will see in my next book! On the walls of what famous Egyptian temple can we see the story of Ramses III's battle against the Sea People? Medinet Habu Thanks to everyone who played! | |||
| Apr. 16th, 2008 @ 02:27 pm And the Winner Is... | |||
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| The winner of the Trivia Contest is tricksterquinn! YAY! Which character would you like a drabble featuring? | |||
| Apr. 13th, 2008 @ 08:08 pm Trivia Contest! Win a Drabble Just for You! | |||
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| I will write, just for you, a drabble with the Black Ships character of your choice -- if you are the winner of the Trivia Contest! How you play -- answer the following trivia questions in comments. At 8pm EST on Tuesday night (April 15) I will close the contest and ask the winner which character they want! Answer as many as you can. The winner will be the person who gets the most right! I will be screening comments so you can't see each other's answers! ( On to the Questions! ) | |||
| Apr. 12th, 2008 @ 09:17 am Do You Like the Greeks or the Trojans? | |||
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| A reader asks, "By choosing to tell this story from a Trojan point of view, are you on the Trojan side? Do you think the Greeks are the bad guys in this period of history?" ( Heroes ) | |||
| Apr. 11th, 2008 @ 10:09 am Why Did I Write It? | |||
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| A reader asks, "Why did you decide to write Black Ships? Why not something else?" ( Why ) | |||
| Apr. 9th, 2008 @ 06:37 am The Subjective Experience | |||
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| A reader asks, "Why do you use a first person narrator? Doesn't that make it hard to achieve balance?" Yes, it would, if I were a reporter, and this a different kind of story! A reporter's goal is to achieve "balance", a story that is fair because it presents all sides. "Mayor says new school must be built, but neighborhood residents disagree." This is how news is supposed to be presented. But my inspiration is not the work of the journalist but of the memoirist. ( The Subjective Experience ) | |||
| Apr. 7th, 2008 @ 09:41 am The Gate of True Dreams | |||
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| estllechauvelin asks "Why is it that Neas and Gull leave the Underworld through the Gate of True Dreams, rather than false dreams?" A great, complicated question! ( Cleopatra, Marcellus, Actium, and True Dreams ) | |||
| Mar. 30th, 2008 @ 08:09 am Why is Basetamon Crazy? | |||
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| I've had two readers ask "Why is Basetamon crazy? I don't remember Dido being crazy in the Aeneid." ( Selling Basetamon ) | |||
| Mar. 24th, 2008 @ 11:22 pm Black Ships Community | |||
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| I was excited to find out that there's a brand new community dedicated to Black Ships fic, discussion and meta! Go check it out! http://community.livejournal.com/black_ | |||
| Mar. 17th, 2008 @ 09:39 am German Edition | |||
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| I'm delighted to hear that Black Ships will be out sometime next year in a German edition, from Heyne! Hooray! | |||
| Mar. 11th, 2008 @ 10:28 am Is it a "Girly" Book? | |||
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| I've been asked this question by a couple of readers who were just picking up the book. And it's an interesting question. Is it primarily a romance? No. There's romance in it, but it's not about a courtship. Is it about a woman? Yes. And it's about a woman who is not filling a male gender role in society. Gull is not a warrior princess. And that's one of the main points. ( The Priestess ) | |||
| Mar. 10th, 2008 @ 12:01 pm Reading and Signing | |||
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| Come join me for my very first ever reading and signing! Friday, March 21 at 7 pm Borders 20926 Frederick Road, Germantown MD (in Milestone Center) There will be Mediterranean food to put people in a Black Ships mood! Please come -- I'd love to meet you! | |||
| Mar. 7th, 2008 @ 12:02 pm The Island of the Dead | |||
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| Several people have asked me about the Island of the Dead -- ( all about it ) | |||
| Feb. 29th, 2008 @ 01:08 pm It's Out! | |||
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| As of today Amazon is officially shipping, so Black Ships is out! If you see it in your local bookstore and get the chance, would you mind commenting to this post and telling me where you spotted it and when? As in Saturday morning, Barnes and Noble, Green Plaza, San Antonio? Thank you so much! | |||
| Feb. 18th, 2008 @ 07:04 am You Can't Say That! | |||
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| penknife asks about language in Black Ships, and it's a fascinating question. One of the most interesting challenges in writing Black Ships was getting rid of the words for concepts they don't have. "She's totally in denial." "He's gotten so paranoid about people being out to get him at work." "I've got a theory about the economy that really works." There are words and phrases we use all the time that refer to concepts or mental constructions that are comparatively recent. For example, "denial" and "paranoid" both refer to a modern psychological construction that only dates from the end of the 19th century. ( Read more... ) | |||
