Monthly Archives: November 2016

New Top Blog Posts

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The new "Most Popular" post knocked aside the previous winner, which had been the Lammas Day post.

The new “Most Popular” post knocked aside the previous winner, which had been the Lammas Day post.

It’s always a surprise to me which posts become SO popular. Writers never know what words or stories will strike their readers in a certain way, grabbing them by the lapels and demanding to be read. Of course, as a writer I hope that ALL my words will grab readers attention that way but experience proves otherwise. Some words grab some readers. Other words grab other readers. The important thing is that words and stories each be read and that each reader find their favorites. Often a writer never knows which words or stories grab which readers in particular; people share or trade copies of books and so sales is often a poor indicator of what readers find especially compelling or attractive.

One way of writing that is easy to measure it’s popularity are blog posts. Posts are tracked by the cyber-spirits that dwell in “the Cloud” and it is very difficult to trick these cyber-guardians who stand there with clickers in their hands, tabulating how many people click on links or pause a minute to look at a webpage. “Top Post” is a category that every post wants to inhabit but which only a very few are lucky enough to achieve. My most recent Top Blog post was the post in which I shared my thoughts on From Faith to Fantasy and discussed how having served as a priest has shaped my writing. The previous most popular posts were those about Lammas Day and about Frankincense.

Another post that has been consistently popular, often getting 50+ views per day, is the post about Storm Wolf. Although it has not been read as many times in one day as From Faith to Fantasy or Lammas Day or Frankincense, it has been very popular for several weeks in a row.

More top billing? My appearance on Hannah Kate’s public radio show in Manchester, UK is among the Top 30 downloads of programs on Mixcloud! You can listen to the show–in which I discuss writing, Prague, the Evil Conferences, and more–on Hannah Kate’s page.

You can also hear me pontificate about a cult classic made-for-tv horror film on the newest episode of the Scream Queenz podcast. If you haven’t seen the movie–or saw it years ago and have forgotten details–you can read my post about Crowhaven Farm and click on the link to the movie itself.

And don’t forget the podcast of my 2014 interview with Radio Prague!

The post about Lammas Day on July 29, 2016 surpassed the previous most popular post (Frankincense, on December 7, 2015).

The post about Lammas Day on July 29, 2016 surpassed the previous most popular post (Frankincense, on December 7, 2015).

The Byzantine World of Videssos

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Are you looking for an alternate reality or a parallel universe to step into while traveling for Thanksgiving or dealing with difficult family over the holidays? I cannot recommend the Videssos Cycle by Harry turtledove TOO highly! It is excellent!

In The Misplaced Legion, the first of the books, the Roman tribune Marcus Scaurus held the spell-scribed sword of a Druid priest, and the Celtic chieftain Viridovix held a similar sword, bespelled by a rival Druid sorcerer. At the moment they touched, the two found themselves under a strange night sky where no stars were familiar and where Gaul and Rome were unknown. They were in an outpost of the embattled Empire of Videssos–in a world where magic and dark sorcery would test their skill and courage as no Roman legion had ever been tested before.

Readers who know something of Byzantine history will quickly discover that the world of Videssos is closely modeled on the Byzantine Empire familiar to those of us who inhabit THIS reality. Harry Turtledove, himself a Byzantine historian as well as an award winning sci-fi and fantasy author, uses his knowledge of Byzantium to full advantage. Well known friends and enemies, dogmatic disputes, intricate social hierarchies are all recognizable in Videssos. But you do NOT need to know anything of Byzantium to appreciate the wonders and glory of the world Turtledove has created within the covers of these books.

The Videssos Cycle by Harry Turtledove is a four book series which is now available in two volumes, each volume containing two of the original books. Therefore, the covers are different now as well.

See my post about another Turtledove classic, Thessalonica, here.

A Darker Shade of Magic

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Have you felt like you stepped into an alternate reality or a parallel universe these last few days? A Darker Shade of Magic is a quick, easy-to-read tale of alternate realties and parallel universes. Author V. E. Schwab is best known for her YA novels as well as the adult novel Vicious which was of one of Publishers Weekly‘s Best Fantasy Books of 2013. If you need something to read on the subway, an enjoyable distraction from the world in which you currently reside, you could do worse than to spend some time with Schwab and her characters.

In A Darker Shade of Magic, we meet Kell. He is one of the last Travelers-magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel universes, connected by one magical city.

There’s Grey London, dirty and boring, without any magic, and with one mad king-George III. Red London, where life and magic are revered-and where Kell was raised alongside Rhys Maresh, the rougish heir to a flourishing empire. White London-a place where people fight to control magic, and the magic fights back, draining the city to its very bones. And once upon a time, there was Black London. But no one speaks of that now.

Officially, Kell is the Red Traveler, ambassador of the Maresh empire, carrying the monthly correspondences between the royals of each London. Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they’ll never see. It’s a defiant hobby with dangerous consequences, which Kell is now seeing firsthand.

Fleeing into Grey London, Kell runs into Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She first robs him, then saves him from a deadly enemy, and finally forces Kell to spirit her to another world for a proper adventure.

Now perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, they’ll first need to stay alive.