The Week In Review

Home from a long trip cross-state. Finished listening to James Patterson's Jester (excellent) and started in on The Pale Horseman, part two of Bernard Cornwell's Saxon Chronicles series (so far, so good).

Meanwhile, holed up at the hotel I finished re-reading Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda (minus the final, non-relevant Hattatal portion) as part of my ongoing research for the proposed 4-volume illustrated novel series The Ring Saga. Of particular relevance were those portions concerning Ragnarök - the Norse variant of the Armageddon prophecy (which I intend to expand upon) - and the stories surrounding the Volsung clan, of which Snorri's version has some important additions and variations from those of the Icelandic Volsunga Saga and the Germanic Nibelungenlied (among these being the power of the ring to create wealth, and Andvari's curse upon it). My intent in revisiting these three works is to outline and catalog their individual plot elements with a view toward integrating and incorporating them where appropriate and useful into Wagner's own reworking of the epic ring cycle.
 
To that end, I am also currently giving a close reading to J.R.R. Tolkien's recently published poetic work The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún, a set of two long poems based upon the Volsung material (and a work which shows Tolkien was clearly well-versed in the Nordic ring lore when he set about to craft his own ring saga). Tolkien's stated intent in composing these two new lays was, in fact, to do just what I am proposing: to draw upon and integrate the divergent lineages of this central Northern folk tradition to create a new work for a modern audience. Tolkien's error in this regard was in casting that tale in obscure verse. After all, who reads poetry these days? Even in William Morris's day the general interest in reading lengthy narrative poems was rapidly waning. Today you'd be lucky to find one book in ten thousand published in verse form, and it would not be popular.

It is, in fact, Christopher Tolkien's editorial commentary which is thus far proving of most value here, as he details section by section where his father drew his inspiration from. It is, in itself, a valuable introduction to the entire Northern mythology, and to the ring matter specifically.

Still, I intend to complete my own notes with a thorough re-reading of the two additional works mentioned above, as well as several extraneous manuscripts, such as the Elder Edda (a work I've read before and partially begun to outline already), and the introductory Ynglinga Saga section of Snorri's Heimskringla, which provides additional details and outlines of the Norse mythology. Here again, I will be looking specifically for references to Ragnarök which might prove useful, as well as any elements associated with the ring legend, such as those involving Andvari or the building of Valhalla. Wagner is said to have drawn as well upon Thidrik's Saga for some of his material, so I need to acquire a copy of that, or make an excursion to the local library. But I'll have to leave that for another day. In addition, I plan to read the entire 10,000 line poem The Story of Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Niblungs by William Morris, whose translation (with Magnússon) of the Volsunga Saga I have read and utilized extensively already. Of great use in this project as well is Kevin Crossley-Holland's The Norse Myths, and Arthur Cotterell's nicely illustrated Encyclopedia of Mythology which contains a lengthy section on Northern myths.

All this I imagine will require several months of intense work, which I intend to pursue while continuing my efforts to devlop my 3D rendering skills to create the artwork which will form the basis of the graphic novel Ring Saga series. In amongst all that I plan to begin the actual writing process, and as soon as I do I will post up some samples here. Meanwhile, I have only three and a half more weeks of work at my day job before the summer break begins and I can dive into this mess in earnest.

To ePub or Not

The other day I recieved an email from one of Ingram Books' Lightning Source senior sales reps regarding their new "Apple iBooks Distribution Program." Ingram has acquired a deal with Apple to provide content for the iBooks platform via their Lightning Source POD divsion which, of course, stores all of its titles in electronic format. As an author/publisher already working with Lighting Source for both print and ebook distribution, I have the option of now adding the iBookstore as an additional retail outlet.

I have not yet acquired an iPad myself, although one of my brothers has. Given that I would really only use it as a dedicated eReader I just haven't been able to justify even such a reasonable price as the basic model sports. I am neither an avid video gamer, nor do I spend much time interacting electronically with the world while away from home, so those features are fairly useless for my purposes. I have a top notch iPod for my iTunes, so I would never use it for that; my hi-def home theater takes care of all my "iFlix" needs, so I can't imagine I would watch much video on even so fine a screen as Apple's tablet boasts. And on top of that I'm a long-time user of Word for my writing and an avid fan of Adobe programs when it comes to graphics and page layout, so that while Pages looks totally SWEEEET, it would be more or less unusable since my desktop is not a Mac. Thus, until such time as Office makes an Apple ap and/or the iPad hosts a lot more memory and integration support, I can't forsee using the iPad as anything but a temporary note-taking device in this regard.

But back to the matter at hand. The foregoing is all by way of saying that I have as yet no real first-hand experience with using iBooks or its online bookstore. But then, I don't suppose too many people do just yet, given that the WiFi iPad models have only been available for a mere three weeks, and the 3G models don't even begin shipping until May 7th. Still, the reviews thus far seem to be overwhelmingly positive, at least for the device taken as a whole.

What I'm more specifically interested in is how it fares as an eBook reader/content source. This issue, of course, begs inevitable comparisons with Amazon's Kindle, both as the iPad's major competition as a hardware device and as a wireless content provider. Currently, iBookstore is only available to U.S. users, although this will likely change as soon as international trade arrangements and royalty agreements are worked out. Amazon took awhile to roll out its wireless content overseas as well, and it still incurs additional fees. And while I'd like to expand my territory, most of my sales are in the U.S. at present anyway, so that's no major detraction.

I won't get into arguments here as to the merits of LCD screens versus eInk, except to say that this is clearly the one area where there will be a strong division among respective users. While most early reviewers praise the iPad as a major advance in both its interface and content organization over the Kindle - both in terms of ease of use and pure aesthetics - over the past two years eInk has come out the clear winner of the visual "readability" contest among electronic reading devices.

But here is where eInk falls flat thus far: COLOR. Just look at this image of that perennial favorite children's illustrated book, Winnie The Pooh (provided free with the Gen1 iPad). This is what the Kindle just can't do. And for those whose choice of reading material consists - even in part - of comic books and graphic novels (not to mention art books and travel guides), Apple's iPad must be seen as the first true eBook reader. Sure, you can read full-color PDFs on any laptop, and yes, the iPad is not a dedicated eReader, but it is truly the first of its kind: a hand-held, touch-screen, portable full-color reader with integrated wireless content source.

And the color issue is no small matter to me. I've been struggling for the past few years with how to approach the very real dilemma of integrating color illustrations into my work. Not least among the many questions that arise is how to deal with eBooks, which make up roughly a quarter to a third of my total sales at present. Even the few black and white vignettes included in The Saga of Beowulf gave me grief when it came to formatting for the Kindle (among others). Reflowable text is one culprit which, although a great boon to readers, is a sizeable bane to illustrated novelists who want specific text to accompany specific images, let alone be integrated with the imagery, as is the case in the above-mentioned novel's Prologue. Having text above and below an image is easy enough, but to have it flow around and amidst it is another matter entirely. This issue is still a matter of some concern, but at least now I can consider the creation of electronic graphic novels a possibility.

The question at hand, however, is whether to submit my current novel for inclusion in Apple's iBookstore. A significant concern is that, at least at present, content provided by iBookstore can only be read on the iPad. There is apparently soon to be an iPhone OS upgrade which will allow for iPhone/iTouch integration via iTunes, but this still limits iBooks useage to strictly Apple products (intentionally, of course). As an author I have a hard time restricting my work to a specific vendor and making the reader choose just one, or pay for the same product more than once. Maybe this is counterproductive from a marketing standpoint - after all, corporations do everything they can to stimulate multiple purchases of one product (take DVD/Blu-Ray "Special Editions" as a case in point). From my point of view, any eBook should ideally be readable on any electronic reading device. But perhaps this is just something I've come to expect from years of using relatively customizable personal computers. Either way, both Apple and Amazon have their own idea of how this should all play out, and they're not asking either authors or readers.

The only reason this is really even debateable is that there is, of course, the inevitable fee to become an iBooks publisher. Nothing in the world is free, but all costs must be wisely weighed and considered. The terms of Apple's agreement are confidential, so I won't divulge the specifics of them here, but suffice it to say that both Ingram and Apple take a percentage of the sales (one reasonable enough, the other not so much), and that there is a one-time, up-front fee for small-time publishers such as myself (ones with less than 25 titles in print, that is), and although it's not extravagent, it's also not pocket change. Ultimately, it seems to me the cost is well worth the additional exposure this platform promises to offer. But at the moment it's just a promise, and hence, the question.

In all honesty, one of the main things holding me back from signing right up is the seeming mountain of legal paperwork the whole process involves, as well as the difficulties involved in converting to the proper format. Amazon was by far the easier of the two in this respect. Thus far my experiences with the ePub format have been less than stellar, for the reasons mentioned above, and I would hate to go to all the trouble to setting myself up in the iBookstore only to find out I have to leave all my artwork out (as I did with the Kindle). But if they can do Winnie The Pooh - with its cleverly integrated illustrations strewn amidst the text - well, then I guess I'm in pretty good company. And I'm very excited about the now very real prospect of seeing electronic graphic novels come to fruition. Electronic text might not have taken the world by storm, but beautifully colored illustrations simply cry out for illumination.

Audio Book Review: Enter Three Witches

Another astounding audiobook that completely took me by surprise, Enter Three Witches is the story of Macbeth as seen from the point of view of Lady Mary, 14-year-old ward of Lord and Lady Macbeth, and the daughter of Lord Cawdor, whose fate those familiar with Shakespeare's play will know only too well ("Hail Glams! Hail Cawdor!").

The story is told in beautifully written prose depicting with equal ease the eerie fog-enshrouded, witch-haunted Scottish moorlands and the violent, blood-drenched machinations wrought by unsatiatable lust for prestige and power. The language is poetic, vivid, and quickly paced, so that the plot moves forward with a seemingly unstoppable momentum, punctuated at intervals by quotes from Shakespeare's play.

The reading by Charlotte Parry is impeccable, with multiple Scottish dialects and intonations clearly delineating her character voicings, while the narrative sections are given in a clear London English. Parry's ability to convey complex emotional states, switch quickly from one dialect to the next, and create a readily identifiable cast of characters is a unique skill in itself, over and above the inherent value of Cooney's excellent writing.

Published by Scholastic for ages eight and up, this is another book I would not have thought any eight-year-old could read, much less understand. Another not essential, a basic understanding of Shakespeare's version of the story is assumed, with much of the main plot being only vaguely explained. But of far more import is how well examined is the psychology of characters both low and of noble birth, of the demands of rank and honor, and the depths of depravity to which some are willing to descend. Enter Three Witches is a fascinating study in human nature as much as a thrilling and suspenseful tale. My only caveat is that the story ends somewhat abruptly, well before I was ready to be done.

Rhinemaidens Test Renders

This week I started working on developing the Rhinemaidens. I began by using the Stephanie 3 Petite model and applying the Vivien for Laura morph to give her more youthful and aquiline features. The hair model is Nabia Hair, which I chose both for its unique braiding and the ability to morph and pose it in a complex number of ways. The coloring here is completely customized by changing the diffuse, highlight, and ambient colors of the default blonde texture in Poser's Materials Room.

This is one of a series of experimental tests I did using different coloration and lighting. The idea here was to give the hair the look and feel of seaweed flowing underwater, and I followed through with green eyes and nails as well. Below you can see a few more variations: the blue is another custom coloration, while the other is a default dark black that I haven't altered at all; both have eyes from the Daiwa set to match. In these, the eye coloring for both are taken from the Daiwa's Dominion set, as is the skin texture that I've used throughout. In the green test I've added a hi-rez bump map, but the ones below have yet to have this applied, and so look smooth and plastic like a rather detailed Barbie.

The skin tone is a muted bluish-gray to make her look as if she's been submerged a bit to long with no exposure to the sun. I've also applied a wet reflection to the skin and the lighting has striations to imitate the varations of the water currents. You can see how much more the light and shadow add to the skin in the image at the top.

The clothing that I added is the Morphing Fantasy Dress for Stephanie with the Wildwoods Petal texture set applied, and then a green tone added on to that. Just a very quick and rough pose was thrown on to get it more or less in place and make the figure appear to be floating underwater, but I went no further because this is just a test pose and not one intended for a final scene. Once I settle on a final pose, the dress will get a lot more tweaking and modification before I'm through.

There are three Rhinemaidens which, given certain elements of the story, I take to be nearly identical in appearance, if not exact triplets. So I was initially toying with the idea of using three duplicate copies of the same model. But this poses some practical difficulties for the reader that I'd rather avoid, so I'm leaning toward using the same model with just the eye and hair coloration changed. Of course, I could have triplets each with unique clothing, but I kind of like the blue and black variations above, so I'll do some further lighting tests on them before I make a final determination.

In Wagner's Ring Cycle, the Rhinemaidens are the daughters of Odin tasked with the protection of the Rhinegold. But they also function as something akin to the Greek Sirens, teasing and toying with men (and dwarves) and drawing them to their watery end. They are not the nicest of creatures one would hope to meet.

To that end, this is a facial pose test showing the less seductive side of their nature. Andvari, our forelorn dwarven blacksmith, while out one day scouring the cavern-ridden riverbed for ore to mine, stumbles across a region Wagner describes as filled with ether: a fluid air in which a man can both breathe and swim. And it is here Andvari meets his fateful doom, a doom which will resonate thoughout the Nine Worlds.

Andvari Near Final Test Render

Given that I had the day off from work today, I was able to put some time into finalizing my character test render art for Andvari. This is more or less how I envisioned it when I set out to create a visual representation of the character I had in mind, so overall I'm fairly happy with the result.

In the end it didn't retain as much of its "dwarvish" characteristics as I had planned, but that will likely change when seen beside a character of normal proportions. He should probably be stockier across the chest, but it was hard enough to get his clothes to fit as it is, so I'm okay with it. The tunic I ended up using is from the Viking Pack for Michael, one of the very first model sets I acquired a year ago, and one that got me started on this epic venture. The blacksmith hammer is from the Norse Villager Expansion, and the armrings are actually from the V3 Nordic Women set, available at Renderosity. All three sets are John Malis productions, of which I have several others I'm excited to put to use. The gold brooches, for example, are from his Valkyrie Pack - they're actually female breastplates shrunk and flattened! Most of the textures here have also had bump maps added to give them extra depth.

Once the basic set of models were put put together and posed to my satisfaction, I took the texture maps for both the skin and tunic into Photoshop and grunged them up a bunch with Ron's Aging Dirt & Grit brushes, using a variety of mud and blood-like colors. Andvari is originally a blacksmith by trade, as most dwarves are, but there's a lot of ruddy color in the stains that have accumulated on his hands and clothes, which has to make you wonder where it came from.

I've opted not to give him shoes for now, as his feet are so oddly shaped I can't find any that will fit him! I was planning on giving him a pair of sandals, but it's almost better that he goes without: he is poor and downtrodden at the beginning of the story, although later on he comes into his own in spades.

As you can see, I've stuck with the Loki Hair for now, and I haven't added any stubble to his arms or legs just yet. That will probably be tomorrow's project. However, I have to say I kind of like him as he is. As much as I like the hideously morbid Mutant Hair (see yesterday's post), it's just too reminiscent of Gollum, and not at all dwarf-like enough. Dwarves are very hairy creatures, somewhat like small bears, but I don't know if I want to add a beard or not. Again, I'll leave that for tomorrow to decide.

The Ring Saga: Digital Character Tests

Recently I've been working on developing some characters for my latest project, drawing up a cast list and sketching out their basic qualities. I find it helps in planning out the story to actually know something about the main participants beforehand. Generally I will free write about a page or so on each of the major players, sometimes more or sometimes less, depending on the role they have to play and how much I feel I need to know about them. Often this is just a "day in the life" type of sketch about their typical routine as, say, a blacksmith or a butcher or a mafia hitman, whatever they happen to be, just to give some context to their part in the story and help me get a grip on their personality. Sometimes I'm quite surprised at what I discover lurking there. Sometimes this material will work its way into the actual manuscript and sometimes not. But it's always a useful exercise, regardless.

Given my recent infatuation with creating digital art, I felt it only natural to extend this character sketching process into the visual arena. After all, 3D-rendered art is ultimately intended to be a significant portion of my next effort, if all goes according to plan. To that end, this little exercise is a digital mock-up of Andvari, the dwarf from The Ring Saga (as the 4-volume graphic novel series is tentatively titled at present) who steals the Rhinegold from the Rhinemaidens and forges from it a ring of power with which to control the mortal world. Sound familiar? It should; Tolkien borrowed the idea for his own great fantasy masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings. Here, however, Andvari is the character in what might be equated with the later Gollum role, but as a far more active participant in the ring's creation: it is he indeed who forges it and sets in motion a tragic curse that brings about the downfall of both gods and men at the end of Wagner's opera. The pose I gave him here is intended to be used for the cover image of Volume 1: Curse of the Rhinegold, where Andvari will be seen grasping for the gleaming Rhinegold while the three Rhinemaids swim around it, lit by striated light shining down through the murky waters of the Rhine.

For the digital character art, I began with Michael 3, a basic DAZ figure model, seen here posed behind my final figure. I began by resizing the figure to dwarvish proportions, shrinking both the torso and legs, while leaving arms of roughly human size, and even increasing the size of the feet and toes. I applied a wide variety of morphs to the head - far too many to list - tweaking and morphing and reshaping and scaling, bit by bit until I  achieved the character traits I wanted: pointy nose and ears, sunken eyes and cheeks, and a mouth that puts Mick Jagger to shame (In fact, Andvari might well be a far ancestor of Aerosmith's Steven Tyler, now that I look him over more closely). In addition to this, I've applied an aged skin texture set called The Elderlies and a rotten teeth morph and texture from the Derthag character set, which you can really only see well on the closeup (click for bigger images). I threw a simple skirt loincloth and torc neckring on just to get things going and temped in several layers of Mutant Hair (three in the first image, four in the second one). The hair is probably not what I'll end up with, as it resembles dreadlocks a bit more than I like. But I was looking for something unkemp and somewhat hideous, and that's all I had at hand. I'll probably grow strand-based hair in the end, but that will take a lot more work, as I haven't really got the knack of that just yet. But I also want to put a lot of stray hairs along his arms and legs and chin. My inspiration for this, of course, is Arthur Rackham's classic illustrations for Wagner's Ring (see the final image in my earlier post here).

Originally I began with Michael 3 (rather than the far more developed Michael 4 model) because I had intended to apply a dwarf morph from John Malis's RPG Series, Part 1: Dwarves set, and use some of the Dwarf and Viking clothing sets I have for M3. But although this resulted in an interesting and possibly usable dwarf character (seen here in test render mode), it ultimately resulted in a wide array of problematic areas. For one thing, I wanted Andvari to look  emaciated, almost skeletal, yet clearly with a dwarvish musculature and strength, given he's a blacksmith. As you can see from the image this created some weird angular creases and made posing the figure a nightmare, as the joints no longer function properly. In addition, the proportions are so bizarre that getting any clothes to fit the figure is near impossible (or at any rate will take a huge number of custom magnet handle morphs every time I want to change the pose). Just getting this funky Barbarian loincloth to conform was hard enough. Still, I kind of like this guy. And old though he may be, I wouldn't want to fight him man to man (a nicely sharpened axe notwithstanding).

ADDENDUM: NEW HAIR TESTS

To show you what a difference a single change can make, here's a test render for Andvari with a head of hair. This is Loki Long Hair (which I've actually double layered to make it thicker), textured Steel Grey from the Loki Natural Hair/Texture Set and roughly morphed for length and fit. I did a number of quick tests with various texture colors and style shaping, and this was the best one of the lot, but it's still just a very rough test. I tried a few other hair models as well, but most weren't at all what I was after.

For comparison, here's Billy Hair, textured black with Style6 applied (and slightly lengthened) from the StyleZ Male Pose Package. I think I like this style better, but the color's not as good. But again, I plan to work on creating strand-based hair using Poser's native Hair Room function, but I'm not quite up to that tonight.

The pose here, of course, is from a new angle as well, which alters the dynamic quite a bit. I need to grunge his skin up quite a bit, particularly on the hands, which would be dirt encrusted with broken nails and burns from working in the mines and at the forge for years on end. Plus he still could use a set of rustic threads. But one thing at a time.

New Books!

Got a nice tax return this year, so I ordered a boatload of new books, and a ton of 3D models to beef up my pantheon of imaginary characters. A few new dwarves, some circus freaks, a handful of weapons, and a slough of medieval village props, that sort of thing.

Last year when I first was learning 3D rendering I picked up the Poser 7 version of this first book at my local library, and up til now that is all the technical training I have had. The rest has been blind stumbling about to figure out by trial and error how this program works.

So when I upgraded recently to Poser 8 I thought I ought to get the latest edition of this staple users guide as well, and this time not from the library. Poser 8 Revealed: The Official Guide is one of those books it would be useful to have on the handy reference shelf above your desk. Like most programs, Poser has an online help, and like most of them, it's of little use, being poorly organized and sparsely written, assuming knowledge I don't (or didn't) have and not explaining anything in near enough detail. But this book is easy to read and equally a breeze to find just what you need. It's a neatly organized compendium of Poser's fundamental tools and functions, intended for beginning to intermediate users who need to remember how that one tool works, or how to do that thing again, because you can't recall just now.

But whereas the above manual is essentially an introductory reference work, Practical Poser 8 is intended to be used by intermediate to advanced level render artists. Focusing on everything from texturing and materials creation to creating custom morphs and lighting, this book features a nice gallery of color render art (Mountain Guard by Bjorn Malmberg is done particularly well in classic Frazetta style), as well as a cd packed with useful bonus content. I look forward to working my way through this one.

Initially I didn't see much difference in the latest Poser upgrade, aside from some obvious remodeling of its interface and a handy search box to help you find specific models in what inevitably becomes a massive library of props and poses. But the more I work with it the more I realize that most of what's been tweaked is underneath the hood. And like any good mechanic, a solid knowledge of the underlying system is essential to its running as smoothly and effectively as possible.

On the surface Poser is a very user-friendly tool, but underneath this thing is a beast, a veritable powerhouse of a program which essentially constutes an entire film studio in a single package. From lights to cameras to action (literally), this thing can build a movie from the ground up, or take a handful of random pixels and turn them into a fire-breathing dragon. The only significant area it is lacking in, in terms of animation, is in the sound department.

But as I don't plan on doing any serious animation anytime soon, except perhaps a promo video or two to help market some upcoming projects, and because I already have a state-of-the-art recording studio on my computer, this is all but unneccesary anyway. My interest at present is in creating graphic illustrations to augment my writing and the creation of graphic novels; and, of course, I want to produce the very best artwork I can manage.

Since I use Photoshop extensively, I also picked up The Art of Poser and Photoshop, which focuses specifially on Poser Pro and Photoshop CS4, with emphasis on integrating the two to achieve optimal results. Featuring a series of hands-on project-based tutorials, this book is printed entirely in glossy color, boasting a wealth of gorgeous full-color art, both as samples and examples at each step along the way. It's almost worth buying just to look at.

Finally, although this book is now a few years out of date (its DVD has a demo of Poser 6), I threw this one in as well in hopes that it might offer some unique tips and tricks the other three don't offer (Note how all four are subtitled "The Official Guide"). Unlike the others, Secrets of Poser Experts features individual chapters by a broad range of graphic artists who use Poser in the creation of everything from comics to book illustrations to feature films, from photo realism to sci-fi fantasy (or both).

I figure this should keep me busy for awhile. Not that I needed anything additional to do. But so long as I've decided to do this 3D artwork thing, I figure I should try to do it well. Or at least give it my best shot. At any rate I'm excited about the prospect, and that's something, after all.

Audio Book Review: The Last Kingdom

I don't generally review audio books, although I listen to a lot of them. My day job keeps me on the road for hours on end, and because of that I get a lot of "reading" in. For the most part I find the performances range from acceptable to barely passable (if not altogether intolerable), with inevitable moments of embarrassing awkwardness, as it's all but impossible for a single reader to voice a cast of several dozen characters - both male and female - with anything approaching the breadth of tone and mannerism the actual characters would possess.

But astonishingly, in Tom Sellwood's narration of Bernard Cornwell's historical epic The Last Kingdom, those limitations have seemingly been suspended. Sellwood gives his cast of characters not only accurate dialects, but each has unique vocal traits that transcend Cornwell's written dialogue, bringing out subtle inflections that are nearly impossible to replicate upon the page This is audio as it was meant to be, lending the novel a new dimension that functions almost as an addendum to the written work.

In much the way that filmed adaptations of literary works are often lambasted for their inability to replicate the reading experience, such as been my general opinion of audio book productions, and listening to them has been a matter of neccesity rather than a preference. However, when a film draws out the best of what can be translated to the screen and then builds on it to create real and tangible fantasy worlds in which the characters we love can truly come to life - as for example Peter Jackson has done with The Lord of the Rings trilogy, or Disney did with many of its animated classics, such as Pinocchio or The Jungle Book - those characters and worlds come to life in ways a book can never do. The look of fear on Frodo's face, the sorrow of Sam Gamgee, the childish laughter of Pinocchio and terror of Bagheera, all are things a film can do far better than the best words of any author. Yet rarely has an audio reading achieved these heights. But such was Sellwood's voicing of Cornwell's late 9th century Danes and Britains that it came to life for me in a way that was a nearly transcendent experience. I found myself driving ever slower to delay my journey's end (and to avoid driving off the road) as I sat transfixed, my mind awash in the golden hues of torchlit halls and burning ships.

The Last Kingdom is the first book in Bernard Cornwell's (currently) five book series The Saxon Stories, retelling the events of King Alfred's defense of Britain against the invading Viking Danes, told specifically through the eyes of (yes, 1st person again!) a fictional British youth (yes, young adult in a violent adult world trope yet again!) who is taken captive and raised by the same invading Danes that slaughter his family at the opening of the book. Spanning a period of ten years from 866-876, beginning with our protagonist an innocent and sprightly 10 year old, The Last Kingdom brings him firmly into adulthood at the age of 20, with all the requisite passages into manhood such a violent tale demands.

I need not dwell for long upon the story, as the book has long since become an international bestseller - rare among medieval historical stories - but suffice it say that Cornwell has given Tom Sellwood plenty of meat on which to gnaw his skillful teeth. Working in Sellwood's favor is the fact that there are virtually no female characters to impede his progress, although the few there are do not inhibit his vocal prowess in the slightest. I eagerly await my library notification that the reservation I placed for part two of the audiobook series has been filled.

Book Review: Song of the Sparrow

I had really mixed feelings about this book right from the beginning. A librarian I know suggested it to me, not because of my interest in Arthurian lore, but because of its writing style, which he said was unique. And he was right, to a degree.

The Song of the Sparrow is a young adult "novel" published by Scholastic, although you'd never really know it from looking at it, or really even from reading it. It's not particularly written down to a young audience, either in subject or style, and the only thing that makes it a young adult work is its relatively simplistic vocabulary and youthful protagonist, both essential for the 7-12 year old reader. Literature for that age group is ripe with tales of young adolescents trying to fit into an increasingly violent and destructive adult world.

Few stories are better suited to the "Coming of Age" trope than the legendary tale of Arthur, the reluctant boy warrior who united a kingdom. It was my love of all things Arthurian that ultimately compelled me to read this book. After all, I've given lectures on the subject of the historical King Arthur, and pride myself on having read nearly every Arthurian-related work I've managed to run across. So why stop now?

To her credit, Sandell approaches her story from an essentially historical standpoint, setting the story firmly in the gritty dirt of primitive Dark Age Britian. The Round Table, for example, is just a gathering of Arthur's men around a central outdoor bonfire. No lustruous shining armor here. In the rugged world of Sandell's modestly pagan 5th century, Arthur's warriors are lucky to keep the bare minimum of iron rings sewn to their ragged leather jerkins, being apparently entirely reliant upon the single female accompanying their war band to keep their britches whole. After all, what honorable knight would stoop to sewing patches on their own clothes, or mending their own armor?

The lady in question is none other than Elaine, the "Lady of Shalott," best known from the lengthy poetry of Tennyson (and his modern day troubadour, Loreena McKennitt). Here she fulfills her role as the fourth wheel in the tragic love triangle between Lancelot, Guinevere and Arthur. And, lest she miss out on a prime opportunity, she adds in a fifth wheel in the form of Tristan, from that other sad, related tragedy of Arthur's luckless knights, Tristan and Isolde. The Arthurian canon is, after all, a grand co-mingling of manifestly diverse traditions. And why break with tradition? The tale itself is certainly worth reading, giving us a close-in view of a familiar story from a relatively new perspective. Not a grand departure, but it's not the same old story either.

But here I must bring out my caveats. First up is the fact that the story is written in first person, from Elaine's point of view. Given this is solely her take on the tale, it's probably more justified here than in many instances. But still, I feel the loss of all those other sides to what becomes in essence - as it must - a one-sided story. You feel a great deal for Elaine as she plods through her tribulations, but you also feel the world inhabited by inanimate cartoons and empty shells of hollow men. Being unable to hear the thoughts of any character but hers, we are invariably left with a half dozen charicatures of emotion to express the thoughts and feelings of the remaining cast. More dialogue would have helped, but here we find our second issue for complaint: the writing style.

From the first moment you pick up this book, what becomes immediately apparent is that it is written entirely in poetry, in lines that look at first like some type of verse, but with no recognizable style or structure. This is why the book was suggested to me. It's in something best described as "prose verse" for lack of a better term. That is, the lines are verse, but the content is actually prose. It's just made to look like poetry. And herein lies the rub. For while this is charming, even interesting at the outset, it quickly becomes a nuissance, then an annoyance, and finally a hopeless muddle. Take this example:

We have stood up and
are walking now, away
from the firelight, toward
the copse of birch trees.
The moon plays
on the ground in pools of
ghostly light.
As we walk between the trees,
their bark peels away
from the trunks
like scrolls of silver parchment.
What would such a life
look like? I ask.
It would look as life should,
husbands and wives living
in quiet homes, with
children playing in gardens,
without fear of Saxon invaders
carrying them off.
You could marry your knight --
he breaks off and looks at me
devilishly for a moment.

First of all, what's with all the random breaks in phrases? There's no logic to it at all. It's as if she just decided on no more than six words per line, regardless of content. For example, why would you possibly want to split a phrase like "away from," particularly when it follows a comma where a break already exists? Then there's the "dialogue" - I use quotes here loosely, since Sandell doesn't use any herself. Instead, she uses italics!? Traditionally these are used to indicate internal thoughts. So not only does it seem as if every passage of "dialogue" is being thought rather than spoken, there is no way to distinguish when there is a break between speakers. Such is the case here, although you don't actually know that it's a different speaker until eight lines after the fact, when the pronoun "he" indicates that Elaine ("I") is no longer speaking.

This passage is 22 lines of "poetry" that if set in prose would take roughly six. What is the point? Is she trying to pretend she's a poet, but doesn't want to take the time and trouble? Or does she simply not have the necessary skill? Is she trying to dupe us into thinking we're reading poetry, but aren't smart enough to figure it out? Maybe at the age of seven this would be the case, by by the age of twelve any literate child knows what a poem is. God help their high school teachers!

But then, maybe I shouldn't be reading a young adult "novel" after all.

And here I have another caveat. Novel? This thing is two inches thick, weighs in at just under 400 pages, and I read it in about two hours. Set in standard type it would come in at maybe eighty pages rather than 400 (and waste a lot less paper). Consequently, the story is just as shallow. There are no thoughts in anyone's head but Elaine's because, apparently, there aren't enough lines of "poetry" to give them any. Yet what kept coming back to me time and again as I read along was what Tennyson and Shakespeare had accomplished in just about the same amount of space. Granted, few of us achieve the heights of Hamlet or Idylls of the King, but at this point I'd settle for Spamalot.

In the end this book is neither poetry nor prose, nor is it much of a story either. It's a short novella at best, a pleasant, if somewhat breezy afternoon's diversion, quickly read and soon forgotten.

Young Author Mentor Program, Part II

This is a cover I whipped up this morning for my other writing mentor student, whose book is well on its way to a good first draft. She used the Black Adder font for the title in her manuscript, so I've used it here for the cover as well, adding some ghostly moonlit glow to somewhat match the background. In retrospect it might be a bit too much purple, but I wanted it to stand out against the blue background hue while retaining a cold shadowy glow.

The freaky creature is what Emma calls a Serpenshrill, a harpy-like flying thing with the body of an eagle and the head of a serpent which features "neon blue" streaks on its face. I didn't really achieve the striped effect as prominently as I would have liked, but it's definitely blue.

For the body I used DAZ's standard Eagle 2.0, custom posing it into attack mode and adding a lot of custom bump maps to bring out its texture. I then replaced its head with that of the Dinokonda (the nastiest serpent ever!), resizing and posing it to match (tricky, that!), blending them a bit in Photoshop, where I also tweaked the contrast and colors quite a bit. When rendering I used a lighting set to imitate the blue of moonlight, which I shifted in Photoshop toward the red to get a purplish hue. The background is by Susan McKivergan from the Mystic Dreams set, available on Renderosity.

We're only beginning our work on this exciting adventure tale, but as before with Jess, I thought it might help Emma to visualize her goal. Without any advice from me, she's already implemented a step-by-step word-count goal system to keep herself motivated, which is highly commendable. Undertaking such a huge endeavor does require an exceptional degree of tenacity, and breaking it down into smaller, more readily achievable steps is crucial for success. It's a useful tool I recommend to every writer.