Jamie and I, flattered to receive the Stylish Blog Award from Stuart Lloyd of the Lloyd of Gamebooks blog (and thank you again, Stuart) went to check out the rules and regulations and found them to be only slightly more complex than the recent UK census. (What did you do about the "more than 4 O-levels"... "more than 6 O-levels" questions? Oh, never mind.)So first of all we have to list seven facts about ourselves:
1. I have a green belt in karate.
2. Jamie was born in Iran.
3. I have an M.A. in physics. Yes, a Master of Arts.
4. Jamie once broke a katana doing the gardening.
5. I've never read Lord of the Rings.
6. Jamie is a really good cook.
7. I was put in detention at school for a story I wrote.
Then we have to pick ten blogs we like. I'm not actually going to put these guys into the chain-letter system because it'd be like being given a writing assignment that I'm sure they haven't got time for. But check out their blogs anyway and imprint a "Stylish" logo in your mind's eye as you do.*
Nail Your Novel by Dirty White Candy
Top writing advice.
Carl Has The Funk by Freya Hartas
"This, my dears, is basically something that keeps my various half finished projects, drawings, sketches and doodles in some kind of vague order. Because in reality there're all scattered around my floor, in heaving great stacks on my desk or scrumpled up in some dark corner never to be seen again."
Cloud 109 by Peter Richardson and David Orme
Informative and inspiring articles about comics and related stuff.
The Intern
"The straight dope on publishing from publishing's most fearsome figure."
Golden Age Comic Book Stories by Mr Door Tree
A big ol' wonderful museum of comics.
The Art of Mike Henderson
Showcase of work by a very talented comic artist.
Neil Gaiman's Journal
You don't need me to tell you why.
Guys Can Read by Kevin McGill and Luke Navarro
Technically a podcast site, not a blog. So sue me.
We Do Write by Dorothy Dreyer
Insightful interviews with creative people.
The Undercover Economist by Tim Harford
He's smarter than you are. Trust me on that.
*And if any of those listed want to go through the process, grab the logo above and be our guest!
What kind of story was it exactly that resulted in you being given detention?
ReplyDeleteA long story. The problem was not mine, but the small-mindedness of a drip of a teacher :-)
ReplyDeleteBlogs are the perfect place for long stories.
ReplyDeleteYou never read "the Lord of the Rings" ? But you quote it in DW1 & DW4 !
ReplyDeleteOlivier
I quoted it, Olivier? I may have had a couple of bits pointed out to me, but the furthest I got reading it was the scene with the wights. I've only seen one and half of the movies, too - just not my thing.
ReplyDeleteWanderer - I've got to start writing less wordy posts. My wife is always pointing out that it's a blog, not a book of essays. But, like Pascal, I usually lack the time to make them shorter.
ReplyDeleteI have the French version. In DW1 (p.11, §1): "Suppose, for example, that you decide to read to a group of friends the famous passage of the Mines of Moria, from the Lord of the Rings"..;
ReplyDeleteDW4: In the paragraph about the Balrog, you recommend to read the relevant passage of the Lord of the Rings.
Is this "traduttore, traditore" ?
Indeed, I have Tolkien's books on my shelves and have dipped in. Just never felt engaged enough by the characters to read all the way through, despite admiring what he was trying to do. Likewise I've seen bits of the first two movies but the characters don't push the right buttons for me. (I grew up in middle-class English suburbia so have no great affection for hobbits.)
ReplyDeleteI did read the whole of The Hobbit and enjoyed it (that was when I was 10 years old) and his essay "On Fairy-Stories" is excellent. It's clear that Tolkien had a genuine Wundersucht that is missing from 99% of fantasy fiction.
Jamie btw has read LotR at least twice, and seen all the movies, so at least our fantasy credentials average out.
I’m so pleased you wrote this. I enjoyed 'The Hobbit', but struggled through 'The Lord of the Rings' as a teenager (at about the same time as I discovered your books, which I did not struggle through). Tolkien never really worked for me, at least not in the way that Katherine Briggs or Molly Hunter or John Bellairs did. I studiously read all about him, his writings, and his influences (many of which I did enjoy, especially the Norse myths), but his own work just seemed a bit dry. Since then, whenever he was mentioned in some on-line fantasy community… I wouldn’t say I felt like a fraud, but I did feel I was missing out on something.
ReplyDeleteA few years ago my girlfriend took me to the first Lord of the Rings film; all I can remember about the evening is that straight after I went home and watched 'Where Eagles Dare'. And it was brilliant.
Where Eagles Dare - I haven't seen that for years. I'm going to put it on my Lovefilm list right now.
ReplyDeleteIt was a Ninjato, not a katana. The plants don't know what's coming then, you see. Mwa, hah, hah!
ReplyDelete