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Tegwedd ShadowDancer
Mar 11, 2009, 3:29:43 PM3/11/09
to Fantasy for Pagans
Welcome to Fantasy for Pagans! We are glad you could make it. This
is a great time for fantasy. It is everywhere you look. We have
fantasy books, music albums, games, Tarot decks, divination systems.
TV shows, and games. The kids have toys based upon fantasy. Of
course, what caused this renaissance of fantasy literature and
culture, is the popularity of books such as the Lord of the Rings
trilogy plus the Hobbit. J.R.R.Tolkien's masterpieces inspired many
games and books. Television was slower to catch on, and what
fantasies are broadcast tend to be pedestrian affairs, many times
liberally mixed with and confused with horror. The reason they give
is that fantasy is expensive to produce, as in the special effects.
What else did the Lord of the Rings inspire? D&D and other fantasy
role playing games were heavily influenced by the Lord of the Rings.It
also inspired several board games. Stephen is talking mostly about
games that were directly based upon the Lord of the Rings, but I'm
thinking about games that LOTR influenced but which weren't directly
based upon the trilogy. Tunnels and Trolls is one. Runequest is
another. Elfquest is still another. The Ardwin Grimoire by Dave
Hargrave. Stephen was involved in that game. He's a character name
Stephan the Eager.
Lord of the Rings spawned a lot of fantasy. You have only to peruse
the pages of a SciFi Book Club catalog to see how much fantasy has
been spawned by it. I have a number of the books in my library. One
example of this is the Shannara series by Terry Brooks. Instead of a
wizard like Gandalf he has a Druid. Three more examples are the
Deryni series by Katherine Kurtz the Westlands, series by Katherine
Kerr, and last but definitely not least the Bardic Choices series by
Mercedes Lackey. Stephen just reminded me of the Harper series by
Patricia McKillip. Then under the rubric of historical fantasy we
have the Avalon series with the first, The Mists of Avalon, having
been written by Marion Zimmer Bradley, and the prequels written by
Diana Paxson.
Terry Books is an interesting fellow. Born in January, 1944 (he's a
Capricorn), he started writing in high school, then took a doctorate
of jurisprudence. He practiced law, then when his first Shannara
novel hit the best seller list, he retired from being an attorney, and
began to write full-time. This is just a summary of his life. If you
want to know more, look him up in the Wikipedia. I plan on looking
him up at the library next time I go there. Yes, there is still a
place for the public lending library in the age of the Internet. If
anything, I believe that it is even more important now than it ever
was. He makes frequent appearances at Science Fiction and Fantasy
conventions, where he signs copies of his novels. Stephen possesses
one of these.
Another author of note is Roger Zelazny, who just died not too long
ago. He wrote the Amer series. Katherine Kerr lives in Virginia
after residing for some time in Ireland. She wrote the series about
Deverry. Katherine Kurtz penned the Deryni series. I am a big fan of
both series, but the one I'd like to see more of is Mercedes Lackey's
Bardic Voices and Choices series. My daughter got me started on that
one, and is it good! I don't know why, but it touched something deep
inside.
Well, they're still screwing around with Stephen's SSI check. He was
after me for the longest time toget on his services, but I told him I
didn't want them to futz around with my check the way thet'd futzed
around with his. I think he sees the wisdom of what I decided now.
Anyway, the fund-raiser is still on. For just $32 you can have either
a reading or a class. For just $60, you can have both, or two
classes, or two readings PROVIDED THEY ARE ON UNRELATED TOPICS. With
webcam and voice on Yahoo IM, Windows Live Msgr, or Skype, it's almost
like being there. Call Stephen on 916-455-2267 for more details.
All fees to be deposited in his Paypal acct at abbot...@gmail.com.
Also he has a referral number for Zodiac 800-280-8496. Tell everyone
you know. You get him directly and he gets a dollar per minute
instead of just 32 cents per minute.
And I want to thank you for going to http://www.firedrakesweyr.com and
doing a search under my pen name Rita Trevalyan. Two titles come up,
Takuhi's Dream and Roman Rhapsody. Takuhi's Dream is a Young Adult
(for ages 13-17 and for those adults that don't want erotic material
in their fiction.) SciFi novel of a young woman being pursued across
the galaxy by a monseter she cannot face, and by two men; one who
clearly means her ill, and the other--well you know but we shan't tell
the others shall we? Roman Rhapsody is the story about a wealthy
middle-aged woman who, in a state of ennui, is having disturbingly
erotic dreams about a Roman matron having an affair with a gladiator.
Will she find a project worthy of engaging her head and heart, or will
she succumb to the temptation of acting out her dreams with a modern
gladiator? You bought one, what the heck you bought both, helping a
deserving writer to realize a long held fond dream of being a real
published author.
Tegwedd ShadowDancer
Stephen Abbott
Inky the putty-dog-man
Little (Gay) Boy the squeaker
is a great time for fantasy. It is everywhere you look. We have
fantasy books, music albums, games, Tarot decks, divination systems.
TV shows, and games. The kids have toys based upon fantasy. Of
course, what caused this renaissance of fantasy literature and
culture, is the popularity of books such as the Lord of the Rings
trilogy plus the Hobbit. J.R.R.Tolkien's masterpieces inspired many
games and books. Television was slower to catch on, and what
fantasies are broadcast tend to be pedestrian affairs, many times
liberally mixed with and confused with horror. The reason they give
is that fantasy is expensive to produce, as in the special effects.
What else did the Lord of the Rings inspire? D&D and other fantasy
role playing games were heavily influenced by the Lord of the Rings.It
also inspired several board games. Stephen is talking mostly about
games that were directly based upon the Lord of the Rings, but I'm
thinking about games that LOTR influenced but which weren't directly
based upon the trilogy. Tunnels and Trolls is one. Runequest is
another. Elfquest is still another. The Ardwin Grimoire by Dave
Hargrave. Stephen was involved in that game. He's a character name
Stephan the Eager.
Lord of the Rings spawned a lot of fantasy. You have only to peruse
the pages of a SciFi Book Club catalog to see how much fantasy has
been spawned by it. I have a number of the books in my library. One
example of this is the Shannara series by Terry Brooks. Instead of a
wizard like Gandalf he has a Druid. Three more examples are the
Deryni series by Katherine Kurtz the Westlands, series by Katherine
Kerr, and last but definitely not least the Bardic Choices series by
Mercedes Lackey. Stephen just reminded me of the Harper series by
Patricia McKillip. Then under the rubric of historical fantasy we
have the Avalon series with the first, The Mists of Avalon, having
been written by Marion Zimmer Bradley, and the prequels written by
Diana Paxson.
Terry Books is an interesting fellow. Born in January, 1944 (he's a
Capricorn), he started writing in high school, then took a doctorate
of jurisprudence. He practiced law, then when his first Shannara
novel hit the best seller list, he retired from being an attorney, and
began to write full-time. This is just a summary of his life. If you
want to know more, look him up in the Wikipedia. I plan on looking
him up at the library next time I go there. Yes, there is still a
place for the public lending library in the age of the Internet. If
anything, I believe that it is even more important now than it ever
was. He makes frequent appearances at Science Fiction and Fantasy
conventions, where he signs copies of his novels. Stephen possesses
one of these.
Another author of note is Roger Zelazny, who just died not too long
ago. He wrote the Amer series. Katherine Kerr lives in Virginia
after residing for some time in Ireland. She wrote the series about
Deverry. Katherine Kurtz penned the Deryni series. I am a big fan of
both series, but the one I'd like to see more of is Mercedes Lackey's
Bardic Voices and Choices series. My daughter got me started on that
one, and is it good! I don't know why, but it touched something deep
inside.
Well, they're still screwing around with Stephen's SSI check. He was
after me for the longest time toget on his services, but I told him I
didn't want them to futz around with my check the way thet'd futzed
around with his. I think he sees the wisdom of what I decided now.
Anyway, the fund-raiser is still on. For just $32 you can have either
a reading or a class. For just $60, you can have both, or two
classes, or two readings PROVIDED THEY ARE ON UNRELATED TOPICS. With
webcam and voice on Yahoo IM, Windows Live Msgr, or Skype, it's almost
like being there. Call Stephen on 916-455-2267 for more details.
All fees to be deposited in his Paypal acct at abbot...@gmail.com.
Also he has a referral number for Zodiac 800-280-8496. Tell everyone
you know. You get him directly and he gets a dollar per minute
instead of just 32 cents per minute.
And I want to thank you for going to http://www.firedrakesweyr.com and
doing a search under my pen name Rita Trevalyan. Two titles come up,
Takuhi's Dream and Roman Rhapsody. Takuhi's Dream is a Young Adult
(for ages 13-17 and for those adults that don't want erotic material
in their fiction.) SciFi novel of a young woman being pursued across
the galaxy by a monseter she cannot face, and by two men; one who
clearly means her ill, and the other--well you know but we shan't tell
the others shall we? Roman Rhapsody is the story about a wealthy
middle-aged woman who, in a state of ennui, is having disturbingly
erotic dreams about a Roman matron having an affair with a gladiator.
Will she find a project worthy of engaging her head and heart, or will
she succumb to the temptation of acting out her dreams with a modern
gladiator? You bought one, what the heck you bought both, helping a
deserving writer to realize a long held fond dream of being a real
published author.
Tegwedd ShadowDancer
Stephen Abbott
Inky the putty-dog-man
Little (Gay) Boy the squeaker
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