Arrons Lonely Blog

ARRON’S LONELY BLOG If you continue to haven’t heard of Arron of the Black Forest, that’s my fault, not yours. How will we rectify that? Well, first off, you'll be able to click over to the Arron of the Black Forest blog. Here’s a taste of what you’ve been missing: Chapter 1: With Hounds on His Heels October 6, The driving rain made the canine’s feral snarl gurgle earlier than it was misplaced to another deafening crash of thunder. Arron’s stolen horse kicked again on the dog close on its hooves, and each animals stumbled. Arron tilted precariously in his saddle but dragged himself again to middle with both sturdy arms. “Sovitta-Maton awaits you should you fall!” Arron shouted at the horse, invoking the name of the God of Darkness, Cold, and Cruelty that his misplaced individuals each hated and honored. The horse didn’t pay any consideration to his curse. The hound tripped, too, giving Arron’s horse a stride’s lead, however that wasn’t going to be almost sufficient. The barbarian gritted his enamel and squeezed the horse’s flanks with thighs like temple columns. The animal grunted, nevertheless it obeyed. Arron allowed a fast smile for each the horse and himself because the beast put a number of more strides between itself and the pursuing hounds. A sensible flash of lightning revealed the broad-scattered bushes, nonetheless mostly bare of leaves within the first few weeks of spring. Arron had misplaced track of anything like a path long ago, and he’d accomplished so on function. The males who adopted them meant to take him again to Townshend dead or alive, and since Arron had no intention of going again there alive, he was as soon as once more in a struggle for his life. Read more . . . Religion in the World of Arron of the Black Forest November 10, Though raised steeped in the historic ways of his people, Arron isn’t a very non secular man, as was the case among the warriors of his tribe. The gods tended to be the province of the shamans and womenfo lk. But nonetheless, he’s susceptible to invoking the gods of his folks. If he’s angry with you, he might curse you by invoking the name of the evil Sovitta-Maton: “May Sovitta-Maton take your wretched soul!” or: “Sovitta-Maton requires you, dog!” If he’s unsure about one thing, and feels he could use somewhat divine intervention, he’ll call upon Elinym-Päristö: “May the Mother of Sand and Sea bring me good fortune.” or: “Thank Elinym for small favors.” This doesn’t imply that Arron will sit round ready for divine intervention, regardless of the god or the scenario, the individuals of the Black Forest lived by the credo: “The gods assist those who assist themselves.” Read extra . . . Magic in the Heteronomy December 8, The academic wizards of the New Ways have discovered the means to draw energy out of their very own our bodies and are no longer able to draw magic from the earth as was carried out in the old days. But the magi of the Heteronomy still valued the more difficult-to-access, however likewise more highly effective magic protected by the Dozen Tribes of the Black Forest, who jealously guarded their practically-forgotten methods. It was the southern wizards’ lust for this data that introduced bloody ruin upon the Black Forest. The magi of the Heteronomy are also known as egomancers, as a result of it's their very own desire, their very own insistence, on creating magic from their very own life-forces that brings them energy. Egomancers are capable of sense magic in others. This is among the first classes an apprentice magus learns, and unless the would-be egomancer reveals talent within the detection of the ebb and circulate of magic energy, their coaching ends there. Read extra . . . Available now for the Kindle and Nook! 32 of Lovecraft’s Favorite Words December 23, In my travels by way of the stygian corridors of the noisome web, I ran throughout the sensible website Cthulhu Chick during which we’re given a lis t of a few of H.P. Lovecraft’s favorite wordsâ€"the often antiquated usage he’s known for, and another well-liked favorites. Since I knew stepping into that The Haunting of Dragon’s Cliff was as much an homage to Lovecraft as something, I stored this list subsequent to me as I wrote, trying my damnedest to use as many of them as I could. Here’s how that labored out, with the variety of occasions Lovecraft used that word himself in parenthesis after every word, which is called out in bold: There was multiple ghost on this accursed (76) place, and all of them were targeted round this “Captain,” a person who was a failure in life, and who died a cripple, tortured by his household servants. She was not what she appeared, however an undead thing, the blasphemous (ninety two) shade of a woman dead for nigh on a century. Read more . . . The Frozen Vast and the Heteronomy December 30, The Frozen Vast is the northernmost area of a slim continent (about 1100 miles at its widest, t he place it meets the great polar continent, right down to just some miles at its tip) that stretches up from the land bridge often known as the Teardrops (about 800 miles north of the equator), past the Arctic Circle to merge with the nice northern polar continent. South of the Teardrops is an old and well-settled continent that was as soon as house to many disparate peoples and nations. Over the course of millennia, these nations were systematically dropped at heel beneath the influence of a faceless paperwork known simply as the Heteronomy. The Teardrops was formed by wizards of the Heteronomy who coveted the rich farmlands of the temperate northern continent, and desired a land route to this distant land. This was achieved by an excellent sequence of magic rituals that introduced a brand new ice age to the northern latitudes, locking large stretches of ocean in a fantastic Ice Sea. When that sea froze, ocean ranges dropped in the south, revealing the Teardrops: a land bridge sur rounded by a scattered subject of islands. Read more . . . Pulp Ark Award Nominee January 26, Arron of the Black Forest has been nominated in three separate categories for this 12 months’s Pulp Ark Award! Read extra . . . Why I Love Barbarians February three, Most of the folks I know who are fantasy fansâ€"or fantasy authorsâ€"came into the style by means of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, or possibly the Narnia sequence. Some fairly stellar works, to be sure, however I’d by no means heard of them when I got here throughout Conan the Barbarian. I’ve blogged about this in detail earlier than, so won’t belabor the point once more right here, however the Marvel Conan comics have been my introduction to the fantasy style. It didn’t take lengthy after reading the first few of those I got my mitts on earlier than I strode boldly into the Hyborean realms of Robert E. Howard’s unique stories. And as you possibly can imagine it was but a brief trek from there to the va rious lands (together with multiple of my own making) of the Dungeons & Dragons game. To me, Conan is fantasy, and fantasy is Conan. Save your reluctant hobbits. I’ll take my heroes barely matted, largely unafraid, and all-too-able to cleave one thing in twain. Read extra . . . H.P. Lovecraft: The Work vs. The Man February 17, I’ve been not simply open about the affect H.P. Lovecraft has had on me, and on The Haunting of Dragon’s Cliff specificallyâ€"I’ve shouted it from no matter rooftop I could find (together with this one). But these days there was lots being mentioned about the late Mr. Lovecraft that’s made me, and lots of other fans of this darkish fantasy icon, slightly uneasy. And which may be an understatement. Though I can’t say I didn’t discover an underlying racism in the writings of H.P. Lovecraft, and for that matter, his friend Robert E. Howard as nicely, however even as an adolescent (or younger) after I first found these authors, I put that down to the day and age in which they lived. These stories have been written within the Twenties and 30sâ€"a lot less enlightened occasions, some thirty years earlier than the Civil Rights Movement caused its huge shift in American society. In some ways, it was as if I considered these males as some kind of primitives, communicating from an easier, much less civilized time. Read more . . . Voyage of the Merry Hangman March 1, Prologue The Black Forest Four males stood underneath the tree where a younger lady cowered in fear. The fierce pink hair and the elk hides she wore advised Arron that she was one of the Twelve Tribes, and although she was not a member of his family, she was of his individuals. The Black Forest and the Frozen Vast was her house. She didn’t look greater than twelve winters old. And the lads were outsiders, from the hated Heteronomy to the south the place wizards worked their darkish arts. The males grinned and taunted her. Since there were solely four of them, Arron beli eved they have been scouts for a larger drive that might be nearby. Lately there had been more and more Heteronomy soldiers through the Black Forest. The shamans among the Twelve Tribes all noticed portents of evil things to come. “Come down, woman. We gained’t hurt you.” The tallest of the Heteronomy warriors waved on the woman. He was big and strong and wore a fierce beard because the Southerners typically did while in the Vast. The Black Forest individuals went beardless. The scout’s chainmail gleamed in the afternoon sunlight and he saved his right hand on the long sword at his aspect. Read more . . . Flavors of Fantasy: Some Quick Definitions March 8, You’ll discover whole convention seminars devoted to the fantastic line separating numerous fantasy and science fiction sub-genres, and those discussions can vary from spirited and friendly to close-riots. Though there could also be a couple of cases the place most individuals can easily agree, and some sub-genres seem f airly obvious, like steampunk or so-referred to as “erotic fantasy,” others are a little trickier to nail down. I’ve written before, as an example on the line between city fantasy and horrorâ€"that one has really been confused over the previous several years. But what about the “huge three” fantasy sub-genres, and how Arron of the Black Forest matches in? Mel and I actually have used the term “sword & sorcery” to describe the sequence, and have saved that in thoughts when writing it. But what does that mean? First, let’s start with the “huge three,” the three main divisions of conventional fantasy. And by conventional fantasy I mean fantasy with a vaguely medieval know-how stage in a secondary world (a world created totally from the writer’s imagination, like Middle Earth or Faerûn) wealthy in magic and monsters. Read extra . . . Come on over to the world of Arron of the Black Forest, and keep a while! â€"Philip Athans About Philip Athans Fill in your details beneath or click an icon to log in: You are commenting utilizing your WordPress.com account. (Log Out/ Change) You are commenting utilizing your Google account. (Log Out/ Change) You are commenting using your Twitter account. 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