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RichardAbbott
About
- Username
- RichardAbbott
- Joined
- Visits
- 6,283
- Last Active
- Roles
- Member, Administrator, Moderator
- Games I like
- Sundry, mostly board
- Books I like
- Science fiction, fantasy, some historical fiction
Comments
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I couldn't see an obvious place to comment on this, but it seemed to me that another narrative successor to this kind of tale would be the Western. Again you have clear demarcations between good guys and bad guys, and the imperative to keep persever…
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Not having played it, but I would expect that a player would be rewarded or penalised by the extent to which he or she fulfils things they have said (even casual things that were spoken in passing) and so would be constantly held accountable for the…
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I think it is a rational basis for morality... just a different one. It's not rule-based like a written constitution or the Ten Commandments or whatever, but rather an honour-based one resting heavily on loyalty to the king and adherence to one's ow…
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Yes, it gave the feel of a commentary on events as related by a sidekick close to the action
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I have been watching (for entirely random reasons) a few video reconstructions of ancient and medieval battles, and one thing that strikes you is how small armies that were well-led, well-equipped and well-motivated could defeat and usually slaughte…
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Yes, as I commented before, breaking a promise is, apparently, one of the most terrible things a knight can do, even if there are extenuating circumstances,
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Again the women who are most highly praised in the narrative are those who don't try to attain power or position but uphold their superiors. I did find it entertaining that every single woman who appears for more than a sentence is described as fabu…
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I think it would be considered important to the audience that Lancelot, Yvain etc were fighting for ideals and to fulfil vows rather than just to accumulate loot or usurp a throne. So their battles serve not only to add glory to themselves but also …
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One of the main drivers of goodness seems to be that you relentlessly fulfil whatever promise you have made, regardless of what others may think and whatever unexpected obstacles might appear along the way. There doesn't seem to be a get-out clause …
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I liked them, especially as they made no attempt to justify or explain the driving forces behind people's actions... things happened, and the main characters responded to them without agonising over them! Oddly (perhaps) the social drivers felt more…
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Ready
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(Quote) Following on from what @clash_bowley said let's adjust the schedule to November @NeilNjae two of the Arthurian Romances by Chretien de Troyes December me with Ammonite January @BarnerCobblewood with the sections on the web site https://scp-…
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(Quote) I'm not keen on website reading but I'm even less keen on spending £9-10 on an ebook :)
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Right let's assume we're going for it, tackling the material @BarnerCobblewood outlined (Quote) So... when would you like to slot this in to the sequence? Let me know what month you'd like to pick and I'll set up the discussion area accordingly.
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(Quote) Nobody has responded to this yet so I'll leap in :) A quick glance suggests that it's a work in progress, and deliberately so in the hope that other contributions might arise. I don't think this of itself is a problem, and I guess if there's…
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(Quote) That sounds a really cool idea! What happens when the tower collapses? Or is that situation-dependent?
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(Quote) Are we in fact collectively too inured to horror these days for it to have much impact as a genre? In film / TV it seems to me that much of the emphasis is on making the menace / injury / whatever more and more explicit, whereas older forms …
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I've been rereading A Memory Called Empire - a cracking book which I enjoy more each time I revisit it - and came across this rather pertinent extract (Quote)
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@BarnerCobblewood 's comments made me think about to what extent there's a difference between 1) awe of encountering the numinous (often called "fear and trembling" in older accounts) and 2) horror in either Hodgson's presentation or in …
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Interested to hear what will be discussed here
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I suppose again this was a facet of the book that made me feel that Hodgson was writing from some kind of inner experience or vision, rather than to make a point or address some kind of external situation. To repeat what I said before, I ended up wi…
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It occurred to me several times while reading that Hodgson was writing this at around the time that psychoanalysis and its related therapies were starting to emerge, along with a growing understanding of the unconscious. In the book, the connection …
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Use of a frame is moderately common in 19th century books (strictly speaking Borderland isn't C19th but it feels like it shares a lot of those conventions. Other similar writing conventions are the epistolary novel in which the action is described b…
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I have to admit that I don'y have much experience of horror so don't have a lot to compare to. I did think that the "fast-forward through time" bit had a lot of similarities with The Time Machine - the latter book was published earlier (18…
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I have just added Arthurian Romances, by Chrétien de Troyes to the discussion area - on kindle at least, and maybe elsewhere, you can either get the set together or individually so I have hacked together some descriptions :)
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> @Apocryphal said: > How is everyone doing on House on the Borderland? Also finished
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Looks like at least in the UK it's also available in kindle and Audible plus physical copies. Sounds good to me.
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December's discussion area for Ammonite set up. @NeilNjae any thoughts for November?
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For December I'm thinking Ammonite by Nicola Griffith, a tale somewhat in the Ursula LeGuin tradition ie heavy on social interaction and the like. Published in 2011 and among other things shortlisted for the Arthur C Clarke award. I've had a quick l…
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Still some chatter going on about City but this is a quick reminder that October's read is The House on the Borderland chosen by @Apocryphal