Blog Archives
A Blessing that is Often Overlooked – Books
Envisioning a better future, reliving a glorious past, encouraging us to dream big, or bring happiness – these are all reasons to find importance in reading books. They allow you to escape into a world you may never know and can even help lower stress levels. Reading draws us into a whole range of human emotions that provide wisdom and value and give us a positive distraction that potentially brings so much good into our lives.
Reading books improves confidence and self-esteem, which provides a platform to pursue goals and make decisions in life. Improving our education in almost any area can only enrich our lives beyond measure. There are so many positives about books that it’s hard to imagine a world without them.
“Reading forces you to be quiet in a world that no longer makes place for that.” – John Green
“There is no friend as loyal as a book” – Ernest Hemingway
“I am a part of everything I have read.” – Theodore Roosevelt
“We read to know we’re not alone.” – William Nicholson
“The more you read, the more you know. The more things that you learn, the more places you will go” – Dr. Seuss
“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.” – George R. R. Martin
“Books aren’t made of pages and words. They are made of hopes, dreams, and possibilities.” – Unknown
“Reading is like breathing in, and writing is like breathing out.” Pam Allyn
“Books are a uniquely portable magic.” – Stephen King
“Let us remember: one book, one pen, one child, and one teacher can change the world.” – Malala Yousafzei
“I feel the need of reading. It is a loss to a man not to have grown up among books.” – Abraham Lincoln
“Books make great gifts because they have whole worlds inside of them.” – Neil Gaiman
“Books shouldn’t be daunting, they should be funny, exciting, and wonderful; and learning to be a reader gives us a terrific advantage.” – Roald Dahl
“Books break the shackles of time, proof that humans can work magic.” – Carl Sagan
Happy reading!
Solitaire
The Great Book of Amber – Roger Zelazny
The Amber novels were written by Roger Zelazny and published over the years from 1970 to 1991. One of the most revered names in science fiction and fantasy, Roger Zelazny accumulated numerous awards – including six Hugo and three Nebula Awards – over the course of his legendary career. He wrote more than fifty books, and his Amber novels were some of his best. The Great Book of Amber is a collection of the complete Amber chronicles featuring volumes one through ten. He had a great imagination, and his outstanding storytelling inspired a generation of authors, from Neil Gaiman to George R.R. Martin.
The Great Book of Amber is a ten volume collection of the stories of Corwin and his son Merlin. Both are involuntarily thrust into staying alive while most of the other characters and family members attempt to kill them. Neither considers themselves to be heroes, although both achieve that status through a series of misadventures along the way.
I found the narrative to be brilliant, entertaining, and humorous, all testaments to Roger Zelazny’s talent with the English language. The books are fast paced and lavishly descriptive, a combination difficult to master, yet Zelazny accomplishes it with ease.
I would recommend these books to anyone who relishes swashbuckling characters, high paced action, and a deep moral conviction for good always becoming triumphant in the end.
The Great Book of Amber includes:
Nine Princes in Amber
The Guns of Avalon
Sign of the Unicorn
The Hand of Oberon
The Courts of Chaos
Trumps of Doom
Blood of Amber
Sign of Chaos
Knights of Shadows
Prince of Chaos
I wish there had been more.
Solitaire
18 Quotes about the Legendary Dragon
A Dragon is a legendary creature belonging to the world of mythology, storytelling and fantasy. There are stories about dragons in Chinese culture, European culture, South American culture, and many others.
Dragons can look like dinosaurs and other extinct animals. Because of that, it is easy to think that those animals might have been an example for dragons as they were thought of in the history of humankind.
There are many kinds of dragons in the different cultures. In general –
- A dragon has: none to four legs, claws, scales and possibly spikes. Optional wings.
- A dragon can look like a snake with wings, or like lizards
- A dragon has a tail and a long neck.
- A dragon has a wide mouth with big and dangerous teeth.
- Sometimes they have horns and hair.
- A dragon can fly.
- A dragon can perhaps breathe fire (or other dangerous substances).
- A dragon can have special powers.
- Some dragons live in caves.
In a number of stories, dragons are dangerous and attack humans. Other stories have dragons that are looking for help, or giving help. In my Dragomeir Series, the dragons become companions and are lifelong friends to their specific riders. They can be dangerous to those who attempt to hurt the ones they love or their way of life, but to their riders they are the ultimate friend. Here are some interesting quotes about dragons:
It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him.
J. R. R. TOLKIEN, The Hobbit
And though I came to forget or regret all I have ever done, yet would I remember that once I saw the dragons aloft on the wind at sunset above the western isles; and I would be content.
URSULA K. LE GUIN, The Farthest Shore
If the sky could dream, it would dream of dragons.
LLONA ANDREWS, Fate’s Edge
The ultimate challenge of a teacher lies not in the slaying of dragons, but rather in exposing them as beasts no longer to be feared.
ALAN BURTON, A Wayward Wizard’s Wistful Words
If you want to conquer the world, you best have dragons.
GEORGE R. R. MARTIN, A Dance with Dragons
O to be a dragon,
a symbol of the power of Heaven — of silkworm
size or immense; at times invisible.
Felicitous phenomenon!
MARIANNE MOORE, O To Be a Dragon
How should we be able to forget those ancient myths that are at the beginning of all peoples, the myths about dragons that at the last moment turn into princesses; perhaps all the dragons of our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us once beautiful and brave. Perhaps everything terrible is in its deepest being something helpless that wants help from us.
RAINER MARIA RILKE, Letters to a Young Poet
Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for you art crunchy and good with ketchup.
ANONYMOUS
Come not between the dragon, and his wrath.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, King Lear
If you see the dragon fly,
best you drink the flagon dry.
GREG HAMERTON, Second Sight
The hunger of a dragon is slow to wake, but hard to sate.
URSULA K. LE GUIN, A Wizard of Earthsea
Imagine a land where people are afraid of dragons. It is a reasonable fear: dragons possess a number of qualities that make being afraid of them a very commendable response. Things like their terrible size, their ability to spout fire, or to crack boulders into splinters with their massive talons. In fact, the only terrifying quality that dragons do not possess is that of existence.
DAVID WHITELAND, Book of Pages
A dragon stranded in shallow water provides amusement to the shrimps.
CHINESE PROVERB
I desired dragons with a profound desire. Of course, I in my timid body did not wish to have them in the neighborhood. But the world that contained even the imagination of Fáfnir was richer and more beautiful, at whatever the cost of peril.
J. R. R. TOLKIEN, The Tolkien Reader
It is one thing to read about dragons and another to meet them.
URSULA K. LE GUIN, A Wizard of Earthsea
Did not learned men, too, hold, till within the last twenty-five years, that a flying dragon was an impossible monster? And do we not now know that there are hundreds of them found fossil up and down the world? People call them Pterodactyles: but that is only because they are ashamed to call them flying dragons, after denying so long that flying dragons could exist.
CHARLES KINGSLEY, The Water Babies
Here be dragons to be slain, here be rich rewards to gain;
If we perish in the seeking, why, how small a thing is death! DOROTHY L. SAYERS, Catholic Tales and Christian Songs
People who deny the existence of dragons are often eaten by dragons. From within.
URSULA K. LE GUIN, The Wave in the Mind:
Talks & Essays on the Writer, the Reader, & the Imagination
Do you love reading about dragons? Check out this ongoing series at my website –
“The Emerald Dragon”
“Flight of theAguiva”
“Egg of the Amphitere”
And the forthcoming book –
“Daughter of the Dark Lord”
Part One
“The Burning Sky”
Solitaire
Top 10 Fantasy Writing Tips From “Game Of Thrones” Author George R.R. Martin!
Just about everyone, including me, has watched or at least heard of the TV show, “Game of Thrones.” The author, George R. R. Martin, has been writing Fantasy books for many years before this series came out. I have been a fan of his for a long time. Since I write Urban Fantasy myself, I was curious what his thoughts were on the subject. So I thought this article on the site, Lifehacker.com, was rather interesting. His top 10 writing tips for Fantasy are as follows:
- Don’t limit your imagination
- Choose your point-of-view characters to broaden the narrative’s scope
- It’s okay to borrow from history
- Talk to real people for a believable point of view
- Grief is a powerful tool_but don’t overdo it
- Violence should have consequences _ so spare nothing
- Avoid fantasy clichés
- The world is full of “grey” characters to draw from
- Juggling lots of characters takes skill and luck
- All men must die, but we don’t have to give way to despair
To read the details of each of these tips, click on the link below and enjoy!
Any tips you’d like to share? I’m always open to new ideas for improving my writing. See you soon.
Solitaire
Solitaire Parke - Sci-Fi/Fantasy Books 