Category: mythology
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Kvothe and Chandrian : What do they mean?
Spoilers in this post, as always, though I’ll remind you that I personally am okay with spoilers because only a culture starved for wonder would care about spoilers. In eras filled with wonder like the Middle Ages, they loved a good spoiler. Opera attendees still love good spoilers. The reason I don’t care about spoilers…
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Tehlu Caught and Felled Encanis — How does this Apply?
Spoilers for Kingkiller follow. Over on Reddit in response to the last post on Felling, /u/loratcha asked a question about Tehlu and Encanis: Question: I scanned your blog post quickly, and you don’t seem to mention that Felling is related to the capture of Encanis… On the eighth day, Tehlu caught and felled Encanis. (thus,…
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Felling and Man Waiting to Die : The Name of the Wind Prologue
We’re reading The Name of the Wind for the 10th Anniversary Edition in preparations for Doors of Stone. Today we’re focused on the prologue’s use of Felling and a man waiting to die — if you haven’t grabbed ahold of my 13 assumptions for any Kingkiller Reread, you might want to do that. Spoilers inside, of course, but as…
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The Name of the Wind Tenth Anniversary Reread : Appendices and Details
Well the last post on my The Name of the Wind Tenth Anniversary Reread accidentally blew up Google Alerts for some folk but it also got John Granger (the literary critic) to buy a copy of The Name of the Wind, so I consider it a net good. This one will focus on some new…
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Doors of Stone release prep : Kingkiller Reread Intro
Ten years ago, I read Name of the Wind and felt captured by a kindred spirit who cared deeply about the state of the world, the fantasy canon, and the capacity of prose to be poetry and myth. Five years later, I read Wise Man’s Fear and the feeling compounded as I started noticing layers:…
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Worldbuilding Checklist for Writers
Every story needs a small, believable world but when you’re worldbuilding for an epic fantasy or historical saga, what can you do? You can apply a simple checklist to the other worlds and cultures that interact with the small, knowable world of your main character — both his foreign and his familiar. I’ll elaborate on each…
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Follow Your Bliss : Results of Joseph Cambell’s Advice
Featured tool: I use this tool to discover new authors through whom I follow my bliss. Let me share it with you. Seldom do I mention this here, but I minored in ancient literature and mythology in college. In my last semester, the academic dean helped me build a one-on-one class with him that featured…
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Monomyth Definition: A Defense of The Hero’s Journey
Let me again pick up a standard that has fallen on our literary battlefield: the standard that marks the entrance of The Defender of The Common. It would seem a silly thing to need to defend common things, but in truth we have grown quite accustomed to tearing down good things simply because great things exist.…
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Myth Stories Map: Queens Museum Exhibit on American Folklore
As a student of American myths, American folklore, American tall tales and American legends, I loved this myth stories map from the Queens Museum: There’s a great piece over at Slate on the map. They say: This map, by social realist artist William Gropper, was created to showcase the diversity of national myths and folk stories…
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David Bentley Hart Articles: A Megalist
(I assume DBH hates portmanteau as much as I, so it seemed fitting to create one for him for the cover image). Back in 2007, David W. Congdon over at The Fire and The Rose compiled a list of David Bentley Hart articles published by First Things. I want to expand on his list to include…
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Fairytale Photographer for Kids :: The Chicken Steeper
A STORY NO ONE CAN DUPLICATE… Remember our custom-made fairytale photographer? In Mark’s words: The thought was simple: a series that caters fairy stories to the personality of your child. We’d tell each stories using words and photographs, just like we did with Cold Brewed. This isn’t something I’ve seen done before… and I’m all about trying…
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037: ランスロットの探求 (a heroic haiku)
in humble deference to my friends in Osaka who speak the language better Lance yawns bed of leaves nuzzling dreams: Go. (cold air waking) enters in foreign woods blooming blooms too: hot, high, hardy. takes light. gets “Go,” harvest of Goes brimming costs cuts: cold air comes, steals Goes. back again: bed of blooms waking…