This work by https://www.swantower.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
I shouldn’t actually have this photograph. It’s from one of the museum-y bits at Westminster Abbey, and I didn’t realize until after I’d taken the shot that photography wasn’t permitted in there. I’m glad I have it, though, because the under-lighting on the figures is so wonderfully sinister.
This work by https://www.swantower.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
My fondness for the implements of war is showing through. π These were on display in the Artus Court of GdaΕsk, and something about the simplicity of it just appealed to me. I think it’s partly that you tend to see this kind of stuff formally laid out in a display case, whereas this looks more casual.
This work by https://www.swantower.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The Chinese Lantern Festival in Dallas also featured this lovely dragon, which (as you can see) is not made as a lantern, but rather consists of plates, spoons, and other such items wired together. It was a nightmare to photograph, because the head was swinging from side to side, and at low light levels the exposure time was not short. But as the copy-edited manuscript for Voyage of the Basilisk has just gone back to my editor, it seemed an appropriate time to post this image!
This work by https://www.swantower.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
This is one of my favorite detail shots from the “Line of Kings” exhibit in the White Tower. I don’t remember which Henry this armor belonged to; I only know it was a Henry because of the HR decoration on the border. Taking a photo of the whole shebang, full suit of armor atop a similarly armored horse, turned out utterly terrible — too many lights, too much glare from the intervening glass, too many people wandering through — but one of the things photography has taught me is, sometimes it’s the little bits that make the best shots.
This work by https://www.swantower.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
This is one of the better preserved/restored ruins on Delos, the island where (according to myth) Apollo and Artemis were born. I like the simplicity of the color in it: white stone, black tile, blue sky.
This work by https://www.swantower.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Okay, okay, it isn’t actually Aslan. It’s some kind of Christian image. But given the whole allegorical nature of Narnia, I think I’m justified in calling this the Aslan Window. π It’s in the Γglise Saint-Jean-de-Montmartre, whose doorway has been featured here before.
The hard part isn’t running a Kickstarter campaign. The hard part is dealing with all the work after your campaign succeeds. π
Good news is, I’m being organized. I’ve made a spreadsheet for all the backers, noting which items go to whom, so that (hopefully) it will be easy to track what’s been taken care of and what still needs doing. It would be easier if I could take care of everything in one go, but of course that won’t work; a lot of rewards involve Chains and Memory in either print or ebook format, and I can’t send that out until after I, y’know, write the book. (And revise it and copy-edit it and proof it and so on.)
But the ball will get rolling pretty soon. I’m just waiting on a half-dozen remaining surveys, at which point I can start sending out the rewards that are ready to go. After those, I’ll deal with the stuff that involves actual production (t-shirts, miniscript photocopies, etc) and/or coordination with the backers (tarot readings, tuckerizations). And then so on from there. This is going to be an item on my to-do list for a while, I can tell.
Such, my friends, are the laments of success. π
This work by https://www.swantower.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
When we were at Point Lobos, I found this carcass of an alien tentacle monster mass of kelp washed up on the beach. It was kind of fascinatingly weird-looking, all sprawled out like that.
I got interrupted in my re-watch of Supernatural, and then I was traveling, and then I had that whole Kickstarter thing to run and also the copy-edits showed up for Voyage of the Basilisk, so, yeah. The good news is, this isn’t a blog series I’m attempting to do on any kind of organized schedule, which means if I fall off the wagon for three months, hey. π
So! “Salvation” and “Devil’s Trap.” Aka the end of season 1, aka not at all what I think they were priming the audience to expect.
This work by https://www.swantower.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Had I been a little more organized, you would have gotten Dramatic Chopin Is Dramatic on his birthday (which Wikipedia tells me was either February 22nd or March 1st). I didn’t think of that until we were halfway through the year, though, so he’s showing up in June. I just loved the lighting on this one, and the shadow he’s casting on the wall.
This work by https://www.swantower.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Because it was formerly a royal palace, the Louvre an incredibly splendid building, quite apart from all the artwork displayed in it. This is the ceiling of the “Apollo Gallery,” painted and gilded and carved to within an inch of its life, with representations of the zodiac signs along its edges.
This work by https://www.swantower.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
One room at the British Museum is still maintained in the museum’s original style. In that room there stands a replica of the Rosetta Stone, this one not behind glass or mobbed by a hundred visitors. Which allowed me to get up close and personal to obtain a much more artistic photo than would ever be possible with the actual stone . . . .
This work by https://www.swantower.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
This fellow was working at the ruins of Ephesus in Turkey. He’s the only re-enactor I remember seeing there, but I wish there had been more; he fit in so well, and I honestly think having people around helps bring historical sites to life (rather literally).
The number currently stands at $4,377*, and given that when I launched this I was moderately terrified I wouldn’t reach the $2000 goal, that’s pretty excellent. π It’s been exciting to watch the pace pick up, too: there have been more pledges in the last three or four days than any time since the first couple of days. Which is how these things usually go, so it doesn’t come as a surprise — but knowing it’s pretty common doesn’t make it any less exciting.
Anyway, if you want to get in on Chains and Memory, now’s your last chance! All the rewards are still available (though there are only two Tuckerizations left). You’ve got 66 minutes left, as of me hitting “post” . . . .
*I love it when I have to revise that number while drafting a post. ^_^
This work by https://www.swantower.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Ordinarily you should frame a photo like this such that the face is looking toward the center of the image, rather than off to the side. In this case I couldn’t: the sculpture was hanging on a wall in a room I wasn’t allowed to enter, and immediately to the left was a window that would have blown out the light levels and made for a bad composition anyway. So I went with what I could get, which is the face looking out of the frame — and I actually kind of like the unsettling effect it produces.
I’ve done a number of interviews and guest posts lately, so here’s a quick link dump:
Five Underused Mythological Creatures at Fantasy Cafe, in which I talk about weird things in bestiaries that show up all too rarely in novels.
Interview at Fantasy’s Ink; they ask me about my favorite characters and what I consider to be the most important element in a book.
Another interview, this one with Mike Underwood, who leverages the fact that we’ve known each other for more than ten years to ask me a lot of fabulous questions about gaming, Driftwood, and what martial arts master I would train with if I could.
“Time, Writing, and Tricks of the Trade”, a guest post at Bookworm Blues where I talk about the challenges of writing a sequel fifteen years after the first book.
“Kick(start)ing Myself into Scrivener”, a post at Book View Cafe on my first-ever attempt to write a novel in a program other than Wordperfect.
And finally, one that isn’t mine, but mentions me and makes for entertaining reading: Science in Fantasy Novels is More Accurate Than in Science Fiction.
A bit more than twenty-four hours left on the Chains and Memory Kickstarter. Over the weekend, we went from “might make it to the third stretch goal; might not” to “that’s the third stretch goal sorted; I wonder if we’ll hit the fourth?” Which is, in a word, awesome.
This means that everybody who backs the project will be receiving not two but five rewards: a thank-you in Chains and Memory, “Welcome to Welton” in ebook format, a short story in the Wilders setting, and the soundtracks for both novels. A couple hundred dollars more, and everybody’s copies of Lies and Prophecy will be illustrated to boot!
I’m going to try not to haunt my email today. Your mission, dear readers, should you choose to accept it, is to make that nigh-impossible for me: I still have Kickstarter configured to notify me every time there’s a new pledge, and if they come in at a good clip OH HEY LOOK THERE’S ANOTHER ONE no seriously, I just got another backer while I was typing this — what was I saying? Oh yeah. I would like to be driven to distraction by a steady flow of new pledges. π Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, LJ, Myspace, USEnet, carrier pigeon . . . whatever method you prefer, signal-boosting is a wonderful thing. It’s the last push, and I’m dying to see how far it can go.
This work by https://www.swantower.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
It’s very easy to take a good photo of a flower: they’re pretty, so pictures of them are pretty. Getting a great photo of a flower is much more difficult. I don’t claim to have succeeded here, but at least this one is not interchangeable with every other flower photo I’ve ever taken, which is more than you can say for some of the others in my library.
This work by https://www.swantower.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
I mentioned before that Indian temples of the Hoysala period are carved within an inch of their lives. The ceilings are not exempted from this attention.
Physical therapists cheat. π They set the rules of the game, but just when you get to the point where you feel like you’ve got the upper hand, they change the rules out from under you.
Given that my ankle surgery won’t be happening until the end of July, I’m in PT right now to strengthen the joint and make sure the problem doesn’t get worse between now and then. Which means a whole lot of exercises, one of which has escalated in the following manner:
Balance on one foot? Okay, I can do that.
Balance on one foot on a squishy foam pad? . . . okay.
Balance on one foot on a squishy foam pad with your leg behind you to screw with your balance!
Balance on one foot on a squishy foam pad with your leg behind you and a heavy rubber ball in your hands!
Balance on one foot on a squishy foam pad with your leg behind you while waving the heavy rubber ball in various directions!
My PT seriously threatened to make me play catch while balancing on one foot on the squishy foam pad. >_<
I mean, okay, yes. I have gotten stronger. And my balance is vastly better than it was, say, six months ago. But there’s a point at which you think, can’t I just enjoy my accomplishments for a little bit? Do you have to pull the rug out from under me every time I start to get my footing on it?
Yes, they do.
Doesn’t mean I don’t want to give them the stink-eye for it, though.
