Tag archives for Fantasy - Page 3
Emilie Knight – Author Interview
Knight with the hardback of Dagger and Scythe (photo: Emilie Knight) This week's post is an Author Interview with Emilie Knight, her new book Dagger and Scythe is officially released tomorrow! It's the second title in the Ichorian Epics series, the first being Era of Undying. Here are Emilie Knight's answers to my questions. Emilie Knight - Author Interview How long have you been writing for and what made you start writing? I’ve been writing seriously for a few years. I’ve been writing since high school, but in 2017 I really sat down to focus on it as a career with novels, rather than short experiments for myself. Do you write for a living, or do you also do other work? I work in a call center in a car dealership. It’s a fine job, customers can be rude quite…
Horse-Riding Research Round-Up
My pseudo-viking YA fantasy novel moved from seaborne to horse-riding. Yngvild met a cavalry troop and learnt how to ride with them. Like Yngvild, I've had to research how to look after horses, and how far you can travel on horseback. I've not done much horse-riding, I've been on horseback fewer than half a dozen times in my life. I've done it just enough to know that you can take a teenager and give them the basics of horse-riding in about half an hour, but I'm far from being a Dothraki! Horse-Riding for Writers An Argentine Lancer, this is pretty close to how I've imagined the cavalry unit that Yngvild met. (picture credit ) There are many good websites for writers interested in realistic portrayals of horse-riding and horse borne expeditions. There are some links at the bottom, but by…
Bjorn the Beardless [Short Story]
Bjorn the Beardless is an origin story for one of the supporting characters in Yngvild the Fierce. Here we see the first voyage of Bjorn Johansson (AKA Old Bjorn), and his original nickname of Bjorn the Beardless. There's also the kernel of his later nickname, Counter of Battles, in the question that Ragnar the Red asks him. Bjorn the Beardless Viking helmet and axe (photo: Morket via pixabay) The tide was out in the fjord, and the ship’s prow rested on the strand. A red and white vertically striped sail was furled against the spar ready to be dropped when the ship sailed. Oars were still, ready to help the ship manoeuvre off the beach when the tide came in. A black haired youth with his brand new battle gear, approached the ship. He bounced with each step, despite the…
Yngvild and Noren – Editing my 2016 NaNoWriMo Novel
Working cover for Noren the Strong, my 2016 NaNoWriMo entry (image: James Kemp) At the end of May I went back to my 2016 NaNoWriMo novel, having left it in the early hours of December 2016. After a gap of 18 months I figured that I would have the detachment from it necessary to give it a good edit. Reading my 2016 NaNoWriMo novel It stood up pretty well on my first read through. I spotted many typos, and highlighted bits to re-write. But for the most part it got left alone on this read through because it was better than I'd expected. I'll do more with it as I find time, mostly when waiting for trains, or traveling. The main things that I noticed that I need to fix are: It needs a new title. The first six scenes…
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone [Book Review]
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by Rowling My rating: 4 of 5 stars Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is possibly the book that I have read more than any other (the only other contenders are either The Silver Sword or The Facts Factory by Giles Brandreth - both of which fell apart in my primary school bag). It starts a fantastic world that I could happily live in, and that both I and my children love. If you haven't read Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone then you haven't lived. I started reading Harry Potter when there were only two sequels out, and have re-read each of the books before the next one was published. I've also re-read them after watching the movies. So I've re-read this one at least six times. It's an awesome universe with loads…