Gabriele

They are Odium's spawn, trying to confuse us about Hoid.

Right now I'm rereading George Eliot's Middlemarch. Like I have no TBR pile resembling the Tower of Pisa for Fantasy books and another one for historical fiction. But sometimes I'm in the mood for that old stuff.

Lord of the Rings Malazan Book of the Fallen A Song of Ice and Fire Stormlight Archives Tad Williams, Memory, Sorrow and Thorn / Gemmell's Drenai novels (actually, anything by Gemmell, but Drenai is closest to a series) / Bernard Cornwell, Warlord trilogy / Janny Wurts, War of Light and Shadow / Lois McMaster Bujold, Curse of Chalion and sequels (and storms, write those remaining two books already), Kurtz's Deryni series. Yes, I know I'm cheating. Old friends that have aged a bit. Feist, Riftwar (the first 4-6 books, the quality detoriated later) Eddings' Elenium and Tamul trilogies. And then there's Jacqueline Carey's naughty Phèdre series I probably shouldn't mention here. Not among the first - cheated - five, but I like the books. Mistborn, Brent Weeks' Black Prism, McClellan's Powder Mage stuff and Mark Charan Newton's Viljamur books belong in this group as well. For dark moods: Abercrombie, First Law / Brian Ruckley, Godless World / Paul Kearney, Monachies of Gods. They are interesting and I'm going to reread them, but they are not books to lose myself in. I wonder where Tchaikovsky's Shadows of the Apt series will end up. I read the first two and got the rest on my TBR pile since I wanted to wait for the series to be finished. Got enough unfinished ones as it is.

Kaladin really needs a hug. But then, I like me some dark, brooding heroes. Great portrait.

You have to give those bots one thing: they have offered us a fun thread and some good laughs. That Black Magic is backfiring thanks to the power of the Cosmere.

Anyone want some Black Magic? No? Thought so. In a place with allomancy, stormlight and whatever awesome stuff, black magic is sooo out.

That's likely a browser or security setting problem of your computer. What system and browser do you use?

Maybe you need some of those if you travel the Cosmere incognito.

And this time it's a bot from Canada offering to solve our love problems. Probably with those blue pills How boring. I find that in my spam folder every day. The love voodoo was at least something new.

You can go Rebel on Nano and continue a project you already started. Or write a bunch of short stories instead of a novel. You can also do the camps In April and July, though those don't work for me. I miss the forums on the site - the most fun and dangerous procrastination tool. BTW, if Write or Die sounds too nasty, try Written - Kitten. It obviously gives you a cute cat pic for every 100 words. Doesn't work for me, but I know writers who enjoy it.

I don't think you need to change the passwords. The bots/trojans/evil imps that spy on you are the ones you don't see. The ones here are more like telephone marketing.

Next they will offer cheap deals on atium. Probably some impure, mixed-up stuff that'll only make you ill.

I have some necromancer characters in Kings and Rebels. One uses the skill for asking a victim who killed him, for example. And for historical research - interviews with dead characters can be so much fun. The other keeps some undead bodyguards around because she doesn't trust her scheming half brother.

Delightful, they are cute, fluffy little critters, but they have teeth and when you pet one, it will stick to you and make you bring it home. Where it then breeds like bunnies, and somehow manages to invite its extended family. After a few days, the sweet little story will have turned into an epic trilogy. In short, it's writers's slang for 'story idea', esp. when you already have enough of them and really don't need any new ones. I keep finding mine in historical sites and history books.

*looks at stack of unfinished original novels* *does the same* Dang those plotbunnies.

Sounds like those poor pirates are going to lose another ship.

Absolutely. And the women who shout into their mobiles in the bus about their family and relationship problems. I can't blame the guy for leaving you if you shouted at him like that as well. Wouldn't that be fun if they moved their mouth but no sound came out. Hehe, I'm evil.

I want to magically stop the grass mover and that thingie that blows dry leaves off the walkway which my neighbour uses at 7 o'clock in the morning. And mute his loudspeakers.

In response to Laughing Fool. That's SO true. C.S. Friedman, Magister Trilogy The Dragonlance books. I would suggest to build the magic system / world together with the characters who are going to live in it. Because the way characters use / act to the magic is even more important than the system itself, and usually characters grow with the writing. So it's perhaps an idea to start with a vague outline of the system and fine tune it during the actual writing. Remember, you can always go back and change things. Sanderson is very much a planning and outline writer, and thus his magic systems are also very structured. It's one way to add magic to Fantasy, but I don't agree that it's the only one. Tolkien's approach to magic is much more vague, and the various versions of magic in the Malazan books are often not really explained and sometimes not even fully understood by the characters (warrens that send you off in the wrong direction like a badly programmed navi ). It does not prevent readers from enjoying these books a lot, though. If you're new to writing, you may try and find out what works best for you. Detailed outlines, or a more panster approach (try Nano in November for that ). The way you create a magic system may be influenced by that. Remember, Sanderson wrote a bunch of books before he managed one good enough to get published. We should not measure our first attempts by the Stormlight Archive, that will only lead to frustrations. Becoming a writer takes time and growth.

I have a shelf full of Penguin Classics right above my computer table. Pretty much in the middle of that sits Sir Walter Scott's Kenilworth. Next time I go for one of my Fantasy shelves. Not only are 19th century sentences a hassle to type, they don't apply to my life, either.

I always have a harem of books I read at the same time.

When you read "http://www.gollancz.co.uk/2014/06/the-world-cup-is-upon-us-and-in-our-fantasy-world-of-anything-can-happen/" this post and wonder how a team Stormlight Rocks would do against Middle Earth or Westeros United, and how fun it would be to add Wheel of Aes Sedai, Bridgeburners Undefeated and Glokta's Grimdarks to the competition.

Now I'm waiting for Odium's bot sprens to shift from voodoo to Mesopotamian magic. Bad marriage? Call Ishtar. Ishtar's love magic will get you the boy.

They are spren of Odium.

Love it. Sadeas looks like a pampered French aristocrat before the revolution. Totally guillotine-worthy.