The Spirit Ring and general malaise
Oct. 10th, 2005 03:23 pmWhat I did today: read Lois McMaster Bujold's The Spirit Ring, which is a fun book. It's fascinating to see the precursor of the magic system in her Chalion books being worked out in the rather different world of Renaissance Italy. The religious underpinnings, the importance of souls and their proper consignment (or lack thereof) after death, the use of animal sacrifice, etc. Very interesting, from a technical standpoint. She makes brief use of the hoary old staple of fire-earth-water-air that bedevils so many authors who don't have the creativity to come up with magic that more accurately corresponds to the physical world as we now understand it, but that's mostly a sidelight. I like her spiritual magic much better. It has a much better internal logic.
The Spirit Ring is also a good story. :-)
What else I did: poked at a few stories, getting a paragraph or two written for most of them, but no concentrated progress on anything. *sigh* I've been very tired the past few days, even though I keep sleeping over 10 hours a night. I think it's the weather -- that, or I'm skirting along the edges of a cold and the sleep is all that's kept me from succumbing.
The Spirit Ring is also a good story. :-)
What else I did: poked at a few stories, getting a paragraph or two written for most of them, but no concentrated progress on anything. *sigh* I've been very tired the past few days, even though I keep sleeping over 10 hours a night. I think it's the weather -- that, or I'm skirting along the edges of a cold and the sleep is all that's kept me from succumbing.