Sunday, July 15, 2007

New Illuminata Pub

The July Illuminata is out. There are three pieces on writing in this issue, including an expansion on a piece that first appeared in this blog on "The Physical Side of Writing." Other than that I don't have much writing related stuff to report.

I've finished a couple of good books lately. Men of Bronze by Scott Oden, whose name is on my links, is a historical novel set in Egypt nearing the end of the Egyptian empire, but it reads much like a heroic fantasy novel. Scott knows his history and works it deftly into the story, but he doesn't let detail slow down the action. The main character, Barca, is a brutal warrior with a deep sensitive streak. The villain is well constructed and provides an excellent foil for Barca.

I also enjoyed Death Reign of the Vampire King, a pulp novel of The Spider by Norvell Page. Page's work is non-stop action and moves as fast as any modern thriller. Plus he has all those cool pulp features. Don't you love that title?

9 comments:

Erik Donald France said...

A "brutal warrior with a deep sensitive streak" -- interesting. I always wondered about the "Bad Guy" in the original Highlander movie. In one scene, he seems to menace the main protagonist's "woman" (wife?), but later, this is never reconciled. Did he have a "tender" side for the dude's significant other?

In any case, cheers on the new articles.

Lucas Pederson said...

Coolness!
Hey, buddy, um, I tagged youfor a meme. You don't have to accept if you don't want to. This meme thing is new to me anyhow.
So, if you want, stop by my blog and read what I got down. Okay, talk to ya later.

Shauna Roberts said...

When I first started reading the Illuminata piece, I thought someone had plagiarized your blog! Then I realized this must be one of the pubs you write for. Important stuff—it was useful to read it again, and this time I'll put it by my computer to remind me.

Scott Oden said...

Glad to hear you enjoyed "Men of Bronze", Charles! Hope you find "Memnon" equally enjoyable.

"Brutal warrior with a deep sensitive streak" is a pretty accurate description of Barca . . . I may have to borrow that :)

Must go check out Illuminata . . .

Charles Gramlich said...

I'm not sure the Kurgen had much of a tender side, Erik. But maybe.

Lucas, I think I was already tagged for this meme so I'll just consider my post for that one to fulfill your tag as well.

Shauna, yes, I've been using blog posts as the core to quite a few of my articles for The illuminata, although I typically expand and improve them. At least I hope.

Scott, thanks for stopping by. Men of Bronze was an excellent read.

AvDB said...

Death Reign of the Vampire King is definitely a great title.

I've finally plowed through the books I had queued up for the beginning of the summer (I'm a little behind) and Swords of Talera is now on the top of the heap. I'm excited to start reading it.

Lucas Pederson said...

Ah! Sorry Charles about the tag. I wasn't looking when I jumped. Cool beans!

Steve Malley said...

Yay, my bimonthly chance to be 'illuminated'...

Wayne Allen Sallee said...

I love THE SPIDER. That's all I wanted to say.