Friends – Activity – Thea

Athelstone started the topic Things that go bump in the forum Blogs 5 years, 10 months ago

Well, I’ve gone and done it again. Time for a short story challenge I believe. This one has a ghostly and supernatural theme. If you’d like to find out more then hurry over to the group Things that go bump. Once you have joined, you can read all about it in the forum.

You know you want to.

You’ll be sorry if you don’t.

Sandra replied 5 years, 10 months ago

Phew – it’s been on mind for the past week or two … on my way.
Kate replied 5 years, 10 months ago

That time of year already. Hooray.

KazG replied to the topic A gasp escaped me! in the forum Blogs 5 years, 10 months ago

Yes, I agree with @raine and @jillybean. Boyne is clearly lazy and arrogant with it. I recall some online stoush he had with the Auschwitz Memorial Museum (!!) when they criticised the historical accuracy of his book, and his snooty and dismissive response. I have despised him since I must say. I tend to research more than I need but I have a…[Read more]

Athelstone replied to the topic A Want of Discipline: Abergele, 1868 in the forum Blogs 5 years, 10 months ago

Fascinating, Richard. Rich’s words may have been ahead of their time, but that serves to emphasise how persistent the root causes of these disasters are. We still do it, even with our modern safety culture. Sadly, there are forces working to erode what gains have been made. The “Health & Safety Gone Mad” slogan may not belong to a formal campaign;…[Read more]

Jules replied to the topic A gasp escaped me! in the forum Blogs 5 years, 11 months ago

Pretty sure Stephen King now has a team of fact checkers. But yes I imagine the tone of those letters is gleeful. What I’ll say for King is that even though he’s writing speculative fiction, he portrays characters who’ve had life experiences he has not respectfully. The same cannot be said for Boyne! One of the big problems with The Boy in the…[Read more]

Sandra replied to the topic A gasp escaped me! in the forum Blogs 5 years, 11 months ago

Ah, yes. I take your point Athers. My ignorance obscured it earlier.

Athelstone replied to the topic A gasp escaped me! in the forum Blogs 5 years, 11 months ago

There are degrees to this and a dependency on the type of book being written. I am not searching for an artificial precision in moral culpability. I am not saying that there are some absolute rules at play. I am saying that if you bend the truth to suit your story, while at the same time maintaining that what you write is authentic, then there are…[Read more]

Sandra replied to the topic A gasp escaped me! in the forum Blogs 5 years, 11 months ago

Athers, I’ve not read Boyne, so took the passage you quote as from a fantasy novel which, in my understanding, means anything goes in the way of made-up words and facts.
On the subject of ‘proper’ research; at Newcastle Noir a couple of years ago, one crime writer told of being asked how many specialists he had on call to help him with research,…[Read more]

Sandra replied 5 years, 11 months ago

There’s an article in today’s Telegraph referring to this, and mentioning it seems to apply less to film-makers, e.g. Braveheart where kilts were worn 500 years before in use “because they looked better”. Artistic licence, innit?

Athelstone started the topic A gasp escaped me! in the forum Blogs 5 years, 11 months ago

This is a lightweight blog.

I was just settling down after reading about the astonishing performance by George R R Martin at the Hugo awards, when my son approached brandishing his phone.

‘Look at that,’ he said.

I looked. My son has been a fan of the Zelda video games since he was little. I played a few along with him in the last few years,…[Read more]

Libby replied 5 years, 11 months ago

I didn’t gasp – too world weary – but I can see why you’re annoyed, Ath. On a lighter note I was disappointed, having hoped to learn something more about nightshade! Woody nightshade grows in our garden, is pretty and you could imagine the berries being used for dye. It’s also poisonous. But when I got a bit further I’d have switched off if you h…[Read more]
- Libby replied 5 years, 11 months ago
  
  Here’s a review of the book https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/aug/06/a-traveller-at-the-gates-of-wisdom-by-john-boyne-review-an-ambitious-era-hopping-epic
  - Athelstone replied 5 years, 11 months ago
    
    Thanks, Libby. A really interesting review. I hadn’t realised that the Zelda mistake was one amongst many. Aside from characters deep in history musing about their peers in the language of C20th psychology, we have ‘…kimonos and obis to the Chinese, igloos to the Norse Icelanders, and steel and horses to pre-Columbian South Americans. Potatoes…[Read more]
  - Kate replied 5 years, 11 months ago
    
    That makes me flippin mad! All the hard work we put into our MSs, and he just… 😫
    - JaneShuff replied 5 years, 11 months ago
      
      Absolutely agree. I accept that the ‘worlds’ we base our stories in have a lot of the unlikely and improbable in them but there is a big difference between that and not bothering to do proper research.

KazG replied to the topic Richard's Literary Byways: The Beginning Place, by Ursula K Le Guin in the forum Blogs 5 years, 11 months ago

Thank you Richard – sorry, my original reply has also slipped through a portal. I hadn’t heard of this book and as a HUGE admirer of Ursula le Guin I will do my best to remedy that (might be a challenge, from what you say). Thank you for a fascinating blog and for highlighting so clearly how fantasy can be just as powerful, if not more so, at…[Read more]

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