Off Color Yorkist Joke

...and I don't just mean a different colored rose, OK?

You have heard the one about Nixon, Clinton and Ted kennedy becoming partners in a law firm: Trickem, Dickem and Dunkem.  No I didn't care for it either.

It occurred to me yesterday though that the York Brothers could fit that joke.

Edward IV - Dickem
George, Duke of Clarence - Dunkem
Richard III - Trickem

Now that joke is bound to be as offensive to some people as the original.  Relax and feel smug you get it.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

New Concepts in Book Publishing

There have been several stories of late on National Public Radio's Morning Edition about various aspects of the changing publishing world.  This morning the focus was on alternate publishing technology.

Read or listen at A Novel Approach: Free Books For Donations

The Concord Free Press was started by Stone Finch, an author with books published by traditional publishing houses who found his latest book stirred no interest in that quarter.  He decided to try what he calls "a revolutionary experiment"  in publishing.  Taking advantage of the lower cost  of publishing digital books, Concord Free Press offers free books with a request that readers make a donation to an organization or person who needs the money.  The experiment seems to be working, as so far $142,000 has been registered as donations to a wide variety of causes.  Authors are happy too.  One author interviewed reported over 3000 downloads of one of his books.  I don't know about you, but 3000 people reading my books would make me pretty damn happy.

Finch does not think all books should be free.  he just wants to see what happens when a press like his asks for charitable donations in lieu of profits.  He also feels that a dying book publishing industry that is so resistant to ebooks and similar innovations needs to start thinking "outside the box".  He wants to explore some of those innovations.

The thing is for authors, given current stats and trends, assuming you can find a publisher willing to take a chance on your work, no matter how brilliant, it is unlikely that you will make any money through traditional publishing.  More than half of all books published not only do not make any  money, they actually lose it.  If the goal is to get people to read books, making it as easy and attractive to them as possible.  Hamilton Fish, former editor of The Nation, whose goal has been to get people to pay for books, was initially outraged that Concord Free Press was giving all their books away.

I have to say that as an author, though I would dearly love to make a few bucks on my writing, having it read by as many people as possible holds far more attraction.    I am personally very pro ebook for at least a half dozen reasons.  To those who lament the loss of the feel of a book in their hands I say "No one is stopping you from buying print books, nor is anyone saying that print books should go away.  The issue is not the materials used but the content of a work, the mind to mind of author and reader.  Further, if libraries and booksellers move to more ebooks, which is happening at Amazon as readers "vote with their pocketbooks", we can hope that reading will be in a reverse swing from recent trends.  Two things I thought about when listening to a story about the Stanford University Engineering Department Library going to more and more digital books is that no longer will a library have to take books off the shelf to add newer ones and the theoretical availability of books for students is unlimited.  I'll throw in my own particular issue, that every single one of the books in that library will be able to be read by print impaired students instructors.  All ebooks can accomplush is more access to more books by a wider and larger range of those who want and need them.

Meanwhile traditional publishers are trying the same thing movbie theaters did back in the 70s when they fought e emerging cable television industry.  They claimed that if people could watch commercial free movies in the comfort of their own homes the theaters would all close.  Clearly that never happened.  Publishers are throwing their own set of fits, demanding that ebooks carry the same price as print in spite of the tiny comparative cost of production, refusing to allow text to speech on their Kindle editions, and generally being real snots about what just can't be bullied.  If people want to carry around a Kindle, iPad or Nook with two dozen books installed, they are simply going to do that.  Wouldn't it be nice if publishers would imitate the photographic film manufacturers, who gracefully recognize the advent of digital cameras and fouud ways to fit into the new paradigm?

What do you think, as a reader, as an author, as a publisher?


Nan Hawthorne is the author of An Involuntary king: A Tale of Anglo Saxon England (2008) which is available in print, on Kindle, and on Smashwords.com .  She makes a 100%discount for servicepersons through Operation eBookrop at Smashwords.com .  Frankly, all anyone has to do is ask and she will seeto it you get a copy of the ebook.  he only asks that you share your thoughts and reactions with her and others, and that you love the character Shannon O'Neill unresevedly.

This Is Post Number 462

The Year 462 AD

In the year 462 AD the Statue of Zeus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, was destroyed by fire after being moved to Constantinople.

Muryeong, King of Baekje was born.

"Pillars of the Earth" on Starz

"Pillars of the Earth" on Starz.  Is my memory that bad or is this rather different from the novel?



I must admit, if An Involuntary King or any subsequent novels of mine ever make it to Hollywood, I will probably regret reinterpretation all the way to the bank.

Sadly I will not see this, as we don't have Starz at home, or even much in the line of cable TV. But I expect it will be out on DVD soon enough. In the meantime, I hope you all will let me know what you thought.

Playing Next


All times ET/PT Friday, July 23rd

Encore 10:00pm
Starz 10:00pm

Saturday, July 24th

Starz Edge 12:00am

Much more at the official web page.

Abbots Bromley Horn Dance

The Abbots Bromley Horn Dance is an English folk dance involving antlers that takes place each year in Abbots Bromley, a small village in Staffordshire, England.



Origins

There are no recorded references to the dance prior to Robert Plot's Natural History of Staffordshire, written in 1686. However, a carbon analysis discovered that the antlers used in the dance date to the 11th century - though these may well have replaced an even older set. According to some, the use of antlers suggests an Anglo-Saxon origin along with other native Anglo-Saxon traditions that have survived into modern times in various forms.[1] It has been speculated, for example, that the dance originated in the pagan period and was connected with the ruling dynasty of Mercia, based some 15 miles away at Tamworth, who owned extensive hunting lands in Needwood Forest and Cannock Chase surrounding Abbots Bromley. On this theory, the royal forester would have organised sympathetic magic rituals to ensure a plentiful catch each year, a tradition that survived into Christian times and gradually came to be seen as affirming the villagers' hunting rights. Even when the lands were granted to Burton Abbey in 1004 a forester would still needed to have been employed, and by the 16th century, when the abbey was dissolved, this hereditary position bore the title "Forester of Bentylee" (Bentylee being the wooded area of the parish). From then until the 19th century the dance remained the traditional prerogative of the Bentley family, eventually passing to the Fowell family in 1914 through a marriage alliance. The Fowells continue to run it to this day.[2]

The dance was, like similar events throughout the country, temporarily discontinued during the Commonwealth years. Prior to this, according to Robert Plot, it was performed on Christmas Day, New Year's Day and Twelfth Day, in addition to the local Wakes Monday - though upon its revival in 1660 it was confined to the latter alone.

Event

The Horn Dance attracts a large number of visitors to the village. As well as the dance itself, Wakes Monday sees a Fair on the village green; Morris dancing; and numerous other attractions. The right to hold this Fair was granted to the village in 1221.

Date and schedule of performance

The Horn Dance takes place on Wakes Monday, the day following Wakes Sunday, which is the first Sunday after September 4. In practice, this means that it is the Monday dated between September 6 and September 12 (inclusive).

The dance starts at 08:00 with a service of blessing in St Nicholas Church, where the horns are housed. The dance begins on the village green, then passes out of the village - but not out of the Parish - to Blithfield Hall, owned by Lady Bagot.

The dancers return to the village in the early afternoon, and make their way around the pubs and houses. Finally, at about 20:00, the horns are returned to the church, and the day is completed with the service of Compline.

Dancers

The dancers, c. 1900There are 12 dancers. Six carry the horns and are accompanied by musician playing an accordion (a violin in former times), Maid Marian (a man in a dress), the Hobby-horse, the Fool (or Jester), a youngster with a bow and arrow, and another youngster with a triangle. Traditionally, the dancers are all male, although in recent years girls have been seen carrying the triangle and bow and arrow.

Until the end of the 19th Century the dancers were all members of the Bentley family. The dance passed to the related Fowell family in the early 20th Century in which it remains to this day, though rising house prices has meant that none of them live in the village any longer, with many residing in nearby towns. They have been known to allow visitors to "dance in" if asked politely, and will often invite musicians and others to take part when necessary.

Antlers

The "horns" are six sets of reindeer antlers, three white and three black. In 1976, a small splinter was radiocarbon dated to around 1065. Since there are not believed to have been any reindeer in England in the 11th Century, the horns must have been imported from Scandinavia.

The antlers are mounted on small heads carved from wood. Since 1981, the horns are legally the property of Abbots Bromley Parish Council. For 364 days a year, they are on display in St Nicholas Church. They were once kept in the main Village Hall, which is now the Goat Inn, beside the Butter Cross. An alternative set of antlers (red deer) are kept to use when the Dancers are asked, as they are, frequently, to perform outside the Parish boundaries.

Dance

The dance, above Blithfield ReservoirThe dance itself is simple, since the antlers themselves have some weight to them and are large and bulky.

As described by Cecil Sharp, there are 6 figures in the dance. He describes the dance as being done with the participants in a single line; however, it is currently performed with the dancers in a double column.

References

1. Campbell, James. The Anglo-Saxons (1991) Page 241, with illustration. ISBN 0140143955
2. Steele, Tony. Water Witches (1998) pp. 114-116. ISBN 1861630492

Abbots Bromley web site

(Lifted whole cloth from Wikipedia.)

Back by Popular Demand: The Babelfish Game

Have you ever played the Babelfish game? I won't say I invented it, but I did discover it for myself.

The way it works is that you put a sentence or, better yet, a paragraph into the Babelfish translator, translate it into another language, then either back into English or into yet another language and then back to English. The result can be hilarious, as when I put in something about my cat flopping over on the bed and how she likes to nurse on our arms. These banal statements became "She falls more towards the bed" and "nourishes on our arms".

It occurred to me that authors might enjoy taking their novel's blurb and putting it through the Babelfish game. For example, here is my blurb for An Involuntary King:

"An Involuntary King: His father dead at the hands of a usurper, a young king must prove himself in spite of his own self-doubt. He struggles against monumental opposition, while his beautiful young wife, the love of his life, is pursued by a darkly sensual mercenary."

What you need to do once it is translated is copy and paste the result, in this case the French, into the "Translate again" box and choose another set of languages. When I use Babelfish to translate that into French and then back again, I get this:

"An involuntary king: His generate completely with the hands one to usurp, a young king must be proven in spite of his own doubt of oneself. He fights against monumental opposition, whereas its beautiful young person marries, love of its life, is continued by a mercenary obscurely sensual."

I am so sure Lord Elerde would want his sensuality to be deemed "obscure" particularly by the king's "beautiful young person marries".

It gets funnier yet when you translate into one language and then another, then back into Engllish. This is English to French to German to English:

"An inadvertent king: Its completely cause to the hands; to abuse a young king must prove itself despite his own doubt of itself. It fights against monumental opposition, during their beautiful young person wife, Loves its life darkly by a sensuous mercenary one pursues."

Heavy, man! The father and the usurping get lost altogether.

Just for a lark, here is English to German to French to English:

"An involuntary king: Centres bring absolutely to a usurper violate, a young king owes to examine in spite of its own Coil-doubt. He fights against a remarkable opposition, his beautiful young woman who loves of her life, by dark sensual a mercenary one exerts."

You gotta look out for them Coil-doubts!

One hint: the game works better if the languages you translate from and to are not in the same language family. For example, Romance and German.

Have some fun with this. Would love to hear what Babelfish comes up with with your own novel's blurb!

New Stories on An Involuntary King: The Stories

Viking sea battle, borrowed from Hurstwic.

"The Road to Paris", a series of stories satisfying your desire for more accounts of the journeys of our two Irish bards, Shannon O'Neill and Rory McGuinness, has commenced on the An Involuntary King: The Stories.

There are alreadt a few hundred stories that range from letters between characters written by my friend Laura and me in about 1964 to our later attempts at storytelling and finally to  my own efforts to recapture "The Story" as we called it starting in 2006.

I knew that soon enough I would have posted every single item ever written, so not wanting this incredible period of my life to end, I decided just to keep the stories going.  You may recall that I published a poll of some basic story lines, and "the journeys of the two Irish bards" got the most botes.

"The Road to Paris" takes place about two years after two major events in the series I had written for the collaborative creative writing group, Ghostletters (to which you are enthusiastically invited to join): Shannon's apparent suicide by drowning then later return from Norway with a wife on his arm, and Rory's final relinuishing of his bow to the Queen and his own subsequent marriage to Ceridwen. 

It take sup the tale as Shannon begs his friends, Rory and Ceridwen, to help him find out what has happened to his wife, Falni, the Norse captain of a fighing vessel.  She is long overdue and no one has seen her.  There are raiders in the North Sea, taking the cargoe of other ships and doing things you would rther not hear to their crews.  What happened to Falni?  Is she all right?  Can Shannon find her and rescue her?  Will the future Holy Roman Emperor, Karl, better known as Charlemagne to future generations, be involved in some way?

Come find out for yourself by visiting and subscribing to An Involuntary King: The Stories.

You might enjoy the novel, too!

My First Book Yarn Painting

From left to right:

Middle Eastern scene - Queen of Swords, Judith Tarr 

Wheat dolly - Dancing in Chequered Shade, Greta Marlow (not yet publilshed)

Man in black - The Lords of Vaumartin, Cecelia Holland

Broken string of pearls - The Confession of Piers Gaveston, Brandy Purdy

Thoor's hammer amulet - Lords of the North, Bernard Cornwell

Shield - Time and Chance, Sharon Kay Penman

Small part of device - The Traitor's Wife, Susan Higginbotham

You can only see the top of an Anglo Saxon village, which iss meant to be from my own novel, An Involuntary King.

I have posted other book tarn paintings I have done.. just use the search box at the top left of the screen for "yarn painting".  I must have done this one three years ago.

This is post 456 on this blog.

Did We Touch a Nerve?

I set out this morning to do one of those search term posts, the idea I stole from Susan Higginbotham you know, about my Today in Medieval History site, but the search terms people used over the past month just haven't been ripe for jokes.

They have, on the other hand, fascinating for their appropriateness! And in their numbers. For a long time I had been doing the calendar more or less for my own entertainment and hoping to help out suthors of medieval-era novels with some extra prom otion, but suddenly, thanks to a particular angel named Sharon Kay Penman, my stats are climbing rapidly.

Sharon, you see, stated on her own blog that Today in Medieval History is one of her favorite blogs and commented on my often "snarky" headlines and so forth.  I am afraid "Snark", if that means irreverent, is my native tongue.  She liked my reference to Henry II's wedding to "a French divorcee".  Since then my visitors have have multiplied gratifyingly.

I still find the keywords people used primarily in Google that led them to the calendar intriguing.  One person in Kea was looking for "king 1588".  I don't know what s/he was looking for, but I can't help but wonder what s/he made of "King Off, De Guise s in Town".

There were several searches for the unsurprising famous names, Mary Queen of Scots, for instance.  Another couple of people looked for "Catherine Howard, Queen of England" while someone else coincidentally found the blog via "Thomas Culpepper rape".  I mean, Kate was indeed aggressive, but did she rape him.  I doubt it.

The most common keywords were dates.  To wit:

• may 1291
• 8th july medieval
• Jul 7
• medieval 7th july
• Jul 4 and Jul 5  were both popular, as well as a few other early dates in July, one specifically interested in 4 July 1187.

I hope they learned what they hoped to.  The fact that several included the word "medieval" in their search as well as there being a couple for "today in medieval history " tempts me to think they were specifically looking for my daily calendar.  you can put the calendar on your site or blog, but I don't know how, if at all, that shows up in the stats.

If Sharon Kay Penman continues her embassy on my sites' behalf, she will quickly go from beloved author to abjectly adored around my kingdom..

By the way, my stats are collected at Statbounter.com .

A Glimpse at the July/August 2010 Medieval Chronicle

Engaging, informatice and beautiful?  That is The Medieval Chronicle, of particular interest to "all lovers of Medieval Historical Novels, Medieval Mystery Novels, Medieval Romance Novels, Medieval Non Fiction."

Here is a glimpse at what you will find in the July/August 2010 issue., which will be available July 7th:

Nan Hawthorne introduces us to the Anglo-Saxon poet Cynewulf whose religious compositions survive today. Although he is known through his poetry his life remains "the shadow of a name." Did women have rights in medieval Scotland; did widow's? Amanda Scott takes us into the world of women rights and their property. Our medieval ancestors were most definitely moonstruck. Their lives were affected by the phases of the moon but as we find out from Nela Leja not in the ways you might think. A new and exciting recurring column To Reap the Harvest in Due Season by Nicole Zoltack begins. You will walk along side of medieval women as they go about their daily lives.

In And The Saints Go Marching… Denise Domning introduces us to Bridget of Sweden (feast day July 23rd) who was a mystic, founder of the Bridgettine Order and mother to a saint. Something in the DNA? Keeper of the Realm goes beyond medieval to look at King James VI of Scotland who became King James I of England. Marilyn J. Clay introduces us to the king who united two warring crowns.

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