Tag: Books

DragonLance – Dragons of Autumn Twilight Chapters 18 & 19

Chapter 18

Fight at the lift.

Bupu’s cure for a cough.

The elevator we saw in order to get up and down without the use of modern day machinery uses the gully dwarves as weight to bring the Draconians up from far below in the ruined city. The result of this discovery is that there is a thrilling fight that takes place in a giant pot that is used as an elevator car.

It sways back and forth as weight gets thrown around inside, making things far more complex, it is a fight you just have to read. Fantastically written.

In the fight the group was temporarily separated resulting in two different melees taking place at once. It took some very innovative thinking on behalf of our companions to get out of this sticky situation.

A gully dwarf by the name of Bupu comes to the rescue and during a lull in the fight shows them another way to get down below.

Remember, the gully dwarves mean well but aren’t that smart. On top of that there is a fun loving Kender in the group, so their journey to the lower parts of the ruined city is…interesting.

Chapter 19

The broken city.

Highbulp Phudge I, The Great.

We get a little more backstory on what happened to Xak Tsaroth the night of the Cataclysm. Bupu leads the group along a pathway not taken by the Draconians for multiple reasons to go and see the leader of the gully dwarves, the Great Highbulp Phudge I.

It wasn’t the easiest path to traverse, but it did serve to avoid the Draconians.

One of the cool things in this chapter is that never before have I listened to a frustrated dragon complain. Now I have.

The gully dwarves lived in a part of the ruined city that neither the dragon, nor the draconian care about. Interestingly we learn more about the gully dwarves that will come back in future books. They are generally considered cowards, and will avoid a fight at all costs. However, when they are backed into a corner they are ferocious fighters.

Throughout the chapter we start to see questions arise. For instance, Sturm starts to ask questions about why Raistlin is so excited to have come to this destroyed city.

We find that the Great Phudge I does not like life with the dragons or the draconians and wants the companions to make them go away or kill them. He “knew” where the dragon lair is, and how to get there, but he is nervous that the companions are just here to steal from the dragon and run. So will he double cross them? We will find out in future chapters.

DragonLance – Dragons of Autumn Twilight Chapters 16 & 17

One thing I love about these authors is that they bring to life the serious, dark moments, but also do manage to bring some light hearted things as well. That makes it much more realistic for me. Yes, life has dark times, but it also has funny things that happen, even in the dark times. It is part of the writing genius of the duo Weis and Hickman!

Chapter 16

A bitter choice.

The greatest gift.

The dragon attack in the previous chapter left Riverwind burned so badly his internal organs were exposed in places, but he was just outside an ancient temple to the gods.

During that attack Goldmoon was inside the temple, and learned many things including being given the gift of becoming a true healer, and learning that she and the companions are to recover the Disks of Mishakal. (more on those later).

She emerges after the attack and orders Riverwind, or what is left of him, brought inside. Somehow, during the attack, she gained enough powers that with the staff she manages to save Riverwind’s life and brings him back to virtually perfect health.

Now, they must rest and then go and find the dragon’s lair, where it is said the Disks of Mishakal are hidden, and recover them…from the dragon’s lair. What could go wrong?

Chapter 17

The Path of the Dead.

Raistlin’s new friends.

The companions managed to get a night of rest inside the temple. They finally were no longer facing exhaustion, but were preparing for a day when they knew they may have to face a dragon!

Sure the plan was to just find the lair and make off with the disks, but is anything ever that easy?

We find out many things in this chapter, and a little bit of the twin’s backstory is revealed. Something massive and likely disturbing happened in the Tower of High Sorcery when Raistlin took his test, and they are forbidden to speak of it. What happened does come out much later in the series, but for now, it is enough to know those two have an amazing bond for some reason that goes far beyond mere brothers.

They find their way deeper into the ruins of the city, and start on their trek to find the lair of the dragon. Along the way we finally meet gully dwarves! Flint, is not a fan of these guys. They are not very smart, can be stubborn, and are known to be generally cheerful, but Flint has a whole thing where in his opinion they all need to be exterminated. But, in this case they are needed to help the companions.

We meet the gully dwarves when they are being used as a counter weight to operate an elevator of sorts to bring Draconian forces, who they call the big bosses, up from deep below.

With a little help from Raistlin they enlist the gully dwarves to help them make their way below, and hopefully recover the disks!

DragonLance – Dragons of Autumn Twilight Chapters 12 & 13

Chapter 12

Winged Sleep. Smoke in the east.

Dark memories.

The Forestmaster took care of their travel problems with flying horses (aka Pegasus), or Pegasi for the plural version. Never thought about the plural version did you?

How else do you get someplace in a hurry? Now, because no one here has ever flown before, and the Pegasi don’t want anyone to get hurt the companions are put into a magic induced sleep for the length of the journey.

Once they landed and Tanis awoke the lead Pegasus informed him they had to stop before the final destination due to a great evil that had been awakened on Krynn, something he hadn’t felt since before the Cataclysm. So apparently he’s been around a very long time. Is he alive or dead? We don’t know.

The landed a half day journey from Goldmoon and Riverwind’s village, but close enough they could see great smoke clouds coming from their homeland. They rush to the village to find that it has been decimated in the worst battle anyone could recall. Fires burned so hot that even the stone had melted.

The only living being they could find was a dog.

The emotion of this chapter jumps off the page. The authors are so gifted at making you feel what the characters feel I say, if you are enchanted by the storyline you must experience for yourself. It is amazing.

They leave the city and continue on their path to Xak Tsaroth.

Chapter 13 

Chill down. Vince bridges.

Dark water.

The trip so far may have just been a little too easy. By all accounts they should still be able to make their destination by the deadline.

More emotion of the situation starts to leap off the page. Goldmoon has been told all along that this blue crystal staff is a gift from the Gods (maybe). But it is a gift, a staff of healing! Half of Krynn appears to be searching for this thing, so how can it not be an amazing gift.

A gift that got her entire family, all her friends and her home destroyed. What kind of gift is that?

Along the way they must travel through a swamp, across vine bridges, all to find the most valuable thing in the world. But who else might be in the area looking for this?

Draconians! This time they are magic users and Raistlin can’t solve the problem before they are all encased in magic spider webs!

Will they survive! Can they survive in there? We don’t know! We do know they can’t move, and are now captured by the Draconian lizard-men!

Why did I write The Diocese Dilemma – I mean…really?

I recently released a novel called The Diocese Dilemma, and it is a pretty far departure from the other things I have written. Why would I do such a thing?

And more importantly why would I turn a Catholic Priest into a Serial Killer?

Well, that is not that easy to answer but I will give it a try.

I grew up in the Catholic Church, I consider myself a spiritual person, I believe in God, but I think dogmatic religion is a challenge, at least for me. If it works for you, please, don’t think I am trying to talk you out of it.

In order for me to really work through some issues I have with people who exercise religion in a more hypocritical way are pretty deep.

I have personally been told by a Christian that if I drink alcohol I am going to Hell?

Ok, so Christ isn’t in Heaven because didn’t he turn water into wine?

I have seen people who profess to be deeply rooted Catholics (and other religions) repeatedly be unfaithful to their spouse. The swore before God to forsake all others?

I see these Scriptures that say one thing and people who love to quote them do another.

It made me question things. And if people can so routinely misinterpret and pervert Scripture to justify their own actions, and I can notice it, surely clergymembers see it.

What happens if a Priest, who sits in the Confessional and listens to people confess their sins over and over gets just fed up with the hypocrisy and says you know what…some of these people are beyond absolution.

Eye for and Eye, right?

Make the punishment fit the crime?

Priests are supposed to be the sword and shield of God according to Scripture.

Can a Priest get so frustrated that he takes the worst sinners, pulls them out of the confessional and goes Old Testament justice and takes that Eye for and Eye a bit further than he should (kind of hypocritically).

And given all of the cover ups the Church has done over the years (and many religions have done) could and more importantly would the Church cover it up? What if the Church leadership agreed with his actions?

This book helped me really understand and see that these things (Scripture) are very often quoted by people who rarely think about the words, they just use them in a way to get you to do what they want, make themselves feel better, or justify some action.

While violating the crap out of other Scriptures (and Commandments).

I do think that this sort of thing could happen. Mind you I have no evidence that it has, but I do know that the Catholic Church (during the Inquisition) did kill a bunch of “sinners”

Would that happen again?

Could they get away with it?

Would they cover it up?

I dunno, you be the judge, and I can tell you right now I am not sorry about what Father Santini did to that person who was selling access to very young underaged women for purely perverted (and rough) pleasure of powerful people.

That guy had it coming.

Donald Westlake a Dortmunder Novel Drowned Hopes – Limited

If you follow along with me at all you know I have a book collection that probably needs its own house at this point. Ok, it isn’t that bad, but it does take up a lot of space.

This book is by a known, but not super well known author named Donald Westlake (who has passed away).  Dortmunder was a character in 14 of Donald Westlake’s novels and I think 10 or 11 short stories.

Dortmunder himself is a burglar. Or as he puts it he finds things. Ok, they are in your house at the time, but he was there last?

Like all of Westlake’s work they tend to be funny in some fashion. One of the Dortmunder books became a movie with the same name as the book called What’s the Worst that Could Happen?  The movie starred Danny DeVito and Martin Lawrence. In my opinion…hilarious. Watch it if you can, but better yet read the book.

This book is about John Dortmunder hearing about a buried fortune. Unfortunately it happens to be beneath a reservoir and he doesn’t want to drown. So he goes about trying to collect it in a rather…unique way.

The copy of this book in my collection is the slip cased limited print of 100 copies by Mysterious Press (autographed). I don’t have too many of this sort of thing in my collection, but I found this one relatively inexpensively a while back, and it does hold a position of pride on my shelf.

 

Conan by Robert E Howard

The Conan series of books is one that has been seen in an enormous number of formats from comics to novels to short stories to movies starring Ahhhhnold.

What makes them so popular? They are fast-paced and suck you in. They are blunt, brutal, and its like the reading equivalent of getting punched in the face, it happens fast. It is very much one for someone that doesn’t want to have to pick through the politics of a George RR Martin book or keep track of what esoteric little hint of a thing someone said somewhere 150 pages ago.

According to the author it depicts Barbarism at its finest. And according to him barbarism is a natural state of mankind, it is civilization that is unnatural. Civilization is a whim of circumstance, and barbarism will always triumph.

While I don’t agree with that statement, it does come through in his writing. If you want to see civilization torn to pieces, this is a series of books for you.

I think there are 12 books in the original series, but like the more modern-day publications DragonLance there are many beyond the originals. I think there are 83 books in the series now. If you enjoy them, you certainly won’t run out anytime soon.

It is one for the fantasy lover out there. Even those who are not into Tolkein level fantasy may enjoy this series. The upside is they don’t tend to be very long, grab the first book in the series and see what you think for yourself!

I have a number of them that once belonged to my father that are from the old Ace Books printings. If you have time to read one you can probably do it across a single weekend. Great entertainment awaits!