Kristin Cashore's Blog, page 74

There's No Place Like Plrtz Glrb

I wonder if anyone has ever written a paper about the wanton destruction of property and how it relates to the concepts of home and homelessness in the Buffyverse? Everytime I watch a "home" that I've grown fond of get torn up or chopped down or blown apart (for example -- spoilers! -- Buffy's living room; the library of Sunnydale High; Sunnydale itself; Angel's first L.A. office; various parts of Angel's hotel; Lorne's club over and over again), I think about it. It'd make an interesting p...

Boring as Nails

There are times when I wander around feeling like I have way too many things I want to blog... and then, the more I think about it, the more I realize I'm wrong about that, because all those shiny topics basically break down like this:
40% things that are too personal for blogging.40% things that would take up too much of my free time and sanity points (for example, a list of all the ways the Vatican blows my mind, seriously, WTF?).20% things that are boring as nails.As you can see, I've chose...

Home Is Where the Orchids Are

When I arrived at my sister's, secret codename: Cordelia's, house early last week, I very nearly kissed her on both cheeks.

When I arrived at my own door late last week and pulled out my keyring, for a moment I couldn't remember which key was the one that opened my door. I thought to myself, This is ridiculous, I've only been gone a month. Get with the program! --But I think it's more than the time away. It's having been to so many places, all so different from each other; it's learning ho...

Location: Florida

So, this is how it's done.

First, in one arm, you pick up the twin who's falling asleep in her bouncy chair. Then you crouch down and, in the other arm, pick up the twin who's being cranky on the floor. Then, babies crying, you shuffle over to the stereo on your knees and use your elbow to turn on the Cranberries. Then you sit down on the floor for a second and do some adjustments. Baby adjustments are difficult when you've got a baby in each arm and no free hands, but you saw your sister, ...

From Here You Can Almost See the Sea

The Italian cover of Fire, published by De Agostini. Click to enbiggen. The text means something along the lines of, "Her mystique is a gift as sharp as a blade." :D ------------>

My subject heading is a David Gray song (click here to listen) that popped into my head the instant I walked into my hotel room in Lisbon and saw the view of the river. (Lisbon is situated on the Atlantic, and on the Tagus River, which flows into the Atlantic, as per this map.)

I wasn't prepared for the beauty...

From here you can almost see the sea...

The Italian cover of Fire, published by De Agostini. Click to enbiggen. The text means something along the lines of, "Her mystique is a gift as sharp as a blade." :D ------------>

My subject heading is a David Gray song (click here to listen) that popped into my head the instant I walked into my hotel room in Lisbon and saw the view of the river. (Lisbon is situated on the Atlantic, and on the Tagus River, which flows into the Atlantic, as per this map.)

I wasn't prepared for the beauty...

Madrid Miscellany

¡Hola amigos!

Here's something I saw written on a wall inside a building today in Madrid:

I have sometimes dreamt that when the Day of Judgement dawns and the great conquerors and lawyers and statesmen come to receive their rewards -- their crowns, their laurels, their names carved indelibly upon imperishable marble -- the Almighty will turn to Peter and will say, not without certain envy when he sees us coming with our books under our arms, "Look, these need no reward. We have nothing to...

In Paris, Remembering Bologna

Is it possible that Bologna was only a week ago?

The following photos were taken by Federico Borella, who kindly gave me permission to display them on my blog. Thank you, Federico! (And click the pictures to enbiggen.)

The sword-fighting took place in a courtyard adjacent to the Piazza Maggiore in Bologna's center.
















Sword-fighting experts showed off their stuff (and their snazzy Fire tunics).















Not only can they fight, they can teach! Federico (not the same Federico as the photographer) was awful...

Paris Fo Shizzle

Fire cover for the French YA edition, published by Hachette Jeunesse (click to enbiggen) ----------->

Hi everyone! It's my third country in a week and my third language adjustment. Luckily, I never managed to learn much Dutch, so my Dutch is not interfering with my mangled attempts at French the way my Italian is. Do you think the cabdriver minded when I left him with an enthusiastic, "Merci, signore!"?

I am in Paris. You know all those things everyone always says about Paris? Turns out th...

Location: Amsterdam, Where Fire Is Called "Vlam"

My character Fire's name seems to have created a challenge for almost all of my translations so far -- for a bunch of reasons, but most often because the direct translation of the word "fire" tends to be masculine.

The Italian word for "fire" is the masculine "fuoco." The Italians kept Fire's name as Fire -- but flipping through a copy, I noticed that Archer is named Arciere, the Italian word for "archer." I like it!

In French, the word "fire" would be pronounced like "fear," more or less, wh...