David M. Samuels's Blog, page 2
January 28, 2021
[Sight] How to Look Without “Look” [Phrase Bank]
Lately I’ve noticed a habit among newer writers to rely on “look” as a default/catch-all verb for any sort of eye-based movement. This results in repetitive prose with ~10 usages of the word per 1k words. It also overlooks the potential of a strong, evocative sight-based sentence ie:
George RR Martin, “The Lost Lands”
Gray Alys regarded him evenly, her steady gray eyes fixed on his own cold blue ones.
Below are some “building blocks” to help pave your way to a stronger “look”.
[None of the quotes below belong to me. They are intended to be used as references for influence and not to be copied directly]
Unformatted version:
Spotted (“You were spotted returning from the Mon Magisteria”)Gander (took a gander at)
Peeped
Peered
Peeked (“…he anxiously peeked over his shoulder.”)
Stared fixedly at
Stares hard at her
He considered the shelter
Checked (“He checked his dagger, relieved to find it stil in place”)
“Eyes panned the road”
surveyed
Scoped out
Took in
“He soaked in the sights”
Feasted his eyes on
“Ran (“…ran an eye over the hilt…” | “She ran a fond eye over him.”)
_ laid eyes on
Darted a glance/look at _
Casted a glance
Eyes lit on
His eyes found
Eyes swung away
“Snapped his eyes onto /at”
Turned his sights back to
Drifted
Eyes roved
Marv steadied his gaze on Stevie
“Glance fell momentarily on Tammy”
“Pike subjected Orso to that withering stare”
“Right pupil was a bottomless pit inviting Sam to fall in”
“Fixed me with his protuberant eyes”
“Drowning in her storm-grey eyes”
“She caressed me with soot-black eyes”
“Locked him with an angry smile”
“Konig pinioned Aufschlag with flat gray eyes”
Lost himself in the gaze
“Wichtig met Bedeckt’s eyes with a cold glare”
“Lydra kneels, pressed down by the weight of his gaze.”
Exchanged a look
Returned his gaze
from the magus
“Something with amber eyes held watch”
Kept an eye on _
Kept his eyes trained
Locked eyes with Patricia
“Their eyes locked, brown on brown.”
“His brown eyes meeting her blues”
“Gray Alys regarded him evenly, her steady gray eyes fixed on his own cold blue ones.”
“Included Meryam in his gaze”
“Appraised them with a slow sweep of the eyes”
“Extended the glare to the girls”
Eyes kept returning to
“Turned his attention to”
“He switched his gaze to the dragon.”
“Her eyes landed on Carat…”
Fell on (“Her gaze fell on Morveer.”)
“Eyes flashed toward the librarian”
“Two cold eyes returned Raiden’s glare.”
Eyeballing him
“Looked _ dead in the eye”
“Looked ___ squarely in the face.”
Eyes slid away from mine
Eyes climb
Flicked a glance at
“cut a glance to”
Centers her gaze on / gaze came to rest
Swept his gaze
Eyes swept the crowd
Aimed her gaze at
“He peers at me through puffy eyes”
Snagging (caught eyes on attn)
To maintain eye contact
Latched gazes
“Leveled an icy stare at Slaughter”
“Couldn’t take his eyes off”
“Sizing him up”
“Bounced looks back and forth between Luis and Josh”
“line of our gaze connected.”
“Without once taking his eyes off the sconce”
“never once taking her eyes off the drawning”
“never let him out of my sight”
“he never took his eyes from the duke”
_ had eyes only for _
“Eyes didn’t leave his face”
Returned his gaze
Eyes lingered on
Eyes strayed to
Pry his gaze from
Tore his gaze (“he could not tear his gaze from the roofs of the cavern city.”)
Eyes left the hole
Averted his gaze
Take notice/took notice
Took no notice of _
“Eyes sought the ground/_ dropped his gaze.”
“we avoided each other’s gaze”
“Shied from the gaze”
“Quirk avoided his eye”
Refused to meet his eye
Didn’t meet her eye
““Unwilling to meet her eye”
“Skimmed past Matthew”
“Trailed his eyes across Wren”
Lost sight of
Lost track
Left his sight
““passed out of sight”
Out of view (plunged out of view)
Snuck a look | chanced a look
Stole a glance (forbiddingly etc)
“risked a downward glance”
“snatched a glance over his shoulder”
January 5, 2021
[Book Giveaway – Swords & Sorcery] If you dig SNARKY THIEVES and movies like THE MUMMY, don’t miss this freebie! [1/5]
David Samuels has contributed to Swords & Sorcery, Silver Blade, Dark Fire, Literally Stories, and The Fifth Di… Magazines. In his free time he likes to read, play Gwent, and refer to himself in the third person.
Influences: KJ Parker, Joe Abercrombie, Scott Bakker, Lois McMaster Bujold, Nicholas Eames, Angela Slatter.
November 23, 2020
Explore Euvael (Publications)
Ebb & Flow
Swords and Sorcery Magazine
My stomach growled in mutiny as I prepared to toss our last loaf of bread over the walls and into the sea. Hopelessly outnumbered and marooned without escape, my crew and I had nothing left in our arsenal except bluster and bluffs.
About twelve warships besieged us offshore from this dratted island fortress, their slanted sails boasting the white tulip of the Khazal’s Tideguard. Otherwise known as a corsair’s worst nightmare.
https://swordsandsorcerymagazine.com/archive/ebb-flow-by-david-samuels
The Corpse Eternal
Silver Blade Magazine
What House Stovros calls a miracle could be murder instead. My duty as an imp’s advocate is to hunt down the facts. I’d joined the order partly to turn my back on the countless dead that haunted my two years as an army physician. Maybe also to repent for all the patients I’d lost.
The Corpse Eternal
“Banshee Song”
Dark Fire Magazine
Oh, the things I would do to turn back time. To have never killed that streetwalker, never gotten conscripted, and – most importantly – never bedded the wife of High Marshal Luthos.
The marshal’s deep tenor remains chiseled in my memory: For a soldier who seeks the warmth of my wife’s bedchamber, what better punishment than the coldest land of them all?
{FREE 11/23-5} Three Nights in Faral-Khazal {Arabian-Inspired Fantasy}
Three standalone stories influenced by Scott Bakker, Joe Abercrombie, and KJ Parker.
Finalist for Baen Publishing’s Fantasy Adventure Award [2018, Deadliest Dish]
Honorable Mention from Writers of the Future [2018, Deadliest Dish]
1. The Deadliest Dish
Chef Kaira fears she’ll soon be feeding worms when she forgets an important dish for a diplomatic banquet.
2. Banquet of the Emblamer
Tariki is an ambitious embalmer who will stop at nothing to contain the secret he’s unleashed at a dinner party.
3. Ups and Downs
Emelith the Finder runs into an ex-partner on her heist to steal an heirloom from the Hanging Graveyard of Faral-Khazal.
November 18, 2020
Describing a Character’s Physique {Writer’s Toolkit / Wordbank}
[None of the quotes below belong to me. They are intended to be used as references for influence and not to be copied directly]
[image error]
[image error]
[image error]
[image error]
[image error]
[image error]
Hope you found this useful! I’ve also attached a text-based copy below. In the meantime, why not journey into Euvael?
GENERAL BODY TYPES
Stature (small stature)Frame (“Large of frame”)
“Outweighed me by a solid twenty pounds”
“Looked like a barrel with a beard”
“The troll looked like a wall with a bowtie.”
pear-shaped
Scraggly (thin and bony)
Frail
Rawboned
Hale (of a person; esp an elderly one; strong and healthy)
Trim waist
__-bodied; (thick, able, etc)Featherweight (one that is very light in weight)
Figure remains trim
Narrow build
“Her petite body”
“Stringy teenage girl”
Buxom (of a woman) plump, especially with large breasts.
“Only now did I realize that he was a small man, his diminutive frame dwarfed by the three Romans (or big when closer up)”
“Stood as a wisp of a man”
“tall, angular form”
“narrow-chested”
Scrawny/weedy Diminutive
puny
Willowy (tall, slim, and lithe; positive for lanky | willow-limbed girl)
Curvaceous (esp of a woman’s figure; having an attractively curved shape)
elfin (small and delicate, typically with an attractively mischevious charm| N an elf)
Square-built
Sturdy (strongly or solidly built; sturdy woman)
small-statured
Broad-framed
Broad back
Big-boned
Heavyset
“He was a wide lump of a man,”
Thickset
Burly
Bullnecked
Coltish (tall and thin)
Pigeon-chested (having a narrow chest that sticks out more than usual)Shrimpy
Svelte (slender and elegant)Gawky
Lean as sinew
Wiry (lean, tough, sinewy”
Incurved (belly)
Sunken chest
Rangy (tall and slim with long, slender limbs | “rangy to the point of gauntiness”)
Shapely (esp of a woman; well proportioned |”shapely of limb” | shapely shoulder)
Raw-boned (having a bony or gaunt physique)
Skinny, boyish build
“slim-built”
Crookbacked
Hunchback
Bowed back
Swayback
Shrunken
Spindly (long or tall or thin)HEIGHT
“When seated, he came up only to her bosom”
Two fingers taller
“So tall that when he bent to sahke hands with Ms. McDermott, he looked like a guy greeting a child in a grown-up’s dress”
“He drew himself up to take full advantage of the two inches he still had over Wolfram.”“Frowned over Melody’s head”
“She stood only shoulder-high to St. Vier.”
“So short he came only to Mamercus’s chest.”“When seated, he came up only to her bosom”
“He overtopped Keilan by a head”
Small-statured
“Half again as tall as Clay”
““Even from the tub, he seemed to look down upon him”
“The barbarian’s thigh was thicker than Drizzt’s waist.”
“Crispin, who stood shorter by half a foot”
“This was one of the rare times the twelve inches separating her face from her husband’s did not feel like an impossible distance”
“The top of his head barely reaching my chin”
“Had a few links on Thistle”“Put her about on a level with his ribs”MUSCLE
Muscle-bound
Brawny
Beefy
Muscled Corded with muscle Bunched his muscles
Well-muscled | hard-muscled “muscles squirming in his arm”
His corded shoulders
“Display dark-skinned arms that were almost as thick around as my legs”
His rippling forearms
Bull-muscled
“The telltale sign of a man who had wielded a sword in earnest: the forearm of his right arm, his sword arm, swelled larger than the left”
Thickly muscled
Well-defined muscles /
muscles, just starting to lose their definitionArms like fat snakes having a race up a tree
Chiseled from stone
“The powerful muscles of his back shifted beneath his clothes”“their calves all thickly carved with muscle”Ropes of muscle
“Arms forged from years of work”
“body bulging with muscles” | bulging at the seams
With spear-throwing shoulder muscles
SHOULDERS
With spear-throwing shoulder muscles
High shoulders
broad shoulders
Wide shoulders
Stoop-shouldered
Dimpled shoulders
Broad across the shoulders
_-shouldered (broad-shouldered | stoop-shouldered)
Shapely
His right shoulder was higher than his left
Uneven set of my shoulders
Slim-shouldered
“Broad-shouldered back looking more like a wall or something she should hang art on”
FAT
Roger weighed two hundred and _
Porcine (physical face) / moon face / heart-shaped / round /
Full-cheeked
Thick neck
Chinless
Top-heavy
Swollen belly
Portly
Man-breasts
His collection of chins
Saggy
When he spoke, his jowls danced
The underside of her fat arms wiggled
Rotund
Potbellied
Kettle-bellied
jowls/jowly
“Chin vanishing into his fat neck as he looked down sadly at the pyre”
Whose over-abundant flesh struggled with the confines of her gown
plumpCorpulent
Pudding-faced
Round in figure and face
His belly strained beneath a doublet
Bulk distending the sheet
“…a long parchment scroll resting like a relic in his walrus arms.”
Pudgy
Flabby
Paunch
“slack stomach that rolled over the edge of the basket she was carrying”
“Chins jiggled when she laughed”
Rolls of fat
Face as fat as a flounder
Fleshy
Dewlaps (a fold or flap of skin on the neck of some animals | loose flesh on the human throat)
“His many chins swelling expansively over his fur collar”
“With a beard on both his chins”
Man-tits
“He was a wide lump of a man,”
“He is a big man, a bear who’s been shaved and taught to walk upright”
“Wide, round belly that kept him far from the sink even while he shaved”“He bends over his gut and palms the ball”
SKINNY
gaunt
His concave chest
Protruding ribs
Underfed
Lean as sinew
“hunger-thinned features”
“I can see the pronounced V of her collarbone”
He can see the blade of her hipbone
“His ribs stood in circular ridges”
“I could see every bone in his ribcage”
“little spines poked against the pale flesh of his back like miniature stegosaurus scales”
“knobs on her spine”
“Her cheeks were sunken, bluish in color from the shadow of the cheekbone upon their poor cavity”
Sunken cheeks
November 13, 2020
Haunted House Flowchart (Book recommendations — find the spooky novel of your dreams!)
[image error]
The Haunting of Hill House | Shirley Jackson
The Woman in Black | Susan Hill
Sarah Walters | The Little Stranger
Horrorstor | Grady Hendrix
Twelve Nights at Rotter House | J.W. Ocker
The Twisted Ones | T. Kingfisher
Hell House | Richard Matheson
House of Windows | John Langan
The Grip of It | Jac Jemc
The Good House | Tananarive Due
The Turn of the Key | Ruth Ware
Home Before Dark | Riley Sager
The House Next Door | Anne River Siddons
The Elementals | Michael McDowell
The House on Abigail Lane | Kealan Patrick Burke
Kill Creek | Scott Thomas
Wyldling Hall | Elizabeth Hand
September 17, 2020
September 16, 2020
List of Professions, Titles, & Identities for Fantasy Brainstorming
Trying to come up with your character’s backstory? Can’t quite come up with a good title for your ruler? This list has got you covered for brainstorming purposes.
(Img by Michael Lim)
PARANORMAL/SUPERNATURAL
Godlets
Godling
Demigod
Demiurge: Being responsible for creation of the universe
Mouthpiece of the gods (prophet)
Sibyl: any of several ancient prophetesses generally accredited as 10 in number and credited to widely separate parts of the ancient world
Eidolon (specter or phantom)
Seraph (an angelic being)
Sylphs (an imaginary spirit of air)Dryad (wood nymph)
Nereid (any of the sea nymphs fathered by Nereus
Undine (female spirit or nymph inhabiting water)
Pixies
Fairy godmother
A woods witch
Thaumaturge: a worker of wonders and performer of miracles; a magician
Practitioner
Mystagogue (teacher or propounder of mystical doctrine)
Gorgon
Hyperboreans: [ancient Greek mythology] mythical race of giants who lived “beyond the North Wind.”
Unquiet spirit
Cryptid (an animal that has been claimed to exist but no proof exists for it)
COMBAT/MILITARY
A drill sergeant
Shavetail (military slang; often derogatory; newly commissioned office)
Deserter
The rank-and-file
Foot-soldiers
Dragoons (mounted infantry)
His Majesty’s best (soldiers)
Guardsmen
Swordmaster
Honor guard
Duelist
Enforcers
The watch captain
Field colonel
Marshal a high-ranking military officer)
Cavalier (horseman; esp a cavalryman)
Brigadier (a rank of officer in the British army, above colonel and below major general)
A career officer
Junior officer
Outrider: mounted attendant; one who clears the way for a vehicle or person
Knight errant (knight in search of chivalrous adventures)
Banneret (a knight who commanded his own troops in battle under his own banner)
Sutler (person who followed an army and sold provisions to the soldiers)
Kettlehats: KJ Parker’s name for soldiers
A patrol of kettlehats
Commandant: an officer in charge of a particular force or institution)
Warband /warhost
Two companies of regulars
Adjutant: a staff officer in the army, air force, or marine corps who assists the commanding officer and is responsible especially for correspondence
Master-at-arms
Swordmaster
Second-in-command
“Knights of every stripe”
Foot-soldiers “The Crimson Guard”Priam’s EaglesHonor guard
Noncombatants
Auxiliaries
Warhost
Battalion (“a battalion of household slaves”)
Tactician
Strategist
Peltast
Standardbearer
Grenadier
gunner
Shield bearer
Shieldmen
Defenders
Camp followers
Lord Marshal
High Constable”
Gateman
Bailiff: one who manages an estate or farm; official employed by British sheriff to serve writs and make arrests and executions)
Guardsmen
Gatekeeper
Peacekeepers
Turnkey (jailor)
—-
TOWNSFOLK
City-dweller|
Cityfolk
Citizenry
Burgher
Townsmen
Townspeople/folk
POLITICAL
Partisans (strong member of political group)
Lawmakers
Civil servants
Marshal ( a federal official having duties similar to those of a sheriff)
Notary
Jurist (an expert in or writer on law | a lawyer or judge)
Logothete: one of various functionaries [as administrators] of a Byzantine emperor
Publican: Jewish tax collector for ancient Romans; collector of taxes or tribute
Supernumeraries
Functionaries: person who has to perform official functions)MinistersCounselors
Backbencher (member of Parliament who does not hold offices or opposition/lesser house member)
Signatories
Draftsmen (person who draws plans or legal documents; a legal draftsman)Petitioners
Orator
Spokesman Participants/contestants
Contender
Dissenter
Sympathizers
Deputation (a group of people appointed to undertake a mission or take part in a formal process on behalf of a larger group)
Envoy (Royal envoy | minor plenipotentiary accredited to a foreign government who ranks between an ambassador and a minister resident; person delegated to represent one government in its dealings with another)
Peacemaker (“playing peacemaker”)
ClaimantsNOBLE HOUSEHOLD
Signet-bearer
Laundress / Washerwomen
Tweeny (a maid who assisted two other members of a domestic staff)
Wet-nurse
NursemaidHandmaidenMaidservant Chambermaid
Cupbearer
Armiger (a person entitled to heraldic arms)
Seneschal (an agent or steward in charge of a lord’s estate in feudal times)Retainers (a person attached to or owing service to a wing of the household)
Attendant
Courtiers
Majordomo (head steward of a large household)High ChamberlainPorter
His household knights
The family guards
Equerry (an officer of the British royal household who attends or assists members of the royal family/an officer of the household of a prince or noble who had charge over the stables)
Duenna (an elderly woman serving as governess and companion to the younger ladies in a Spanish or Portuguese family)
Valet (man’s male servant who performs personal services such as taking care of clothing)
Houseguest
Chatelaine (wife of a castellan; mistress of a chateau; mistress of a household or large establishment)
Caretaker/steward
Housekeeper
Custodian
Head of the household
Master of the house
Servitors (a person who serves or attends on a social superior”)TRADES/MERCHANTS
Caraveeners
Gunrunner (arms trafficker)
Guildsmen
Saddle maker
Glassblowers
Vendors
Supplier
Wholesaler
Purveyor/purveying
Bootblack (person employed to polish boots and shoes)
Pawnbrokers
Fish hags
Bargain hunters
Needlemakers
Glaziers (profession is fitting glass into windows and doors)
Basket-weaver
Cheese makers
craftsmen/craftswomen
Bonecarver (selling spoons, buttons, penknives)
Carders (ppl who cleanse, disentangle, and collect together wool fibers)
Cutler (person or makes or sells cutlery)
Mercer (a dealer in textile fabrics, esp silks, velvets and other fine materials)
Weavers (Silk-weavers)
Seamstress
Spinster (woman whose occupation is to spin | woman who seems unlikely to marry | unmarried woman of gentle family)
Clothier
Cordwainer (a shoemaker who makes new shoes from new leather. The cordwainer’s trade can be contrasted with the cobbler’s trade, according to a tradition in Britain that restricted cobblers to repairing shoes)
Milliner (a person who makes or sells women’s hats)
Cooper (one that makes or repairs wooden tubs or casks)
Wainwright (a maker and repairer of wagons)
Wheelwright
Metalworkers
Steelworker
Smithy
Farrier (a craftsman who trims and shoes horses’ hooves)
Saddler (person who makes saddles)
Watchmaker
Pawnbrokers
Lapidary (person who cuts, polishes, or engraves gems)
Knackerman (trading animals that have died on farms and unfit for consumption; where term knackered came from)
Hucksters (a person who sells small items, either door-to-door or form a stall or small store)
Ragman (someone who collects or deals in rags, old clothes, or oher items )
Mountebank ( person who deceives others, especially in order to trick them)
Ragpicker (a person who collected and sold rags
Costermonger (person who sells goods, esp fruit and vegetables, from a handcart in the street)
Dealt in (“Juba, who dealt in antiquities…”)
Dealer
Shopkeeper
Pushers
Profiteers
In the _ trade (dye)
Furrier (fur dealer)
Druggist
Cheese makers
Vintner (wine merchant or winemaker)
RELIGION (LAITY)
A lapsed Catholic
Communicant (person who received the Holy Communion)
The faithful
“New convert”
Devotee
Adherents
Parishioners (“priests and parishioners”)
Tithe-dodgers
Worshippers
Congregation
Laity
RELIGIOUS (CLERGY)
Votaries (a person such as a monk or nun who has made vows of dedication to a religious service)
Precentor (person who leads a congregation or prayers)
Executor of the Throne’s Justice
Officiant (a person, typically a priest or minister, who performs a religious service or ceremony)
Prebendary (senior member of the clergy)
Postulant (person admitted to religious order on probationary level [postulancy])
Crucifer (one who holds a cross in a procession)
Catechumens (one receiving instruction in the basic doctrines of Christianity before admission to communicant membership in a church)
Churchmen
Verger (a church official who keeps order during service or serves as an usher/sacristan)
Archimandrite (head of a large monastery in Orthodox Church)
Provost (senior administrative officer in certain colleges and universities | head of a chapter in a cathedral)
Missionaries
Parson (rector/clergyman)Anchorites (religious recluse)
Mystagogue (teacher or propounder of mystical doctrine)
Eremite (religious recluse; eremitical)
Exegets (espouser or textual interpreter, usually of scripture)
Theologian
Deacon (subordinate officer in the Catholic Church such as cleric ranking below a priest; layman given privilege to serve in worship)
Acolyte (one who assists a member of the clergy in a liturgical service by performing minor duties; one who attends or assists a leader)
Chaplain (clergyman in charge of a chapel; clergyman appointed to assist a bishop as at a iturgical function; clergyman officially attached to a branch of the military, to an institution, or to a family or court)
Your worship
Suffragan (bishop appointed to help a diocesan bishop)
Prelate (a bishop or other high ecclesiastical officer)
Curate (member of clergy serving as assistant of or leading a parish)
Sexton (a person who looks after a church and churchyard; bell-ringer and formerly a gravedigger)
Hierarch (a chief priest, archbishop, or other leader)
Archdeacon
Almoner (an official distributor of alms)
Precentor (a leader in the singing of a choir or congregation)
Choirboy
Choirmaster
RELIGION (HEATHENS)
Enemies of the faith
Heresiarch (founder of a heresy of the leader of a heretical sect)Sinner Heathen
Schismatic
Cultists
Doomsayers
Fanatics
Apostate (person who renounces religious or political beliefs”)Nonbeliever
Cabalist (one skilled in esoteric doctrine or mysterious art)
FOOD/MEDICINE
Scullions
Scullery maid
Gastronome (lover of food)Costermonger (a hawker of fruit or vegetables)
Cheese makers
Vintner (wine merchant or winemaker)
Poulterer (dealer in poultry and game)
Fruitseller
Tapster
Tavern wench
Trencherman (a person who eats in a specified manner; usually heartily)Barmaid
Lodger
Turnspit (person whose job it is to turn the spit over fire)
Victuallers (person selling alcoholic liquor | (Dated) person selling food or other provisions)
Bonesetter
Oculist (oldschool eye doctor)
Medicine man
Practitioner (medicine/magic)
Medical acolytesSurgeon-Commander
Horse-doctor
Anatomist (an expert in anatomy; a dissector)
surgeon-barber
Physician
Sawbones (surgeon; often humorous)
Convalescent (someone recovering after an illness)
amputee
TITLE ALTERATIONS
Arch-Sub- (Subdean)
Vice- (Vice-Patriarch)
Under- (Under-Prior, Underboss)
Lord _ (Lord Treasurer) Grand _ (Grand Maester Desmond)High _Chief (“the chief priest”)Senior _
First _ ([First Spear (number one soldier in ancient Roman army])
Master of _ (Master of Revelry)
Keeper of the _ (“keeper of the purse”)
Noble prefixes (Toa-Phelathon)
Live-in (tutor)
Off-dutyLate-night (workers)Honorary _Would-be _
_-trained (“court-trained scholar”)_ the Elder/Youngerlesser/minor (lords)
TITLE EXAMPLESHarbinger (one who pioneers something)
Catlinia the Deliverer!
Light of the East
Defiler (title)
The Virginal Queen
Roan the Grim
Ling Chi, the Death That Comes by a Thousand Cuts
She Who Waits Behind All Things
“Himerios the Boar – called that because of his beastly face.”
The Drowned God
High KingsThe Broken King
The Merling King
The Hooded Man (god)
Justin Milk-EyeDurran the Fair
Drox the Corpse-MakerDurran Half-Blood
Ser Joffrey Doggett – also known as the Red Dog of the Hills
King of the Rock
Tybolt Lannister (called the Thunderbolt)
“Curators of the Stomach whose duty it will be to watch over the pregnancy of Queen Clemence [pregnant”
“Mother of All”
Lord Reaper
The Vulture King
Tyanna of the Tower
Good Queen Alysanne
Conciliator
Quentyn Ball, the fiery knight called Fireball
Golden-Born
The Moonless Host
The Reckoner
Rasel, Scourge of the Black Veils, and Gelasira, the Savior of Ishmantep
Hemapoline League
The Dark Lady
Divine Prosecutors (peacekeepers)
The Lord Righteous
His Grace the Honorable Toa-M’Jest, Duke of Public Order
Knight Attendant
Sunlords
Christ the Redeemer
“Lord of Crows”
Ser Garibald of the Seven Stars, the septon knight
Justin Milk-EyeDurran the Fair
Drox the Corpse-MakerDurran Half-Blood
The Barrow Kings
The Broken KingThe Merling King
The Graymantle King
Tyanna of the Tower
Savage Sam Tarly
Hugor of the Hill
Urron Redhand
Yorick Yronwood, the Bloodroyal
Symeon Star-Eyes
Serwyn of the Mirror-Shield
Hannto the Scythe
“The Lion of Sirle”
ENTERTAINERS
Aerialist (a person who performs acrobatics high above the ground on a tightrope or trapeze)
Mesmerist
Trapeze artist
Contortionist
Stilt walkers
Fire-eater
Chanteuse (a female singer of popular songs)
A travelling show
They’d drawn up an old wagon to serve as a stage
sword twirlers who spun their blades
Songwriter
Songster
Rhymester
Troupe (a group of dancers, actors, or other entertainers who tour to different venues)
Court poets
Playwright
Tragedian (actor who specializes in tragic roles)Puppeteer
Tightrope walkerA
crobat
A marketplace juggler
Majorette (drum majorette: a girl or woman who leads a marching band | a baton twirler who accompanies a marching band)
minstrel/bard
Troubadour (one of the class of lyric poets and poet-musicians of knightly rank who flourished from the eleventh to the end of the thirteenth century chiefly in the south of France and north of Italy whose major theme was courtly love; singer especially of folk songs)
Harpist/flutist/lutist/etc
Danseuse (a female ballet dancer)
Prizefighter Charioteer
—-
FAMILY
Grandsire
A distant relation
His baby girl
His kid brother
Good-sister (in-laws)
Kinsmen
Mommie dearest
Cadet (a younger brother or son; younger branch of a family)
Dear ol’ dad
His old man
RULERS
The Queen Regent
Marchese (Italian marquis)
Potentates
Petty kings
The royal person
Archon (each of the nine chief magistrates of ancient Anthens)
Overlord: lord over other lords; lord paramount; an absolute or supreme ruler“My husband the king”
“My king”
“His queen-to-be”Rightful heir
Heir presumptive
The heir apparent
Deposed
Disgraced _ (“I am the son of a disgraced noble family”)
Pretender
Self-styled“High Fist Dujek Onearm”
Valley lord
“Earl Palatine of Westria”
Elector-Prince
Great One (emperor)
Sultana
Lawgiver (Apollo the lawgiver)the royal person
Personage (person of rank/note/distinction | impression of famous individual)
Lordling
Ladyship
Messire
Maestro (Italian addressing a master)
Magnates (wealthy, influential person)
Statesman (skilled, experienced, and respected political leader)Dignitary (person considered to be important because of high rank or office)e
“Civic dignitaries”
Scion (heir to a wealthy/powerful family)
Bannermen
Householders
Landholders
Liege lords
My liege
Headman (leading man in a village)
HIGH CLASS
Men of substance
The idle rich
In polite society
High-society parties
Presence of some old names
Aristos
Well-to-do
Moneyed fools
“Upper-crust Athenians”
Gentlefolk
“Most elite mileu”
Provincial nobility
The merchant fathers
Merchant families
Merchant prince
Mogul
A man of meansYour betters/his betters
LOW CLASS
Squatters
Drifters
The poor and downtrodden
Dregs of society
Guttersnipes (street urchin)
Bottom-feeders
Refugees
Vagrant (person without a settled home and makes a living through begging)
Wanderer
Strays
Castaways
WayfarerOut-of-towner
Lowborn
Low station (in life)
Underclass
Lower orders of society
Pauper
Commoners
—-
CHILDREN
Little bundle of joy
The little uns
Young’un
Short stuff
Squirt
Moppet (child)
playmate
Weasel
Piglet
Sprat (young, small, or insignificant person)
Pup
Sprog (child humorous)
underbred
“pimply little fart”
Scamp (rascal; rogue; playful young person)
Inept (clumsy, having no skill)
Shaveling (often derogatory for a tonsured clergyman OR youth/stripling)grace
”Runt
“slimy little turd”
Hellspawn
“The little savage”
Sprigs of nobility
Guttersnipes (street urchin)
Ragamuffin: a person, typically a child, in ragged, dirty clothesFoundling
Bad apple
Little one
Tot
Orphan
Youngster
Shaveling (youth/stripling)
Playmate (also as insult)
Schoolboy
Moppet
Foundling: an infant that has been abandoned and cared for by others
Waif: a homeless or helpless person; especially a neglected or abandoned child
The _ boy (“the Mortimer girl”)
“first flush of youth”
INDUSTRY
Millworkers
Collier (a coal miner)
Bricklayer
Grape treaders
(bricklayer’s trowel)
Stonecutter
Steeplejack (one whose work is building smokestacks, towers or steeples or climbing up the outside to paint or make repairs)
workmen
Foreman (first or chief person)
Taskmaster
Drudges (person made to do hard, menial, or dull work)
Sawyer (person who saws timber ofr a living)
SEAFARERS
Oystermen
Passengers [in a boat]
Fishmongers
Fisherfolk
Shipmates (his boys)
Fish-wives (also insult for coarse-mannered
woman prone to shouting)
Pearl divers
Beachcombers
Naval officers
Scallywag
Anchorsmith
sea-robbers
Sailmakers
Cabin boys
Dockworker
Dockhand
Longshoreman (person who loads and unloads cargo at a seaport)
Landsman (landlubber ; someone inexperienced with sailing)Landlubber
Hortator (slave who gave drumbeats to a Roman trireme)
Oarmaster“There was work for all hands able to do it.” (naval/identity)
ACADEMIC
Logician
Naturalist (an expert in or a student of natural history)
Literati (well-educated people who are interested in literature)
receptors: the headmaster or principal of a school | The head of a preceptory of Knights Templars)
Geometer (person skilled in geometry)
Provost (chief dignitary of a collegiate or cathedral chapter | keeper of a prison)Census clerks
Collegian
Magisters: a title or form of address given to scholars, especially those qualified to teach in a medieval university
Undersecretary
Copyist (scribe)
Archivist
Antiquarians
Scholars
Star pupil
Prize pupil
Best and brightest
A second-year student
Taxonimist (the branch of science concerned with classification; esp with organisms)
Cosmogonist (branch of science dealing with origin of the universe, especially the solar system)
PROSTITUTES
Doxies (a lover or mistress/a prostitute)
Strumpet
Ponce (a man who lives off a prostitute’s earnings)
Streetwalkers (prostitue who seeks customers in the street)
Trull (a prostitute)
Proprietress
Procuress
Whoremaster
Loose woman
Rent boy
LOVE/ROMANCE
My lady
My beloved
Lover/beloved
Ladykiller Beauties
Temptress
Minx (impudent, cunning, or boldly flirtatious young woman)Sweetling
My dove
My sweet
Dearest husband
His darling/their darlingMy dear
Loose woman
Suitor
Husband-to-be
Well-dowered
Dowerless
Unwed
Newlyweds
With child (pregnant)Paramour (a lover; esp the illicit lover of a person)
Consort
Pretty-boy
Swain (a male admirer or suitor | rustic, peasant; shepherd)
Philanderer (having illicit sex with many people)
NEGATIVE MORALITY
Lowlifes
Minion
Waif (a homeless or helpless person; especially a neglected or abandoned child)
Flatterers
Admirers
Slavelord
Cardsharp (person who cheats in cards to make money)
Undesirables|
Riffraff
Ne’er-do-wells
Evildoers | wrongdoers
Footpad (highwayman operating on foot rather than horse)
Robber barons
Outlaw
Reaver (person who carried out raids in order to plunder)
Marauder (raider)
Pillagers/raiders
Warband / warhost
Loose woman
Drifter
Outcasts (pariah)
Deserter
Renegade (person who deserts and betrays another organization)
Cretin
Cutpurse
Looter
Bandit chiefs
Reaver (person who carried out raids in order to plunder)Renegade (person who deserts and betrays another organization)Insurgents (person who revolts against civil authority; person who reacts in contrary opinion to one’s own political party)
Pillagers/raiders Marauder (raider)
Freebooter (a pirate or lawless adventurer)Libertine (a person who acts without moral responsibility)
Hireling
Street brawler
Deserter
Persona non grata (an unacceptable or unwelcome person)
Bravos (villain; desperado; especially a hired assassin)
Interlopers (a person who becomes involved in a place or situation where they are not wanted or are considered not to belong)
RURAL
Sportsman
Fieldhand
Plowmen (The manorial plowman was responsible for the well-being of his plow animals and the maintenance of his plows and harness; intelligence in a plowman, who was also expected to be versed in digging drainage ditches.)
Swain (a male admirer or suitor | rustic, peasant; shepherd)
Milkmaid
Herdsmen
Cowherds
Beekeeper
Farmholder
Goatherd
Swineherd
Cowhands
Fieldhands
Drover (one who drives cattle or sheep)
Beekeeper
Forester (person in charge of a forest or skilled in planting or caring for trees)
Trappers
Prospector
Pioneer
Sharecropper (tenant farmer provided with credit for seeds/tools/living quarters/food and gets an agreed amount of profit from the crop minus charges)
Sawyer (person who saws timber ofr a living)
TRAVEL
Ferryman
Camel-driver
Postilion: one who rides as a guide on the near horse of one of the pairs attached to a couch or post chaise especially without a coachman
Boatman (for ferries)
Muleteer: one who drives mules
Ostler: man employed to look after the horses of people staying at an inn
Postmaster
Courier
Messenger boy
Stableboy
Coachman
GEOGRAPHIC/ENVIRONMENTAL
Forester [an inhabitant of a forest | person trained in forestry]
Marshmen
Mountaineer
Lowlander
Coldlander F
renchmen/Dornishmen/_-menPlainsman (inhabitant of the plains)
nativesCountryfolk
Islander
Riverlord
July 29, 2020
Fictional Serial Killer/Murderer Flowchart (Book Recommendations)
For anyone seeking a new sociopath in their life. [image error]
[image error]
July 28, 2020
SPFBO Review: The Dragon’s Banker
This book is a TON of fun! One of my favorite humorous fantasies out there. It captures all of the best elements of Pratchett’s Going Postal/Making Money with the worldbuilding of KJ Parker’s Folding Knife.
What a treat! The voice is excellent as well. It will keep you engaged from beginning to end.
My only critiques are minor. Some plot elements seemed too accessible/convenient. I also didn’t get to learn enough about Sailor’s backstory (how he started the bank/family/etc). Some more architectural details of the city would’ve been nice, too. I didn’t really get a clear image of the local setting until Sailor goes on his journey to the mines (although that may be because the author is building off preceding works in the same world.)
Don’t pass this one up. No wonder it earned a semifinalist placement in SPFBO!
Some of my favorite quotes:
Description of a minor antagonist: A skeleton of a man in thin round spectacles that turned his eyes to white discs… (p. 17)
“…the climb back up was going to be absolutely miserable. There was no shame in admitting when one’s profession lent no natural affectation toward athletic pursuits. Young men and women seemed to love competing in races, passing balls, and throwing spears while wearing as little clothing as possible, and I, in truth, never understood the appeal. If they had been passing parcels of gold and silver, it would have been a different story.”
(pp. 35-36)
‘“I’ve never been on a boat.”
Darrez Issa smiled as his eyes narrowed. “Ironic, considering your propensity for rocking them.”‘
(p. 83)
One of the miners shined a light that revealed moisture forming into small droplets. I wondered what the man tasted in that pool and whether he tasted anything at all or simply needed an authoritative gesture to demonstrate his importance to me. (p. 180)
https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B07TX1SJKF&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_MkriFbVNSWFV5[image error]
