Ancient & Medieval Historical Fiction discussion
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Strategos
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SEPTEMBER 2013 (Group Read 1): Strategos by Gordon Doherty
Oh, well *blush* I do like to double line space between paragraphs in blog posts. There is that. :)....but don't pay too much attention because sometimes Blogger does whackadoodle things with formatting and I can't seem to override them. Bloody frustrating.
Terri wrote: "Jane wrote: "If by non-standard formatting, do you mean double spacing between paragraphs like in the amazon sample? I don't think that set-up would be any problem, no more so than standard format..."If anyone notices them, many of the reviews on GR are set up that way--double spacing between paragraphs.
You need the extra space between paragraphs if you don't indent the first line (or can't indent the first line, as on Goodreads or a blog), says the editor. :-)In the iBooks version of Strategos, the entire text looks as if it's double-spaced. It bugged me the first day, then I got used to it. It also makes the pages fly by, so I tear through the chapters. I'm starting to like it.
Interesting story. I look forward to reading the interview soon.
Excellent interview as always Terri. :)
Great interview, I think we should now discuss......bard or paper? :)
Paper for sure. I really do not like spoken poetry or gay singing. (And I mean gay in the way it is meant to be used. jolly gay. Not homosexual gay).Since I like my music loud and fast. I would find it excruciating listening to a bard. I'd fake an attack of the vapours and leave the Hall for my peaceful chamber.
I don;t know why I have never used the name 'treebooks' for paper books. eBooks vs treeBooks. Is so obvious.Thanks to Gordon for sharing that gem. I will now call them treeBooks when the time feels right for it. :)
Bard or paper? that's a difficult choice. I love listening to stories. Sometimes I read the book while I am listening to its audiobook version. Helped my mind for wondering about what's for dinner or what bills will due this week.
Lia wrote: "Excellent interview as always Terri. :)"Thankyou madam. :)
treeBooks and ebooks -- that is so cute. I'd better read the interview. Before I even go there, I'm a vote for bards. :)
@Terri: You're welcome. :)
Now I've seen the context, glad I was so old-fashioned as to vote for bards. I've had a single experience with audiobooks: it was the Iliad and I was stuck on the couch for hours and hours, couldn't turn it off. Hate the thought of a narrator whose rendition won't be mine so haven't tried books. But I guess the Iliad was made for bard. :)
Great interview as always, Terri! Kudos to Mr. Doherty, too.
I think a bard would be great at one of those dinners where you don't really know anyone; you could just cluster around the bard and look interested. Otherwise, I am paper all the way. Even listening to my own podcasts is a chore. Ebook or treebook (yes, that's lovely) are both good to me.Nice interview. Congrats to both host and guest.
Glad you enjoyed the interview everyone. Nice to deal with someone who has a good sense of humour. I can be relaxed about being myself more. :)
update: Yes I saw those few errors too. A typo (as instead of 'a' in the intro) and a couple other things. I have just fixed them. I know you are all too polite to tell me to go back and proofread the piece. lol.
Goodness, I didn't notice anything, but it's 11:40 pm here and sleep is calling. :)Absolutely, to Message 69!!!
Jane wrote: "Goodness, I didn't notice anything, but it's 11:40 pm here and sleep is calling. :)Absolutely, to Message 69!!!"
Well you have been sleeping all day due to your lurgy. :)
This will sound like a page from Gordon's fan club, but I've read and loved The two books in this series, I want more. No great read and great writing.
That sounds like perfectly fine non fan club feedback to me. :)
haha. He is! :D
Hi All,I'm right in the middle of a manic 24 hour cycle right now, but reading some of these comments have certainly given me a welcome lift (even moreso than the half-ton of pasta I just devoured).
Cheers and catch up with you all when I finally finish the ride!
Gordon
Martin wrote: "'m really looking forward to this. I did an interview with Gordon on my blog if people fancy taking a look. I think this link should take you there. ..."Sorry Martin, but we don't allow authors (or anyone really, I barely promote the A&M blog unless it is an interview for the group) to promote their blogs here.
Author Posting Rules: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/9...
*NB the author of the group read can in this thread, since he/she are already being promoted through the group read.
Gordon wrote: "Hi All,I'm right in the middle of a manic 24 hour cycle right now, but reading some of these comments have certainly given me a welcome lift (even moreso than the half-ton of pasta I just devoure..."
Good luck with your bike ride, Gordon! See you on the other side.
Hmmmm, is that the "Ring Cycle"? :)
Jane wrote: "Hmmmm, is that the "Ring Cycle"? :)"Haha - no, this is something far less sophisticated. It generally involves pain and regularly asking myself 'why am I doing this again?'
:) Sorry if I spoiled your lunch. It still appalled me even after numerous re-reads. I'll talk to my psychiatrist about it methinks.
Nick wrote: "I was enjoying this on the beach, but fook me Gordon![spoilers removed]"
Nick, I agree entirely! I'm disturbed to find how I'm enjoying the brutal bits so I might need to see Gordon's psychiatrist too!
I have heard from a member in another thread that the book is very gory and that was offputting for this member. I wonder what sort of gory that is...and it concerns me that the group is seeking out psychiatrists as a result of reading this book. LOL!
I expect the book in the mail this week. If it came on time it would have come in the mail on Thursday last week. It is only Monday today, so the book is only a couple days late. nothing to worry about yet.
Gore is pretty subjective. What might bother one person might not even be noticed by another, or they might be jaded. Case in point: I loaned the paperback of Across the Waters of Time: Pliny Remembered to a friend. I had really enjoyed it. But she hated what she considered gory in the first part--Pliny hadn't left the army yet--so instead of skipping over it and continuing to his life post-army, she's going to give it back. Everyone's different...
Exactly. I read a lot of stuff that has been called gory by others and I don't even notice, but then i read some hist fic where the gore is over done, gratuitous gore porn and i hate that kind of writing (case and point, that is more an issue with the writing). So, for me, I think it comes down to how it is written.As you say...everyone is different though.
Terri wrote: "Exactly. I read a lot of stuff that has been called gory by others and I don't even notice, but then i read some hist fic where the gore is over done, gratuitous gore porn and i hate that kind of w..."I am pretty sure you'll notice...
Gore porn, and any detailed sex is why I tend to read Ya Fantasy as too many 'Adult' stories add these for shock value, also pages of irrelevent description, that in the end most readiers skim. Gordon for one doesn't fall into any of these traps.
I prefer the gore, the language ... war was a messy thing and the participants weren't church choir members... :-)
I agree with Jeremy for the most part. If a novel is one long gore-fest I become immune to it pretty quickly. I tried reading a HF book recently where the main character had killed about twenty people in brutal bloody ways in the first couple of chapters. I became bored pretty quickly.When it is one quick savage act however, it is much more effective. It's all to do with the way the world is painted - if you are invested emotionally in the characters, and understand their fears and weaknesses, then when violence happens in their world it feels real.
This is how I feel reading Strategos, or certainly for these early chapters.
Again, I agree with Nick.
Just finished and posted my review! Once I really got in to the book I just couldn't stop reading. It is a bit slow to start, but it's all important to set up the characters and story (won't say any more than that to avoid giving anything away).I found it really refreshing to read something set in a different time and place to the usual offerings of more well known recent historical fiction novels. There is some opportunities and challenges in this for the author I imagine. The unique setting is certainly a USP, but it also means that most readers are going to have less knowledge and context to start reading with. I wonder if this makes it harder trying to work out how much background historical info needs to be woven into the story? Gordon, was this a problem?
Troy wrote: "Just finished and posted my review! Once I really got in to the book I just couldn't stop reading. It is a bit slow to start, but it's all important to set up the characters and story (won't say an..."USP?
Interesting question, Troy. In previous novels with less well-known backdrops (e.g. Legionary, set in late 4th century AD Thracia), I had an up-front historical pretext of 15 pages or so giving a brief flavour of the political, religious, cultural and military state of affairs of the empire at this time. I now reckon that was too heavy-handed and prefer to weave historical backdrop into the story (the story being the thing the reader has paid for after all). If the woven backdrop feels too lengthy or 'info-dumpy', I'll prune it to give just enough direction. The worst case is a reader can be left feeling unsure of the setting, but the best case - as has happened pleasingly often - is the reader is inspired to do a little reading up on the time period on their own. I've had some contact me to tell me my stories have helped them 'discover' Byzantium and the twilight of the old Roman Empire. I find that outcome particularly rewarding.
Thanks for the review and I'm delighted it was a good read for you!
Troy wrote: "Just finished and posted my review! Once I really got in to the book I just couldn't stop reading. It is a bit slow to start, but it's all important to set up the characters and story (won't say an..."Unique selling point... I think!
I believe USP stands for Unique Selling Point.
Terri wrote: "I have heard from a member in another thread that the book is very gory and that was offputting for this member. I wonder what sort of gory that is ..."
If that was me—because I did mention the blood and gore in another thread—it's probably useful to know that my tolerance for gore is pretty close to zero. I don't question the need for it in a military setting, and in fact I thought Gordon did a great job in telling an interesting story, portraying the Seljuks as something more than demons with horns, and in writing the book he (presumably) set out to write.
My hesitation is only that, good or not in its own terms, the book didn't really appeal to me—or, more accurately, the parts that appealed to me were not the main story line. So I am not sure that I want to write a review, since my rule no. 1 of reviewing a book is "Do not bash the author for not having written a different book." Others who enjoy that style will no doubt do a better job of conveying the book's strengths and weaknesses.
I read Part One last night - 36%. Think I'll pause there and wait for people. I fear it's not exactly my thing (might be wrong yet) but I want to know what happens. Great setting and I'd like to ask Gordon, what primary sources did he find to use?
Last year I read a Byzantine 'folk epic' set on the east frontiers just before the Seljuks, "Digenes Akrites". Sorry to say I thought it was terrible stuff but I wonder whether there are others translated?
Jeremy wrote: "Gore porn, and any detailed sex is why I tend to read Ya Fantasy as too many 'Adult' stories add these for shock value, also pages of irrelevent description, that in the end most readiers skim. Gor..."Gore porn and detailed sex is why I stay away from the Roman era historical fiction zone. :) Gore porn and over done sex get rolled out as selling points on a regular basis by most Roman era writers I find. lol.
(Sure it appears in books written in any era, but it is most prevalent in Roman era hist fic)
Nick wrote: "I agree with Jeremy for the most part. If a novel is one long gore-fest I become immune to it pretty quickly. I tried reading a HF book recently where the main character had killed about twenty peo..."I know which book you are talking about. I remember your thoughts. :)
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I will be posting it to the blog today and will post a link there when it is up. It..."
Looking forward to it Terri, and I shall be paying particularly close attention to the line-spacing in your blog.