Ancient & Medieval Historical Fiction discussion
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Random Thoughts
Bryn wrote: "The film revolves around a love story, I confess, but you know, what with Terri's material these days, standards are slipping."Oh..so the hecklers are moving around the board I see.
*puts fingers in ears* I can't hear you..la la la...oh hang on...I think I had better cover my eyes instead. :/
I am with Bryn on that Gary Oldman Dracula. Good film (except for Winona Ryder who made her name from pouting and staring with big eyes a lot).
Bryn wrote: "PS. Wilkie Collins = Victorian try-hard. Go early. Or late and decadent. how opinionated can I be?"
I know a few people, Dawn is one, who read the Wilkie Collins book
The Moonstone
It is touted as the inspiration for the mystery genre. I have not read it so don't know for sure.
Re: gothic
Most of Daphne du Maurier's works are well loved Gothics.
DdM not for me. For me, the sort expressed by this cover:
Bobby wrote: "Bobby wrote: "Margaret wrote: "Bobby wrote: "Margaret wrote: "Bobby wrote: "Bryn wrote: "I have to read more Lovecraft. I've neglected him and never meant to."Stephen King's inspiration...he ador..."
No I haven't, Bobby. Thank you. I'll check them out.
Terri wrote: "Bryn wrote: "PS. Wilkie Collins = Victorian try-hard. Go early. Or late and decadent. how opinionated can I be?"
I know a few people, Dawn is one, who read the Wilkie Collins book
The Moonston..."
Did you know Daphne du Maurier wrote The Birds & Other Stories? The title story was made into a screenplay and eventually a movie directed by Alfred Hitchcock .
Bobby wrote: "Did you know Daphne du Maurier wrote The Birds & Other Stories?"I didn't know that, Bobby, and maybe I should revise my ideas of her. I read Rebecca once... blah...
I did not know that either. Nice tidbit of info there Bobby.
My fellow mod and some other GR friends (the same small group of people who read Wilkie Collins The Moonstone together) are planning a buddy read of this book later in the year. I'll be watching their thoughts on it closely.
Gothic Tales
Bryn wrote: "Time I read a new take on Dracula, then. Since the original, I've only read 'In Search of...' type books on the history -- and found Vlad in the 15th century pretty worthwhile himself. If it has th..."A couple of recommendations:
The Historian
Vlad: The Last Confession
However, in my opinion, steer clear of Dracula the Un-Dead, which I felt was terrible. Dacre Stoker pretty much p*ssed on his great-grand uncle Bram's grave with that one.
Random Thought Question: Is there a list of goodreads authors?
Terri wrote: "I know a few people, Dawn is one, who read the Wilkie Collins book The Moonston..."
Loved The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins. Good writing though could be considered long winded, just the style of the time ie. Dickens.
Considering reading some of his others to see if I like them as much.
Bryn wrote: "DdM not for me. For me, the sort expressed by this cover:"I did a few buddy reads of Daphne du Maurier's books as well last year and she wasn't my cup of tea either. Out of Jamaica Inn, My Cousin Rachel and Rebecca I liked the first one the best. The other 2 I read with loved her though.
Terri wrote: "My fellow mod and some other GR friends (the same small group of people who read Wilkie Collins The Moonstone together) are planning a buddy read of this book Gothic Tales later in the year. I'll be watching th..."I'm curious how I will like this book myself, I love Elizabeth Gaskell so I'm looking forward to it. :)
Tim wrote: "A couple of recommendations: ......Vlad: The Last Confession...."I recommend this one too, despite my rating I think it's a good story of Vlad. Just not quite my taste.
Tim wrote: "A couple of recommendations:...Vlad: The Last Confession...."Just read a persuasive review of that one. Another add. The historical setting of our Vlad is fascinating to me, and this seems to get into the thick of the frontier fighting/Christendom's defence against the Turks.
Vlad: The Last Confession
Terri, how's Queensland where you are? If you even have internet. Mine's dodgy enough yesterday/today.
Things are wet. :-) The area is flooding, but our farm is above any floodlines. We have run off flooding in the house thiugh and are in the process of trying to dry carlets downstairs. Fans, windows ooen, trying to soak up excess with towels. Carpets are starting to get an aroma though.
We had phones out until this morning. Still had net, oddly. They aren't exoecting the flods to peak in my area until around lunchtime. It is already over the 'major' flood height markers and will go close to the records.
How are you going down there? Nothern NSW looks to be getting what we got from ex-Cyclone Oswald yesterday (or whatever his name was before he became a tropical low).
Glad you're with us, I was looking at the clock! It's bloody wet here. My bedroom has a hole in the roof and an annoying drip, but other than that, I won't get flooded in the heart of Sydney. Can't work out what's going on with my internet, in case I fall silent. That'd be unusual for me.
Are you on a landline for your net? Moisture in the line? We think our problem with phone (we are on adsl2.. And have net and phone coming into junction box) was the moisture leaking in the walls dampened the downstairs phone connector and frizzed the line. We had 48 hours of gale force winds driving rain into the house (700mm in 48 hours) and it got into the walls and dripped down.Once I took that little phone plug/connector off downstairs the phone started working again. At least i 'think' that is what made the phone go again. It could have been the standing on one leg and spinning in a circle. :-)
I don't even know that much, I'm afraid, but I'd say yes. Amazed anything works when soused.
I don,t work too well when soused either. :-) (luckily I don't drink anymore so it isn't a problem)
Glad to see you still have your sense of humour with all that water getting into your house Terri. Hope it stops soon so you can start to dry out! 700mm in two days is massive. Australia just seems to be getting more extreme weather than ever in the last few years from this distance seems like either droughts and fires, or cyclones. Hope you and all our other GR Aussie friends stay safe and that droughts fires and cyclones are over soon.
I've thought the same about you across the pond, Chris. No? Here, yup. A week or two ago we had the Sydney record temperature since records began, at 46.
Yeah we have had more Tornados in the last few years and lots of fires in the last few weeks and I'm not in anyway belittling the losses for those that have suffered from them, but compared to what Australia faces they are quite small in scale. The Tornadoes effect part of a suburb and the fires usually a few tens of hectares at most, often much less. Floods are our most destructive natural hazard, but even with them it is usually smaller areas effected. Could be we are both experiencing more extreme weather events.
You are right Chris. While we always have and will have bushfires, floods and droughts (they are a part of our natural - extreme in their own right - weather in Australia) the bushfires are indeed getting more frequent, the floods more frequent and severe and the droughts longer. The Cyclones (Hurricanes) more unpredictable, bigger and a lot more of them.This year with our sever drought in our neck of the woods, we have been sitting around waiting for the monsoon trough to come down. Our big wet season relies on the formation of the Monsoon trough and its movement down into Australia.
It only just moved to Australia about two weeks ago (months late) and almost immediately, this cyclone forms and drenches us all.
Indonesia has also been having severe flooding all due to the very monsoon that was absent from our weather system.
And people still say there's no such thing as climate change or global warming...
I think there is proof enough isn't there now? I am most certainly a believer. I have lived in this area all my life (I have moved away a couple times and come back) and I have seen those changes first hand.
Glad you're okay Terri. I've been thinking about you all day.
Thanks Margaret. The worst is over here. Some of our flooded areas are still rising, but it is pretty much peaked everywhere here now and will drop soon. Brisbane are bracing for major flooding tomorrow afternoon and Wednesday.
Hubby's grandad had to be evacuated from his home in Bundaberg today, along with half the township. A bad situation up there in Bundy. (We are two hours south of Bundaberg).
But NSW are next in the firing line.
I have been really hoping some of this rain would push into Victoria and and bushfire hit areas in NSW to douse some of those bushfires, or at least water where the fires have been so that grass will grow for livestock. Unfortunately though, ex Tropical Cyclone Oswald will push out to sea. :(
Well this has been a character building 48 hours or so.I was snug and safe for all of it (good) but a few of my friends did not have a good time of it and with cyclonic winds and flooding outside there is nothing one can do to help.
I hope everyone here weathered it/will weather it intact.
Glad to hear all of you downunders are physically ok. I would expect the mental and financial toll will linger for a long time But you will be all right. Many of our people hit by Hurricane Sandy in October/November, 2012 remain unhoused and without resourses to repair or rebuild their homes. Think the hold-up there might be government run amok.When my father, grandfather and uncle farmed together, the weather was the most critical element of the process. Drought in the summer, spring floods and September rains made or destroyed the cotton crop. I quess El Nino might be to us like the monsoon trough is to you. Weather is a mighty force that cannot be controlled regardless of man's puny efforts to do so. That statement might not be politically correct, but to my thinking it is true. If any of you watch the tv series MADMEN, the 60's are accurately portrayed. We trashed and littered the land. Our hairstyles required a lot of hairspray. THE PILL affected our morals and Viet Nam forever affected our attitude toward war. How all of this affected the weather, I do not know. Perhaps it was the other way around--climate changes affected the people into a 'who cares' attitude. End of sermon. The past pales in comparison to your trouble today, yet they may be related somehow. I, too, am glad to hear from all of you.
Terri wrote: "Thanks Margaret. The worst is over here. Some of our flooded areas are still rising, but it is pretty much peaked everywhere here now and will drop soon. Brisbane are bracing for major flooding t..."
I'm worrying as my Aunty lives in the Hunter region. They're in the firing line now.
Linda wrote: "Glad to hear all of you downunders are physically ok. I would expect the mental and financial toll will linger for a long time But you will be all right. Many of our people hit by Hurricane San..."Hi Linda,
Thanks for the thoughts for those in Oz. :-)
Now, the El Nino is not the same as the Monsoon. Let me explain how best I can. :-)
The monsoon is what brings heavy rain to sub tropical and tropical areas such as the top half of Australia, and Asia, India. And Africa also. The big wet every year. It is part of the natural yearly cycle and all these countries rely on the monsoon to bring their rain.
The arrival of the monsoon is hugely important to all these countries. To the people, farmers and environment.
The El Nino and the La Nina are a cycle of weather events affecting countries in the Pacific, or on the Pacific, that are intensified by abnormalities with sea surface temperatures (measured via the Southern Oscillation Index). El Nino cause drought, La Nina causes heavy rain events.
Before this ex cyclone hit, we were in a El Nino cycle.
Thank you for the information. I really knew nothing about El Nino, now I do! We are still seeing your flooding and some personal interest stories on our TV. I hope your world rights itself soon.
It sure is some serious flooding along the east coast of Oz. Thanks for the positive thoughts, Linda. :-)
Actually, Terri, if I remember correctly; while you are right about the El Nino/La Nina (or the Southern oscillation) from an Australian point of view it is the opposite for the American continents. In La Nina we are more likely to get the rain they get the drought, then in El Nino it is reversed.It is a fascinating weather pattern; the interactions between the trade winds and the ocean temperatures... It is a shame that the results are so severe.
The rain's stopped in Sydney. I see a round glow in the sky which must be the sun behind the clouds. Battered on my tin roof by rain and with water water everywhere, seeping into the seams of my flat, I have succumbed to noise-stress and water-phobia. If I see the sun today I'll be so happy.
Ah I see. I had to check that out. Seems El Nino in Southern America is colder and wetter, while in Northern America it is like us, drier and warmer.Hmm. Learn something new everyday. :-)
You had drought and fires because rainy season (monsoon) was late. Then you had a cyclone that has caused the flooding. Right? Now, did the el nino cause the naturally occurring monsoon season to be late? This is extremely interesting to me. I have lived in southern USA all my life. We plant in spring, then it rains causing our plants to grow. But if we have too much rain, our crops flood out. We have to replant which causes our crops to be late and sale of crops to be late causing mortgage to be late, and you know the rest of the story. The seasons are stable, but atmospheric conditions are not. Atmospheric conditions can turn spring into winter overnight. I'll hush because I am confusing myself.
Having lived in Florida the majority of my adult life, I am well familiar with the whims of storms which you call cyclones and we call hurricanes. Whatever you call them, they certainly can disrupt your life for a time, but slowly things rneturn to normal until the next one. In 2004 our town got hit with 3 such storms in a month's time and inevitably every June, the weather services start predicting how many such storms will occur again. I hope you have minor damage and make it thru your storm season intact.
Upper air conditions--all those spheres(sp) may be commonly called blackberry winter and Indian summer. I have learned much about the weather from all of you. I profitted from your intelligence. Carol, I may be the only person on Earth to believe that hurricanes gave President Obama another four years in office. I keep up with your Florida weather because it inevitably affects Mississippi weather. I should have been a storm chaser.
I am not sure what made the monsoon late. Or should I say, technically it wasn't late it was elsewhere and wasn't pushing down. Sea surface temperatures and atmospheric conditions, trade winds, jet streams all have their part to play.For us, it is highly irregular for no rain at all to come until late January. Our season usually breaks (our natural wet season starts) either September (first month of Spring) or October. Mostly October though. This year it hasn't broken until January 25th/26th 2013.
In our immediate area, other than a small storm in the first week of January, we had not received rain since June 2012. Things were not good.
We will still be in an El Nino weather pattern. Because of our particular countries weather patterns, we can still have cyclones during a El Nino (dry period). The weather is wonky...global warming. Anything can happen.
Naps should be mandated by law. *sigh*
I agree. Should we have a lie in to protest?
Terri wrote: "I agree. Should we have a lie in to protest?"Great idea! I like it! We need sponsorship... Snooze perhaps?
I was a bit annoyed today when I couldn't view the group until I gave GR my birth date. More marketing info. Yay.
Ancient & Medieval Historical Fiction
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Authors mentioned in this topic
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Bernard Cornwell (other topics)
Allan Hands (other topics)
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*steps back and looks aside for escape*