MERCEDES-LACKEY Digest 1015 Topics covered in this issue include: 1) Subject: Merlinism, Ordinary People, Huff, Riechart, X-mas (not X-men), by GRAYMT-+AT+-centum.utulsa.edu 2) PSAT's/ Healers by Rose 3) Rosenberg\OoUL/L\Gambit\Viki Nelson\filk by Mat the Cat in Green 4) Healers channeling/Lee/Luck/Song by singer-+AT+-iglobal.net 5) Digging out of Sorrows by davidt-+AT+-cet.com (D H Tiffany/Shawn Marie Walker) 6) GameEarth books by mrtmh-+AT+-primenet.com (Lady 'Reesa) 7) Brvaes Sits In His Seat While Jury Speaks by Korendil 8) Good Penpal Times Greetings / Favorite Misty / Swedish Chef / Quick Stuff by Shdwflt-+AT+-aol.com 9) Re: Bardic Voices/ Heralds RPing/ Firebird catalog/ PO series/ Ships/ Pern connected with other books/ Religion/ PSAT's/ M&Ms by "Romylee A. Ejercito" 10) Lee crvaes Brvaes' pardon ;) by Lee <97jsalaz-+AT+-jasper.uor.edu> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 19:04:33 -0600 (CST) From: GRAYMT-+AT+-centum.utulsa.edu To: MERCEDES-LACKEY-+AT+-HERALD.CO.UK Subject: Subject: Merlinism, Ordinary People, Huff, Riechart, X-mas (not X-men), Message-ID: <961211190433.22c807ad-+AT+-centum.utulsa.edu> Hey guys! The strangest thing happened.....I sent out the "where is everyone?" because I had only 1 message, last Thurs, Fri or Sat (I don't remember which). Well I finally check back in today (Carrach's paper keeping me off the computer) and the first 44 messages were in exact reverse order...I felt like Merlin, seeing te world backwards. On Ordinary People: How about Minerva in Minerva Wakes? Or the guy with the ring in Stephen Donaldson's books (I hate them so much that I can't remember his name). Huff: Definately the Vicki Nelson books...(but I didn't like the ending) Riechart (sp?): Legend of Nightfall and After Ragnarock. X-mas songs: Mostly what HTH said. I listen to all kinds of music, including some Native American Shamanistic, Tibetian Mantra, and some Wiccan Stuff, and yes, we sing alot of it around the house, along with filk and rock and... This is really rambling... I guess its kind of like the newbie thread...you should be polite even if its not something you personally care about, and if you know you don't agree, why does it matter if everyone else agrees with you or not "There is no one true, opinion". Sing for the joy of singing and the joy of making someone else happy. Well, there's more I should get to, but it'll just have to wait.. Emily: Wear a red shirt next to your skin, it breaks up congestion, really.. Oh, yeah, in my SFBC flyer it said that Silver Gryphon, Storm Rising, Storm Breaking, Tiger burning Bright have all been nominated for the SFBC Book of the year award Dax the Eternal, Lady of the Unicorns and Pegasai Goddess of Elves, Evangelist of Low Humor Breeder of Pedigreed Champion Companions ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 20:49:32 -0500 From: Rose To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-herald.co.uk Subject: PSAT's/ Healers Message-ID: <32AF64AC.4CD1-+AT+-ctol.net> To Lady Silvermoon: Congrats on the PSAT's! With scores like that you won't have to take the SAT's twice. I swear (sorry), those things are worse than a comprehensive interview!!!!! Kory wrote: >Hmm..for some reason, the idea of using latent Healing strikes a >neuron, >but I can't recall from where I recall it...and I got the impression >that >those Healing places were few and far between...took Talia quite >awhiles >to ride to one on a *COmpanion*, and they seemed undermanned. Remember when she's first treating Vostel (that can't be his name) the guy burned by firebirds (was it a red firebird?)? There was some mention of how heralds that got hurt would be treated by some wayside healing temple. Awh heck, let me find texevd.....which I just realized is quite impossible since I somehow lost my copy of AofQ. If anyone has any idea what I'm alluding to, could you textevd it for me? But that quote, whatever it may be, led me to believe that there were quite a few healing places. I felt for sure one in each town and that Talia had to go far because the next town was far away and the Healers where the disease was had come down with it too (boy, that's a run on sentence). > "Bullet With Butterfly Winds," I thought it was "Bullet with Butterfly Wings." Kawryathen ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 21:47:10 -0500 (EST) From: Mat the Cat in Green To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-herald.co.uk Subject: Rosenberg\OoUL/L\Gambit\Viki Nelson\filk Message-ID: On Wed, 11 Dec 1996, Romylee A. Ejercito wrote: > Mylee: There's this one series (I don't remember the title, I've only > started on it) where 6 college kids get transported to a diff. universe > while doing RPG. And Jon-Tom, in the Spellsinger series, was an ordinary The Guardians of the Flame series, by Joel Rosenberg. I liked them when I first read them, but I can't stand to reread them. Ick. > >Mat: I'm an OoUL/L. > Mylee: What's an OoUL/L? An Object of Undying Love/Lust of the Ladies of the Pink Wand. ============================================================================ On Wed, 11 Dec 1996, Jaguar wrote: > On Mon, 9 Dec 1996, Mat the Cat in Green wrote: > > On Mon, 9 Dec 1996, Sara A Youngblood wrote: > > > And just what is wrong with Gambit? Other than he is a scoundrel, a > > Gambit. Ugh. He's so, so, *slimy*. > Uh-oh, I seem to have started something. .... And Gambit is YUMMY! > So there! Although I still can't see Skif as a Gambit-type person. > More a Storm-type person. Ick. Gambit. :( > Yes! Yes! Vicki Nelson is COOL! I 'specially liked what happened > in the end of the series... but won't say for fear of spoiling. :) Well, I have mixed feelings about it. In some ways I like it, but it also seems like a bit of a cop out. ============================================================================ On Thu, 12 Dec 1996, Korendil wrote: > Hmm. Eng sings "Oathbreakers" rather nicely on Footlight...(guess who'se Yeah, it's actually not annoyingly upbeat for once. :) (guess who often listens to Footlight?) > relistening to his bayfilk tapes;>)..and Larry Warner's ver of > wossit..one of those Cherryh-based songs on Misty Live ("Lady with no > conscience" is in it...) is pretty good. Well...just about anyone could > sing that song better than Misty, though. Unfortunately, Misty sings the > other one..sigh.. The Larry Warner one is "Ilen". The Misty one is "Morgaine at the Well". BTW - Kory, do you have any idea who "The Wizard of Speed and Time" is about? I'm stumped. And you know what's wierd. More than half of the songs on Footlight are on the Fever Season tape. Or so it says in my old catalog. Guess I'll find out when the tape gets here. :) I'm reading Cheryyh's _Angel With the Sword_ right now. It's not too bad. It starts the Merovingen Nights series (of which there are several songs on Misty...Live and Footlight). Mat Cat Person, Champion in Green, |"Hey diddle-dee, answer me this riddle, Adept, God of Procrastination | hey diddle-do, tell me what you will. Heathen #149, and OoUL/L of tLotPW | Dance all day with the Cat and the mtimme47-+AT+-magic.hofstra.edu | Fiddle. Come and lay with the Heather http://ada.hofstra.edu/~mtimme47/ | on the hill" --- Heather Alexander ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 21:41:02 -0600 From: singer-+AT+-iglobal.net To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-herald.co.uk Subject: Healers channeling/Lee/Luck/Song Message-ID: I believe the reference some of you are groping for - the one about Healers chanelling- is in Arrow's Flight. The Healer in Waymeet, Kerithwyn, uses Talia as a channel; maybe Talia has some small Healing Gift (like Vanyel's) that is not much but enough that she can channel. I don't have the book on me, but I remember something like Kerithwyn "checking" Talia somehow to see if Talia could be of help. Oh, when I said "small Healing Gift" I meant like Kerithwyn's, or Devan's. Talia is a Mind Healer, but that is quite different, from what I understand. I second the motion for Lee to compile a list of Companion Pedigree Names.....ROTFLMAO!! Lee, you are hilarious. Loved your last post; especially the part about fur and whiskers; that just made me laugh. :-) Love and luck to all you finishing school semesters or doctoral theses; . And a spurt of blue-green energy to those of you who are ill; take care!! Does anyone out there know the song, "I Will Survive?" Lyrics? May Her light fill your hearts and Her peace fill your tents. :-) Go Gently, Tresta %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Tresta shena Jor'ethan "Love must live free." Healer to horses -Shin'a'in Teaching Knight of Amber and Marigold %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 19:37:26 -0800 From: davidt-+AT+-cet.com (D H Tiffany/Shawn Marie Walker) To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-herald.co.uk Subject: Digging out of Sorrows Message-ID: Katherine M Brielmaier wrote: >No real ObMisty today (tithe to Mat). Although plowing my way to school >this morning reminded me of Kris and Talia snowed in at the Waystation in >Sorrows. Speaking of which, that Waystation must have been *really* far >from the path for them to take so long in digging it out. And why did >they do all that themselves? Dig out a huge path like that, I mean. Why >not just flounder to the road, plant a signal there, and wait for the >road crews? Or go in search of the road crews? Granted, it did give >them something to do while they waited. I guess this is an ObMisty after >all! IIRC, the Way Station was off a loop of the road that passed through Sorrows and they were afraid that the crews wouldn't even plow out that strech of road since it was a secondary route and there were other ways to go. Remember, once they got out to the road they went to the nearest crossroads to plant markers for the road crews. Also, they didn't want it to look like they had just sat on their tails and waited to be bailed out so they cleared the way out to the road. They did need a clear path for the Companions (and the chirras?(sp)) to get out, it being notoriously hard to put snowshoes on equines. David Tiffany, Glot of Dyptoes Omen, n. A sign that something will happen if nothing happens. -Ambrose Bierce PS Didn't that subject sound like some pop psychobabble show that you'd expect on PBS during pledge weeks? 8-{)# ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 09:07:49 -0700 (MST) From: mrtmh-+AT+-primenet.com (Lady 'Reesa) To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-vanyel.herald.co.uk Subject: GameEarth books Message-ID: <199612111607.JAA03206-+AT+-primenet.com> >Mylee said: There's this one series (I don't remember the title, I've only >started on it) where 6 college kids get transported to a diff. universe >while doing RPG. And Jon-Tom, in the Spellsinger series, was an ordinary >law? engineering? student. Well, he _can_ spellsing, but it usually fouls >up, so he sort of counts. Never read the Spellsinger books myself. I don't know...the covers turned me off or something, or the names. *shrug* When it comes to certain things I'm a rather fickle person. *grin* HOWEVER! I think the series of books Mylee is talking about is the "Game Earth" sereis, by Kevin J. Anderson. (Before he wrote Star Wars novels.) Does one of the main characters want to lead a final campaign to deastroy the world completely, and there's a girl fighting him? If so, then that's it...and if not, would you tell me the name of the book, because it sounds like something I'd like to read! *laugh* ObMisty: I wonder if there are Heraldic students who RP...*grin* And I wonder if they are accused of being demon-worshipers...*rolling my eyes* Ever tried to find a gaming manual in AZ? *feh!* Last place I asked about them told me some church near them had picketed the store until they got rid of all the TSR stuff. Damned rednecks...*sigh* Done it again...perfectly good ObMisty, and I went off on a tangent. Oh well. Deal with it. *grin* STILL baking, 'Reesa <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< 'Reesa >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> You can stand all night, at a red light anywhere in town, Hailing maries left and right, but none of them slow down. I've seen the best of men go past, I don't wanna be the last...Gimme something fast...| "Something Fast", Sisters of Mercy >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< http://www.angelfire.com/az/LadyReesa/index.html ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Dec 96 22:50:32 -0500 From: Korendil To: Subject: Brvaes Sits In His Seat While Jury Speaks Message-ID: <9612120356.AA21755-+AT+-raptor.icubed.net> Dax said: >Legend of Nightfall and After Ragnarock. Well, except for the fact that After Ragnarok won't make any sense if you haven't read the Renshai tril... >Oh, yeah, in my SFBC flyer it said that Silver Gryphon, Storm Rising, >Storm Breaking, Tiger burning Bright have all been nominated for the SFBC >Book of the year award Kewl! Okay, Kawry, so I spelled it wrong. Sheep me;> Mat said that he was : >An Object of Undying Love/Lust of the Ladies of the Pink Wand. ^^^^^^^ Um....actually, Mat, you're an Object of Unrequited Love/Lust. Well, Undying too. But mainly UNrequited;> >Yeah, it's actually not annoyingly upbeat for once. :) >(guess who often listens to Footlight?) Yeah..I was listening to Oathbound the other day...gods is she cheerful and bubbly usually. But a halfway deent job on Oathbreakers (song, not tape)... >BTW - Kory, do you have any idea who "The Wizard of Speed and Time" is >about? Hmmph. Ya' know..I dunno;> Could the jacket divulge a co-author of the song or something? I've lost my jackets...'cept for back and lime. I got the whole Bayfilk set about a year ago..can't say I regret it, either;> Oh, yes, everyone...Questions About The New Firebird Catalog: 1. Is it the *same* Misty "short story" with the Arkenstones, or a different for each...Dream Warrior's seriously sucked. It was a Misty note-packet or outline or something. 2. Anyone else gonna get a Shin'a'in wayfarer medallion just 'cause it's kewl?;> 3. Didn't they used to sell an insturmental BTS cd? 4. Which of the pictures is the informal Whites, and are those prof. models or Firebird people? 5. SHould I get a Silver Gryphon pin? 6. Who is actually gonna spend $250 on a stuffed gryphon? 7. Should I get a Hawkbrother Mask?;> 8. How's the feather jewelry? 9. Is the Eye of Horus pendant worth $20? 10. Should I get a print of Larry's feathered serpent? 11. Is AM's _Serve it Forth_ any good? 12. How 'bout Glass Hammer's Perelandra? 13. The Truth and the Light X-files cd? 14. Jack of Kinrowan just for the kewl Canty cover?;> 15. Is the song "Flaconsbane" on Longcor Undead about Mornelithe? 16. How's Fish Live? 17. Heather Live? 18. The Touchstone Porcelain Jewelry? 19. Is all of this a waste of my money?;> Uh-oh..my Bower post might be late... -+AT+-LIDNEROK___________/ KORENDIL-+AT+-ICUBED.NET \_____________KORENDIL-+AT+- I|Korendil, Knight of the Order of Amber & Marigold and Elfhame |I C|Sun-Descending, Squire of the High Court, Envoy to Elfhame |C U|Misthold, Magus Minor, One In Black,Firstborn Child of Danaan,|U B|God of Night and All Things Nocturnal, Champion of the Ladies |B E|of the Pink Wand, Acting Master of Dreams, and Ailurophile. |E D|.NET______________/NAME THE MIME AND DIE!!\_______________TEN.|D ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 23:07:18 -0500 From: Shdwflt-+AT+-aol.com To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-herald.co.uk Subject: Good Penpal Times Greetings / Favorite Misty / Swedish Chef / Quick Stuff Message-ID: <961211230718_1424437356-+AT+-emout01.mail.aol.com> JAIME HATHAWAY wrote: <> *sigh* It's the Good Times virus under another moniker! *looking at watch* It's about time, though, we get one of these onlist every few months. This is a hoax, too... but I see Tensen has basically said what has had to be said. Just a bit of food for thought, if it isn't a hoax -- what's going to stop the people from just CHANGING the subject header? Why, the subject header could be anything .... any message in your mail box right now.. *shudder* Uh oh. Better leave all that mail unread then... or use *gasp* a virus scan program, which every computer which is connected to the internet should have. There's no virus that can automatically download itself to your computer. If it's over email, it's encoded, as a text file, and most mail programs prompt you to decode the text into an executable program, and that wouldn't run anyway unless you ran it yourself. It's POSSIBLE, but it isn't probable. Experts have verified this, and I'll find the URL if I have to if someone really has fears about this. Mail me privately. Just as long as PENPAL GREETINGS! doesn't give me a virus like the macrovirus from Voyager this week.. *shudder* but *slurp* to Kate Mulgrew in the Alien-esque outfit! And the phaser FN-FAR-esque rifle.. yum. ===== Khenta wrote: <> Children of the Night! Loved that book... read it whilst I was in the Vampire phase of my life (icky ick. *shudder* Whatever possessed me to get like that?) <<2) What is your favourite Misty book?>> Ooh! Favorite Misty... *thinking* I don't think I have a favorite. She was my favorite author; she isn't anymore because the quality of her writing has dropped so, and I've felt abandoned and disappointed. I liked By the Sword myself, but that's only because I'm in lust with Kerowyn... ===== HTH wrote: << I found all sorts of nifty little things. Remember Jake's Muppet version of AotQ? With the Swedish chef as Alberich -- "Urdy furdy furdy sword da furdy! >> *grin* I almost forgot about that! *giggle* I think for the holiday's I'm going to repost some of that stuff.. if I can find it.. ===== Quick notes: -- I chomp my M & M's, by the small handful. What do you want? I'm impulsive. -- Christmas is upon us! Aiee! Please, please, if you shop for Christmas, be nice to the nice retail people who are actually TRYING to help you.. we DO want to sell you stuff. And some of us may be already working for ten or so hours before we open the store in the morning. -- The ordinary guy's name from Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy is Arthur Dent. -- SHDWFLT is from Shadowsflight (close, people, but no cigar) which is the front for my freelance work. (Hey, it's better than Jake Adamo Productions.) Shadowsflight (really Shadow'sflight, but the apostrophe lost itself over time) is also the last name of Rynath in my book. That's it all! Blessed Be and I'll talk to you soon. Jake ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 12 Dec 1996 00:32:11 -0500 (EST) From: "Romylee A. Ejercito" To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-herald.co.uk Subject: Re: Bardic Voices/ Heralds RPing/ Firebird catalog/ PO series/ Ships/ Pern connected with other books/ Religion/ PSAT's/ M&Ms Message-ID: ~~Bardic Voices~~ >Jaguar: And speaking of formulaic: My ObMisty! Does anyone else think that her Bardic Voices stories got very, VERY formulaic by the end? I was noticing a pattern by halfway through the Bardic Choices book.. YAWN. Mylee: Oh no! And I just ordered the series from SFBC! Is it that bad? ~~END~~ ~~Heralds RPing~~ >Reesa: ObMisty: I wonder if there are Heraldic students who RP...*grin* And I wonder if they are accused of being demon-worshipers...*rolling my eyes* Mylee: Hmm, if they RP, would they RP about being in _our_ world? ~END~~ ~~Firebird catalog~~ >Kory: Who is actually gonna spend $250 on a stuffed gryphon? Mylee: Some filthy rich Misty fanatic? I think I might like Skan next to my pillow *grin* but I'm a poor college kid, so no can do.... >Kory: Should I get a Hawkbrother Mask?;> Mylee: It kinda looked like my friend's Halloween mask actually.... ~~END~~ ~~PO series~~ >>Mylee: There's this one series (I don't remember the title, I've only started on it) where 6 college kids get transported to a diff. universe while doing RPG. >Mat: The Guardians of the Flame series, by Joel Rosenberg. I liked them when I first read them, but I can't stand to reread them. Ick. Mylee: Yep, I went and checked. It's okay, but I don't think it's a fabulous series, and I just returned the second book unread. Oh, someone said something about the Spellsinger stuff. I haven't read all of it, and from those I've read, some of it's good, some of it's boring. Foster kinda reminds me of Anthony sometimes. ~~END~~ ~~Ships~~ >>Mylee: It feels like the whole of SWSang is a prologue to Partnership (is it? I haven't read it yet, but I'm hoping it's about Helva and Niall), >Esme: It's not, and of the spin offs from The Ship who Sang, I like it the least - sorry. Ship who Searched is good, City who Fought ain't bad - what else is there?? Mylee: Just borrowed City Who Fought and Ship who Won from the library.... I just assumed Partnership was about Helva b/c Ship Who Searched mentioned something about the romance between Helva and her brawn. ~~END~~ ~~Pern connected with other books~~ Summersong, I checked out my AM books. The K-things are the Khalians, and they're in the same universe as Ships and Doona. But in Rescue Run, they just referred to the bad guys as the "Nasties" and I guess I just assumed it was the Khalians. So there's no definite tie. However, they all use FTL drives *grin*. I personally think it's possible since the Ships universe has AI and colonies, etc., and Pern got colonized and had AIVAS and the only reason they've never been back to Pern is b/c they put the planet on, um, on the list of "don't visit, don't colonize" planets. b/c Rescue Run found out about the Thread and thought almost everyone had died. One thing I found odd about ATWOP was that the Pernese just calmly accepted the fact that they came from a diff. planet. I know they had Records, but it had just become myth and they even doubted the existence of the First Crossing. Anyway, I shouldn't be talking about AM in a Misty list! Now if Misty says that humans colonized Velgarth and developed magepowers, etc, I'm going to freak out and never read a Misty. ~~END~~ ~~Religion~~ >Emily: Some people pointed out that there is such a thing as an atheist and an agnostic. This is something I try to forget because it generally leads to headaches as a result of trying to make _all_ of my philosophies and religious beliefs work together... Mylee: Well, I've always held to what Aslan said in the The Last Battle (Chronicles of Narnia). He said that anything good done in anyone's name is accounted to him, so I always figured your beliefs don't really matter, it's how you treat others that does. I pretty much believe that there is Someone up there, but I've never been able to accept the "if you're not Catholic, even if you're good, you'll still be damned" doctrine that the Church preaches. ~~END~~ ~~PSAT's~~ >Rose: Congrats on the PSAT's! With scores like that you won't have to take the SAT's twice. I swear (sorry), those things are worse than a comprehensive interview!!!!! Mylee: I actually like tests better, I have a tendency to start blathering nonsense during interviews. I took the SATs once (b/c I took them Nov. of my senior year so I barely managed to squeak through the deadlines), took the TOEFL, didn't tale PSATs. I'm a pretty good test taker (doesn't mean I'm smart, as my organic chem grades will attest) and they're a lot like IQ tests. I've taken a lot of those types of tests b/c my mom's a psycho, er psychologist, and she just made me take a whole bunch of them since I was young. ~~END~~ ~~M&Ms~~ >Esme: Oh and I also eat M&Ms like Mylee. Maltesers you have to suck until all the chocolate is gone, then put the honeycomb ball between your front teeth and slice it in two! Mylee: Definitely!!! I'm not much for hard candy, but chocolate is something I've never been able to resist. Well, except for white chocolate. I think it looks and tastes like the stuff they use to make porcelain. Not that I've eaten white clay.... And Kory, well, it's prolly finals week for most people, and answering M&M questions is better than reading yet another page about the sulfonation of benzene. At least, it is for me *grin* ~~END~~ My sympathies, Lady Sara, and here's a get well card for Emily. And Lady Silvermoon, great PSATs! So you're now what? One of the upper 10% in the country? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mylee Acolyte of the great God of Procrastination rejercito-+AT+-wesleyan.edu http://www.dragonfire.net/~kaiserina I have one of the most brilliant minds on earth... BUT EDUCATION RUINED IT!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Dec 1996 21:38:25 -0800 (PST) From: Lee <97jsalaz-+AT+-jasper.uor.edu> To: mercedes-lackey-+AT+-herald.co.uk Subject: Lee crvaes Brvaes' pardon ;) Message-ID: Subject: pardon/High Priestesses/Orthallen/Herald ambitions/ reincarnation/congenital conditions/SWSang/Troi/WoFate/religion/ religious music/MO/Kris&Talia/health/title/used bookstores/ Armsmaster/Project/TK/Hi/Spellsinger & D&D/farewell for now --Pardon----- I asked: "hey, is this long enough to rival Brvaes?" and Kory replied, "No..Brvaes constitutes more than just length. Brvaes is a way of life. Brvaes has a plot, which is generally forwarded at the last second before emailing. And it's a very constricting medium, subject lines. *you* try and fit a chapter into 256 characters!;>" O Great Pointy-Eared One, I do crave Your pardon for the implied temerity; I have misspoken. I intended to ask, "Is this long enough to rival *the length* (and only the length) of a Brvaes post?" Encroachment upon the uniqueness of your nonpareil of a subject line saga dwells so far from my mental sphere as to have been intangible at the moment of my faux pas. I hope that You will accept my most sincere and fulsome apology, as well as a dish of cream gleaned from the dreams of a thousand cats, and believe that I do hope my offense may be mended when I state to all, "Let no one challenge the Brvaes!" --High Priestesses---- Deniz said: "Oh, and don't forget my Sister Renee [snip]is also a High Priestess of Procrastination, so *technically* I'm not "the" High Priestess of Procrastination, but "a" High Priestess of Procrastination." 'scuse. hard to keep track... Well, if you don't want a Demonic title, don't take it. It just seemed like a good idea. [I have some more thoughts on the squelching thread, but it'll have to wait until January.] --Orthallen---- deniz said: "Can you imagine what Arrows would have been like if it were written from Orthallen's point of view? He'd be a martyr! Ugh! Ick!" If we'd had just one or two scenes in Arrows in which Orthallen did something genuinely nice for no other reason than to be nice, or if we saw him doing something ordinary that we could all identify with such as worrying about his favorite cat's ability to safely deliver her next litter of kittens...you probably wouldn't say Ick to the idea of him as a martyr. --Herald ambitions---- Kory said: "Ooo..now, here's an idea. We follow the character from wanting to be a Herald to being told he can't be, to his slowly going mad and plotting the destroy the realm?" Isn't that a bit like Orthallen's story? No, wait, he would only have wanted to be a Herald when he noticed how much power they have. Emily said, "One of the major qualities of all the Heralds we've seen is a kind of humility. [snip] If someone thought they had the right because they had the qualities to be chosen, then I think they would be deffinately disqualified from the running from the lack of humility. A person like that may be prone to think that a Herald is the be all and end all of knowledge, that once s/he became one, then s/he would be able to make the rules. No matter how well meaning the person may be, I think something like that would be a character flaw in a Herald." I'm not sure I agree that humility is a criterion for getting Chosen, but more importantly, I don't see humility as something that negates one's ability to gauge one's abilities accurately. Look at Van at 15--he knows he's smart, he knows he has a better head for tactics than most other gently-born younglings--but he doesn't particularly like his life, and he gets more humble as he goes. I wasn't trying to describe someone who would say, "I'm great and I should be a Herald"--I was trying to describe a person who would be aware of the qualities Heralds need and capable of noticing they have those qualities, and smart enough to wonder why they weren't Chosen. They wouldn't think of it as a right, though they might think of it as a privelege (or a burden--or both). Remember a while back when someone asked if we'd be Heralds? Several people said they didn't think they'd get Chosen, but they wouldn't be able to turn it down if they did. I'm trying to suggest someone who thinks they *could* get Chosen and wouldn't turn it down if they did. I don't think that's arrogance--it's not necessarily even a lack of humility. Knowing what you're capable of doesn't have to have anything to do with your feelings of self-worth. --reincarnation---- all the quotes here are from Mylee or whoever she is today. "...that brings up the whole "can non-Heralds be reincarnated as Companions" question." My guess is yes--SRising, Idra/Idry. I think. "How long does it take before a dead Herald can come back? Sayvil came back after about 700 years, right?" erm, we know that Sayvil is around as a Companion 700 yrs after her life as Savil, but we don't know that she hasn't also been a Companion anytime earlier in those 700yrs. "Is it possible that the Companions also use their magic to keep the Heralds from thinking that they are reincarnated Heralds?" I think that in WoFate, or Change, Darkwind suspected that was the case... "Can the Grove-Born be reincarnated as Heralds?" I can't think of a reason any Chosen/Companion/Grove-Born couldn't be reborn as anything else in those three categories. "(Peaches and sheep if this is a DTD topic)" Ah, I think maybe it is, but I don't mind. ;) --Congenital conditions---- Mylee had some good ideas. I'd think the manner of dealing with these kids and the feelings about them would vary from one part of the country to another, since Valdemar isn't homogeneous. --SWSang---- Mylee asked if SWSang was a prologue to Partnership. SWSang was written a long, long time before the rest of the brainship stories, iirc, and was also one of McCaff's earlier works. iirc, there's one short story in an anthology about Helva & Niall after the events of SWSang, but that's it. --Troi---- Mylee: "Hey! I _like_ Troi! Some of my fave episodes are those where she's given a real role, not the girly roles she ends up playing. I think Troi could have been done so much better, if she was given more "Troi-as-Starfleet-officer" instead of all those Troi-as-gorgeous-babe" roles." Yeah. What you said. :) --WoFate---- Emily the Invisible said: "My prob with WoFate was that it was the first Velgarth book I ever read. Think about it!" I had a similar but not quite as bad problem with it; I had read all the Velgarth novels except the Arrows tril...Arrows contains a big chunk of background info, and it actually clarified a lot of things for me that were fuzzy in *LHM*. --religion---- Emily also said: "See I'm a Catholic, and an agnostic AND I believe in reincarnation. See where problems come up? I sort of compromise and work around this odd mix, [snip]" Sounds confusing--but also potentially fun for an idle brain. Has anyone read Weis & Hickman's Rose of the Prophet tril? There's that metaphor at the end, when Khardan(?) gets confused about how he could have liked an evil man such as Ibn Jad, and Matthew says somthing like, I don't know the answer, either, but I do know that cloth with the threads all going one direction isn't much use as a blanket. I quoted that to a Christian and a pantheist Monday morning (1am) when we were having this really interesting talk about all sorts of spiritual/religious phenomena, history, and beliefs; the pantheist had said that she sometimes believed that all religions are true, and the Christian couldn't figure out how that could be, considering how religions sometimes outright contradict each other (how do you reconcile "Jesus was the Messiah" with "No he wasn't"?), so I threw that metaphor in and they both actually thought about it. It's an idea that I find entertaining, yet it never quite gets me anywhere, because I often wonder what the "blanket" is and what is it for, and then I wonder if anyone who isn't a deity would care. --religious music---- I just snipped lots of interesting things from the religious music thread. Thinking about it more has made me realize that I'm not simply annoyed about singing songs that say things I don't believe; I love carols, etc.; I have and listen to and enjoy a number of Christmas albums, and I hope to get more. What makes me uneasy is that every December I go through these rituals that are acts of faith for many people, and are acts of faith for most of my family, and yet somehow it doesn't express my faith. It (Christmas and all the associated behavior) expresses my love for my family and my wishes for the future of the world, but I'm not Christian. Several years ago I stopped even trying to think in monotheistic terms. So does it make me a hypocrite if I sing "O Holy Night?" I don't know. I don't think so. But I wouldn't be comfortable with a Christian family lighting a manora for no other reason than they think it's pretty, and with no understanding of what a manora means in the Jewish tradition; and likewise I'm not comfortable celebrating Christmas without caring about acquiring faith in or even knowlege of Christianity. So my discomfort with the kind of situation we were discussing has to do with a sort of crisis I'm having in wondering how I should view the relationship between my beliefs and my actions. --MO---- Jacquelle said, "I KNOW this has been done before, but I can't help it...it BOTHERS me....what do you think would have happened to Yfandes if Vanyel had been Chosen King's Own?[snip] He just cavalierily tells Fandes that he thought he was going to be KO. His bond with Fandes wasn't temporary, and the thought that she would just step aside for Taver just gnaws at me. The thought that Vanyel would just give her up like that gnaws at me too." I'm betting it gnawed at Vanyel, too; that's why he doesn't tell her he expected to get Chosen by Taver until the beginning of MPromise, apparently some months (years? weeks?) after Shavri becomes MO; and that casual announcement style of delivering potentially troubling information sometimes, for some people, masks a lot of anxiety. --Kris & Talia---- Kaatje: "...Kris and Talia snowed in at the Waystation in Sorrows. Speaking of which, that Waystation must have been *really* far from the path for them to take so long in digging it out. And why did they do all that themselves? Dig out a huge path like that, I mean." They didn't know there would be a road crew--they thought the two villages that they were between might both have a "put the shoe on the other foot" attitude. Waymeet & Berrybay (did I remember that right?) might both have thought, "The Heralds are at the other village." --health---- as for Emily's latest bulletin--good to hear. Do take all of your antibiotics, dear; we wouldn't want you to have a relapse. --title---- I sigged, "the Eternally Nourished Lee" and Deniz said:"Why? What are you eating? Do I want to know? Oh, you mean the chocolate cream pie. oops." Yes, but don't forget the lab rats. But I changed the sig days ago because someone (my current...well, I'll call her an OoUL/L anyhow) who always sees me when I'm snacking (on that day, I split a peanut-butter candy bar with her, and not ten minutes later she saw me munching on a chocolate chip cookie) dubbed me that. --used bookstores---- Cara said: "figured out what I did with my copies of Arrows Flight and Arrows Fall. Idiot me turned them in to the used book store. I vaguely remember it now, I had them in the wrong pile (those to turn in for credit) and got distracted before I took them out, and ended up costing myself some money." Ah, so that's how Misty books get to the used bookstore. I'd wondered. (My sister's boyfriend works at one, and so she gets first pick of everything that comes in, lucky her; we have this sort of informal list of Authors You Never Find At A Used Bookstore Unless You're Damn Lucky--guess who's at the top of the list?)(doesn't that just affirm your faith in humanity?) --Armsmaster---- Kory(?) said:"From the matter-of-fact nature of Van's arms lessons in Pawn, I'm wondering maybe they're mandatory for anyone studying at the Collegia. And in a way, the Natoli types might need those elssons more, since they don't have their families to defend them..." In terms of self-defense on the streets, yes, they would need fighting skills for that, but the Natoli types don't end up in combat, do they? so they wouldn't need combat skills. It might be useful for self-defense also from bandits, but Valdemar seems pretty well-protected against highway robbery...no, don't ask me to back that up. Deniz--yeah, I remember now; the high-borns *do* have private arms lessons--which means the Armsmaster at the Palace is "public"...Akiko--I'm not sure that everyone *is* taught self-defense; I know Van tells someone in MPromise that all the Bards learn swordwork, but then in MPrice Stef seems pretty clearly to have *no* such training, and I had the impression his street-fighting skills he actually picked up on the street. --Project---- re Yet Another Project, Kory said:"Be amused;>" Well, I have to admit, before I even answered your post I started making a list of Companions to re-name: Jasan...Gavis...Sayvil...Cymry's foal... (btw, Tresta, thanks! When I saw my name in the subject line, my first thought was, "Uh oh, someone's finally asking, 'What are we going to do about that verbose nutcase Lee?'!") --TK---- I said: "Van used TK once to shake the Palace foundation in that "having a nightmare" scene that comes after the suicide attempt but before Withen shows up." Kory: "And also *when* Withen came--he used his gifts to knock Withen down, iirc." Oh yeah. And that's an example of somebody *consciously* using TK. when I said Misty broadened the Fetching family to include Firestarting, Emily said: "This is supposed to be odd? Made perfect sense to me cause the technical term for what Misty calls FireStarting is pyrokinesis. Pyro meaning fire, and kinesis meaning motion." and Kory added: "Right..and to make a fire, you have to fetch the particles, right? to make 'em move against each other? yeah..that's really simplified. Get back to me in a few years;>" Well, it seems to me your basic point is that starting a fire involves motion at an atomic level, and therefore counts as TK. I knew that. My brain is mush; that's what I get for studying the Humanities. (btw, to Emily who offered all that physics stuff, and Mylee who brought up the brain mass vs brain folds stuff that I tried to talk about earlier, thanks for bringing us what you know; I'm a dabbler in everything rather than an expert in anything, and I always know just enough to get into trouble.) --Hi---- Hi, Firefly! Welcome! --Spellsinger & D&D---- Reesa said: "Never read the Spellsinger books myself. I don't know...the covers turned me off or something, or the names." The first two, _Spellsinger_ and _The Hour of the Gate_ are hilarious...the rest kind of go downhill...although I thought the gay unicorn in whichever-it-was was interesting...gay Companions? and Reesa said, "I wonder if there are Heraldic students who RP...*grin* And I wonder if they are accused of being demon-worshipers..." for the Chosen--I think it would depend on whether they got into group storytelling and decided there might be rules for it...or it could happen as an outgrowth of theatre. As for being accused of demon worship--ick. Yeah. The Xtian & the pantheist I talked to Mon. morning both thought that D&D has to do with occult rituals, that somehow it revises the history of the world...I just didn't know what to say. --SATs---- Yay! for Lady Silvermoon! And for those of you who are Americans and not yet juniors, a word of advice: Take the bleepin' PSAT as a junior!!!!! It's potentially more important than the bloody SAT! I know that sounds counterintuitive, BUT... A couple of friends of mine who scored *lower* than I did on the SAT (this was a few years ago, just before they recalibrated the scoring system) got free rides thanks to the National Merit Scholarship Program. I didn't get any such scholarship, because to qualify for the &*(*^&%#! program, you have to take the PSAT *in your junior year*. I bring this up because they just don't stress it enough in college prep couseling, presumably because they have no faith in their students and figure it won't matter (I was not someone you'd expect to score higher than the class valedictorian.) (He was one of the people who got a free ride. He's at bloody Berkeley right now). Take the PSAT. Do it. It's much much much better than paying $16,000/year tuition (like me.) --farewell for now---- I'm unsubbing tonight; I have less than 48 hours to study for Part 3 of the Evil 3-Part Final Exam, and write evals (we do lo-ong, detailed evaluations of our own performance and of how the class worked), and wash a couple loads of laundry, and pack my stuff, and leave town. I'll be back the 2nd week of January. So, I'm giving you all Xmas presents right now (sez the one who just went on and on about hypocrisy & discomfort with celebrating a religious festival for a religion she doesn't follow)-- May brilliance strike you when you most need it, and may it not cause you to say, "Ow!"; May you soon receive an opportunity to gain a skill, hobby, area of knowlege, or something of that nature, that you had thought you would not get to do; May you learn and believe and *feel* how loved you are by all the people in your life; May you find something that was lost, especially if it was some intangible part of you; May your dreams quickly come a little closer within your grasp than you had thought they would; May you have the time to find serenity and joy each day; And may you spread laughter in dark places wherever you go, to light your way. I really feel at home with you guys. I've needed that. the Eternally Nourished Lee, www.geocities.com/Athens/4709/, 97jsalaz-+AT+-uor.edu, Knight of the OAM, Spreader of Humor, Self- Appointed User of 5-point Vocabulary Words Such As "Panegyric" -- "What time is it?"--Dekker, P. ------------------------------ End of MERCEDES-LACKEY Digest 1015 **********************************