Heroic Dreams - All Things Medieval

It is very interesting how much we owe to all the things that happened during the middle ages and the Renaissance. You could say those centuries were the tumultuous adolescent years of humanity. And there are literally thousands of little things that we retain today that are fragments and hints of those times. Let’s take a common phrase as an example. You probably have heard of the phrase “Undermine my authority” I heard somebody say this in a movie last night. Now I don’t know this for a fact but I bet this phrase is a thousand years old and it comes from the technique of sieging a castle. One of the most popular techniques of bringing down a castle was to breach its outer wall so you could get in. What do you think was one of the best ways to bring down a castle wall? Well, if you didn’t have a trebuchet or a catapult,you could dig a mine shaft under it. This mine would cause the castle wall to collapse and voila you have undermined the authority that lived within the castle. 

Want to learn more about techniqes used to siege castles when you didn’t have a catapult handy? Read my article on the subject. They were pretty crafty in the middle ages - they even used a crude form of biological warfare! How to siege a castle when you don’t have a catapult

Popularity: 7% [?]

I have been mulling the idea of a website that specializes in the art of combat for quite a while now and by the art of combat I mean art works that show combat, knights, battles, etc. So it’s a bit of a play on words and you won’t learn how to swing a sword on the site!

I have already secured the domain name and I am currently working out the visual details and design. My intention is for the site to lean toward a middle to higher end of product. This won’t be a site where you go to buy a poster to put on the door. It will be a place to go when you are looking for something really nice to display.

And I am not going to stick to the Middle Ages/Renaissance genre. My plan is to stay true to the theme of “The art of combat” on a world perspective and across the centuries.

This is going to be a lot of fun!

Here is a look at a beautiful print that I have directly over my writing desk. I really love this piece and it makes a great statement. It took a lot of work for me to find just the right piece and it matches the writing desk perfectly. It was worth the time and the money I spent. Granted this scene doesn’t show combat in action but I consider it to be pre-combat! The lion is just about ready to begin his hunt!

If you are interested in combat art buzz on over to the empty website and book mark it  so you can check back in the future. I will keep you posted here as to my progress and let you know when it goes live.

The art of Combat website

Oh, and if you have any thoughts or ideas on this subject and website either post a comment or send me an email. Have a favorite artist? Love a particular work? Let me know. If you prefer you can buzz on over to the Stormthecastle.net forum, sign up and add a post about the site. Stormthecastle.net - Camelot Reborn

Popularity: 23% [?]

Guide to Shopping for Fantasy Books on Amazon 

Browsing Amazon can be fun but it can also be tedious -With Millions of items it can sometimes be difficult to find something if you don’t know exactly what it is.
If you want to read a new book in the fantasy genre but haven’t decided which book you can spend hours browsing through lists of books. Here are some solid resources to the best in amazon.com

The first thing you should do is check the Blowout Deals. When you have as many books as Amazon has sometimes you just gotta get rid of some of them. And to do this you deeply discount the prices - and I mean deeply discount them. This link takes you directly to the Blowout Book Deal section for Science Fiction and Fantasy Books Blowout Book Deals

If you just feel like browsing

Go Directly to the Fantasy Book Section of Amazon books. This is the official Fantasy Book Section of Amazon.com. From here you can pick from the top sellers or further break it down into categories. If you want to drill down even more specific here are the sub categories you can go directly to:

Alternate History
Anthologies
Arthurian
Contemporary
Epic
General
Historical
History & Criticism
Magic & Wizards
Series

Looking for the best sellers?

A lot of people don’t realize that Amazon keeps a best seller list in all the various sub-genres. The great thing about this list is that it is very fresh (updated hourly) So to see what the current Fantasy best sellers are Top Sellers in Fantasy (updated hourly)

Dont underestimate the power of your fellow readers!

One of the best things (actually two things) about Amazon is the user generated guides and user generated listmania lists. These are a great way to see what other people are passionate about in particular niches. For example, if you like a particular author you can find a list that someone has compiled of his/her work or similar work.

Amazon Guides:

Popularity: 12% [?]