Heroic Dreams - All Things Medieval

If you read this blog regularly or you visit any number of my epic fantasy websites you know that I take a very hard line in the realm of myth and epic fantasy. I am always touting the real meaning of epic fantasy. It is not just a fun story with lots of swordfights, dragons, and adventures. It is all about the mystery of life and the challenges we face. Every man’s quest is an epic quest for heroism. That’s how I feel and that’s how I feel my epic fantasy should be written and read. (That’s how I write it!).

When it comes down to it we are in an epic fight, we experience amazing creatures, and live in a magical land! And through all of this we struggle to understand our place and what it is all about. See? You, me, and everyone you know is in the midst of an epic fantasy adventure of mythic proportions.

And this leads me to one of the greatest stories ever told - the story of Beowulf.

How is it that a story stays alive for over fifty generations? It has survived because it is a story that resonates with us as human beings. It has been kept alive because it has meaning and continues to have meaning to us as human beings as we struggle with the epic journey we have all been thrust into. Even though the main character is a king and the antagonist is a beast it is very applicable to us in the modern day, has been applicable through the centuries, and will remain so throughout the course of humanity.

 It is the story that created a genre

Beowulf is the epic fantasy story that came before most other epic fantasy stories and it created the stage for the modern day genre. It is the story of a man adventuring out into the world and slaying the beast. We know this story well. It has been done by Bilbo, Frodo, Arthur, Odysseus and many many more. It is the story of the Heroes Journey that Joseph Campbell has examined and explained so well. In short,  Beowulf is where it all began. We owe a tremendous debt to this story, the person who first wrote it and all the people who have kept it alive.

And Now it is a movie

And now the story has been brought into the modern world. It has been made into a movie; which is one of the most powerful forms of storytelling ever devised. And I am very much looking forward it. My gut tells me it is going to be a special event and there are some indicators of this.

First off, the story is extraordinarily precious and this is really all you need to make a good movie. But in terms of modern day film making there are some other indicators that point toward this project being extraordinary. It is directed by Robert Zemeckis and the screenplay was written by Neil Gaimon (Mirror Mask, Sandman) and Roger Avary (Pulp Fiction). So we get a top shelf director and writers that have a real understanding of fantasy and how it can translate into a visual medium.

And the cast is unsurpassed. It has John Malkovich, who always chooses his movies very carefully, and always for very good reasons. If he believes in this film then I do too. Then of course there is Angelina Jolie who in my mind is Helen of Troy reincarnate. Seriously! Has there ever been a woman with more magnetism since the famed Helen and now Angelina? And of course there is Anthony Hopkins. Need I say more?

All Told

All told, I have to say that you should put aside the ten bucks for this movie. It is scheduled for release on Nov 16 so if you don’t have the cash I recommend you just save a buck a week until then. It will be worth it.

Enjoy some of the movie now - Get the Beowulf Podcast

No need for you to strap on your sword, jump in the warboat and travel half way across the world to experience some of the modern storytelling aspects of Beowulf and the making of the movie. You can enjoy the official Beowulf Podcast.

It is an ongoing podcast and over the course of the next several weeks they are going to be interviewing the cast, director and writers. Here is a schedule of guests:

1) Introduction Episode - 8/13
2) John Malkovich - 8/20
3) Robin Wright-Penn - 8/27
* week of 9/3 no episode due to Labor Day
4) Steve Starkey - 9/10
5) Anthony Hopkins - 9/17
6) Crispin Glover - 9/24
* week of 10/1 debut new trailer with Apple.com
7) Brendan Gleeson - 10/8
8) Doug Chiang - 10/15
9) Roger Avary & Neil Gaiman - 10/22
10 Ray Winstone - 10/29
11) Angelina Jolie - 11/5
12) Robert Zemeckis - 11/12
Here is the podcast link: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=262082826

Note: If you don’t have the iTunes player you will be taken to a download link. Just download the software and then when the choice comes up to go to your library or the itunes store select the iTunes store. (There is no cost here, nothing to buy). Then click on the podcast button on the left of the screen and beowulf will come right up. You can listen to any of the installments that have been broadcast and can sign  up for the feed so you get the new installments as they are made. Take a few minutes and slay this Grendel of technology.

If you want to learn more here are some resources for you:

• The Official Beowulf Movie Website (Has lots of free stuff including a game you can play)
• Beowulf: A New Verse Translation (Bilingual Edition) (Book) A modern and really good book available at amazon. The bilingual edition means it is both in modern English and old English
• The iTunes Podcast:  http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=262082826
• Beowulf MySpace Page

This movie is looking like it is going to be something really special and I have a lot more materials coming for you both on this blog and on some of my websites. Check out the podcast and the website and check back with me again real soon.

You probably already know that Robert Jordan passed away a few days ago from a rare blood disease. He had been battling it for quite a while.

 My reading of Robert Jordan’s work goes back quite a ways and I was first introduced to him by a promotional copy of a portion of his first wheel of time book. This was a mini book (274 pages) that was actually only the first part of the first novel.  This book isn’t something that was for sale. It was some kind of a promotional thing that somebody managed to get for me.

Anyway, the back cover of the book says: “This introduction to THE WHEEL OF TIME will take you into a world of wonder that is one of the finest in fantasy. It is a world that you’ll hate to leave.”

You know what? That blurb on the back was right. I was hooked and over the years I made it through the next six wheel of time books. And I must confess that I never read beyond those six. But my memories of the world that Robert Jordan built are still strong and I did hate to leave it.

This brings me to the point of this blog post. Isn’t it quite an amazing thing when a person creates a world for us to experience? Tolkien did it very well and Jordan did it well too. It makes you wonder about what goes on inside their minds. They say that Tolkien decided never to finish his work on Middle Earth because he couldn’t end it. As long as it was still a work in progress it was still alive. If he finished it with a final period it would become a thing of the past. And this was true with Jordan too I would imagine.

His work was famous, even criticized, for being unusually deep and complex. It was truly a very complex and rich world that he had built and I am sure ala Tolkien there was a part of him that never wanted to put a final period on it. This is ok with me because it was his world to do whatever he wanted to do with. I just think that it is a shame that there will be no other adventures of Rand al’Thor or any of the other memorable characters he created.

Jordan was actually working on what was called the final installment of the WOT series called “A MEMORY OF LIGHT”.

My advice to you if you want to read some Robert Jordan.

The Wheel of Time series is wonderful but extraordinarily long. I didn’t make it through the whole series and if you want to read some Jordan without that kind of commitment I have the perfect recommendation for you. (I consider it to be his best book)

It is NEW SPRING (2004)and it is a prequel to the WOT, and it is a stand along complete work so you get a full story from beginning to end and you get an introduction to the world of the Wheel of Time. And another interesting thing about New Spring is that even though it is typical Jordan with plenty of action and adventure in a remarkable world, when you pare it down it is actually a love story - plain and simple. I found it to be a wonderful almost powerful read. And a delicate departure from the rest of his work. Available at Amazon.com: New Spring: The Novel (Wheel of Time)

Thankyou Robert for the wonderful world that you built. I, like so many others, really enjoy it.  And my deepest condolences to your family.

Here is a list of the books in the Wheel of Time series on the Epic Fantasy website: The Wheel of Time

I got an interesting email from somebody yesterday. He is purchasing a sword and cannot decide whether he should have the manufacturer sharpen it for him, or whether he should just order it unsharpened.

It is an interesting question and his main concern is how the condition of the blade will affect the long term value.

My initial recommendation to him is to leave it unsharpened for two reasons. First off, there is a safety factor. I feel much more comfortable with an unsharpened sword. And I just figure that if it is left unsharpened it is an easy process to sharpen it at some point in the future.

Anyway, I thought maybe some of you that read this blog might have an opinion on the matter so leave a comment on this blog or send me an email and I will forward it to the person that inquired.

A Little bit about the sword. This is not a hundred dollar purchase this guy is making.  The sword in question is a magnificent re-creation of Conan’s Atlantean. This is a high end sword that would bring up the value of any collection. And the company is Albion Swords which is a fantastic company.

If you want to learn more about Conan and the Sword I have a page on my website that goes into the movies, the books, the sword and more: All About Conan

And if you want to check out the Albion Sword Company here is the link: Albion Swords

Here is a video of a massive battle of Armored Soldiers at the Yearly Pennslyvania meeting of the Society of Creative Anachronism.

Last night I attended my first meeting of the local chapter of the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) and it was a real blast.

If you aren’t familiar with the SCA they are an organization that studies all aspects of medieval life during the middle ages. At the top of this post is a video of a two groups of knights engaging in battle and it’s pretty cool but you have to understand that fighting in armor is just one small aspect of what the SCA is about. They are all about everything in the middle ages and they have a very active schedule in a lot of things including Study and Reproduction of Sieges, warfare, Fencing, Brewing, Fiber Arts, Blacksmithing, Tailoring and well everything.
So if there is a particular aspect of Medieval Life that you are interested in the SCA will have something for you.

About the Appeal of experiencing Medieval Life

I have given some serious thought to why I like Medieval things and at the meeting last night I asked other people the same question and I think it comes down to two very simple things.

Simplicity and Richness

We live in very complex times. Everything is piped into us at the speed of light and there isn’t a person in this world that doesn’t want things to slow down a bit. This is where the allure of the middle ages comes in. I think it was a simpler time but simpler isn’t a negative. It is a big positive because it came with a richness. The Middle ages weren’t a time where people spend all their time lounging around underneath trees and hanging out in pubs. There was a richness to life in those times and this richness came from the variety of things they did from arts, crafts, tailoring, blacksmithing, combat, architecture, food and so much more.

It was simple and rich. For me there is a deep enrichment in taking my time and brewing some mead, building some armor, telling stories around a campfire, and many other simple but rich things.

I really think that the experiences within the SCA bring people closer to what we all as human beings are supposed to experience in life. Seriously! Is it better as a human being to play a pixellated knight in a video game or to actually pick up a wooden sword and actually face off against somebody?

If you want to learn more about the SCA or find a chapter local to you check out their website: http://www.sca.org

You might know that I have owned stormthecastle.com for almost ten years now. I got it way back when most people didn’t even have a computer. You might not know that several years ago I wanted to expand things by getting more websites and one of the sites I wanted to get was stormthecastle.net but to my dismay it wasn’t available. A garage band in Arkansas called Storm The Castle had snatched it up and this was always a thorn for me.

Anyway, I kept an eye on their registration and every year I would check to see if they re-registered the domain. And well several months ago they let it run out so I happily snagged it! So now I own stormthecastle.net and my plan is to make it a hub for all things medieval.

I have started to develop materials for the site and the first thing I have put up is a forum to discuss medieval things. If you like medieval things then you might want to hop on over and register with the forum. Some of the conversations are getting quite lively and more people are registering.

Hop on over, choose a medieval user name, and pick out an avatar from the great collection I have put together!

Join The Medieval Fun at the Stormthecastle.net forum

Here is my avatar:

There are plenty of other themed avatars you can choose from depending on your personality!: