Heroic Dreams - All Things Medieval

This is the actual castle that Vlad the Impaler lived in and it is the setting for the original Bram Stoker Dracula novel and it is now for sale.

The outside of the castle is absolutely gorgeous and I would imagine that the inside is equally gorgeous but I don’t think I would want to buy this place - it just seems like bad karma to me.

There has been quite a renaissance in the big ticket real estate market all throughout eastern europe. Many of these places have been used by film makers for many years and now the properties are finding other uses such as high end hotels, condos, and even casinos.

This particular castle was built in 1212 and was Vlad’s home in the 15th-century. It has been owned by the Romanian government for a very long time but has recently been reacquired by the Archduke Dominic von Hapsburg family.

Curious about the cost?

140 Million!

There are quite a few very similar types of properties for sale and you can read more about them at the forbes.com website:

http://www.forbes.com/realestate/2007/10/12/europe-eastern-property-forbeslife-cx_mw_1015realestate3_slide.html

Popularity: 25% [?]

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: 19% [?]

I am forever scrounging the internet for deals and new stuff in the fantasy and medieval realms and I have a relationship with a lot of different companies. Scouring through listings of various weapons I came across a set of weapons from a company called Topicool.

They have a nice selection of medieval weapons and armor and they sell through amazon.com -which I like. But here are a couple of things that makes them stand out from the zillion sword selling sites out there.

Their stuff ranges from movie weapons like the house of flying daggers sword shown here (current list price 59.99 and on sale for 38.99 - and that’s subject to change so check amazon for latest price) to 300 swords and armor, and samurai stuff, and traditional medieval weapons and swords - just a nice collection of stuff to browse.

- Their graphics are pretty nice, you can actually get a good look at their stuff

-their prices are low, which is always nice

-They are currently running a special on just about everything they sell. When you buy something you get a free topicool knife. - can’t beat free

I like their stuff and the way they are going about it. If you have been on the cusp trying to decide whether to treat yourself to a weapon now might be the time.

Here is an amazon store, on my medieval website, I have put together with what I feel is the best that they have to offer:

Topicool swords, weapons and armor with free knife offer

Or you can go straight to the Amazon Section of Topicool offerings here:

Topicool products on Amazon - with Free Knife

Popularity: 48% [?]