Hile Troy! The Illearth War
When the point-of-view changes back to Covenant, the story takes a turn for the worst. The end of The Illearth War is one of the most forgettable parts of any book I have read. That from someone who has read The Wheel of Time… twice.
Violence, Fear, Hate, and the Modern Student
The genesis of this article is the gun violence epidemic in America. While the political class is discussing the value and rights of gun ownership, I see a different problem. While your fear feels real, the enemy is imagined. The good news is that if you approach genuine martial art practice with a full heart, the enemy and the fear will vanish. I could be wrong, but I doubt the lone gunman spent an extended time practicing the martial arts for personal development.
The Real Story
The first time I finished The Real Story I was tired from a stressful day at work. I had curled myself against a stack of pillows with my dog sleeping in the crook behind my legs. The plan was to read a couple of chapters, then turn in early. The thirteenth chapter spoiled my plans.
Stephen King once said that "writing is telepathy over time." A good story goes from the imagination of the author to the imagination of the reader through a telepathic link that is the written word. On that sleepy night, in nine simple sentences (filled with adverbs and clumsy punctuation BTW) Stephen R. Donaldson telepathically communicated with me that Morn Hyland wasn't the victim, Angus wasn't the villain, and Nick was no hero. I knew that--despite an earlier promise--the real story had not been told.