It's All About Story...

I wrote about Joe Abercrombie's " First Law " series way back in 2008. At the time, his first book, well at least the only one that had been released in the US, was " The Blade Itself. " I think I mentioned that it took me a while to get settled in, but once I did, I was hooked. As a matter of fact, I read the first book over a period of two or three weeks. I had to have the second book once finished. It was not available in the US. I contacted some of my UK family and asked them to ship me a copy, which they did. I read " Before They Are Hanged " in three days. When finished with that one, I created an account on Amazon.co.uk, ordered the next book, paid the US import tax, and had it shipped here. (Turns out this was cheaper than having my family send me a copy). I read the " Last Argument of Kings " in one sitting. Finished it at 3:00/3:30am. My wife was not happy, but I loved the story, even with the somewhat anticlimactic ending. Imagine ...

  I saw a New York times write up of the " Society of the Sword " series (well, I think it was the NYT) by Duncan M. Hamilton, it read like this: "The Three Musketeers meets Game of Thrones." I was thinking, "I wish I had written that." It's certainly apropos. The problem is, the write up left out the book to the left, " The First Blade of Ostia ," which is the prequel to the first book in the series, " The Tattered Banner ." The story follows Bryn Pendollo, a young man who dreams of becoming a master fencer, and the title of "First Blade of Ostia." As I was reading through the prologue, it reminded me of how much I wanted to be like Dick Butkus or Randy White on the football field when I was a kid. The world in which this story is set focuses that kind of hero worship, or idolatry, on great master fencers who compete in the arena. They are celebrated martial artists, masters of their craft, who earn riches and recognition...

 My father had a tremendous love of C.S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower series. With regularity he would press me about reading them. After all, I was born under the sign of water, and all things sail fascinate me. Of course the fact that my father attended the Naval Academy and held a Master Yawl Handler's license may have had something to do with that. With that said, at the time, my reading interests where elsewhere, so I steered clear of them for quite a bit.  Dad's love for those stories was such that each year, when the old Gregory Peck, Virginia Mayo " Horatio Hornblower " movie would show on the television, he and I would have to sit down and watch it. The movie is based off of Forester's book "Beat to Quarters" in the series. It has become one of those movies I like to watch when I am feeling nostalgic, and perhaps missing dad a bit. As the love of the film has made a viewing routine in our household, my wife has become a Hornblower fan as we...