Stories 4 You

Friday, February 2, 2018

Welcome to Thalacia #OurAuthorGang

Rich Feitelberg

My next series of posts will focus various aspects of my fantasy world. As you may know from my previous posts, my fantasy novels are set in the kingdom of Thalacia. From the northern edge to the southern tip, the distance is about the same as from the equator up to Maine.

The kingdom is full of many races, government, places, religions, and magic. This series of posts will explore these. To start, let’s look at the magic in the world.

I’ve struggled for quite some time to develop a system of magic that I was happy with. This is partly because I’ve studied so many forms of magic in building the world. Some of those forms I described in my series of posts on magic.

I finally settled on the 12 Spheres of Magic. These are 12 unique aspects of the world that control all magic. I chose 12 because it is divisible by 2, 3, and 4 all of which number have magical significance.

To make magic work, a wizard must study in one or more of these spheres and must know the verbs that direct magical energy. For example to create a fire, the wizard must know the verb create and must know something about the sphere of fire.

It gets more interesting when you want to something else, say like control the weather. For that you need the control verb and the spheres of water, air, cold, and heat so you can make it rain or snow, create hail or a blizzard.

None of this is described in my books, of course it is just some of the background details I use as I write my novels.

Next time we’ll look at another aspect of Thalacia.

Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Searching for King Arthur — Gildas #Arthurian #Legend #OurAuthorGang

Searching for King Arthur — Gildas

Gildas was a 6th Century monk who was born in the year of the Battle of Mons Badonicus, or, The Battle of Mount Badon, as we now know it. Mount Badon is, of course, the famous battle where King Arthur halted the Saxon invasion for a time.

Gidas's great work — On the Ruin and Conquest of Britain, is no easy read. In fact, it reads like a damning sermon. He certainly did not mince his words! He target five particular kings - goodness knows what they had done to upset him - and he isn't particularly forgiving of his fellow priests.

"Britain has priests, but they are fools; numerous ministers, but they are shameless; clerics, but they are wily plunderers."

He seems to be more than a little obsessed with the Book of Daniel, and the Book of Revelations.

However, Gildas's work is considered one of most important sources on the history of Britain in the 5th and 6th centuries, simply because, for once, it was written by someone who was actually there and although it is not considered a primary sources it is about as close as we are going to get.

However, Gildas gives the word 'vague' a whole new meaning. He gives us very few names and no firm dates. He misses out chunks of history if they do not serve his purpose or his message.

What does Gildas say about Arthur?

Nothing.

The only 5th century person he does talk about is a man called Ambrosius Aurelianus.

"... a gentleman who, perhaps alone of the Romans, had survived the shock of this notable storm. Certainly his parents, who had worn the purple, were slain by it. His descendants in our day have become greatly inferior to their grandfather's excellence..."

Now this is where it gets a little confusing. Ambrosius appears to be of Roman descent. He organises Briton and leads them in battle against the Saxons. Some historians believe that Ambrosius was Arthur, but I am not convinced with that argument. The Venerable Bede clearly states in his work — An Ecclesiastical History of the English People — that they are two separate people.

So what is going on?

Gildes is very vocal about many things, but not Arthur. He doesn't mention him. At all.

Arthur has always come across as a sort of people's hero. But in monastic writings of the time he is not described as a hero, in fact he is described as the complete opposite. Which leads me to suspect two things. Firstly, he wasn't as good as we all think he was. Or, he had fallen out with the Church. I kind of lean towards the latter. According to the Life of Gidas, Arthur killed Gildas brother. No wonder he omitted him! He wasn't going to make him immortal in his works. Who could blame him?

War is coming...

Amazon US Amazon UK

Read for FREE with

Kindle Unlimited

Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Put a Little Rainbow in Your Diet #OurAuthorGang

Make your diet as colorful as rainbow

Erika M Szabo

There is a constant chemical process going on in your body, and this process frees up toxins. Fruits and vegetables contain antioxidants which neutralize these toxins and shield your cells and DNA from the damage they would cause.

Red and pink fruits and vegetables such as tomato, red pepper, apples, onion, grapefruit, watermelon as well as beets.

Benefits:

They contain lycopene which aids short and long-term memory, prevents circulatory problems and heart disease as well as plays a role in cancer prevention, especially skin, prostate, uterine, breast and prostate cancers. Lycopene also blocks cholesterol deposit in your circulatory system.

Blue and purple fruits and vegetables such as dark grape, plum, red cabbage, beet, fig and black currant.

Benefits:

They contain anthocyanin, which prevents cholesterol deposits and keeps the veins and arteries flexible. Blu and purple foods shield the skin from UV rays and protect your retina from damage.

Yellow and orange fruits and vegetables such as carrot, pumpkin, pear, orange, tangerine, pineapple, mango, and banana.

Benefits:

They contain beta-carotene a vitamin A provitamin which aids vision, circulation, strengthens the immune system and plays a big role in cancer prevention. Yellow and orange foods also slow the process of aging and protect the skin from harmful rays as well as helps to prevent wrinkle formation.

Green fruits and vegetables such as cabbage, lettuce, broccoli, spinach and leafy greens, kiwi, green apples, peas, green beans.

Benefits:

They contain lutein which aids vision, strengthen the bones, prevents cancers, destroys bacteria and cleans the blood.

White foods such as garlic, onion, cauliflower, and mushroom.

Benefits:

They have anti-inflammatory, allergy reducing and cancer-preventing properties.

Make your diet colorful and make your body healthy

Click on this link to read my portfolio:

http://online.pubhtml5.com/ahsh/mobl/

COMMENTS

Erika M Szabo via Google+

1 year ago - Shared publicly

Put a Little Rainbow in Your Diet #OurAuthorGang
Make your diet as colorful as rainbow by Erika M Szabo There is a constant chemical process going on in your body, and this process frees up toxins. Fruits and vegetables contain antioxidants which neutralize these toxins and shield your cells and DNA from ...

2
3
2