Tired of the cliché of the hysterical female writer, and of the enduring focus on Plath’s death rather than her trailblazing poetry and fiction, Clark used a wealth of new material – including juvenilia, unpublished letters and manuscripts, and psychiatric records – to explore Plath’s literary landscape. Heather Clark, Professor of Contemporary Poetry at the University of Huddersfield and author of the award-winning biography Red Comet, joins the Slightly Foxed team from New York to dispel the myths that have come to surround Sylvia Plath’s life and art. There must have been a reason for this, but that reason is lost, and those who understood it have been dust for centuries. Some of the objects are decorated with re-used Roman glass, a reminder both of Roman technology and of Rome’s fall more poignantly still, the majority of the items were systematically dismantled or broken up before they were buried, the precious metals and stones separated from the iron, wood, bone and cloth they once adorned. Perhaps most of all, though, the Staffordshire Hoard makes one think of passing, inheritance and decline. The few objects that are not overtly martial are religious, and these show us how Christianity and paganism overlapped in England at this time: there are Christian crosses in the hoard, but they are decorated with the interlaced plants and animals characteristic of the pagan Germanic peoples. These rich and intricately worked treasures, most of which were once decorations for weapons, conjure images of kings and warriors in the Dark Ages: Anglo-Saxon noblemen, proud and brave, the gold and garnets on their war gear flashing in the light of the sixth-century sun. I would like you to come with me first to Birmingham, to visit the Staffordshire Hoard. The Pariah – US Kindle Daily Deal at $2.Although I want to tell you about a poem, let us begin with objects.New Interview on the Am Writing Fantasy Podcast.It is going to be very hard waiting till next July for Queen of Fire.Įnter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. I have bought both so I can share with my son.
I wish it was in hardback like Tower Lord. They are like a drug, I can’t get enough of! LOL. They are so good, I feel I need to read them again. I had to do another re-read of both books. I was worried you wouldn’t be able to match its excellence with Tower Lord, but you did and if anything, you topped it! I re-read Blood Song just before Tower Lord was released and after reading Tower Lord, I couldn’t let the story and characters go. I am sorry it took me so long to finally read it! He recommended we read Blood Song while waiting for his next Ryria books and I remembered I had it on my reader. I had finished reading Michael Sullivan’s Ryria Revelations and joined his Goodreads Dark Room group.
I bought it and downloaded it but I didn’t read it for several months. I think I found Blood Song while browsing the inexpensive ebooks on B&N. It hooked me on fantasy and with a voracious appetite for the genre I have been reading on average 2-4 books a week since then. I was in the hospital coronary care recovering from a near fatal heart attack and I asked my son to bring me something to read that would help take my mind off my ills and to help pass the time. My adult son introduced me to fantasy almost 4 years ago just a week before Christmas. I am an older reader but fairly new to reading fantasy.
Slab City Blues: A Hymn to Gods Long DeadĪn Aria for Ragnarok – A Slab City Blues Novel The Lady of Crows – A Raven’s Shadow Novella The Lord Collector – A Raven’s Shadow NovellaĪ Duel of Evils – A Raven’s Shadow Short Story Many Are the Dead – A Raven’s Shadow Novella Songs of the Dark – Short Fiction from the World of Raven’s Shadow Sandrunners – A Draconis Memoria Short Story The Empire of Ashes – Book Three of the Draconis Memoria The Legion of Flame – Book Two of the Draconis Memoria The Waking Fire – Book One of the Draconis Memoria Two of the Seven SwordsĬity of Songs – Vol. The Black Song – Book Two of the Raven’s BladeĪ Pilgrimage of Swords – Vol.
The Wolf’s Call – Book One of the Raven’s Blade The Pariah – Book One of the Covenant of Steel