Needle Ash – Chapter 1, part 2

Read Chapter 1, part 1 Michael paused beside Gadero, his sergeant major, on the hill and looked out over the battle plain. Calot, as he called his destrier, was anxious and padded the ground beside Gadero’s lighter horse, which was placid, almost sad. The rain was lighter now, a mere sprinkle, and though the sky was leaden he could see clearly the main infantries of the Artallan and Ferrallese armies as they played their lines in the mud. He watched a shield wall fold in the Ferralla line, watched as Johan’s infantry pushed into the gap, only to fall back…

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Needle Ash – Chapter 1, part 1

Chapter 1: On the Battlefield   The sweets of life are enjoyed seldom and by few; But the bitterness of death is tasted by all, and There you find bitterness is another relative thing Among many other relative, mutable things That make a mundane world you call immutable But for the honorable, there is no death; Only a return to the dream.   For dreams to a living man are like gazing through a clouded mirror, whereas the dreams of death are like crystal water Only beyond the hazy veil of the mundane, the old dreams, shall we meet face…

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Movie Review: The Dark Tower – David V. Stewart and Matthew J. Wellman

Recently I got to watch the new Dark Tower movie, very, VERY, loosely adapted from the epic 7 book series by Stephen King. We didn’t go into the theater with expectations of a true-to-text adaptation – after all, it wasn’t called The Gunslinger and Roland was played by a black actor when he was explicitly white in the book (which actually mattered, as a black character had racial issues with him). This positively affected our experience, but we still felt the movie had significant problems. Watch our video to hear them in detail!

 

Rogue One: A Pointless Star Wars Interquel

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is an interquel (yes, like a prequel, but taking place between two other works) that takes place just before the inciting events of the original 1977 Star Wars film, effectively fleshing out the yellow text roll of that original movie into a movie of its own. Therein lays the biggest and most unavoidable problem with Rogue One: it’s pointless and redundant. From the get-go, the concept is unlikely to work, as all of its importance can be summed up in a few sentences slowly crawling up a movie scene. This redundancy doesn’t mean there…

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The Chronicles of Narnia Analysis/Review (series overview)

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, besides being a significant achievement in children’s literature, is often the first fantasy series that readers are exposed to due to its widespread popularity, solid stories, and accessible language. In the video below, I go over what you can expect from the series, including its christian allegory, its format in relation to the development of children’s literature, and why I think it is still worth reading today. I will continue this series, going over each book in the series in greater detail and analyzing the themes and stories present in more depth.

If you are interested in my own fantasy books, be sure to sign up for my mailing list for advance access to my projects. My latest novel, The Water of Awakening, will be released on July 7 and may be pre-ordered on Amazon.com. 

David V. Stewart is a fantasy and Historical Fiction writer, the author of Muramasa: Blood Drinker and Prophet of the Godseed.

The Hobbit Movie Adaptation SUCKS!

Matthew J. Wellman joins me once again to discuss the many, many problems with Peter Jackson’s movie adaptation of JRR Tolkien’s classic epic fantasy tale The Hobbit. How could he be so successful with Lord of the Rings and yet fail so spectacularly with The Hobbit?

Writers of the dawn is:

David V. Stewart – Fantasy and Historical Fiction Author, musician

Matthew J. Wellman – Urban Fantasy author, musician

Malazan Book of the Fallen overview, review, and analysis

Today we decided to give an overview and rough review analysis of Steven Erikson’s Malazan Book of the Fallen, an epic fantasy series set in a universe devised with Ian C. Esslemeont. In it, atypical fantasy races engage in a divine struggle to determine the fate of an old and complex world, and happens to be a favorite series for both of us.

Writers of the dawn is:

David V. Stewart – Fantasy and Historical Fiction Author, musician

Matthew J. Wellman – Urban Fantasy author, musician

Stormlight Archive/Way of Kings review and analysis (with Matt Wellman)

Matt and I talk shop about one of our favorite books, The Way of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson, and we also talk about the follow-up Words of Radiance, and some of the technical problems it has compared to the first book in Stormlight Archive. We both agree that The Way of Kings is an excellently well-constructed fantasy novel where Sanderson uses his flashback narrative techniques to create plot points that wouldn’t be possible in a more straightforward style.

Writers of the dawn is:

David V. Stewart – Fantasy and Historical Fiction Author, musician

Matthew J. Wellman – Urban Fantasy author, musician