The Villains’ Table: Antagonists Who Made the Biggest Impression On Me

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baroness emma orczy, brian jacques, c.s. lewis, castaways of the flying dutchman, disney, disney fairies, j.m. barrie, j.r.r. tolkien, lord of the rings, peter pan, redwall, return to neverland, secret of the wings, star wars, the chronicles of narnia, the clone wars, the pirate fairy, the scarlet pimpernel

Hello, and welcome to another list! This time, we are discussing the Top Ten Villains who Made an Impression on Me.

I mentioned in my TCWT post that I was thinking of posting this. Well, here it is, realized. 🙂

1. Tash, The Last Battle, The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis. Basically the demonic opposite of Aslan, Tash was a four-armed beast with a vulture’s head and demanded human sacrifice of his worshipers.  Honestly, if Tash was not the father of lies (and desensitization), who’d want to serve him?
2. Darth Sidious, The Return of the Jedi, Star Wars. Was there ever any quibbling? This villain is something of an archetype, but oh Force, he pulls it off with charisma. Darth Sidious made an impression on me, mostly because he was THE villain, back in the day when I was wide-eyed and clutching my teddy bear as I watched The Return of the Jedi for the first time. I mean, most villains want the hero dead. Sidious wanted Luke’s soul. How creepy is that?!
3. Gabrielle Damien (Mademoiselle Guillotine), A&E’s Scarlet Pimpernel trilogy, based on the books by Baroness Orczy. Both blatant and shockingly vile, Mademoiselle Guillotine has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. What earns her a place on this list, though, is her hatred for Catholicism and disrespect for the sacred, coupled with her utter disregard for human life or dignity. Surprisingly enough, Damien was shot by the series’ main villain, which redeemed him, slightly, in my eyes. (That alone should tell you exactly what I think of Damien.)
4. Maguda Razan, The Angel’s Command, Castaways of the Flying Dutchman trilogy, by Brian Jacques. She was a sort of mafia-boss-slash-mother-of-evil-slash-abomination. Think Sidious’ insanity crossed with the White Witch and then throw in a splash of Tash, and you have Maguda Razan. She kidnapped Ben basically because she wanted to feed off of his nightmares and the memories of his time on the Flying Dutchman years before.
5. Shift, Ginger, and Rishta Tarkaan, The Last Battle, Narnia. Shift and his cadre of liars made a special impression on me. I was as enraged by their deceptions as the heroes of the story were (after reading the book, I had a dream where I was chasing Shift through Narnia, walloping him with a frying pan. I have counted it as one of my sweetest ever.) Their respective, well-deserved deaths (claimed by Tash, losing the power of speech, and claimed by Tash) were received by me with vindictive feelings of justification.
6. The White Witch, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Narnia. The White Witch was a conniving deceiver, and I still think she hasn’t been portrayed correctly on screen. In the old BBC movies, she looked overdone (though that’s due to the style of the times), and her acting seemed overly dramatic. However, she was the better of the two portrayals, in my opinion. (Those movies also had the perfect Peter, too… *sigh* In fact, all of the Pevensies, Jill, and Eustace were perfectly casted. It’s the costume design and the special effects that I have problems with.) The White Witch in the new movies seems a bit too exotic for the role. (I have not seen the new movies. But from what I have seen, this is what I think.)
7. Moriarty, Sherlock, based on the books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Moriarty is one of those generic villains who wanted the hero dead in the original. However, his intellect earned him a spot on this list even before the BBC series. Andrew Scott’s acting brings the character of Moriarty to new levels; from mere brilliant criminal mastermind, he goes to total insane psychopath, playing a game against Sherlock. The biggest difference between Moriarty and Sherlock is that Sherlock has a reason to live, while Moriarty is “bored” by life, and his only reason to live is to play the game. (Also, is he coming back in Season Four?!)
8. Cluny the Scourge, Redwall. He was the Redwall villain. He made a big impression on me mostly because he was almost like an orc only he was a rat, and I was eleven, I think. It was the more kid-friendly version of orcs, actually. 😛
9. Grima Wormtongue, The Two Towers, Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. Sauruman was an also-ran, competing for this spot, but though he managed to nearly permanently wreck the Shire, it was Wormtongue I felt made the bigger impression. There’s something in the human psyche that despises a truth-twister, and as a truth-twister Wormtongue definitely qualifies.
10. Captain Hook, Peter Pan, by J.M. Barrie. There was no way I was going to leave the number one villain of childhood off this list. (Sid, aka The Destructive Kid Next Door, from Toy Story was the only other person I’d consider for this spot, and he comes nowhere near to what I felt from Hook.) Hook was scary. He wanted to kill Peter. He was able to use Peter’s cockiness against him. That’s what I liked about him as a kid.
    Pros as a teenager/young adult: Hook is the most sympathetic villain you will come across in children’s literature. He is wonderfully fleshed out, and even has more backstory than Peter, though parts of his past are shrouded in mystery. Since Peter symbolizes the innocence and wonder of childhood (in my fanfiction re-telling of Peter Pan I go so far as make him a metaphor for fairytales and the far reaches of the imagination,) Hook thus symbolically, by extension, wants to do away with the innocence and wonder and imagination of childhood. Yet he still feels bad about it! (“No little children to love me.”)
    And last but not least, for a word about Hook in The Pirate Fairy. In my opinion, Hook (played by Tom Hiddleston) was the best part of The Pirate Fairy. Without him, it would have been just another Disney fairy movie, (No offense, Secret of the Wings), with its corresponding message of “follow your heart”, “believe in yourself”, and “have faith” (well, scratch that last one, it’s actually from Return to Neverland.) IS THERE ANYBODY ELSE IN ALL THE WORLD WHO WANTS TO SEE A REMAKE OF Peter Pan, only with Hiddleston as Hook and Asa Butterfield as Peter?! (And a properly vindictive Tinker Bell, from which Disney has recently strayed?!)
    Anyway, Tom Hiddleston played a thoroughly entrancing Hook, making us feel like he was a good guy who’d fallen in with bad companions, until the turn-about near the end, when he shocked us by the fact that, though he is able to believe enough to fly (grown-ups flying is still really nausea-inducing for me, unless it’s the Return to Neverland version of Wendy; in my opinion, it detracts from the mystique it should have–Disney, please do your research!), he is the mastermind of the pirates’ plan.
    The other thing I’d love to see with Hook would have to be a story where he ends up helping Peter, Wendy, Michael, John and the Lost Boys to save Neverland (or helps Wendy, Michael, John, and the Lost Boys to rescue Pan.) Actually, this is the plot of the latter part of the retelling I’m working on, though it would be nice to see other people’s takes on it as well. 😉
11. Captain/Admiral/Grand Moff Tarkin, Star Wars. No, actually, there is no number eleven. 😛 Tarkin is just the runner up. As is everyone else after him on the list. Tarkin struck me as evil because he’s a sociopath who doesn’t care who gets in his way, and he will stop at nothing to see the Jedi removed from military service (mainly because of their MORALS, which is vile in the extreme,) and vilified as well, if possible. Tarkin is a good example of why, after the Clone Wars began, for the Jedi there was really no good way out. They are keepers of the peace, not soldiers, as Master Windu explains, but once they’ve begun as a part of the fighting, they are no longer able to withdraw, due to people like Tarkin, who would gladly perpetrate all kinds of atrocities if the Jedi were to leave the field of war. Also, the war has horrible effects on their young (Ahsoka Tano’s inability to relax, for one, and Barriss Offee’s fall for another), and not just on their young: Pong Krell, a full Jedi Knight, is allured by the power the Dark Side offers and falls. (In fact, Obi-Wan and Anakin’s journey is actually a microcosmic allegory for what is happening to the Jedi as a whole. Ever since Qui-Gon’s death, Obi-Wan has been doomed to failure with Anakin by both his own promise to train Anakin and his [often conflicting] oath to serve the Republic and Jedi Order. Obi-Wan’s unwillingness to talk about his emotions, furthered by Anakin’s tendency to throw it back into his face when he summoned up the guts to do so, exacerbated the problem, sending them, inextricably linked, in a downward spiral, which ended with Anakin’s fall, which wounded Obi-Wan in a way that he never recovered from. Similar things happened with the Jedi Order and the crippled, failing Republic.)
12. Pong Krell, Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Yes, most of my villains are from Star Wars or Narnia, I’m well aware. -_- This guy is the reason why the Jedi were vilified in the latter years of the Clone Wars. As explained above, he sold out his loyalties to the Republic and Jedi Order in the hopes of gaining a place in what he believed to be Dooku’s “New Order”. In the process, a bunch of clones were murdered, including Waxer, the trooper who befriended the little girl (Numa) back in Season One. (I am still in shock from Waxer’s death. And it’s been almost two full seasons since Umbara!) Umbara was an attempt on the Clone Wars writers’ part to show the darker side of war, and was the first incident of friendly fire actually shown on the Clone Wars. Man, did they nail the story. :’-( (I totally wanted to see Obi-Wan finding out about Krell’s treason and come and fight him and be incredibly awesome and do some tail-kicking, but it didn’t happen, and I guess the episode was more effective this way. However, there was a darker side to the clones taking Krell down; they proved that clones could, in fact, defeat Force Users, even those of dubious alignment.)
13. Sauruman. He laid waste to the Shire, desecrating something we held sacred. And he was killed by Wormtongue, partially redeeming the Rohan traitor.

So, there’s my list of Top Ten Villains who made an impression along with three runner-ups. (Sorry Dooku did not make it onto the list, he’s awesome and I love to write him, but he didn’t make nearly the impression on me that even Cluny did.) I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading, and God Bless!

TCWT: Beginnings and Endings (HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BILBO AND FRODO!)

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a swiftly tilting planet, a wind in the door, a wrinkle in time, beginnings, book reviews, brian jaques, c.s. lewis, castaways of the flying dutchman, catholic culture, creative writing, endings, j.r.r. tolkien, john flanagan, lord of the rings, madeleine l'engle, ranger's apprentice, reading, redwall, reviews, robert louis stevenson, star wars, the chronicles of narnia, the hobbit, time quintet, treasure island, writing

Hello, everyone!

Now, before I get into the TCWT post, I want to just make one little announcement.

Today is the shared birthday of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins! *confetti flies everywhere* Happy birthday to the Ringbearers!

Okay, now that I’ve said that… 😉

Beginnings and endings. Now this reminds me of a paper I wrote in high school! Which will never see the light of day until it gets a boatload of revising. So don’t ask. Or you can ask, but be prepared for it to not happen for a very, very long time.

Specifically, my favorite beginnings and endings.

Let’s do this by series.

First of all, favorite beginnings and endings for The Chronicles of Narnia.

1. The Magician’s Nephew, both as a beginning to the series, and its own beginning and ending. This. Book. Rocked.
   First of all, we have the story of how Diggory and Polly met, and the fact that they were sent into Narnia by a ruthless pseudo-scientist/magician who was also partly insane (wouldn’t any number of YA authors just love to try their hand at a plot this juicy nowadays?!), but it’s not just that that makes the book great. It foreshadows World War II and people like Mussolini, Stalin, and Hitler. (I would not be surprised to hear that Lewis did not approve of the US’s alliance with the USSR. Good grief, I don’t approve of it. And I’m American.)
   *cough* Anyway…
   Well, this book as a whole is the beginning of Narnia and the Chronicles of Narnia series. But its opening, while modest, is no less of a favorite for me. And its ending! The hiding of the magic rings (we’ll get to Tolkien and the rest of the Inklings later, I promise!), the cure of Diggory’s mother, and the promise of hope.
2. The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. The book that began it all. Seriously. Was ever story so well encapsulated? It wraps itself up very well, and smaller elements that were included (especially the Professor, who is–guess who? Diggory Kirk [yes, that is really his last name!], all grown up! and Susan’s horn, which becomes a major point in the plot of Prince Caspian.)
3. The Horse and His Boy. Unlike the rest of the Narnia stories, this one actually does not have anything to do with “our world”, unless you count the presence of the Pevensies (SPOILER! 😛 Who cares, anyway?! Most of you have already read all of the Chronicles of Narnia!) The ending is good, okay, but it’s the ending I really love. This is the one Narnia book that describes Archenland, and it tells us about the people of Archenland, and gives a very satisfying ending.
4. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Okay, yes, I love pretty much all of the Narnia series, but Dawn Treader stands out among the Narnia books. Again, the beginning is not nearly as euphoria-inducing as the ending is. It appears that Lewis may have been playing with the idea of the Seven Friends of Narnia at this point–of course, though, at this point only Lion, Witch, Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, and Dawn Treader were written, which means that Diggory was only a flight of imagination, and Polly probably hadn’t ever (in Lewis’ mind) come into Narnia at all yet. The three aforementioned books were intended to be a trilogy, complete in themselves, and it seems that Lewis didn’t plan to write any more books. However, step back and take the series as a whole. If you read them in Narnian-time order, not writing order, then by the end of Dawn Treader there are seven friends of Narnia. (Susan hasn’t left the group yet, remember.) And Dawn Treader and The Last Battle are the most similar in style, and ending as well. Coincidence? Most likely not.
5. The Last Battle. If I have to pick one favorite Narnia book, it is this one. (Dawn Treader is a close second.) First of all, the opening is riveting. An impostor Aslan? Narnia’s King captured? WHAT?! IT DOESN’T EVEN BEGIN IN “OUR WORLD”?! WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?! *squees*
   Seriously, though. ❤
   This Narnia book raises the stakes like no other. (I plan on making a list of the top villains who made an impression on me, to show you what I mean.) However, this book is also probably the one which is hardest for a child to read. (You’ve been warned.) It is both heartbreaking, exciting with its call to war, the rage against the lies… It is a true emotional rollercoaster. This one, more than any other of Lewis’s books, made me understand what “passion” really meant. More than any other book, really.
   And now, for the ending. While some people are upset that Susan didn’t get to the “True Narnia” in Aslan’s Country at the end of the series (read more about that here, and I highly recommend the rest of his blog for thought-provoking stuff on theology and popular culture!), I was both saddened by the fact that Susan had made herself not to believe in Narnia (which was, by the way, a recurring theme throughout the book–which is why, now, whenever I hear anyone say anything REMOTELY smacking of “We’re out for ourselves!” [*cough cough* “The Dwarfs are for the Dwarfs!”], I always throw a fit and demolish their argument in a blaze of righteous flurry and the occasional lightsaber-to-their-newspaper), and gladdened by the fact that by the very fact of her leaving the Friends of Narnia she was given a second chance. The problem, really, that we’re talking about here, is the bland/blase reaction of the remaining Friends of Narnia to her exclusion. But you’ll just have to read Malcolm’s post, linked in above, if you want to know what Lewis’s thoughts on the whole “Problem with Susan” issue was. I’m not giving it away to you! You wouldn’t go find his completely awesome blog otherwise!
   Anyway, back to the ending, proper. It is, in my opinion, a very satisfying close to the series. It was a blissful, happy, euphoric ending. It echoed the Book of Revelation (Apocalypse to Tridentine Rite lovers like me). In fact, I am thinking about making myself a T-Shirt that says “The Rapture only happens to people who loved The Last Battle!” (DISCLAIMER: The author of this post does not believe in the Rapture as preached by certain Christian sects. She does, however, believe that reading The Last Battle will bring you pretty freaking close!)

Sadly, I have not read Lewis’s Space Trilogy often enough to include it in the runners. I haven’t even finished it. :’-( Still, enjoy my dear friend Rosalie’s description of Dr. Ransom here. ;-P *notices some people in the crowd gawking at the picture* *bangs them on the head with a newspaper* READ THE DESCRIPTION! NO GAWKING AT THE PHOTO!!! (I don’t care HOW attractive you may find Ewan McGregor, keep the fawning off my blog!)

Next up: Madeleine L’Engle’s Time Quintet!

A Wrinkle in Time begins with the cliche beginning “It was a dark and stormy night.” It doesn’t stop there, though. It makes it its own. And in the end, Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which vanish in a gust of wind.

However, A Wind in the Door gets the top place on this list, I think. It begins with “There are dragons in the twins’ vegetable garden.” and ends with the unforgettable:

“You were gone long enough. Did you count the stars or something?”

“We don’t have to count them,” Meg said. “They just need to be known by Name.” Calvin’s eyes met hers for a long moment and held her gaze, not speaking, not kything, simply being.

Then she went up to Charles Wallace.

Seriously! BEST. ENDING. EVER!

A Swiftly Tilting Planet, both beginning and ending, is tied up in Mrs. L’Engle’s adaption of St. Patrick’s Breastplate, called “Patrick’s Rune” in the story:

In this fateful hour
I place all heaven with its power
And the sun with its brightness
And the snow with its whiteness
And the fire with all the strength it hath
And the lightning with its rapid wrathAnd the winds with their swiftness along their path
And the sea with its deepness
And the rocks with their steepness
And the earth with its starkness,
All these I place
By God’s almighty help and grace
Between myself and all the powers of darkness.

Does that give you goosebumps? It does to me!

And finally, for the Hobbit  and the Lord of the Rings books. Now, I think that, while LotR’s beginning was interesting enough, it’s not quite the same as Hobbit‘s. “In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit.” How’s that for a great opening? It certainly gets questions started as to what a Hobbit is and why it lives in the ground! However, since Hobbit is the prequel to LotR, it makes a lot of sense that way. Frankly, though Hobbit‘s ending is satisfying enough, LotR’s is, in my opinion, the stronger of the two. Both bring about great changes in the world of Middle-Earth. Hobbit sees the return of the King Under the Mountain and the cities of Dale and Esgaroth, while LotR has no less than the return of the King Elessar to both Gondor and Arnor, and the destruction of the One Ring and the overthrowing of Sauron to boot!

In Hobbit, it was Bilbo’s poem that made the greatest impression on me.

Roads go ever on and on
Over rock, and under tree
By caves where never sun has shone,
By streams that never find the sea;
Over snow by winter sown
And through the merry flowers of June,
Over grass, and over stone,
And under mountains in the moon.

Roads go ever on and on,
Under cloud and under star,
Yet feet that have a-wandering gone
Turn at last to home afar.
Eyes that fire and sword have seen
And horror in the halls of stone
Look at last on meadows greenAnd trees and hills they long have known.

And in LotR, Frodo sums it up best: “We set out to save the Shire, Sam, and it has been saved; but not for me.”

In the end, both the Bagginses go into the West with the Elves, in search of Valinor, and Sam returns home to his wife and children. “Well, I’m back.”

Note to Ranger’s Apprentice fans:

I am so sorry, but RA is not eligible to run. Like the Space Trilogy, I haven’t read it enough to know the beginnings and endings very well.

Now for Brian Jaques’ work.

I especially love Mariel of Redwall for its beginning and ending. The book begins with an amnesiac Mariel arriving on the coast of Mossflower country, promising (as Liam would say) the search for the truth about her past. And it closes with the defeat of Gabool and the departure of Mariel and Dandin to go in search of adventure. However, The Legend of Luke and Martin the Warrior, not to mention Mossflower, were close seconds: Legend of Luke for its opening and closing sequences, detailing the building of Redwall Abbey, Martin the Warrior for its description of Martin’s barely-existent childhood and (SPOILER ALERT!) the cheek to kill off a character we really loved to drive Martin southward, toward Mossflower Country, and Mossflower for the arrival of Martin at Kotir in Mossflower and the closing defeat of Tsarmina, who had enslaved the woodlanders.

And as you’re probably already tired of this, I think I will stop after just one more.

Castaways of the Flying Dutchman trilogy.

WHY MR. JACQUES!? WHY!? *bursts into tears*

Each of these books is complex, detailed, involves a much intenser battle between good and evil (sometimes more openly manifested!) than the Redwall books, and remains vivid in the imagination for days and years afterward. (Why do you think I keep on forgetting and naming yet another protagonist “Ben”?! Hint: It’s not just Obi-Wan’s doing! *Obi-Wan shoots an annoyed glance in my direction*) It’s like… gah! I don’t know what to compare it to! Think Jedi Apprentice (Melida-Daan specifically), only little Obi-Wan has a dog and his destiny is tied to the sea, and gaaah the feeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelsss…. *breaks down crying* *Obi-Wan relents and comes over to pat me on the back*

Okay, bad comparison. Let’s see. I think the closest I can get is it’s a bit like Treasure Island (which had a marvelous ending in its own rite,) a bit like what Star Wars would have been if the story centered around Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon had survived to train Anakin, and the sorrows the Elves must face when the younger Children of Illuvatar die. It also has strong resonances with Ranger’s Apprentice (shut it with the whatever-apprentice similes, Erin, before you burst into tears again!) It’s the only series with a ‘young’ protagonist (SPOILER the protagonist is eternally fourteen) I’ve ever read where the hero had no permanent mentor. Sure, he has a mentor/father figure who dies, but after that other people mentor him as well… sort of.

The thing about these books is that the endings are always both sweet, and at the same time, heartbreaking, since Ben and Ned (that’s Ben’s telepathic friend, the dog) must wander the world constantly, helping those they come across, and they can’t let anyone know that they’re immortal. I just want to give them both a great big hug.

*sigh* Excuse me, please. I just wanted to make myself reread all those books. (Dare I say, oops?)

Thanks for reading (and especially for sticking through until the end!), and God Bless!

Pirates and Writers and Bedsocks, Oh My!: The Sunshine Award

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a tale of two cities, arthur ransome, award, baroness emma orczy, bbc merlin, bbc sherlock, being christian, bible, blogging, brian jacques, c.s. lewis, castaways of the flying dutchman, catholic culture, charles dickens, christianity, college, doctor who, g.a. henty, humor, insanity, j.r.r. tolkien, john flanagan, lord of the rings, madeleine l'engle, randomness, ranger's apprentice, redwall, robert louis stevenson, roman catholic, sherlock holmes, sir arthur conan doyle, small rants, space trilogy, star trek, star wars, swallows and amazons, the chronicles of narnia, the scarlet pimpernel, time quintet, treasure island, who framed roger rabbit

I hope you are having a bright and happy day. Because this is a bright and happy picture. And I finally figured out how to insert a picture into a post without downloading it onto my computer! Yay me!

Anyway, Proverbs31teen has awarded me with the Sunshine Blog Award. Which is rather unexpected, ’cause the only award I’ve ever received before was the Liebster. (Four or five times, now. I’ve lost count. :-P) For this one, the rules are rather simple. Five facts about you, answering five questions, setting up five more questions, and nominating five other bloggers. From what I can tell, you don’t have to really nominate people with a certain number or less or more than a certain number of followers for this one, so this should be much easier. *crosses fingers, hoping she didn’t just jinx herself*

First of all, the five facts:

1. I snarked above, but unless your computer is not functioning correctly you probably can’t see it. MWAHAHAHAHAH.
2. Apparently my sense of humor is somewhat impaired; my dad thinks Who Framed Roger Rabbit is hilarious and I don’t even find it remotely funny. (All joking aside, if you don’t want your childhood permanently ruined and your innocence prematurely stolen, do not watch that movie! It is evil incarnate!)
3. Hot dogs, bratwurst, and fish fillets all taste different when eaten on a bun. Which raises the question, how much of the taste of your hot dog is the actual hot dog, and how much of it is the disgusting stuff they bake into the bun (and in the hot dog, too, if you bought the cheap ones)?
4. Apparently you have to send your information into this college’s website several times before it accepts you… *sigh*
5. As you can probably tell, my life is defined by job searching and college prep at this point.

And now, to answer the five questions…

1. You’ve got one day left of your life. What would you want to do? I think I would like to go to Mass with all my friends, and maybe meet a few of the people I know on the Internet whom I’ve never met in real life, and spend the rest of the day with my family.
2. Pirates or ninjas, and why? I’m told this is a “thing” now… I’m going with Sherlock on this one. Pirates, I think. Mainly because I mostly don’t know about ninjas, except that they make really popular Halloween costumes, and my only experience of ninjas is really from “Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu” (GO ZANE!), which is probably kind of sad, come to think of it… Besides, on the side of the pirates, I’m a big fan of Robert Louis Stevenson.
3. If you were turned into one of the Avengers, which one would you be most like? Some people I’ve talked to said Captain America. Others said Bruce Banner. I have never seen the Avengers movie, so I don’t really know.
4. What are your top three favorite Bible characters, and why? Oooh, John the Baptist, Moses, and Paul. (Our Lord TOTALLY goes without saying! And the actual apostles!!!) I’m sticking with more “secondary” characters, though, because, well, these people didn’t get much hype compared to the main players. Anyway, all three of them were amazing men who were rather outspoken but very courageous, and each had a message to get out. Moses is awesome because he’s a prefigurement of Christ, John got beheaded for telling Herod “no, you can’t marry your brother’s wife!” (and he also was preparing the world for Christ’s coming!), and Paul was a tireless preacher of the Gospel. (What is it with me and people who were beheaded? *smacks head against wall* Smooth, Erin, real smooth…)
5. (I’m going to be evil, too) What is your favorite book? Do you mean right-now-favorite, long-time favorites, or all-time favorites? (I have a lot…) Of course, the Bible goes without saying. 😉 For all-time favorites (drum roll, please!) it’s a tie between C.S. Lewis’ The Last Battle and Lord of the Rings. I love The Last Battle for its beauty, apocalyptic feel, the resonances with the Book of Revelation (or Apocalypse, which is a totally better name in my opinion!) For shortness’ sake, though, I normally just say “LOTR FOREVAR!” and leave it at that. Probably ’cause LotR has about ten times as many pages… Long-time favorites? All the Sherlock Holmes books, Baroness Emma Orczy’s The Scarlet Pimpernel and its sequels (and Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, because I can’t very well forget Sydney Carton when we’re in the French Revolution, can I?!),  Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons books, Brian Jacques’ Redwall (and Castaways of the Flying Dutchman, which probably would top this list if I were seriously counting,) C.S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy and Chronicles of Narnia (in fact, anything by Lewis), Madeleine L’Engle’s Time Quintet (I think that I like Madeleine L’Engle’s stuff because it reminded me of Lewis, and I have always loved Lewis), and the works of G.A. Henty (though sometimes I just want to re-write the endings because it would have been TOTALLY better with a different happily-ever-after GAH!). For my right-now-absolute-favorite? John Flanagan’s Ranger’s Apprentice series. (YAY GILAN! AND HALT! AND WILL!!!) What can I say? I couldn’t live without books…

Finally, for my five questions:

1. If you had to choose between the Doctor, Sherlock, Merlin, Luke Skywalker, Matthias, Jim Hawkins, and Sir Percy Blakeney to go on an unexpected and otherwise completely unpredictable adventure with, who would you choose?
2. Who would you be more likely to say “You’re weird!” (complete with exclamation point) to: Obi-Wan, Anakin, Sherlock, Watson, the Doctor, Merlin, or Halt? (If you would be most likely to say “You’re weird!” to Halt, then you have my undying respect. Either you are very brave, or just plain crazy.)
3. Do you wear socks to sleep in? (You’d better bet your fluffy bedsocks you do, young’un, wot?!)
4. What is the best plot you’ve ever had that originated in a dream? (Yes, a sleeping dream. Daydreams don’t qualify. Sorry, Sir Percy.)
5. Have you ever been to Boston in the fall?

And now, I hereby wish to nominate:

Iris, because she’s awesome and encouraging and clever and reckless and everything a best friend forever should be!

Liam, because I couldn’t hit him with any Liebster awards. >:-D (If you were wondering about exactly how many times I’ve received the Liebster award, now, it’s four.)

Rachel Carrerra, because her work is amazing!

Shiekiah, because she deserves it and has written amazing stuff and draws amazing art and I really wanted to say thank-you-for-the-awesome-Bound-to-the-Flame-commissions 😉

Coruscantbookshelf (aka Rosalie), because she got me started blogging in the first place. 🙂

Thanks for reading this post all the way to the end. Thanks for nominating me, Proverbs31teen! Have a great day, everyone, and God Bless!

Teens Can Write Too! Blog Chain: I’d like to read more of this, please…

Tags

bbc merlin, brian jacques, c.s. forester, c.s. lewis, castaways of the flying dutchman, classic science fiction, dee henderson, dorothy sayers, dystopian fiction, fantasy, fiction, g.a. henty, historical fiction, immortality, irene hannon, j.r.r. tolkien, lori wick, post-apocalyptic fiction, redwall, romance, science fiction, speculative fiction, steven king, story dynamics, teens can write too blog chain, the hobbit, the lord of the rings, the sword of damocles, time travel, young adult/juvenile fiction

The prompt for this month’s blog chain was “What sort of fiction would you like to see more of?” My first thought would be, all of it! But I had to be more discerning. What sorts of fiction do I love? What sorts of fiction are under-written?

Personally, my favorite genres are fantasy, mystery, sci-fi, post-apocalyptic, and dystopian. I love to write in them. I love reading them. Some of them, though, already have hundreds of books, and though no genre is consistently well-written, some of these genres have more than their share of marvelous stories. But we could still do with more!

Fantasy is probably the oldest of these genres; the only sort of fiction that is older is probably historical fiction, though if you include fairy tales in the fantasy genre, fantasy is undoubtedly older. As such, there is more material in fantasy than in most of my other listed genres. (It has giants like Tolkien, Lewis, L’Engle, and so forth–how are you supposed to beat that?!) Still, I would like to see more well written fantasy, with original themes and ideas. (For instance, in my latest work in progress, Generations, the sequel of Loyalty, the premise is that magic has been locked away from the world in order to protect it.) I would like to see more fantasy along the lines of The Lord of the Rings, in which the power of the Ring threatens to corrupt anyone who holds it; I would like to see the type of fantasy in which it is emphasized that power is often dangerous and can be intrinsically evil, and the answer can be to not use it, rather than the sort of sword-of-Damocles persecution that often falls upon any character with magical powers in modern fiction. (Yes, I am including BBC Merlin in this condemnation.) Some stories can pull the sword of Damocles off well. Others, it just seems cliche.

I would also like to see more fantasy such as the Redwall books and The Hobbit, in which no character has actual magical powers. Bilbo has his ring, true, but barring that, no one is “empowered”, except Gandalf, and he’s not the main character. I also like The Hobbit because the there-and-back-again has a price. About a third of the original company dies (no spoilers; I’m not saying who.) I don’t like the sort of fantasy where there is no price to be paid.

I would like to see more historical fiction that is more focused on event than romance, such as the works of G.A. Henty. Despite the fact that no one often dies (except the actual historical enactors) in Henty’s works, they are still highly enjoyable. I very highly recommend the Horatio Hornblower series by C.S. Forester, even though it’s for older readers, and should be partaken of in moderation. I would like to see historical fiction that’s more of a bridge between Henty’s style and Forester’s. I would like to see more French Revolution-era and more centered around the actions of William Wallace and Robert the Bruce, especially since much of what there is involving the latter two is biased toward the English rather than the Scots–“the victor writes history.” That may be true, but it takes reading works biased in both directions to be truly balanced.

The Castaways of the Flying Dutchman trilogy isn’t historical fiction, per se; more like a crossover of the best of both fantasy and historical, but I would like to also see more of this sort of story, involving immortality and/or time travel. (Please don’t start with me on Doctor Who. Right now, I just don’t have the time for it 😦 ) It’s a fascinating sort of one-off story that has me intrigued; how would it be if more people took on this sort of premise and actually did well by it?

It would be nice to read more mysteries in the style of Dorothy Sayers, more complex and balanced and well-integrated. Few modern authors can pull off a good mystery as well as the late nineteenth and early twentieth century mystery writers, with the notable exception of Irene Hannon and Dee Henderson (who both classify their work as romance, but whose work also fit into the genres of suspense or mystery.) More on those two later.

Now for sci-fi, post-apocalyptic, dystopian, and speculative fiction. This is one genre in which I won’t particularly lament for the authors of yesteryear. There are a great deal of good authors out there in these genres, and each one of them has fascinating premises. This may be because the genre is comparatively young, and still going strong. It would be nice to see more science fiction in the style known as “classic science fiction,” only meant for younger readers. It can be hard to find good fiction in the young adult/juvenile sections; maybe reading Madeleine L’Engle has spoiled me? ;-P

About romance… Any regular reader of this blog will know that I don’t particularly care for it. It’s not always well-written. Some of it is very unrealistic. And I just don’t feel comfortable writing it. In any book of mine where there is romance, in order so it doesn’t suck I have to make it very subtle and let the action take hold. I’ve been trying to broaden my horizons in that regard, but… meh… with precious little success. However, if Dee Henderson writes more, I will read it. If I can find more by Irene Hannon, I will read it. The other day, because I was bored, I picked up a book by Lori Wick. Just Above a Whisper, I think the title was. It was partly suspense, but mostly romance. What do I mean? Well… I almost stopped reading several times, because the menace from the insane fellow was not close enough. It wasn’t emphasized nearly enough. I didn’t have an urge to keep on reading. The only reason I didn’t put it down was because it was cool in the basement, and I was bored. Call me spoiled, but I didn’t particularly like this book; I couldn’t see why the author was a bestseller. The plot focused more on the heroine’s personal psychological problems, and I didn’t feel the ominous overhang nearly enough. It wasn’t that well integrated and felt almost like a side plot; however, I think it should have been mixed up and made part of the main plot. I felt as if even I, with my lack of talent in the genre, could have done better. It was like a romance with a side of half-baked suspense. Irene Hannon and Dee Henderson don’t have these problems. Nothing important is ever sidelined in their books; the suspense is scary enough to keep you turning pages, but not enough so it keeps you up at night like a Steven King novel (even just a summary!), and the romance is well-balanced and peppy. I want to see more romance that’s well written, even if it’s just for the sake of all the romance fans out there. 😉 I would also like to see more romance that’s based more on commitment and deep friendship rather than shallow passion. Much of what I feel tends to be deep, but I also feel in terms of commitment (if that even makes sense.) Why isn’t there more romance that just speaks to people like me? Forgive me if I’m morbid, but I think this is representation inequality right here. (And I didn’t mean to rant about bad romance. Sorry about that. I don’t mean to bash books, either; I mean, Lori Wick has promise, but I think she needs a good editor and more practice. :-P)

Thanks for reading, and God Bless!

May 5th – http://sammitalk.wordpress.com/

May 6th – http://www.nerdgirlinc.blogspot.com/

May 7th – http://nasrielsfanfics.wordpress.com/

May 8th – https://erinkenobi2893.wordpress.com/

May 9th – http://thelittleenginethatcouldnt.wordpress.com/

May 10th – http://randomofalife.blogspot.com/

May 11th – http://maralaurey.wordpress.com/

May 12th – http://www.fidaislaih.blogspot.com/

May 13th – http://musingsfromnevillesnavel.wordpress.com/

May 14th – http://theloonyteenwriter.wordpress.com/

May 15th – http://insideliamsbrain.wordpress.com/

May 16th – http://taratherese.wordpress.com/

May 17th – http://miriamjoywrites.com/

May 18th – http://oliviarivers.wordpress.com/

May 19th – http://afoodyportfolio.wordpress.com/

May 20th – http://magicandwriting.wordpress.com/

May 21st – http://unikkelyfe.wordpress.com/

May 22nd – http://www.brookeharrison.com/

May 23rd – http://eighthundredninety.blogspot.com/

May 24th – http://www.oyeahwrite.wordpress.com/

May 25th – http://avonsbabbles.wordpress.com/

May 26th – TheUnsimpleMind (no web address)

May 27th – http://thependanttrilogy.wordpress.com/

May 28th – http://www.lilyjenness.blogspot.com/

May 29th – http://sunsandstarsanddreams.wordpress.com/

May 30th – http://teenscanwritetoo.wordpress.com/ Announcement of the next month’s blog chain. 🙂

(Oh, by the way, before I go… does anyone know the difference between speculative fiction and sci-fi, if any? Thanks 🙂 )

How to Save a Life (In Which, I Ramble and Chatter Before Telling the Story)

Tags

bbc merlin, bbc sherlock, brian jacques, castaways of the flying dutchman, classics, completed stories, confusing nonsense, g.a. henty, j.r.r. tolkien, jonathan park, long rants, lord of the rings, redwall, rise of the guardians, sir arthur conan doyle, the scarlet pimpernel

Hello again! I’m back 😀

Okay, so everyone knows how I got into BBC Sherlock, right? Okay. Good. We’re all on the same page, then.

Needless to say, Sherlock is the first fandom that I’ve actually written a fanfic for, other than Star Wars. Believe it or not, some of the other fandoms I’m in (BBC Merlin, Redwall and Castaways of the Flying Dutchman, Madeleine L’Engle’s works, Kidnapped and Treasure Island, The Scarlet Pimpernel and sequels, A Tale of Two Cities, Rise of the Guardians, Lord of the Rings, various other books by Tolkien, books by G.A. Henty, the late, great Jonathan Park radio adventure drama, etc., etc.)… they’re not all that conducive to fanfiction. At least, I’m not inspired therein. So Sherlock fanfiction is really a new thing for me–broadening my horizons, so to speak. But, I’m not that good at writing mysteries or crime drama, having a tendency to break the suspense too soon, among other things… Fortunately, Sherlock lends itself well to character studies and character stories. Probably all my Sherlock fanfiction–that is to say, if I ever write any more–will be limited to one-part short stories. But that doesn’t really bother me. After all, the characters are great and fun to work with, and there’s an obnoxious high-functioning sociopath and a jaded ex-military surgeon who is probably also my definition of a good Christian, judging by his actions… what’s not to love? ;-D

Sorry about the long-winded explanation. Please don’t skip this bit.

This story, according to my standards, is a clean story. Knowing the nature of human-kind and the nature of the show itself, there are probably lots of horrible stories out there which involve things that would sicken me. The show itself is a bit dark, as well as sophisticated, definitely not something I would recommend for anyone under twelve. But this is just pure introspection, with no mention of adult themes, except that the good doctor is under the impression that Sherlock really is dead. So I’d rate this one PG, but only because it deals with inferences to suicide. Please bear in mind that I have not seen The Richenbach Fall or the premiere for the third season, so be merciful. ;-P

Oh dear. I didn’t mean to include a whole review of Sherlock in this! Oh well…

This song-fic is written to the marvelous song How to Save a Life, by The Fray. I understand this is a bit of an older song and is often confused with a movie with a similar name (aka the celebrated To Save a Life), but in my opinion it’s a song everyone should hear.

Enjoy!

How to Save A Life

Step one, you say, “We need to talk.”

He walks, you say, “Sit down. It’s just a talk.”

He smiles politely back at you

You stare politely right on through

Some sort of window to your right

As he goes left and you stay right

Between the lines of fear and blame

You begin to wonder why you came

                “We need to have a talk.” John said. Sherlock stopped for a moment.

“A talk?” he asked.

“Yes, a talk. It’s where two people sit down and agree to get things plain, clear and straight, for once.” John said, stressing “straight” in hopes that Sherlock would actually pay attention. If only it were that easy to get things through his thick head…

“So?” Sherlock began to walk away again.

“And we need to have one,” John said, rising quickly and grabbing Sherlock’s wrist. Sherlock frowned at him in annoyance. Though John was shorter, he was strong, and there was little to be gained by trying to escape his grip.

John could practically see the thoughts going through Sherlock’s mind. Sherlock allowed him to pilot him to the couch, though with a scowl that said he was patently not pleased. He could have gone and jumped in a lake as far as that look went, for all John cared.

“Why are we having a talk, John?” Sherlock asked. John fixed him with a steely glare.

“Ah, now that’s the right question.”

Where did I go wrong? I lost a friend

Somewhere along in the bitterness

And I would have stayed up with you all night

Had I known how to save a life

                Things were going wrong, badly wrong. John’s phone rang. He scarcely comprehended the conversation. One thing was clear. Horribly clear.

Sherlock was going to jump.

Let him know that you know best

‘Cause after all you do know best

Try to slip past his defense

Without granting innocence

Lay down a list of what is wrong

The things you’ve told him all along

Pray to God, he hears you

And I pray to God, he hears you

                “I think we haven’t been communicating nearly well enough, Sherlock,” John said as he sat down in the armchair across from his friend. “You’ve been shutting me out.”

“Have I?” Sherlock said, his voice level, but instead of the eyebrow that normally would go up challengingly John saw genuine surprise—or at least the Sherlock Holmes version of it—on Sherlock’s face. It suddenly occurred to him that maybe Sherlock wasn’t aware that he had been shutting him out.

“You’ve been… distant,” John continued, somewhat more sympathetically. “And I want to know why.” I want to be there for you. Because that’s what friends do.

And where did I go wrong? I lost a friend

Somewhere along in the bitterness

And I would have stayed up with you all night

Had I known how to save a life

                In amidst the anguish of watching his best friend die, John could not help but wonder why he had never spent more of the nights when Sherlock had been awake with his friend. He thought over all the moments he had lost, wishing that he had been less careless. He remembered something his orderly in the army used to say: No one lives without regret.

It was all too true.

As he begins to raise his voice

You lower yours and grant him one last choice

Drive until you lose the road

Or break with the ones you’ve followed

He will do one of two things

He will admit to everything

Or he’ll say he’s just not the same

And you’ll begin to wonder why you came

                “Don’t worry about it, John,” Sherlock said confidently. “It’s all well in hand.”

“But I still want to know about it,” John insisted. Sometimes, it felt like he was driving down a dead-end road. Or maybe he should try another tactic? “Sherlock, I’m your friend. Please, tell me. Other people do this sort of thing all the time.”

“I’m not other people,” Sherlock said.

Where did I go wrong? I lost a friend

Somewhere along in the bitterness

And I would have stayed up with you all night

Had I known how to save a life

                Who had Sherlock been kidding? It had never been under control. And now everything was… was wrong.

As John ran around the building to his friend’s side, he couldn’t help but wonder, why?!

Why, Sherlock?!

Where did I go wrong? I lost a friend

Somewhere along in the bitterness

And I would have stayed up with you all night

Had I known how to save a life

                Pointless.

How to save a life

                So utterly pointless.

How to save a life

                Like his life, after he had been honorably discharged from the army and before Sherlock.

Where did I go wrong? I lost a friend

Somewhere along in the bitterness

And I would have stayed up with you all night

Had I known how to save a life

                As he knelt by Sherlock’s side, searching for a pulse, he couldn’t help but wonder why, again.

They took his best friend—his first friend—his only true friend—away in an ambulance, but John knew the bad news already.

It was as good as taking him away in a hearse.

Sherlock Holmes was dead.

Where did I go wrong? I lost a friend

Somewhere along in the bitterness

And I would have stayed up with you all night

Had I known how to save a life

                He left 221b Baker Street for a new place the next day, with a farewell (tearful, on her part) and many thanks to Mrs. Hudson.

He looked at the wall, which was already being repaired and re-papered after Sherlock’s stunt with the smiley face in spray paint and bullet marks. So easy to erase, so quiet…

Unlike his memories.

How to save a life

                Sherlock watched John, for the first time in his life, almost shy. It was finally time to come back… two years later.

He was strangely afraid, curiously awkward, though he couldn’t wait to see John again. He wanted to tell his friend all the things he had never been able to say—and knew he never could. But John would understand anyway. He always did.

He wanted to tell John how it was the thoughts of him, and Mrs. Hudson, and Molly had kept him going.

He wanted to thank him for getting him off the drugs.

He wanted to tell him thank you for never stopping believing in him, even when times got rough.

He wanted to tell him thank you for saving his life.

Because, in so many ways, John had.

How to save a life

                “Hello, John.”