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Scriptorium ✍🏼 Saturday
Woo! Big week for catching up on stuff at work. Would be even nicer if stuff would stay done but if you give a 🐁 a 🍪, they gonna want a 🥛…
Loves Me, Loves Me Not
There is no disguise which can hide love for long where it exists, or simulate it where it does not. ~Francois de La Rochefoucauld
This year’s Holiday Season Serial Romance is getting interesting.
Ivy is still clinging to her independence and disinterest in a relationship with Ian.
Holly seems to have patched things up with Frank, but have they really reconciled or are there rocky roads ahead?
Well, even in pretend Pennsylvania the roads suck egregiously. We’ll have to see if that features in the story this year.
I was quite happy about having at least a week of story staged ahead, but that ran out yesterday because I had tons of catch up work to do at the day job.
It’s actually quite difficult to maintain enough mental energy to write code and also write stories. I’m old and tired. Gimme a break…
Dredging Up Old Business
A Christmas Carol 1999
Today’s episode features Ivy and Kendra watching A Christmas Carol (aka Scrooge). This version is one of my favorites, particularly since Patrick Stewart is portraying Ebeneezer Scrooge.
I’m not sure which version Kendra and her Aunt Ivy are watching. Probably the Alistair Sim version. That’s the one I really loved to watch growing up.
Of all the Christmas stories, I’d have to say that A Christmas Carol is still my favorite. As much as I like the Santa Clause trilogy with Tim Allen, there’s something about the redemption of a selfish old miser that really brings some catharsis.
Digging Deep
There is nothing new in the world except the history you do not know. ~Harry S Truman
I’ve been digging deep into various eras of history that I hadn’t previously explored before.
As much as I’ve always been a fan of the High Middle Ages, I’m particularly drawn to what’s known as the Dark Ages.
Granted, the later Middle Ages have all the stuff you typically associate with medieval fantasy and historical fiction pieces where knights in full plate mail ride around on crusades and internecine wars such as the Hundred Year’s War, The Crusades and the Wars of the Roses.
The era I was looking for was more in line with the ages of Alfred the Great, Charles Martel, Charlemagne, Rurik of Novgorod, Saint Olga of Kiev, Gaozu and Wu Zetian.
As much as I like the Mongols, they came much later than the era I’m targeting. Thing is, there were always a collection of nomadic raiders who spanned the territory from the eastern shores of Siberia to the Pannonian Plains. They’ve been known as Scythians, Xiongnu (aka Huns), Rouran, Xianbei, Göktürks and a number of other infamous historical hordes.
The area I had envisioned for Auringia was originally more like the Carolingian Empire (that later became the Holy Roman Empire), but I’ve shifted it rather more to the east. I’m picturing something like the area of the Altai Mountains at the crossroads of several Eurasian cultures.
That’s what I’ve been loading my subconscious with lately. I won’t be writing the Tales Of Olde Auringia (officially) for some time to come. I’d like to get a solid grip on what Auringia is for when I’m ready to get rolling with that series.
I know what Empire City is. Unfortunately, its counterpart here in the real world is a freaking mess. Fortunately, I won’t be done with the Christmas story until after the current mayor is finally out of office.
I don’t know if the next one will be much better. I certainly hope so. I wouldn’t want to see the damage the current clown has done to sink the city entirely.
I’ve always enjoyed my trips to The Big Apple. I wouldn’t want to see it turn into an unliveable cesspool because people insist on voting for Democrats.
Please, please, please, stop doing that!
That’s it for today, folks. I’ve got Holly and Ivy to catch up on while the week has ended.