Fan F(r)iction
El Burrito Grande has a few new posts up this week, so if you need a Giants / Jets update, be sure to log on. If you need to see what he is plugging lately, he also has posts about that. But those are things for another day.
Today I would like to address the Earl of Sandwich’s dislike of fan fiction. Little does GRRM know that fan fiction may be our only hope in finishing the series. In fact, if the Duke of Donut doesn’t get cracking we might have to open up the series to the readers of this blog. Maybe I will write two Dany pages, pass it on to Ray, who passes it on to another, and then another, etc. Soon we will have this thing finished. I’ll think about it.
Here is an excerpt from Martin’s Wikipedia file, which I am sure he added to the page himself:
Martin is opposed to fan fiction, believing it to be copyright infringement and bad exercise for aspiring writers. He does not give permission for any of his intellectual property to be used in fan fiction.
Also from the page:
Martin’s Songs of the Dying Earth, a tribute anthology to Jack Vance´s seminal Dying Earth series, is forthcoming (Update: George is now plugging this on his blog as well).
I guess it isn’t fan fiction when you use someone else’s material to write a tribute anthology. Now I’m not saying that Baby Huey plucks characters directly from other authors, but there are enough similarities that one could argue the “originality” of some of the work.
So let’s begin:
Themes: Reader rckytop stole a little of my thunder by mentioning how the first three books of this series are essentially based upon the Wars of the Roses (1455-1485). I could not agree more. More Wikipedia: The wars were fought largely by the landed aristocracy and armies of feudal retainers, with some foreign mercenaries. Support for each house largely depended upon dynastic factors, such as marriages within the nobility, feudal titles, and tenures (sound familiar?).
In fact, the main antagonists in these wars were the Lancasters (Lannisters anyone?). Heavily involved was the Earl of Warwick, know as the Kingmaker (I know, let’s have one of our main characters be the Kingslayer. You see? See how that works? I’m so clever).
We also have the battle of Fire and Ice. No not the old Ralph Bakshi 1983 film Fire and Ice…..wait a minute, an evil lord pushing his ice glaciers towards the open plains looking to cover the world in ice and then sending his sub human hordes forward to kill and enslave? Who will stop them? Oh that’s right, the Dragon Riders of Firekeep. Silly me.
Fire and Ice (Oh wait, it's reversed, a Song of Ice and Fire, right? How unique.), Light vs. Dark, whatever you want to call it , it's an old theme. Harry Turtledove in 1987 wrote The Misplaced Legion saga about a Roman Legion which is transported to an alternate universe. The battle, which ensues, is between Skotos (Greek for darkness) and Phos (Greek for Light). Skotos’ realm is one of ice and darkness, Phos offers the healing powers to his priests, ala Thoros.
Characters to consider:
Khal Drogo: Pick your Khan and call him Khal. Genghis? Why not? He united all the Mongolian Tribes under one banner and roamed NE Asia raiding and conquering. Throw in a little Conan and you get Drogo. But I will push this a little further.
David Cook, of TSR, wrote Horselords in 1990. The book is based on the Mongols (Cook calls then Tuigens) and tribes of the Asian steppe. Set around nomad life, and seen in part from the view of a Tibetanesque monk (Koja) living with this radically different culture. We see the perspective of someone from outside the culture (Koja playing the role of Dany), who is then brought into the Tuigans. He sees the sublime qualities of Yamun Khahan (Drogo), the leader of the Tuigans. Their enemies portray the Khahan and the Tuigan as cruel, unintelligent barbarians, but as the story shows, though the Tuigans generally cannot read or write, Yamun Khahan shows that sometimes the pen is "not" mightier than the sword. Undoubtedly, the Tuigan "are" cruel (real painful torture techniques) ...but Yamun Khahan parallels a Machievellian idea that "A leader is defined by cruelty used well or used poorly". Yamun embodies a greatness that few leaders have; possessing the power and charisma to drive hundreds of thousands of people to victory, death, and glory. Just a little bit like Drogo, don’t you think?
The second installment in the series is called Dragonwall, by Troy Denning. What? A giant wall built to keep barbarians out? Wow. Who would have thought of that? In fact, if I recall correctly, the Dragonwall itself was filled with the spirit of a sleeping Dragon, or an actual Dragon, something like that, which needed to be awakened.
Beric Dondarrion : your basic Robin Hood character with a little Lazarus thrown in. He fights on behalf of the people, gives to the poor and is generally loved by the commons. His Merry Men -- I mean his Brotherhood without Banners -- include Lem (John Little) and Tom of Sevenstreams (Will Scarlett perhaps?), Thoros as the good Friar Tuck, are just a few of the characters who bear a resemblance to the tale.
The Night's Watch: Very similar to the Dúnedain or the Rangers of the North, albeit a more motley bunch. They ceaselessly patrolled the boundaries of Eriador, protecting the realms from evil.
Robert Baratheon: Reminds me way to much of Prince Vultan from Flash Gordon. A quick description of Vultan: Prince Vultan started his career as a half-villain with a lecherous side but soon reformed into one of Flash Gordon's greatest allies. His character fits the stereotype of the barrel-chested chieftain with more than a hint of the pirate captain or the Viking reaver in it, endowed with a booming voice and a great appetite for life, food and women. In the Flash movie with Sam Jones, Vultan even looks like Robert; a large man with dark hair, and a full beard. It's uncanny.
Aegon the Conqueror: His history shows a very similar to that of William the Conqueror. William had a blood claim to the English crown and then crossed the sea (just like Aegon) to invade in 1066.
Petyr Baelish : Machiavelli, or really Machiavelli’s Prince, to a ‘t’. “One who deceives and manipulates others for gain; whether the gain is personal or not is of no relevance, only that any actions taken are only important insofar as they affect the results.” If this doesn’t describe Petyr, nothing does. Petyr is also very similar to Tyrion. In fact, as you listen to the audio books, the constant japes by the two of them and their mental abilities make you think they are the same guy. They are both smart wiseasses that vie constantly for acceptance (Tyrion a little more so). The only difference between the two seems to be that while Tyrion tries to do the right thing, Petyr does the Petyr thing.
Jon Snow: No question he is the Beastmaster, albeit Mark Singer is probably much better looking. Jon can see through the eyes of his wolf, he now has the crow and he is the long lost son of a King (or so we think), just like the Beastmaster. Now only if George will add the Jung Horde to the mix, we will really have something.
The Sansa / Hound relationship: Right out of the pages from Fatboy Slims Beauty and the Beast Days. Except the Hound came around too late, or Sansa was just too naïve to take his help.
The Mountain: The Kurgan (Highlander). Both large and menacing, cruel, evil and singular in their purposes. Based on the movie, the Kurgans were infamous for their cruelty, and were known to "toss children into pits full of starved dogs, and watch them fight [for the] meat" for amusement. This Kurgan ravages the lands and its people and even threw in a bit of rape, just like the amiable Sir Gregor. His motto was "there can be only one", but i think in this case, two.
I am also going to guess that Lancel will become the new Lancelot. A holy warrior looking to repent for his sins. What sins? Well Lancelot slept with the Queen, while Lancel........hey wait a minute. Really George? Has it become that obvious? Are you that hard up for material that you need to pilfer from the Arthurian Legends? At least change the guy's name to something less obvious, like Sir Bil, Sir Lenny or Pickles.
So this is all I have for now. Feel free to add your own or dispute my claims. Another thing I have found odd about George’s works are the number of sociopaths he feels the need to add through out the novels. They have become his stock characters of sorts. But I guess when you do so much twinkying and add so many characters they tend to cross over and sometimes they even pick up the traits of those characters other authors have created.
Today I would like to address the Earl of Sandwich’s dislike of fan fiction. Little does GRRM know that fan fiction may be our only hope in finishing the series. In fact, if the Duke of Donut doesn’t get cracking we might have to open up the series to the readers of this blog. Maybe I will write two Dany pages, pass it on to Ray, who passes it on to another, and then another, etc. Soon we will have this thing finished. I’ll think about it.
Here is an excerpt from Martin’s Wikipedia file, which I am sure he added to the page himself:
Martin is opposed to fan fiction, believing it to be copyright infringement and bad exercise for aspiring writers. He does not give permission for any of his intellectual property to be used in fan fiction.
Also from the page:
Martin’s Songs of the Dying Earth, a tribute anthology to Jack Vance´s seminal Dying Earth series, is forthcoming (Update: George is now plugging this on his blog as well).
I guess it isn’t fan fiction when you use someone else’s material to write a tribute anthology. Now I’m not saying that Baby Huey plucks characters directly from other authors, but there are enough similarities that one could argue the “originality” of some of the work.
So let’s begin:
Themes: Reader rckytop stole a little of my thunder by mentioning how the first three books of this series are essentially based upon the Wars of the Roses (1455-1485). I could not agree more. More Wikipedia: The wars were fought largely by the landed aristocracy and armies of feudal retainers, with some foreign mercenaries. Support for each house largely depended upon dynastic factors, such as marriages within the nobility, feudal titles, and tenures (sound familiar?).
In fact, the main antagonists in these wars were the Lancasters (Lannisters anyone?). Heavily involved was the Earl of Warwick, know as the Kingmaker (I know, let’s have one of our main characters be the Kingslayer. You see? See how that works? I’m so clever).
We also have the battle of Fire and Ice. No not the old Ralph Bakshi 1983 film Fire and Ice…..wait a minute, an evil lord pushing his ice glaciers towards the open plains looking to cover the world in ice and then sending his sub human hordes forward to kill and enslave? Who will stop them? Oh that’s right, the Dragon Riders of Firekeep. Silly me.
Fire and Ice (Oh wait, it's reversed, a Song of Ice and Fire, right? How unique.), Light vs. Dark, whatever you want to call it , it's an old theme. Harry Turtledove in 1987 wrote The Misplaced Legion saga about a Roman Legion which is transported to an alternate universe. The battle, which ensues, is between Skotos (Greek for darkness) and Phos (Greek for Light). Skotos’ realm is one of ice and darkness, Phos offers the healing powers to his priests, ala Thoros.
Characters to consider:
Khal Drogo: Pick your Khan and call him Khal. Genghis? Why not? He united all the Mongolian Tribes under one banner and roamed NE Asia raiding and conquering. Throw in a little Conan and you get Drogo. But I will push this a little further.
David Cook, of TSR, wrote Horselords in 1990. The book is based on the Mongols (Cook calls then Tuigens) and tribes of the Asian steppe. Set around nomad life, and seen in part from the view of a Tibetanesque monk (Koja) living with this radically different culture. We see the perspective of someone from outside the culture (Koja playing the role of Dany), who is then brought into the Tuigans. He sees the sublime qualities of Yamun Khahan (Drogo), the leader of the Tuigans. Their enemies portray the Khahan and the Tuigan as cruel, unintelligent barbarians, but as the story shows, though the Tuigans generally cannot read or write, Yamun Khahan shows that sometimes the pen is "not" mightier than the sword. Undoubtedly, the Tuigan "are" cruel (real painful torture techniques) ...but Yamun Khahan parallels a Machievellian idea that "A leader is defined by cruelty used well or used poorly". Yamun embodies a greatness that few leaders have; possessing the power and charisma to drive hundreds of thousands of people to victory, death, and glory. Just a little bit like Drogo, don’t you think?
The second installment in the series is called Dragonwall, by Troy Denning. What? A giant wall built to keep barbarians out? Wow. Who would have thought of that? In fact, if I recall correctly, the Dragonwall itself was filled with the spirit of a sleeping Dragon, or an actual Dragon, something like that, which needed to be awakened.
Beric Dondarrion : your basic Robin Hood character with a little Lazarus thrown in. He fights on behalf of the people, gives to the poor and is generally loved by the commons. His Merry Men -- I mean his Brotherhood without Banners -- include Lem (John Little) and Tom of Sevenstreams (Will Scarlett perhaps?), Thoros as the good Friar Tuck, are just a few of the characters who bear a resemblance to the tale.
The Night's Watch: Very similar to the Dúnedain or the Rangers of the North, albeit a more motley bunch. They ceaselessly patrolled the boundaries of Eriador, protecting the realms from evil.
Robert Baratheon: Reminds me way to much of Prince Vultan from Flash Gordon. A quick description of Vultan: Prince Vultan started his career as a half-villain with a lecherous side but soon reformed into one of Flash Gordon's greatest allies. His character fits the stereotype of the barrel-chested chieftain with more than a hint of the pirate captain or the Viking reaver in it, endowed with a booming voice and a great appetite for life, food and women. In the Flash movie with Sam Jones, Vultan even looks like Robert; a large man with dark hair, and a full beard. It's uncanny.
Aegon the Conqueror: His history shows a very similar to that of William the Conqueror. William had a blood claim to the English crown and then crossed the sea (just like Aegon) to invade in 1066.
Petyr Baelish : Machiavelli, or really Machiavelli’s Prince, to a ‘t’. “One who deceives and manipulates others for gain; whether the gain is personal or not is of no relevance, only that any actions taken are only important insofar as they affect the results.” If this doesn’t describe Petyr, nothing does. Petyr is also very similar to Tyrion. In fact, as you listen to the audio books, the constant japes by the two of them and their mental abilities make you think they are the same guy. They are both smart wiseasses that vie constantly for acceptance (Tyrion a little more so). The only difference between the two seems to be that while Tyrion tries to do the right thing, Petyr does the Petyr thing.
Jon Snow: No question he is the Beastmaster, albeit Mark Singer is probably much better looking. Jon can see through the eyes of his wolf, he now has the crow and he is the long lost son of a King (or so we think), just like the Beastmaster. Now only if George will add the Jung Horde to the mix, we will really have something.
The Sansa / Hound relationship: Right out of the pages from Fatboy Slims Beauty and the Beast Days. Except the Hound came around too late, or Sansa was just too naïve to take his help.
The Mountain: The Kurgan (Highlander). Both large and menacing, cruel, evil and singular in their purposes. Based on the movie, the Kurgans were infamous for their cruelty, and were known to "toss children into pits full of starved dogs, and watch them fight [for the] meat" for amusement. This Kurgan ravages the lands and its people and even threw in a bit of rape, just like the amiable Sir Gregor. His motto was "there can be only one", but i think in this case, two.
I am also going to guess that Lancel will become the new Lancelot. A holy warrior looking to repent for his sins. What sins? Well Lancelot slept with the Queen, while Lancel........hey wait a minute. Really George? Has it become that obvious? Are you that hard up for material that you need to pilfer from the Arthurian Legends? At least change the guy's name to something less obvious, like Sir Bil, Sir Lenny or Pickles.
So this is all I have for now. Feel free to add your own or dispute my claims. Another thing I have found odd about George’s works are the number of sociopaths he feels the need to add through out the novels. They have become his stock characters of sorts. But I guess when you do so much twinkying and add so many characters they tend to cross over and sometimes they even pick up the traits of those characters other authors have created.