CreateSpace, Game of Thrones, and historical fiction

But first, a snow update… It’s melting…

CREATESPACE
My 2nd adventure with CreateSpace is coming to a close. (If you missed the original adventure, it’s here – a painful tale.) But I am happy to report that it’s better, and easier, the 2nd time around. I’m formatting Raji Singh’s Tales of the Fiction for print. We are still working through the italics that disappeared when I cleaned up – apparently, over-cleaned  – the Word document. Later this week we’ll upload it to CreateSpace, use the previewer, and with any luck, be given a clean bill of health.

LIFE WITHOUT CABLE
I finished watching Game of Thrones, season 2, last week. Why can’t HBO be nice & stream (or allow pay-per-view) as it broadcasts season 3, which begins at the end of the month? It took 10 months – TEN MONTHS!! – for season 2 to appear on dvd for us humble folks who refuse to shell out $100 a month (or more) for cable tv. Do they realize the much larger buzz they’d get by providing access to the show as it airs? In this day & age, it makes no sense to me to withhold content. What do you think?

FROM FANTASY TO HISTORICAL FICTION
I thought I had a good sense of the events of the Third Crusade & Richard the Lionheart’s capture on his way back home when I first started writing Battle Scars. During the 9+ months I worked on the 1st draft of that manuscript, I found I spent many hours reviewing the chronicles of the time and referring to a lot of biographical materials.

What was I thinking when I let the idea for a sequel creep into my thoughts? I should’ve slapped down that notion immediately, right? But, no. The plot bunnies are breeding like…like rabbits. And as I think of character and story arcs, I realize I’m not overly familiar with the events of 1193-1199 except for 1) Queen Eleanor’s work to see Richard released from captivity (1193/94); 2) the siege of Nottingham (1194); and, 3) Richard’s death (1199).

Fortunately (or not?) I had this strange idea that the sequel might only cover the events from the spring 1193 to the siege of Nottingham in March of 1194. And then… who knows? A whole series of books? Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi…

On that note, I leave you with a quote:

History, a distillation of rumour.
–Thomas Carlyle


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