Old-Fashioned Holidays

Having recently discovered we own a copy of Washington Irving's SKETCH BOOK, published around 1820 (one of the books we inherited from my mother-in-law, many of which I shelved without looking at closely), I read his essays/stories about English festivities surrounding Christmas Eve, Christmas day, and Christmas dinner. The narrator, an American visiting England, comments with delight on the customs of the season. The host, a merry old squire, insists on keeping the time-honored traditions as he understands them. None of this modern stuff allowed! Centuries-old songs are sung, games of venerable vintage are played, wassailers are welcomed, the Yule log is burned, a decorated pig's head is ceremoniously carried to the dinner table in lieu of a boar's head. The kindly old gentleman, however, is widely considered eccentric for his devotion to the past. Some of the guests carefully chosen from among the "decent" subset of the local peasantry snicker behind his back. Although the narrator enjoys the celebrations, he makes it clear that the squire is reconstructing traditional customs as he imagines them, not passing them on unbroken from previous generations.

According to THE BATTLE FOR CHRISTMAS, by Stephen Nissenbaum, our concept of an "old-fashioned Christmas" derives in large part from these "sketches" by Irving as well as "A Visit from Saint Nicholas" (aka "The Night Before Christmas"), by his contemporary Clement Clarke Moore, and of course Dickens' A CHRISTMAS CAROL. Nissenbaum offers strong evidence that the Saint Nicholas legend brought to life by Moore didn't cross over intact from Holland. Instead, Santa Claus as popularized in early 19th-century New York and immortalized by Moore was "a conscious reconstruction. . . an invented tradition."

Similarly, Nissenbaum's research reveals that the Christmas tree constituted a purely local custom in a small area of Germany until it became nationwide only in the late 18th century. Moreover, instead of spontaneously spreading from German immigrant communities to the wider American population, Christmas trees first became familiar to the general public from literary sources. Yet already by the mid-19th century people would casually remark that of course they always displayed a tree, as if it were a long-established tradition. Popularization of trees, Santa Claus, and gift-giving went along with the invention of the domestic, child-centered holiday, replacing the REAL "old-fashioned Christmas." To us, the older celebration would look like a rowdy blend of Halloween, Thanksgiving, and New Year's Eve.

Invented traditions continue to spring up in our own era. How could we now imagine the American Christmas season without Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer annually appearing on TV? Yet his story was originally written as an advertising giveaway book for the Montgomery Ward department store in 1939. In a short essay published in the 1950s, C. S. Lewis complains of the Yuletide "commercial racket," implying the phenomenon had intruded on the season quite recently. As Nissenbaum describes at length, though, commercialization of gift-giving infested the child-centered holiday from the beginning. The film A CHRISTMAS STORY, what I think of as "the BB gun movie," presumably set pre-World-War-II like the book it's based on, showcases a department store Santa in a lavishly consumerist setting.

In my childhood home, Christmas traditions included having the extended family over on Christmas Eve, emerging from our bedrooms the next morning to the sight of a dazzling spread of presents from Santa, and driving to my grandmother's house for Christmas dinner. (When I could get away with it, I sat in a corner reading a new book; I figured that shouldn't be a problem because the adults would be talking to each other, not to me, anyway.) Our kids' Christmas traditions, in addition to church, festive dinners, and gifts, involved watching programs such as Rudolph, Charlie Brown, the Grinch (the Boris Karloff cartoon, of course!), and later the BB gun movie. Nowadays, with the prevalence of streaming media, the custom of a family gathering around the TV to watch one show together threatens to die out, if it hasn't already. What will our great-grandchildren (we currently have four) look back on as cherished holiday traditions that have "always" been done?

For many of us, a "traditional" holiday means customs as we imagine them having been celebrated in our grandparents' childhoods, whenever that may have been. "Over the river and through the woods. . . ." With snow, naturally, "dreaming of a white Christmas," even if we live in a region where the most we can expect are a few flurries in January. As Rudyard Kipling's ode of farewell to Romance -- in the sense of an imagined, ideal past more romantic than the dull, mundane present -- concludes, "Then taught his chosen bard to say: Our king was with us -- yesterday."

Margaret L. Carter

Please explore love among the monsters at Carter's Crypt.

Less Envy

I feel a rant coming on.

 

In the world rankings for the best education systems, Great Britain comes third. America comes twelfth, so, as a British-educated person, I feel that I may opine a little.

 

There are two things that may contribute to America's dismal performance... not to mention Noah Webster, who dumbed down the language and  thereby obscured the etymological roots of words. 

One of those things is the First Amendment as applies to advertising and general standards of literacy in broadcast media. There is no mechanism to prevent poorly educated young advertising employees from drumming bad grammar and vile word choices into our heads.

Another is sloppy scholarship, especially in the field of editing works that purport to be educational. Oooh, harsh.

I have two examples: the confusion between the abstract nouns "Envy" and "Jealousy", and between the comparative adjectives "Less" and "Fewer".

Envy and Jealousy are different sins. Envy is like covetousness. It is the desire to have something that someone else has. Jealousy is like greed. It is the desire to keep good things for oneself.

It would be wrong to say, "I'm jealous of his hair..." unless he is wearing a toupee made of my own hair.

 

One is jealous of something that belongs (or once belonged) to one, and that one resents someone else enjoying. One could guard a possession jealously; for instance, one might guard the manicured lawn to one's home, and shout at dog walkers who allow their dogs to squat on it.

It would be grammatically correct to say, "I envy his hair," if my own hair (or lack thereof) does not compare favorably with his.

The simplest, five-word mnemonic for the difference between jealous and envious is:  

"A jealous husband; envious Casca."

 

Othello was a jealous husband. ("Othello", Shakespeare). Casca was described by Anthony as envious. ("Julius Caesar", Shakespeare).

" n Julius Caesar, Antony describes Casca as envious to highlight Casca's underlying jealousy and discontent. This characterization serves to illustrate the personal and political motivations driving Casca's involvement in the conspiracy against Caesar."

Notice how the cheat sheet editors muddy the waters of scholarship by writing that Casca is described as envious because he is jealous? 

My reference: "Julius Casear" Act 3-Verse 2- Line 174. "See what a rent envious Casca made..."

A fine discussion of the actual assassination can be seen here:

https://onlinecoursesblog.hillsdale.edu/the-assassination-of-julius-caesar/

 

Another scholar and his editor apparently did not bother to fact check a reference to murder in "Julius Caesar", and asserted that the envious assassin was Cassius. Of course, Cassius may have also been envious, but he is not immortalized for that motivation by Shakespeare.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/joy-and-pain/201401/what-is-the-difference-between-envy-and-jealousy

Casca has a Wiki page. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publius_Servilius_Casca

By the way, Publius Servilius, Capurnaum, Brachiosaurus...  what do they have in common? A diphthong. Americans struggle with dipthongs, which might be a topic for another day.

And so, to comparing and contrasting the comparatives of the day.

Fewer vs. Less—Explanation and Examples | LanguageTool

"Less is More" is an oxymoron, (that link links to an excellent explanation of the etymology of "oxymoron" and its use in poetry to stimulate thought), often associated by the architect and designer Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe, who abhorred clutter and excess.

Less Is More - Meaning & Origin Of The Phrase

Less is like a measure of flour in a baking recipe... uncountable elements, measured by the spoonful, or cupful... or vodka in a martini, or trouble, or time, incentives, or money, (especially fixed value units of currency such as 100 dollars, or effort.

Fewer is like the counting of lemons,  or minutes, or seconds, or casualties, or single-denomination dollars, or choices, or alternatives, options, problems, people, customers, demonstrators, members of an audience, ideas, stars in the sky.

'Fewer' and 'Less'

That's it, more or less. Notice it next time an anchor or actor or advertisement gets it wrong. It's probably too late to do anything about it, because the errors will have been scarfed up by AI and will be inserted willy-nilly (will he/ ne will he) into our written consciousness.

PS. The online dictionaries have "willy-nilly" wrong, etymologically speaking, but they are in a majority, so what can one do? 

 

Think about it: "will he" is much closer to "willy" than "will I"... if you speak it.  The "n" part of "nilly" is from the French, where "ne" is a negative prefix.

"In French, a negative sentence is formed by using the words "ne", “n’ ”, and "pas" around a verb. "Ne" comes before the verb, and "pas" follows it.

For example, "Je ne parle pas" means "I don't speak". The placement of "ne" and "pas" around the verb is the most basic form of creating a negative statement."

And, thus, I end on a negative note, much as I began.

All the best,

Rowena Cherry 

SPACE SNARK™ 

https://www.spacesnark.com/  

https://www.rowenacherry.com

EPIC Award winner, Friend of ePublishing for Crazy Tuesday   

{Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review: Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights Edited by Chris Bain, Patrick Weekes, Matthew Goldman, and Christopher Morgan by Karen S. Wiesner

 

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Book Review: Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights

Edited by Chris Bain, Patrick Weekes, Matthew Goldman, and Christopher Morgan

by Karen S. Wiesner

  

Warning Spoilers! 

Prior to Dragon Age: The Veilguard's release (which I reviewed last week and you'll probably want to refer back to in reading the reviews of these strongly connected individual tales), a new anthology of short stories was released in March 2020 called Tevinter Nights. As the name implies, all the stories are set in Dragon Age's Thedas, many directly in the Tevinter Imperium, where magic-wielding magisters rule and blood magic isn't forbidden. I bought the book (complete with a gorgeous, foldout, color map) at the time of its publication and read it, but since The Veilguard was still in development at that time (and wasn't even named that until later), I felt like I didn't understand where all the stories were coming from. Following the release of The Veilguard, I got it out again and started rereading it. With a much better understanding of all the things going on around the events of the new game, I enjoyed the stories immensely. In fact, it may be the only anthology collection that I enjoyed every single one of the stories included. The tagline of this collection really says it all: "Ancient horrors. Marauding invaders. Powerful mages. And a world that refuses to stay fixed… Welcome to Thedas." Dragon Age is everything I look for in the fantasy genre and then some. 

In this collection, readers are getting a real treat with stories written by nine BioWare staff writers who really know the world contained in the Dragon Age franchise that includes but isn't limited to videogames, electronic games, books, comics, film and television, tabletop roleplaying games, and music. As I said last week, you might be interested in my previous review of all things Dragon Age, which is here: https://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2022/11/karen-wiesner-fiction-series-so-big.html. 

Below you'll find reviews of every story in the collection. Be aware that a major plot angle in Dragon Age: The Veilguard videogame centers around ancient Tevinter artifacts being stolen or unearthed in order to aid the evil that wants to take over the world. So several of these short tales have that as a major theme. Below, I've listed each story in the order they appear in the original publication.

                                                                   

1.     "Three Trees to Midnight" by Patrick Weekes: At the time The Veilguard is set, there's a qunari invasion going on in Thedas that's changing the world. This first story focuses on their capture of a Dalish elf Veil Jumper named Strife (who's featured in the videogame along with Irelin, a team-mate also in this story) and a mage named Myrion. Qunari deeply distrust and put down mages, so Myrion has to hide his powers once he's captured. He's chained to the elf Strife. Tevinter magisters treat elves as nothing more than slaves. So there was a lot of "Enemy Mine" racial prejudice in this this story as the two are forced to work together in order to escape their relentless captors.

 

2.     "Down Among the Dead Men" by Sylvia Feketekuty: The Mourn Watch are the elite guardians of the Grand Necropolis, reverently caring for the dead. They're also a faction of a larger organization, the Mortalitasi. In Inquisition, I was led to believe the Moralitasi are all evil, but in The Veilguard, I learned that's not always the case. We met one of their order, Emmrich, in Veilguard, along with his beloved skeletal companion Manfred, and I was pleased to see them play a role in this particular story in which a guardsman investigates a death in the Necropolis. Very intriguing setting in both the game and this wonderful story with a twist ending.

 

3.     "The Horror of Hormak" by John Epler: My favorite part of Dragon Age has always been the Grey Wardens, those who give so sacrificially in order to maintain a constant vigilance over the return of darkspawn and potential Blights. This story has two Wardens investigating the disappearance of a scouting party. This story is horror in its purest, most intriguing form, and it was an instant favorite of mine.

 

4.     "Callback" by Lukas Kristjanson: Dragon Age: Inquisition had an unmarked quest about "Sutherland and Company" that was mainly followed through War Table operations. If you didn't screw these up and prematurely end the venture, they culminated in an actual crusade for the Inquisitor to save Sutherland and his band of misfits. In this story, the Inquisition has disbanded but their headquarters Skyhold is still maintained by caretakers that haven't been heard from in a while. Sutherland and Company are sent by the Inquisitor to investigate. I loved revisiting Skyhold and these uber-loyal, unlikely heroes.

 

5.     "Luck in the Gardens" by Sylvia Feketekuty: Another beloved Inquisition character, Dorian, makes an appearance in this fun story in which a member of the Lords of Fortune (from The Veilguard) investigates a series of monster killings in Minrathous.

 

6.     "Hunger" by Brianne Battye: In The Veilguard, we're introduced to two married Grey Wardens, Evka and Antoine. This story takes place while these new recruits are traveling to report for duty at Weisshaupt Fortress. They're sidetracked in a town cursed by mysterious and monstrous deaths. This was a neat background to the roles these two end up playing in the videogame, and a precursor to their romance.

 

7.     "Murder by Death Mages" by Caitlin Sullivan Kelly: Mortalitasi is the umbrella organization of "death mages" in the Grand Necropolis that advise Nevarran nobility. The Pentaghast family (re: Cassandra from Inquisition) were some of the founders. Though the group is well-respected in Nevarra, outside they're feared as a cult. The current ruler of Nevarra is aged and weak, his sanity uncertain, and most believe the Mortalitasi are ruling through him. Cassandra Pentaghast, one of the Inquisition's inner circle, assigns a volunteer in the Inquisition to investigate the death of a death mage. This Inquisition mage volunteer was raised by and eventually abandoned this particular death mage, vowing never to return to Nevarra. A Mortalitasi member is suspected of causing political unrest in order to assassinate Nevarra's ruler. Both Cassandra and this investigator have a lot at stake in seeing this situation resolved. While the point-of-view character wasn't exactly lovable, with baggage that's made her bitter and withdrawn, the story had an intriguing whodunit with a lot of complications to keep it suspenseful.

 

8.     "The Streets of Minrathous" by Brianne Battye: Neve Gallus is one of the main companions in The Veilguard, a member of the Shadow Dragons, and a supernatural detective. In the videogame, her loyalty quests all involve a Venatori agent, Aelia, who's trying to subjugate Minrathous (isn't it ironic how often a tyrant calls it "freeing" a population?). This story is the background to all of that--and it's also here we find out what happened to the Templar Brom, something only referenced in the videogame. I enjoyed this setup to a pivotal character in the game.

 

9.     "The Wigmaker Job" by Courtney Woods: Another inner circle Veilguard member, Lucanis Dellamorte, is an Antivan Crow assassin. We learn much more of his background in this story detailing a heist with his cousin Illario (also featured in the videogame), which doesn't get into how Lucanis came to have a demon inhabiting his body, which is a focus of the game.

 

10.  "Genitivi Dies in the End" by Lukas Kristjanson: The Veilguard Lords of Fortune are included in this crazy, off-beat story that I really don't even know how to describe beyond that a weird group containing a bard, a brother in the Chantry, a qunari mage, and a writer take on qunari Antaam (military) in order to steal some ancient elven artifacts. It seems they did this for the sole purpose of their art--in other words, so they'd have something exciting to write about for their ravenous fans to devour. Writers will appreciate this literary escapade, highlighting the extreme lengths authors will go to get a great story.

11.  "Herold Had the Plan" by Ryan Cormier: Two Lords of Fortune (one who recently lost his adventuring partner Herold of four decades) stealthily steal an ancient Tevinter relic that heals even the deadliest of wounds during a Grand Tourney. Unfathomably, every knight in the arena is instantly on their tails. Before long, they realize that their third partner-in-crime has stolen the tourney's grand prize right off the grandstand--the legendary Celebrant greatsword. This was a fun, thrilling story that had unexpected depth and heart at its core.

 

12.  "An Old Crow's Old Tricks" by Arone Le Bray: Lessef of the Antivan Crows fulfills the contract to exact vengeance on those who murdered the Dalish elf clan Oranava. This was a clever story that took a bit to coalesce and make sense, as it's told mainly from the points-of-view of those about to be assassinated who foolishly think they're invincible.

 

13.  "Eight Little Talons" by Courtney Woods: This was probably my favorite in the collection. Here, the author has done an Agatha Christie, following the style of And Then There Were None. The eight major players that head the Antivan Crows are called "Talons" and the hierarchy is from Talon 8 being the lowest of them, to Talon 1 being the highest ranking. Along with their fellow Talons, #5 Talon Viago and #7 Teia (who are featured in The Veilguard) are called to a summit at the First Talon's island home to discuss the qunari and the security of their nation, Treviso. One by one, the Talons are picked off at this secluded meeting, each death re-enacting infamous Crow assassins of the past. This is an obvious statement that no other Crows are safe. In this location, the killer is either hiding somewhere on the island or it's one of their own. (Intriguing--Crows hunting Crows.) Viago and Teia investigate. I loved both of these well-drawn characters, and their obvious attraction to each other sets the stage for their compelling banter in the videogame.

 

14.  "Half Up Front" by John Epler: Another Tevinter artifact--Dumat's Folly (a puzzle that needed to be solved in the Dragon Age II DLC Legacy)--has been stolen. A thief is hired to find out who stole it from the Chantry and why--and to steal it back. The events in this tale directly play into the videogame, which really adds more dimension to that story, since this artifact is one that's integral to Solas/Fen-Harel's ultimate plan. I will also note that the story reminded me a lot of the events in the manga TV miniseries, Dragon Age: Absolution, which aired on Netflix in December 2022 and takes place around the time of The Veilguard. In Absolution, the Inquisition employs two members of the Absolution team, one of them its agent Fairbanks, who was a freedom fighter that asked the Inquisition to reclaim his home, the Emerald Graves. None of the other characters in the miniseries are recognizable, to me anyway. (The voices are very familiar for those who play videogames though.) While I really can't stand anime and manga and therefore I had a lot of trouble getting through even three of the six episodes available in the first season, there were some fun moments in the early episodes and the overall story had a really good twist I didn't see coming (I read a summary of the final episodes rather than forcing myself to watch them). Fans of the series that enjoy anime or manga would probably get much more out of Absolution than I did. Suffice it to say that the story in Absolution paralleled a lot of what was in "Half Up Front", almost too closely. At first, I even though they were the same characters from one to the other, though they weren't. In the end, I felt like one of these was redundant, as they're so similar as to be the same story. I believe "Half Up Front" is probably the most valuable, as it points directly to events in The Veilguard.

 

15.  "The Dread Wolf Take You" by Patrick Weekes: "May the Dread Wolf take you" is an old Dalish curse that gives this story even more meaning. The main character, Charter, was one of Leliana's top spies from Dragon Age: Inquisition. In this story, she's called together a clandestine meeting of Thedas's top spies in order to share information about Solas and his plans to restore the ancient elven empire by tearing down the Veil. In this secret place are a Carta assassin, a Moralitasi, an "Executor" from across the sea, and an Orlesian bard. Each tells a piece of the tale, and it becomes clear that the target for each of their encounters with Solas was the red lyrium idol that was the cause of destruction in Kirkwall in DA II. Little does Charter realize that the cloak-and-dagger meeting has an unexpected guest! I read this story all but holding my breath. I couldn't identify any of the characters other than Charter, but it was very clear that this was the setup for events (and even some of the pivotal settings) about to unfold in The Veilguard.

For anyone following my reviews of short story collections and my philosophy about how short story collections should be arranged, I think the editors did a fantastic job of exactly placing every story in Tevinter Nights in the order needed for optimal reading. The slightly weaker stories are wonderfully anchored and buoyed by the stronger ones with the strongest ones as the first, last, and middle. 

In one sense, Tevinter Nights may not be a good introduction into the world explored in the Dragon Age series, since a lot of the material requires a bit of understanding in how the world of Thedas is run, the crucial events, etc. But, in another, these are just well-written, slice of life stories, a lot of which include magic, mages, mysteries, monsters, and intricate political machinations. Even if you're not familiar with DA lore, there's still lot to love here and, if you're ultimately lured in by these compelling tales, there's so much more to explore in this expansive realm. 

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog 

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor 

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

Welcome to the Future

Recommended for fans and writers of near-future science fiction: YOU CALL THIS THE FUTURE? THE GREATEST INVENTIONS SCI-FI IMAGINED AND SCIENCE PROMISED (2007), by Nick Sagan, Mark Frary, and Andy Walker, systematically explores fifty examples of scientific, technological, and social developments predicted in fiction from the perspective of which have come true or might plausibly do so. The possibilities range from those that already exist in some form (e.g., cloning, telemedicine, AI marketing, e-books, bionic organs, space tourism) all the way to concepts that may remain flights of fancy, such as warp drive and time travel.

Coverage of each topic is divided into three parts, headed Scientific History, Sighting in Sci-Fi, and Reality. Some also include a section titled "Tech Spec," such as facts about "truth serum" and an explanation of the procedure involved in cloning the famous sheep Dolly. Inventions and developments fall under the categories of Travel and Transportation (of course including flying cars and personal jetpacks); Computers, Cyborgs, and Robots; Communications; Weapons and Security; and the very broad field of Life, Health, and Sex. If the authors hadn't apparently deliberately restricted each category to ten items, doubtless the latter could have included much more content. The text is both highly readable and informative, as well as illustrated with numerous photos and drawings. Commendably, there's also an index. In addition to the book's entertainment value, it could serve as a quick reference source for SF authors.

Although published recently enough to reflect most of the cutting-edge technology we currently have, it leaves plenty of room for speculation about science-fiction devices and techniques that don't exist yet. J. D. Robb's "In Death" mystery series, set around 2060, has featured a combination handheld computer and portable phone called a "link" since the publication of the first novel in 1995. That vision has come true way ahead of schedule. On the other hand, I'm still waiting for the household cleaning robot Robert Heinlein promised we'd have in 1970, in his 1957 novel THE DOOR INTO SUMMER.

On the third hand, consider all the wonders we enjoy that weren't even imagined just decades ago, as celebrated in Brad Paisley's upbeat song "Welcome to the Future":

Welcome to the Future

Margaret L. Carter

Please explore love among the monsters at Carter's Crypt.

{Put This One on Your TBR List} Videogame Review: Dragon Age: The Veilguard by Karen S. Wiesner

 

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Videogame Review: Dragon Age: The Veilguard

by Karen S. Wiesner

 

Warning Spoilers! 

Dragon Age: The Veilguard videogame was released at long last on October 31, 2024 and is the fourth major game in the franchise, a direct sequel to 2014's Inquisition, set ten years after those events. All new locations in the fictional world of Thedas are revealed, including Tevinter Imperium, which fans like me have been champing at the bit to explore since it was first mentioned in the previous games and books. You can find my review of the wide world of Dragon Age here: https://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2022/11/karen-wiesner-fiction-series-so-big.html. 

At the end of Inquisition, Thedas was saved yet again, but Solas, the elven mage on the Inquisitor's main team, inexplicably went missing following the final battle. Readers then watched a very strange, final scene in which Solas secretly meets with Mythal--the elven protector, all-mother, and goddess of love that we've known throughout the series as Flemeth, Witch of the Wilds, and who's come in many forms, including as a High Dragon in DA II and Inquisition. The consequences of that meeting between Solas and Mythal proved shocking to the extreme! 

The very last chapter of Inquisition you could play was the DLC Trespasser, set two years after the Inquisitor's victory against the villain Corypheous. The Inquisition goes to the Winter Palace in Halamshiral for diplomatic talks concerning the future of their organization. A secret qunari invasion is uncovered as the Inquisitor's inner circle utilizes the Eluvian network, which is a series of elven-made, enchanted mirrors that connect and allow for fast transportation and communication. All of this is interwoven with their pursuit of former comrade Solas and finding out what he's up to. At the end of Trespasser (if all the clues were found during the game), Solas reveals that he's in fact Fen-Harel, an elven god of old that many called the Dread Wolf. He created the Veil--the metaphysical boundary between the physical world and the Fade (a dimension of dreams and magic where a lot of demons and trapped spirits hang out). He did it to imprison two other ancient, evil elven gods. Solas's intention is to collapse the Veil and restore the world of the ancient elves, something that will almost certainly destroy the rest of the world. 

The Veilguard's protagonist "Rook" (the player gets to choose a first name) is recruited by Varric Tethras, who's been in the series from the beginning. Varric is intent on finding Solas to stop him from destroying the Veil. When Rook disrupts Solas's ritual, two ancient evil gods are released while Solas becomes imprisoned in the Fade and bound to Rook through blood. Gods' of old siblings Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain plan to harness the blight--darkspawn corruption--in order to rule the world. 

Because of their connection, Rook ends up at the Lighthouse, Solas's "home" in the Fade. This becomes the main hub and base of operations for Rook and companions between quests. Rook recruits a team that needs to be strengthened through faction cooperation and personal loyalty in order to defeat the villains. The following are recruited early in the game:

·       Harding of the Inquisition, who was the lead scout for all locations in the previous game, though not a member of that inner circle, as she is here. (The Inquisitor does actually play a role in Veilguard.)

·       Neve, representing the Shadow Dragons, a Tevinter resistance group that opposes corruption and slavery--and Venatori, a supremist cult of mainly mages who worship the ancient elven pantheon of gods, the Evanuris. First, the Venatori supported Corypheus in Inquisition and in Veilguard they're now backing Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain. (Note that Dorian from Inquisition is associated with the Shadow Dragons.)

·       Lucanis, an Antivan Crow, an organization of elite thieves, spies, and assassins that have been part of the world since the beginning.

·       Bellara, a Veil Jumper, the group uncovering the secrets of Arlathan forest's ancient elven empire, once their capital. (Note that Morrigan, who's been a feature in DA since Origins, makes a comeback in this game, first appearing alongside the Veil Jumpers.)

·       Davrin, a Grey Warden, an age-old order committed to fighting darkspawn and the Blight, along with Assan, an adorable griffon. Up until this point in the series, it's been believed griffons were extinct. What a thrill to have my longing for them to be brought back fulfilled!

·       Emmrich of the Mourn Watch, guardians of Nevarra's Grand Necropolis.

·       Taash of the Lords of Fortune, a guild of Rivaini treasure hunters. (Isabela, the pirate, from DA Origins and II is associated with this faction and plays a role in this game.)

Even if the Veilguard--with the backing of hopefully all the factions--manages to stop Elgar-nan and Ghilan'nain, they still have to convince Solas not to collapse the Veil and destroy the world as they know it. 

I preordered the deluxe edition for both PS5 and Xbox 10 and uploaded it just as soon as I could get the wrapping off the games. I began playing and invested 125 hours in it over the next little-more-than-a-week, achieving 100% of the accomplishments. Stylistically gorgeous and immersive, I was drawn in immediately. I absolutely loved the character creation. As usual, you can "design" your Rook from top to bottom, choosing to be male, female, or even non-binary. You can be a human, a dwarf, an elf, or a qunari. You decide whether to play as a rogue, a mage, or a warrior and choose a specialization in each class. Additionally, you have to select a faction to be affiliated with (Shadow Dragon, Antivan Crow, Veil Jumper, Grey Warden, Mourn Watch, or Lords of Fortune). You even get to design the previous Inquisitor from Inquisition, as that character gets an important role in Veilguard as well, considering their background with Solas. Because there are so many choices to make, you could replay this game dozens of times and never have the same experience. 

Two new things you can choose from in the settings are: 1) whether to have your Rook full-on naked or wearing "smallclothes" when undressed, and 2) whether Rook can die in the many, many battles. I found both to be major improvements. However, I didn't care for the sparse-enough-to-be-useless, in-game maps. There were beacons in each of the locations that provided location markers and fast travel options. However, none were named so I could never remember which ones were near merchant locations or other important areas, etc. Some of the treasure was marked on the maps, but not all of it, and not all locations were open through various points in the game, so I always had to go back later and find more since I wanted the 100% achievement. There was also only one option for setting markers on the map to follow--via the visible treasure chests. Since each location had multiple floors, it quickly became a nightmare. Puzzles were a huge part of this game, which I mainly loved, though some were hard enough to make me want to cry. I wasted countless hours being lost and frustrated by finding and completing these--the things I spent the majority of my time on in this game were locating everything and solving all the puzzles in every location. At least those were mainly enjoyable. 

The first several "chapters" of the game were more like a movie the developers wanted players to watch rather than actively participate in. All the dialogue, combat, and treasure-finding struck me as distractions while the theme was being established. Then Rook made it to the Lighthouse, and suddenly the entire world opened up. I knew that this game was going to be much more linear than previous ones, which are open-world and can be explored without any need to hurry or follow a set list of quests. I'm not a huge fan of linear games, preferring to set my own pace and decide what to do in the order I choose. That said, I found I didn't mind the linear construction as much as I initially feared I would because there was a lot of freedom despite it. 

This is one of the few games I've played where everything felt so real, I could have actually been there alongside the characters, living every moment of it. Even when I left to, you know, actually live my own life, I felt that a huge part of me was still there. All the mystery, suspense, thrills, horror, sadness, devastation, laughter and relief--it's built in and abundant in The Veilguard. The character relationships were incredible. Few games are so attentive to constant interactions between all the characters. If I left the Lighthouse for a mere two seconds, there was always new dialogue with all the team members when I returned. Also, in previous games, team members engaged in dialogue that was lost whenever a situation started or we left an area. Here, the characters kept returning to that same dialogue until it was completed, so I didn't miss anything. 

Additionally, romance options were made "pansexual" with all the companions as options. I admit that in my first playthrough, I wasn't absolutely thrilled with the romance my Grey Warden human rogue Rook had with Davrin because it was so slow-moving as to be virtually nonexistent. There was a single quest near the end of his companion missions that solidified the romance, and there was some mild kissing in that. Even there, dialogue wasn't sexy or particularly romantic, nor did it continue when they returned to the Lighthouse. Then, when all hell broke loose and the world was shattering beyond recognition, there was a very weird scene in which Davrin says he'll meet Rook in her room at the Lighthouse. What took place there was so painfully inappropriate, I could barely stand it--mainly because of the timing. The very last thing I would have felt like doing at that juncture was getting it on with someone I'd exchanged only mostly friendship banter with up to that point. The relationship should have had many more romantic interactions and then taken that intimate turn much sooner, so it would have felt more natural and not so "What the heck? It's the end of the world and you wanna do what?" It was excruciating. I was glad it wasn't graphic and that the consummation was over quickly. Hopefully romances with other characters in subsequent playthroughs will be more realistic, better developed, and fit the events around them in a much more organic way. 

The locations were diverse and some of the best I've ever encountered in a game. I enjoyed getting to know each of them and learning so much more about the world and lore of Dragon Age. 

The end-of-game sequence was epic, so life-like, I alternated between tears, terror, and complete exhaustion. Inquisition was a bust when it came to the final battle. It wasn't difficult, and, after 130 hours of game play, felt like it was over in the blink of an eye. Not so in The Veilguard! My team was in jeopardy often--in part because of the (fortunately, good and wise) choices I made throughout the game--during escalating tiers of events all leading toward the final showdown. In this game, there's an ideal ending, a good ending, and a bad ending. I got the ideal my first time through, mainly because my priority never wavered from building my team's loyalty and the helping the factions in whatever way I could. 

I worried because I bought and started playing the game immediately after it came out (not something I ever do) that it'd have a lot of glitches and I'd miss something through the first playthrough that would adversely affect me until I could rectify the situation with a second playing. When a game is first released, gamers can no longer buy the huge, deluxe printed walkthrough books that Prima used to offer in advance, for those who like to know what they're going into prior to playing the game. Now we rely on other online gamers if we get to the point where we're stuck while playing for the first time. There's not a lot of material available when a game is initially released, so I spent an inordinate amount of time figuring things out on my own without help. When I'm playing a game, I want the experience of the story, not necessarily any of the frustration. So my endeavor wasn't as rewarding as you might assume. 

In the end, I did get everything that mattered. Incidentally, one of the achievements--the 52nd out of a total of 53--was basically something like "falling at the Lighthouse". I couldn't figure out what that meant and tried different things in the course of gameplay without success, so Achievement 52 and the one for getting all other achievements went unfinished when I completed the game. At that time, I decided to go back in and try something else. I had a save I'd called "PointofNoReturn" and retained which allowed me to attempt one last thing to get those final two achievements. This time what I did worked, and I got a hundred percent of the achievements. Lucky I had that save! While I'm not sure which Dragon Age game installment is my favorite (2 and 3 are definitely contenders), The Veilguard is now firmly near the top as well. 

For those interested, I've uploaded a comprehensive quest list (that includes major spoilers) for The Veilguard on my website. You can find it here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/uploads/2/3/5/5/23554234/dragonagetheveilguardchecklist.pdf. 

Next week, I'll review the corresponding collection of short stories, Tevinter Nights, that came out in advance of DA: The Veilguard. 

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor 

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy American Thanksgiving!

It's been our custom for many years -- aside from the COVID-19 hiatus -- to attend Chessiecon (formerly Darkover Grand Council) on Thanksgiving weekend. Located just north of Baltimore, it's an easy drive from home for us, so we don't have to worry about travel stress. This year, though, the parent organization doesn't have sufficient funds to put on a convention. They're holding a virtual meeting soon to discuss the future of the con.

Their website:

Chessiecon

Wishing everybody a joyful festive gathering and, if you're leaving home, safe travel.

Margaret L. Carter

Please explore love among the monsters at Carter's Crypt.

Unprotectable

My "Unprotectable" title today comes with the earworm "Unforgettable" by Nat King Cole. One might or might not be surprised at what can and cannot be protected by copyright.

Gravestones for instance. Also, short phrases and advertising copy. Most writers are aware of  the saying, "You cannot copyright a title"...although there are exceptions. Publishers have been able to obtain limited copyright protection for the title of a series of books.

One cannot copyright "R.I.P", for instance, on a gravestone, because there is no originality about it, and it has been in general use on gravestones and in obituaries for generations. However, authors have used R.I.P. and also rip, as in Kris Johnston's R.I.P. series, Kelley Armstrong's Rip Through Time series, or the Rip Rap series. There are many other examples.

Factual information, such as the name of the person and their dates of birth and death, cannot be copyrighted, nor can traditional and wildly popular phrases  such as "beloved mother"... which one would hope is accurate, factual information.

Quotations from the Bible or from philosophers are out of copyright, however, if they are carved in an original font by a sculptor, perhaps the lettering is artistic and unique.

Brian Murphy (partner at Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz) wrote highly readable blog on whether or not one can copyright an advertising slogan or short phrase with particular reference to a recent copyright lawsuit where one party published a very, very short book (as I recall, it was about three pages long) which contained the sort of information one might find on the packaging of a product or the instruction manual that might come with the product.

Please read Mr. Murphy's blog for the details, and check out the useful chart--I think produced by the court--listing short (and not-so-short) phrases and the reasons they are unprotectable.

https://blog.galalaw.com/post/102i8jx/can-you-copyright-ad-slogans-and-short-phrases

As, he explains, the very short book in question was not copyrightable for at least five reasons, which I quote with citations removed for brevity:

1. Originality.  Copyright protection only applies to works that are "original," - i.e., "the work [must be] independently created by the author (as opposed to copied from other works), and [must] possesses at least some minimal degree of creativity.”

2. Words and Short Phrases.  The Copyright Office's regulations provide that “words and short phrases such as names, titles, and slogans” are not subject to copyright because they contain a de minimis amount of authorship.

3.Facts and Ideas.  Copyright law does not protect facts; it protects only an author's original expression of those facts. See 17 U.S.C. § 102 (copyright protection does not “extend to any idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery, regardless of the form in which it is described, explained, illustrated, or embodied in such work”);

4. Merger Doctrine.  Where an idea can be expressed in so few ways such that “protection of the expression would effectively accord protection to the idea itself, ... the idea 'merges' with the expression, and the expression is deemed unprotectable."

5. Scènes à Faire.  Copyright protection does not extend to “expressions that are standard, stock or common to a particular subject matter or are dictated by external factors.”

Circling back to the cemetary, the CopyrightAlliance has an excellent, Halloween-themed article devoted to the copyright protection available for gravestones, and also what is not available.

https://copyrightalliance.org/does-copyright-law-protect-gravestones/

Gravestones can be protected as pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works. 

The Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 101, defines “pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works” as “two-dimensional and three-dimensional works of fine, graphic, and applied art, photographs, prints and art reproductions, maps, globes, charts, diagrams, models, and technical drawings, including architectural plans.” Since gravestones are three-dimensional sculptures, they fall within the scope of copyright-protected works. In addition, two-dimensional elements on a gravestone, such as carvings, images, engravings, and symbols, may also be protectable as artistic elements.

Vincent Melara, for the copyrightalliance.org, explains that The U.S. Copyright Office’s Compendium gives examples to shed light on what is and isn’t protectable under copyright law.

A length of wood that has been bleached and scoured by nature, or a random pile of stones would not be protectable, a cairn might or might not be if it could be seen as a sculpture (involving more than minimal creativity) and not merely a way-marker or grave marker; a photograph of stacked stones might be protectable... photographs usually are copyrightable because the photographer choses aspects of light and shadow, the angle from which to capture the work, focus, background etc. 

By the way, the act of stacking stones may be trendy, but it is not necessarily good for the environment or for the native wildlife that might have made a home under an undisturbed stone.

Much comes down to the amount of creativity and originality in the gravestone or headstone. A plain cross, or an etching of praying hands in the manner of Albrecht Durer might not be considered original, and might fall under the “scènes à faire” doctrine.

On the other hand, if it weren't so old, the grave monument of Frédéric Chopin in the Père Lachaise cemetary in Paris might have once been copyrightable. There is a statue that could have been a separate work of art (sculpture) in its own right.

For creators, it is free to join the copyright alliance. Just visit the website and sign up.

All the best, and Happy Thanksgiving!

Rowena Cherry 

SPACE SNARK™ 

http://www.spacesnark.com/  

http://www.rowenacherry.com

EPIC Award winner, Friend of ePublishing for Crazy Tuesday