Tell me again why Darth Vader wore the mask and not the Emperor

Tell me again why Darth Vader wore the mask and not the Emperor (Darth Sidious). I understand the need for a breathing apparatus, but, in the end, Palpatine's face was just as, if not more, ugly. Yes, I know it was the only way to keep Vader alive – but Sidious could have given the Medusa a run for her money.

I have started Dreams Lie Beneath by Rebecca Ross

I have started Dreams Lie Beneath by Rebecca Ross.

Fell dreams can be scary enough, but when the ancient curse of a betrayed Duke brings them to life once a month...that is what one calls a true nightmare. Add magicians tasked with defending the realm of Azenor fighting over territory, at least one of whom has good looks and bad enough manners to challenge Clementine's father, and Clem's life is about become something truly undreamt of. Still, adversity tis the parent of progress and every curse can be broken. If revenge can be set aside, secrets overcome, and more artistic forms of magic used, of course, plus maybe a rather revealing mirror in a creepy mansion. All I know is that any Fantasy reader knows the power of dreams in the genre, so a book built upon them...

I have finished Verity Vox and the Curse of Foxfire by Don Martin

I have finished Verity Vox and the Curse of Foxfire by Don Martin.

"Everything wants," as is said, for that is the stuff of how contracts are made. Yet deals run two ways and Verity Vox, witch-in-training, found more than she bargained for in the Appalachian town of Foxfire next to a mountain that was old when the moon was young and holds a power within desired by the fell magician Earl who plays by no rulebook humanity wrote. But never had he faced an adversary such as Verity, whose courage and wit, songs and lore, awoke the mountain and freed the town once more.

An utter delight and delightfully whimsical book, Verity and the rules of witchcraft stole my heart within the first pages and never let go. A tale of community that overcomes years of hardship against a terrible inhuman force and finding love amidst such desolation. Is there a better ending than riding and flying off into the sunset? A bit of a cliché, but perfect in my mind. Not that it be a true ending, as I learned that this is Book 1 of the The Verity Vox Series, so no goodbyes this time. Verity Vox, Jack-Be-Nimble, Tacita Tarry, Gilly & Earnest, Mae and Del Miller, I will be seeing you all again in less than a year.

3rd grade alchemists

I wrote this on my personal facebook four years ago today and, looking at it, cannot think why I did not post it here. So I shall now correct that error:

"Never thought I would say this, but I think a few of the 3rd grader may be reading too much Fantasy. Yes, I actually just said that and only partly in jest 🤫 See, a girl had a nosebleed today and naturally a drop of blood hit the blacktop, so what do the other girls do when their friend is taken in to get cleaned up? They instantly used chalk to draw alchemical symbols around the drop of blood as if it were a blood magic altar!"

Seriously, who starts these rumors?

So a student comes up to me today and asks, "Mr. Adler, is it true you've read every book in the world?"

I burst out laughing, then answer, "Oh gosh no! A person could read every moment from the day they were born to the day they die even if they lived to over a hundred, and still not have read the barest fraction."

Student: "Really? They're that many?"

The scary part is that in no point during this conversation was the kid anything less than completely earnest, and was legitimately surprised when I replied "an incomprehensible amount, and that does not even include books that have been lost" after which I told them of the tragically lost Library of Alexandria.

Then, later, a different pair of students asked me if I had read every book in the library, or just most of them. Naturally I told them neither, though I could claim a decent amount of the Fantasy section.

 

For the record, I never did or said anything that could have planted the seeds for these (or past somewhat more fantastical) rumors. I tell riddles and like any good librarian make book recommendations.

Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave

Naturally we still do not know for sure if this is a prequel or sequel. (Unless I missed something). Regardless, exploring Shamir's homeland will be fascinating. Gosh though...hearing Sothis' voice and her theme... And this enemy... a new foe or the Dagdan branch of those who slither in the dark?

Authors are not in charge

Whoever said authors where in charge of their characters was not an author, because the best characters, the ones we all remember and cherish, become real people not only to us but to the author too. People with hopes and dreams, personality quirks and idiosyncrasies, tragic pasts and hopeful ones, hobbies and loves and hates...everything that makes us human (even if, in Fantasy, not all characters are human). Therefore whenever we authors create a character we cede some control over our world away, for a well-made character will act as they will according to their nature and a good lets them do just that. We build the world, set the stage, and certainly have some control, more the more we write, the deeper we delve into our worlds, the more we find that we are just following the characters. It becomes not unlike being a Dungeon Master in Dungeons & Dragons: the DM controls what happens in the world, but not the players characters.

As Patricia A. McKillip once so wisely said, "Like water, tales find their own paths; they go where they are needed." Goodness knows that was my experience writing The Dragonkin Legacy: as a general matter I knew what was going to happen, but I was often barely a half-step ahead of my characters and then watching their reactions. Still, one need not take my word for it. I yield, as ever, the floor to J.R.R. Tolkien. 

"I met a lot of things on the way that astonished me. Tom Bombadil I knew already; but I had never been to Bree. Strider sitting in the corner at the inn was a shock, and I had no more idea who he was than had Frodo. The Mines of Moria had been a mere name; and of Lothlorien no word had reached my mortal ears till I came there. Far away I knew there were the Horselords on the confines of an ancient Kingdom of Men, but Fanghorn Forest was an unforeseen adventure. I had never heard of the House of Eorl nor of the Stewards of Gondor. Most disquieting of all, Saruman had never been revealed to me, and I was as mystefied as Frodo at Gandalf's failure to appear on September 22." – J.R.R. Tolkien, in a letter to W.H. Auden, June 7, 1955

In a different letter, he also noted that Faramir's appearance toward the end of The Two Towers startled him no less than the readers, saying: "I am sure I did not invent him. I did not even want him, though I like him." Case in point that authors are not in charge, for if the measure of greatness is creating something with a life of its own then the stories/worlds given life end up calling the shots.