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Phoenix (novel)
''Phoenix'' is a fantasy novel by American writer Steven Brust, the fifth book in his Vlad Taltos series, set in the fantasy world of Dragaera. Originally published in 1990 by Ace Books, it was reprinted in 2002 along with '' Taltos'' in the omnibus ''The Book of Taltos''. Following the trend of the Vlad Taltos books, it is named after one of the Great Houses and features that house as an important element to its plot. Plot summary During an unusual attempt on his life, Vlad prays to his goddess Verra for aid and surprisingly receives it. As payment, Verra requests that Vlad kill the King of Greenaere, an island kingdom off the coast of the Empire, where magic does not work. Vlad agrees and sails to Greenaere, where he completes the assassination without difficulty. Fleeing the island, however, proves more difficult. After fighting off some guards, an injured Vlad stumbles upon a drummer in the forest named Aibynn who tends his wounds and tries to cover for him when more guards ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steven Brust
Steven Karl Zoltán Brust (born November 23, 1955) is an American fantasy and science fiction author of Hungarian descent. He is best known for his series of novels about the assassin Vlad Taltos, one of a disdained minority group of humans living on a world called Dragaera. His recent novels also include ''The Incrementalists'' (2013) and its sequel ''The Skill of Our Hands'' (2017), with co-author Skyler White. As a drummer and singer-songwriter, Brust has recorded one solo album and two albums as a member of Cats Laughing. Brust also co-wrote songs on two albums recorded in the mid-1990s by the band Boiled in Lead. Writing career The Dragaeran books The Vlad Taltos series, written as high fantasy with a science fiction underpinning, is set on a planet called Dragaera. The events of the series take place in an Empire mostly inhabited and ruled by the Dragaerans, a genetically engineered humanoid species, having characteristics such as greatly extended lifespans and heights ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tuckerization
Tuckerization (or tuckerism) is the act of using a person's name (and sometimes other characteristics) in an original story as an in-joke. The term is derived from Wilson Tucker, a pioneering American science fiction writer, fan and fanzine editor, who made a practice of using his friends' names for minor characters in his stories. For example, Tucker named a character after Lee Hoffman in his novel '' The Long Loud Silence'', and after Walt Willis in ''Wild Talent''. In most cases, tuckerization is used for "bit parts" (minor characters), an opportunity for the author to create an homage to a friend or respected colleague. However, an author sometimes attaches a friend's name, description, or identifiable characteristics to a major character, and in some novels, nearly all characters represent friends, colleagues, or prominent persons the author knows. When that happens, tuckerization can rise to the level of a roman à clef. Tuckerization is generally for wink-and-nod homages: c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phoenixes In Popular Culture
Phoenixes have proved an enduring allegorical symbol, symbolizing rebirth, renewal or uniqueness and often appearing in modern popular culture. In literature * Classical references to the phoenix include the Greek historian Herodotus, the Latin poet Ovid, the Latin historian Tacitus, and the early Christian Apostolic Father 1 Clement. * William Shakespeare frequently mentions the bird in his plays. He also wrote the poem ''The Phoenix and the Turtle''. * In certain works of Renaissance literature, the phoenix is said to have been eaten as the rarest of dishes – for only one was alive at any one time. Jonson, in Volpone (1605), III, vii. 204-5 writes: 'could we get the phœnix, though nature lost her kind, shee were our dish.' Another mention of the phoenix as a culinary delicacy occurs in John Webster's '' The White Devil'' (1612). * Edith Nesbit's famous children's novel ''The Phoenix and the Carpet'' is based on this legendary creature and its friendship with a family of ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1990 Fantasy Novels
Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire * Mesopotamia is partitioned into two Roman provinces divided by the Euphrates, Mesopotamia and Osroene. * Emperor Septimius Severus lays siege to the city-state Hatra in Central-Mesopotamia, but fails to capture the city despite breaching the walls. * Two new legions, I Parthica and III Parthica, are formed as a permanent garrison. China * Battle of Yijing: Chinese warlord Yuan Shao defeats Gongsun Zan. Korea * Geodeung succeeds Suro of Geumgwan Gaya, as king of the Korean kingdom of Gaya (traditional date). By topic Religion * Pope Zephyrinus succeeds Pope Victor I, as the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1990 American Novels
Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire * Mesopotamia is partitioned into two Roman provinces divided by the Euphrates, Mesopotamia and Osroene. * Emperor Septimius Severus lays siege to the city-state Hatra in Central-Mesopotamia, but fails to capture the city despite breaching the walls. * Two new legions, I Parthica and III Parthica, are formed as a permanent garrison. China * Battle of Yijing: Chinese warlord Yuan Shao defeats Gongsun Zan. Korea * Geodeung succeeds Suro of Geumgwan Gaya, as king of the Korean kingdom of Gaya (traditional date). By topic Religion * Pope Zephyrinus succeeds Pope Victor I, as the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phoenix (mythology)
The phoenix is an immortal bird associated with Greek mythology (with analogs in many cultures) that cyclically regenerates or is otherwise born again. Associated with the sun, a phoenix obtains new life by rising from the ashes of its predecessor. Some legends say it dies in a show of flames and combustion, others that it simply dies and decomposes before being born again. In the ''Motif-Index of Folk-Literature'', a tool used by folklore studies, folklorists, the phoenix is classified as motif B32.Thompson. (2001: 581). The origin of the phoenix has been attributed to Ancient Egypt by Herodotus and later 19th-century scholars, but other scholars think the Egyptian texts may have been influenced by classical folklore. Over time the phoenix motif spread and gained a variety of new associations; Herodotus, Lucan, Pliny the Elder, Pope Clement I, Lactantius, Ovid, and Isidore of Seville are among those who have contributed to the retelling and transmission of the phoenix motif. Ov ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ulysses (poem)
"Ulysses" is a poem in blank verse by the Victorian era, Victorian poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892), written in 1833 and published in 1842 in his well-received Poems (Tennyson, 1842), second volume of poetry. An oft-quoted poem, it is a popular example of the dramatic monologue. Facing old age, mythical hero Odysseus, Ulysses describes his discontent and restlessness upon returning to his kingdom, Homer's Ithaca, Ithaca, after his far-ranging travels. Despite his reunion with his wife Penelope and his son Telemachus, Ulysses yearns to explore again. The character of Ulysses (in Greek language, Greek, Odysseus) has been explored widely in literature. The adventures of Odysseus were first recorded in Homer's ''Iliad'' and ''Odyssey'' (c. 800–700 BC), and Tennyson draws on Homer's narrative in the poem. Most critics, however, find that Tennyson's Ulysses recalls Dante Alighieri, Dante's Ulisse in his ''The Divine Comedy#Inferno, Inferno'' (c. 1320). In Dante's re-telling, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his first pieces, "Timbuktu". He published his first solo collection of poems, ''Poems, Chiefly Lyrical'', in 1830. "Claribel" and "Mariana", which remain some of Tennyson's most celebrated poems, were included in this volume. Although described by some critics as overly sentimental, his verse soon proved popular and brought Tennyson to the attention of well-known writers of the day, including Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Tennyson's early poetry, with its medievalism and powerful visual imagery, was a major influence on the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Tennyson also excelled at short lyrics, such as "Break, Break, Break", "The Charge of the Light Brigade", "Tears, Idle Tears", and "Crossing the Bar". Much of his verse was based on classical mythol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Greenleaf Whittier
John Greenleaf Whittier (December 17, 1807 – September 7, 1892) was an American Quaker poet and advocate of the abolition of slavery in the United States. Frequently listed as one of the fireside poets, he was influenced by the Scottish poet Robert Burns. Whittier is remembered particularly for his anti-slavery writings, as well as his 1866 book ''Snow-Bound''. Biography Early life and work John Greenleaf Whittier was born to John and Abigail ( Hussey) Whittier at their rural homestead in Haverhill, Massachusetts, on December 17, 1807. His middle name is thought to mean ''feuillevert'', after his Huguenot forebears. He grew up on the farm in a household with his parents, a brother and two sisters, a maternal aunt and paternal uncle, and a constant flow of visitors and hired hands for the farm. As a boy, it was discovered that Whittier was color-blind when he was unable to see a difference between ripe and unripe strawberries. The farm was not very profitable, and there was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boiled In Lead
Boiled in Lead is a rock/world-music band based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and founded in 1983. Tim Walters of ''MusicHound Folk'' called the group "the most important folk-rock band to appear since the 1970s." Influential record producer and musician Steve Albini called the band's self-titled first album "the most impressive debut record from a rock band I've heard all year." Their style, sometimes called "rock 'n' reel," is heavily influenced by Celtic music, folk, and punk rock, and has drawn them praise as one of the few American bands of the 1980s and 1990s to expand on Fairport Convention's rocked-up take on traditional folk. ''Folk Roots'' magazine noted that Boiled in Lead's "folk-punk" approach synthesized the idealistic and archival approach of 1960s folk music with the burgeoning American alternative-rock scene of the early 1980s typified by Hüsker Dü and R.E.M. The band also incorporates a plethora of international musical traditions, including Russian, Turkish, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Teckla
''Teckla'' is a fantasy novel by American writer Steven Brust, the third book in his Vlad Taltos series. Originally printed in 1987 by Ace Books, it was reprinted in 1999 in the omnibus ''The Book of Jhereg'' along with ''Jhereg'' and ''Yendi''. Following the trend of the Vlad Taltos books, it is named after one of the Great Houses in Brust's fantasy world of Dragaera and features that House as an important element to its plot. Plot summary While deciding what to do with the fortune he made after the events of ''Jhereg'', Vlad is alarmed to discover that his wife has joined a group of revolutionaries consisting of Easterners and Teckla from the ghetto of South Adrilankha. One of their members, Franz, has been murdered. Fearing for Cawti's safety, Vlad resolves to investigate the matter. After some aggressive investigation, Vlad learns that the Jhereg boss of South Adrilankha, Herth, ordered the assassination after the revolutionaries attacked his businesses. By getting involve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Denis Beauvais
Denis ("Den") Beauvais (born 1962) is a Canadian artist whose work has appeared in role-playing games. He was born and raised in Ottawa.Saxberg, Lynn (April 4, 1990). "Dragons and demons make Aylmer artist famous", ''Ottawa Citizen'', p. E3. Career Den Beauvais spent one year studying in the art program at the High School of Commerce, but is otherwise self-taught. Beauvais has done cover art on books, magazines, and game boxes. He won the Eagle Award in 1989 for Favourite Comic Book Cover for ''Aliens'', and was nominated for the Chesley Award for Best Paper Back/Hard Cover Artist in 1992 and 1994. He has also done work for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' role-playing game, including doing 13 covers for ''Dragon'' beginning in 1983. His ''Dungeons & Dragons'' covers include ''Temple of the Frog'', and '' Van Richten's Guide to Vampires''. He also licensed work to Dark Horse Comics, and worked on the ''Predator'' comics. Although Beauvais spent much of the 2000s in the US, he now ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
