I read a Reader's Digest article once about a couple who travelled to Mongolia, and it completely reminded me of the Dothraki. The horses, the physical features of both races real and imaginary, even the fermented mare's milk that they drink. -- I would not say that what I write next is an homage so much as... some kind of fantasy-writer osmosis. It seems there are many similarities between most of my favourite fantasy novels. It could just be a case of being inspired by other authors... but jeez. I know I read one book where I thought, "This sounds SO much like [other author's work]," and I flipped to the front and found the other author's name placed in the acknowledgements. :rolleyes: A Song of Ice and Fire's ruling house, House Baratheon, has a crowned stag rampant as their coat of arms. In The Witches of Eileanan & Rhiannon's Ride (Kate Forsyth), the ruling house, MacCuinn, has a crowned stag rampant as their coat of arms. Lastly, in The Farseer & The Tawny Man trilogies (Robin Hobb), the ruling house, Farseer, has a stag rampant as their coat of arms, which may or may not be crowned, I forget. ASoIaF has the Others and the wights. Rhiannon's Ride has the cursed undead (aka zombies). The Farseer has the Forged folk (soulless, aggressive, somewhat zombie-ish people-things). The Abhorsen trilogy (Garth Nix) has myriad classified and unclassified Dead, as well as zombies. ASoIaF has the Wall. The Abhorsen trilogy has the Wall, although in their case it divides the magic Old Kingdom in the north from technological Ancelstierre in the south. All I got for now.
