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rsbakker

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8 hours ago, rsbakker said:

I actually think I remember that almost lie... He's been scheduled for this comeback since the very beginning.

Who better to play "god in the basket" than a God (Momus is in charge of earthquakes, just so you know)?

The question to ask is why bother gerrymandering anything, when that everything has already happened? The notion of Gods working within the framework of eternity is incoherent, but it remains a staple of our cognitive past. So there's no way the event is going to bear any sustained critical reflection.

I was thinking that the other day, as I was trying to vet something about the book - how basing the book on religious history often means what could seem like bad writing is actually engaging the religious history that is the foundation of modern culture. It's like maybe every time the writing seems to be headed for a gutter ball, it's suddenly right down the middle for a strike! It's perversely ingenious! Just have your writing 'fail' in the same way that major cultural works fail - and suddenly the fail is a success!  lol!

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Hi Scott,

Apologies. Late to this thread. 

I first read tDtCB in 2004 during a trip to Europe with my now ex-wife. I was 24. I have been hooked since.

I have been waiting, like everyone else, for TGO (and TUC). When I was supposed to be studying for my surgery board exams in 2009, I did a PoN reread instead (I passed).

Your books have at various points in my life really fucked me up, but also provided massive amounts of clarity, and somewhere to escape when everything seemed like it was falling apart. Every time one of your books came out, I ended up a little bit more fucked up, and yet able to become someone or something new. Something more. Dark. Lost, like Incariol. And yet becoming, like a cunuroi statue.

When TJE came out, I ended up divorcing my wife.

When WLW came out, and the Four Revelations of Cinial'jin after it, I dumped my girlfriend of 3 years (this one was really crazy, she needed dumping. Ginger. Great in bed though).

When TGO was about to come out, I told my new girlfriend to be prepared. I might go through a really weird period where I was... Different. Things might not be the same afterwards. I did not warn her that she might end up single...

I read it. And read it again. I read the Ishterebinth chapters 4 times. I read Akka 3. Momemn twice. The nuke bits I had to re-read a few times.

And I didn't dump her. In fact, I showed up to the wedding willingly. And I wondered, does this mean Scott missed the mark? I thought about it. I thought about my thoughts. And I realized that we are finally rounding a corner. Something is taking shape. Where before, there were only questions, and darkness, and incomplete tidbits that whetted and teased and frustrated into a frenzy like a ten-yoke legion... Now we are finally getting somewhere.

You nailed it with TGO. I don't care what was cut out, or about the few spelling/grammar errors that jumped out at me (you should really send me an ARC for TUC... I'll find them. My staff wonder how I always spot spelling and address errors in the correspondence they put together for me), or about any of the flak on any of the boards. It was a home run for me. I bought the e-Book from Amazon. I bought an ARC off eBay. I bought a regular release hard copy when they finally came available on the Canadian Amazon store (I have a large library in my house... The books have their own little section).

Ishterebinth was by far my favourite part. I was so pumped to finally experience it. I had hoped that it was intact. That we would see the cunuroi in all their glory. When Oinaral gave the tally of the intact as... Scarcely a dozen... I was floored. I mean, what the eff did I expect? We knew it had fallen. But... TWELVE? I was devastated. I suffered but one disorder... WHERE... IS... EMILIDIS??? I read it again. It took some time, but eventually my dissonance waned. What I wanted it to be faded into profound forgetting. And what it IS took over. As an individual, being may be a deception. But as a book... The words are immobile. But so rich. Every time I re-read, I pick up something else. Spot some new revelation I missed before. 

This book was perfectly imperfect, or imperfectly perfect, or both. Like an ishroi. I would not have changed a thing. I wanted more Ishterebinth. I wish you HAD made that section longer. But then, the length was perfect enough to continue my obsession with the nonmen. To want MORE. Or MOAR.

I've been following TGO threads here, and tried to work through much of madness' boards. I've become a lurker. Life consumes my waking hours now, such that I have little time to post. I respect the criticisms that have been put forward. The Esmenet not being the one to finish Meppa complaint struck a chord. But then my dissonance waned again. And I realized... What the eff did anyone expect? AK is met agnostic sorcerer level ????... Of course he came back and kicked ass. As if the mundane or the anagosis or Psukhe or even one of the hundred will be his bane.

Please ignore all the feedback you get here (and to a lesser extent from your editors) and write TUC the way you know it should be. Blow my mind again and I promise I won't divorce this one.

The only good change to your books that has come out of these boards has been the name change of "When Sorcerers Sing" to "The Thousandfold Thought". 

Also, come to Calgary for a signing.

Thank you.

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2 hours ago, wayward_ishroi said:

Hi Scott,

Apologies. Late to this thread. 

When TJE came out, I ended up divorcing my wife.

When WLW came out, and the Four Revelations of Cinial'jin after it, I dumped my girlfriend of 3 years (this one was really crazy, she needed dumping. Ginger. Great in bed though).

 

So wait a minute, you were already with that girlfriend even though you were still married?

Because TJE came out in 2009 and WLW in 2011.

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3 hours ago, wayward_ishroi said:

 

Hey Scott,

Well, I cannot claim such a lengthy acquaintance as wayward_ishroi. That is impressive. I only started reading your PON and SA books this year. After passing them by at the local bookstore shelves for years, I finally and happily succumbed. I can't recall the last fantasy/genre that created such an enjoyable, inspiring and thoughtprovoking interpretative space.

And I appreciate your engagement here, and elsewhere. Thank you very much for the opportunity to ask questions and your many replies. Both content and writing-wise.

What I commented at the SA forum as well, I noticed about TGO (and you referred to it in this thread as well) that the closer we get to revelations the more the language seems to obscure or ambiguify. Also, while I trust there is a metaphysical overall plan to Earwa, it's difficult to parse what is true or not, since we are looking through the limited and colored perspectives of your various characters. Whom to trust? It's very hard to say, intriguing.

Concerning the four storylines in TGO. I enjoyed Momemn a lot, certainly not the least of the four for me. The political games are one of the components of your books that I really savour. What I am wondering is whether Kellhus' intervention at the end does not nullify the agency of Esmenet in particular?

The Great Ordeal, Kellhus and Proyas - what the hell? Overall my impression of this line is that I find the Sranc (and a few Bashrag) a less interesting foe than the Fanim in the PON. The Consult in their hidden maneuverings have been more dangerous and interesting, so far. Still, the battles are intense and the scale immense. I loved loved loved the image of the sorcerous fire on the mountaintops around Dagliash. The geography of the outcome of that battle, with the nuke destroying the entire Srance Horde was not quite clear to me, had most of the Sranc already passed around the western side of the mountainrange? Did I miss that perhaps?

There has been a lot of discussion about Aurang's flyby, a possible connection to the nuke is often mentioned as a reason for his appearance. I thought the buildup to him was very promising, but I don't understand why he flew away, what *was* the reason of him being there? Or is that WAFO territory?

Ishual, intriguing as well. Although I did not fully comprehend everything the Survivor went through, new Dunyain perspectives are always welcome.

Istherebinth, I agree with most of the readers that this was the highpoint of TGO. And the seeds have been planted already so early, I recall back in the Warrior-Prophet the Consult referring to spies in Istherebinth, then we arrive there twenty years later...

Regarding the Warrior-Prophet, a writing question. You wrote it in a year, under a deadline, after taking 15 years to write TDTCB. I find that astonishing. How much of the Warrior-Prophet was planned before that year? I mean, did you sit down at the beginning of the year to flesh out an existing skeleton of a story or did you start writing chapters immediately and organise later? I mean, how does one write such a complex novel with such an array of characters and events in one year?

Keep up the great work, looking forward to peer at the horns of Golgotterrath!

 

 

 

 

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"I was thinking that the other day, as I was trying to vet something about the book - how basing the book on religious history often means what could seem like bad writing is actually engaging the religious history that is the foundation of modern culture. It's like maybe every time the writing seems to be headed for a gutter ball, it's suddenly right down the middle for a strike! It's perversely ingenious! Just have your writing 'fail' in the same way that major cultural works fail - and suddenly the fail is a success!"

It's not something I would recommend: it's more just a recipe for biting bullets than anything else, given there's no 'good' or 'bad' outside actual readings.

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Your tale of how my tales have impacted your life leaves me both humbled and alarmed, Wayward Ishroi!  Clarity dissolving into complication resolving into clarity... it all sounds so very familiar.

It also makes me jealous, nostalgic for the days bouncing between places and lovers, when all I could dream about was welding my ass to this very chair (where I can envy you in safety). I am honoured my books have played some meaningful role in your adventure, truly.

As for the vision, you have no need to worry: I've been telling one story all along and it will remain that way. And as for the typos, that was an artifact of the disarray leading up to publication: we simply had no time for proofs, as it turned out. (And that was a result, ultimately, of me bushwhacking my publishers with two books instead of one). TUC is already a different story. 

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"What I commented at the SA forum as well, I noticed about TGO (and you referred to it in this thread as well) that the closer we get to revelations the more the language seems to obscure or ambiguify. Also, while I trust there is a metaphysical overall plan to Earwa, it's difficult to parse what is true or not, since we are looking through the limited and colored perspectives of your various characters. Whom to trust? It's very hard to say, intriguing."

'Mysteriatis' is the name wife has given it, what has to be my signature weakness as a writer. The idea is to key the lyricism to the emotional intensity of events: since key plot points tend to be intense, it means I have a tendency to get poetic (anagogic?) precisely when I should be getting technical (gnostic?). I know this is a weakness of mine, but I can tell you now that I'll never stop trying to have it both ways, and I'm lucky enough to have some long time readers who know this is my weakness, and to rap my knuckles accordingly.

Perhaps not often enough!

As for Warrior-Prophet, I'm frankly amazed I was able to finish it as well, but then I did have a great deal of groundwork done, and I was smoking two packs of cigarettes a day.

Thanks for your support, Damelon. So long as it remains a fringe experiment, SA depends entirely on the enthusiasm of readers like you.

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14 minutes ago, rsbakker said:

'Mysteriatis' is the name wife has given it, what has to be my signature weakness as a writer. The idea is to key the lyricism to the emotional intensity of events: since key plot points tend to be intense, it means I have a tendency to get poetic (anagogic?) precisely when I should be getting technical (gnostic?). I know this is a weakness of mine, but I can tell you now that I'll never stop trying to have it both ways, and I'm lucky enough to have some long time readers who know this is my weakness, and to rap my knuckles accordingly.

Perhaps not often enough!

As for Warrior-Prophet, I'm frankly amazed I was able to finish it as well, but then I did have a great deal of groundwork done, and I was smoking two packs of cigarettes a day.

Thanks for your support, Damelon. So long as it remains a fringe experiment, SA depends entirely on the enthusiasm of readers like you.

Thank you Scott for your quick reaction.

My observation regarding the 'mysteriatis' is not meant as a negative. I find the use, especially in world-building-revelations provocative. And fitting, to sustain the ambiguities instead of say, drawing aside a curtain to reveal the Scooby-Doo villain was wearing a mask all along. And fitting as well because of a theme - that I perceive - or rather a question that I detect as being investigated: can we ever truly comprehend reality? Or can we ever move beyond our innate ignorance?

With the nuke, I feel you got it both ways.

Two packs of cigarettes a day - my goodness - that's quite a dose - that's what it took, huh! Sounds akin to a "don't try this at home, kids, only deathdefying, truly dedicated professionals apply."

 

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6 hours ago, Calibandar said:

So wait a minute, you were already with that girlfriend even though you were still married?

Because TJE came out in 2009 and WLW in 2011.

Ha! No. In retrospect the ginger was a bit of a rebound who I met shortly after separating... That didn't end until 2012. 2009 - 2012. I had to let Cleric's sweet sermons percolate a little before triggering the trauma that was the end of that relationship. Four Revelations really helped.

I remember... Rowing like a madman twice a day on the Concept2, "Aisarinqu screamed and Aisarinqu screamed," going through my head again and again. 

On the plus side i ended up ripped as eff after that one. 8% body fat. Full on 12 pack with the dick lines for abs.

Memories make us sane. She was most... memorable.

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1 hour ago, wayward_ishroi said:

Ha! No. In retrospect the ginger was a bit of a rebound who I met shortly after separating... That didn't end until 2012. 2009 - 2012. I had to let Cleric's sweet sermons percolate a little before triggering the trauma that was the end of that relationship. Four Revelations really helped.

Considering how much you "enjoyed" 4 Revs, you might be interested in my color-coded version that I posted here in an attempt to disentangle the narrative threads.  I think I reach some clarity in places and certainly fail in others.  (If you end up actually wanting to post there, just let me know, so we can expedite an approval for your account.)

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19 minutes ago, .H. said:

Considering how much you "enjoyed" 4 Revs, you might be interested in my color-coded version that I posted here in an attempt to disentangle the narrative threads.  I think I reach some clarity in places and certainly fail in others.  (If you end up actually wanting to post there, just let me know, so we can expedite an approval for your account.)

I posted there once, on the sufferance of my cousins... However, the gates are now unguarded (I forgot my password, and which email I used to sign up).

The green section is Cinial'jin remembering when CC seized the throne of Siol.

There are some other portions of the text that I think Belong in a different context. Will re-sign up.

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10 minutes ago, wayward_ishroi said:

I posted there once, on the sufferance of my cousins... However, the gates are now unguarded (I forgot my password, and which email I used to sign up).

The green section is Cinial'jin remembering when CC seized the throne of Siol.

There are some other portions of the text that I think Belong in a different context. Will re-sign up.

Excellent, I'd be eager to further hone it and you may well be the best to do it.

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Speaking of 4Revelations, my lyrics to Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody are slowly dropping through thresholds of the internet, forever falling.

Last time I saw them were a repost on an obscure Dutch forum (now defunct). Sci-2 seems to have save them, so let me repost them here.

Please listen to the original while you read it, it scans quite well. 

Erratic Rhapsody 

Queën

Is this the real life?

Or is it literature?

Caught by a man-tribe,

No escape from this shit for sure.

Skewered one eye,

Look up to the skies and see.

I'm just an Ishroi, I need no sympathy,

Because my viewpoint makes little sense,

just stream of consience,

Any way the words blow doesn't really matter to Scott, to Scott.

 

Conphas,

Just killed a girl,

Put my hands around her neck, squeezed tightly,

now she's dead.

Conphas, life goes on and on,

But I’m bonkers so I don't remember shit.

Conphas, oooh,

I was mean and made her cry,

for else I’d have forgotten her tomorrow,

that's how Bakker makes us tick, the Cunoroi erratics.

 

Fire, and nails and stuff,

Send shivers down my spine, body's aching all the time

Goodbye, ev'rybody, I've got to go,

Gotta leave you and face oblivion

Conphas, oooh, it’s time for a flashback,

but first let's hear Martemus play his solo...

 

I see a glimpse of a caterwauling Sranc,

Inchoroi, Inchoroi, will you show us you Wracu!

 

Thunderbolts and lightning, very, very frightening.

Sil!

Where is Aurax? Where is Aurang?

Where is Aurax? Where is Aurang?

Where is Aurax? Wutteät. Ciogli owns!

 

I'm just an Ishroi nobody loves me

(That's just a Nonman from noble family)

spared by Quya from monstrosities.

Quya come, Quya go, hey you can’t just go

Shigogli! No, we will not let you go

(We’re betrayed!) Shigogli! We will not let you go

(We’re betrayed!) Shigogli! We will not let you go

(Let us go) Will not let you go

(Let us go)(Never) Never let you go

(Let us go) Never let you go (Let me go) Ah

No, no, no, no, no, no, no

Oh mama mia, mama mia, mama mia, there they go

The Inchoroi have some Bashrags put aside for me, for me, for me

 

Do you know when you flay me and gouge out my eye

I remember my loved ones whom I left to die

Aisralu, Aisarunqu, Ensialas, ...

That's just how I work, that's just how I work, yes it's weird.

Nothing really matters, anyone can see,

Nothing really matters,

Nothing really matters to me

A sentence that just ...

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I remember linking that at TPB and getting rapped on the knuckles for posting the distracting lols! Still marveling at both rhyming literature and 'shit for sure' and both keeping and modifying the lyrics in theme, to this day.

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3 hours ago, Happy Ent said:

Speaking of 4Revelations, my lyrics to Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody are slowly dropping through thresholds of the internet, forever falling.

Last time I saw them were a repost on an obscure Dutch forum (now defunct). Sci-2 seems to have save them, so let me repost them here.

Please listen to the original while you read it, it scans quite well. 

Erratic Rhapsody 

Queën

Is this the real life?

Or is it literature?

Caught by a man-tribe,

No escape from this shit for sure.

Skewered one eye,

Look up to the skies and see.

I'm just an Ishroi, I need no sympathy,

Because my viewpoint makes little sense,

just stream of consience,

Any way the words blow doesn't really matter to Scott, to Scott.

 

Conphas,

Just killed a girl,

Put my hands around her neck, squeezed tightly,

now she's dead.

Conphas, life goes on and on,

But I’m bonkers so I don't remember shit.

Conphas, oooh,

I was mean and made her cry,

for else I’d have forgotten her tomorrow,

that's how Bakker makes us tick, the Cunoroi erratics.

 

Fire, and nails and stuff,

Send shivers down my spine, body's aching all the time

Goodbye, ev'rybody, I've got to go,

Gotta leave you and face oblivion

Conphas, oooh, it’s time for a flashback,

but first let's hear Martemus play his solo...

 

I see a glimpse of a caterwauling Sranc,

Inchoroi, Inchoroi, will you show us you Wracu!

 

Thunderbolts and lightning, very, very frightening.

Sil!

Where is Aurax? Where is Aurang?

Where is Aurax? Where is Aurang?

Where is Aurax? Wutteät. Ciogli owns!

 

I'm just an Ishroi nobody loves me

(That's just a Nonman from noble family)

spared by Quya from monstrosities.

Quya come, Quya go, hey you can’t just go

Shigogli! No, we will not let you go

(We’re betrayed!) Shigogli! We will not let you go

(We’re betrayed!) Shigogli! We will not let you go

(Let us go) Will not let you go

(Let us go)(Never) Never let you go

(Let us go) Never let you go (Let me go) Ah

No, no, no, no, no, no, no

Oh mama mia, mama mia, mama mia, there they go

The Inchoroi have some Bashrags put aside for me, for me, for me

 

Do you know when you flay me and gouge out my eye

I remember my loved ones whom I left to die

Aisralu, Aisarunqu, Ensialas, ...

That's just how I work, that's just how I work, yes it's weird.

Nothing really matters, anyone can see,

Nothing really matters,

Nothing really matters to me

A sentence that just ...

That is hi-la-ri-ous! -- isn't there any room for 'Death came swirling down' though, lol.

 

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