Halfway down the Danube

oh. I thought you had turned against pastrami. watch your mails. xox

Apropos of nothing, but everytime I go to HDTD I get a popup from Ilead. Any idea what's causing that?

It's one of the site trackers. I'll send a note to Claudia.

Incidentally, we have addresses in the sidebar now.

I'm shocked.

I'd seen those things in the bookstore. But since I classify anything with new with dragons in it (along with books featuring telepathic ponies King Arthur or "spunky" teenage girl protagonists) as dire, I gave them a wide berth. Particularly since they appeared to be marketed as Jonathon Strange rip-offs.

Maybe there'sa market for the tale of how a spunky teenage girl disguises herself as the Duke of Cumberland, and together with her telepathic pony, win the battle of Fontenoy.

I was disturbed at how good they were, and that is not a figure of speech.

While Novik clearly has been influenced by O'Brian -- I am thinking especially about how their descriptions even out differences of station that their narratives must necessarily preserve -- the influence seems neither slavish nor anxious.

I thought about a blog entry comparing Clarke, Novik, Jo Walton's Tooth and Claw -- a Trollope novel set wholly in a dragon society -- and perhaps Michael Swanwick. Novik seems to me the most grounded of the lot. If her books are a tour de force, it's because each brick has been mortared in place. (Also, I suspect she carefully removed anything with a whiff of fannishness.)

Finally -- and this will likely matter only to the two of us on this thread -- Novik has a much better imaginative grasp of the tactics of the Napoleonic wars than Clarke.

"Finally -- and this will likely matter only to the two of us on this thread -- Novik has a much better imaginative grasp of the tactics of the Napoleonic wars than Clarke."

You act like that's some sort of rarity.

Bernard, I think it was on the Crooked Timber seminar on Strange and Norrell where someone was bowled over by Clarke's subtle intertwining of magic and Wellington's campaigns. I rolled my eyes at that. Clarke has her strengths, but that wasn't one of them.

With Novik, on the other hand, you get exactly what you'd expect Napoleon to do with, dammit, talking dragons. (Yes, that.) And it makes sense. Dammit.

Well, hell. Guess I'll try 'em then. I see one of the follow-ups takes them to China, too.

Let me know if I've gone completely around the bend. It's going to happen one of these days...

"where someone was bowled over by Clarke's subtle intertwining of magic and Wellington's campaigns. I rolled my eyes at that. Clarke has her strengths, but that wasn't one of them."

Too true, "subtle" is not the word that comes to mind. Probably the least satisfying bit of an otherwise good book. I'll have to check out Novik.

I believe Novik has a chat coming up over on my shadowy masters' website.

What struck me about Novik's books was that she chose not to ignore the fact that if dragons can think and talk as well as humans, then treating them like property is somewhat problematic.

Of course, the middle of the war to save Europe from the Corsican Beast may not the most politically strategic time to object to slavery, in the context of a major military asset.

For those interested, Ms. Novik is interviewed in the following podcast archived here:

http://www.dragonpage.com/archives/cover_to_cover_219.html

I do not like the fantasy genre so I wish there was a less ridiculous way to insert an air-campaign into the Napoleonic Wars, but in for a penny in for a pound.

The Novik series has been optioned by Peter Jackson

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/film/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003120747

" 'Temeraire' is a terrific meld of two genres that I particularly love -- fantasy and historical epic," Jackson said. "I can't wait to see Napoleonic battles fought with a squadron of dragons. That's what I go to the movies for."

"Jackson got involved when producer Lucas Foster read galleys in January and sent them to Jackson's manger, Ken Kamins at Key Creatives. When Jackson read it, he was hooked.

"As I was reading these books, I could see them coming to life in my mind's eye," Jackson said. "These are beautifully written novels, not only fresh, original and fast-paced, but full of wonderful characters with real heart."

Foster and Kamins will serve as executive producers of the movie."