Mead making

I have been up to my elbows in a lot of different projects lately and one of them has been the fermenting of Mead.
Mead has been real high on my priority list and I have been brewing up quite a bit of this delicious honey wine. (I have been experimenting with different holiday flavors like raspberry and orange-cinnamon.)
You might have heard of mead or you might be wondering what it is; well, its wine fermented with honey rather than grapes and it is quite delicious. It is not at all like the stigma of rough and tumble horrible drink of vikings. Anyway, I have been putting together a tutorial on how to make Mead including the brewing, bottling and label making. Make Mead

My Medieval Websites

I have not posted to this blog in a while but I have been very busy. I have my own domains and some personal blogs. I just don't use the free blogger much anymore.

Anyhoo - If you want to see what I have been up to here are some links:

The Medieval Websites - All Things Medieval

The Heroic Dreams Blog - Daily information and thoughts in the world of all things medieval and fantasy

Make A Catapult

I ahve a big thing for castles and siege engines and I have created a project called the Build the Table Top Troll Catapult. It is a complete tutorial on how to make this cool little siege engine from materials found around the house. It uses rubber bands for power and it is quite powerful. It was a fun project for me to build and maybe you would like to build your own catpapult?
If so here is the link to the tutorial:

Build a Catapult - The Table Top Troll

Medieval Castles and Floor Plans

If you are a fan of epic fantasy or a writer in the genre you no doubt have a fascination with castles. I certainly do.

I don't think I mentioned it before but I do have a website that is devoted to Medieval Castles. It's a bit of a hobby and I have been adding more stuff to the site regularly. If you want to check it out here it is: Medieval Castles

If you want to see the Medieval Castle floor plans I made they are here:
Medieval Castle Floor Plans

A New Website about Knights

I have been working on a new website devoted to medieval knights. It is a really nice site and I am very happy with how it came out. It has lots of interesting information about knights, their weapons, their history and their code of chivalry.
If you like this kind of medieval subject check it out here
The Knight Medieval

Medieval Castles- A thousand Years of Mystery and secrets in stone

I have been working on a new website called: Medieval Castle: The strength and secrets of a thousand years.

On the site I have interesting information about medieval castles and how they were built. I also have some pictures that I took inside a real medieval castle that is over 1,000 years old.

The picture shown here is of a model of the castle. It is inside the castle and you can almost imagine knights gathered around it and using it to formulate their plans for defense of the castle.

There are some pictures from inside the castle including a picture of a black suit of armor I call the Black Knight.

Medieval Castles

Was Gilgamesh Real?

The oldest known written work is the Epic of Gilgamesh and it was written about 4,500 years ago on twelve clay tablets in cunieform. It is an epic fantasy tome and it begins the written word and the genre of epic fantasy. It has always been thought of as just a story but light has recently come to show that maybe Gilgamesh did exist!

In the story Gilgamesh was the King of a city called Uruk and a team of German archaeologists have recently uncovered a city they believe to be Uruk and a site that they think might be Gilgamesh's tomb! Wow. This would be a find in a couple of different ways. First of all it would mean that Gilgamesh was a real person which is amazing but it would also shed some light on the questions about the man himself. He was said to be two-thirds human and one-third god. There is also a lot of buzzing and rumor passed down that he was a giant!

Here is a link to the BBC story about the discovery of the Gilgamesh tomb

A little bit about Gilgamesh:

The Epic of Gilgamesh was inscribed on stone tablets a thousand years before the Iliad was written.

The Book Gilgamesh: A New English Version

Gilgamesh was a king who embarked on a quest to slay the beast Grendel and find immortality. It is generally considered by scholars that Gilgamesh did in fact exist and that he was a king of Uruk in about the 26th Century BC.

If you want to understand and learn about epic fantasy right from its beginning this is the place to start. There is good reason for this story having survived so long.

This epic has been recently released in an easy to read and well translated version and for a story like this that was probably told verbally for many generations you may want to consider getting the audio version -To hear this story rather than read it brings a sense of tribal connection.

(If you like the epic fantasy from this period you may want to try The First Heroes a collection of stories written today but that take place in the Bronze Age.)

Ancienttexts.org has a transcription of the ancient cunieform tablets of the epic of gilgamesh here is the first tablet: Gilgamesh

Fantasy Art School - Totally Free

I have created an art school where you can learn how to draw fantasy subjects like castles, knights, weapons, and all kinds of mythical beasts. It is aimed at the beginnner and will teach you how to draw while you are learning how to draw things in the fantasy genre.

Here is the link:
The Fantasy Art School

There are lessons like
How to draw a medieval Mace
How to Draw a Shield
Understanding Perspective
How to use distortion to draw fantasy creatures
Many more

Build a Trebuchet

Epic Fantasy and The Medieval/Renaissance subjects are closely bound together and in that spirit I have created a project on how to build a small table top trebuchet. It is a great little project that you can do in a couple of hours. This is one fine example of what medieval siege engines were all about. The Trebuchet was very popular because it was easy to build and a sieging army could find the materials to build it around the castle they were sieging. This way they didn't have to haul a big trebuchet around the countryside.
This is the same reason why it is a great little project for you to build too. It is easy to build and easy to get the materials. Check out the project here:
The Little Dragon Table top Trebuchet

The Heroic Dreams Blog

A link to my new Blog. I have a blog on my domain site that I keep on a daily basis. It is devoted to the genre of fantasy and you can find stuff about Medieval, castles, weapons, hobbies, books, movies and everything else related to the genre of fantasy.

The Heroic Dreams Blog

Some interesting stuff in my websites

I have created a lot of interesting stuff in the realms of fantasy, creativity and stuff for writers and I thought I would post some links for you to check out.

Here is a list of some of the things:

Stormthecastle.com - This is my primary website. It has lots of stuff for fantasy and for creativity. You can also check out my writing and download a free copy of my first novel "Fulcrum Shift".

Here is a direct link to the free online novel Fulcrum shift available in download. Free novel

Audio Podcast: My second Novel "Lion's Last Kill" is available at all major online retailers. It is an epic fantasy novel and you can also listen to it as a free podcast Free podcast novel

Make a video game for Free Ne of the most popular tutorials I have is the make your own free video game tutorial. It takes you through the complete process of making a video game. It even has links to the software you can download for free. Make your own video game

Classical Guitar Play classical guitar? Or interested in learning? I have a great tutorial that will get you playing. Advice on what books to get and lots of the basics.

Medieval Castles Here is a nice little site that I put together. It has lots of information about castles, visting castles, famous castles and how castles were defended and sieged.

Fantasy Swords - Lord of the rings, Medieval swords, Kill Bill and more.


Castlefiction.com The website devoted to fantasy fiction with a slant toward series and epic fantasy and all things medieval.

The Big Epic Fantasy Series List - One of the difficult things about fantasy books is the comfusion of the series books. Here is the big list of series. It has who wrote them and what books are in the series. $7 different series are listed. So if you want to know what book is next in a series or what book is first this is the place to go.

The Epic Fantasy website - The webs only site devoted to the genre of epic fantasy . Info and news, books and movies.

The Fantasy Guide - The webs guide to all the best fantasy on the net. Books, movies, reviews, websites, how to's and projects. This is your core source of info on the fantasy world.

Mianthroperspection

Here is an essay on the new word and what it means:

Mianthroperspection

Been mulling a new word

I have been mulling a new word around in my head. This is the feeling for it:

There are many epic fantasy books that take the perspective of an animal. SOme good examples are Watership Down where the main characters are rabbits, or The Mary Stanton Heavenly Horse books, or any of a number of works by Brian Jacques.

Is there a word for this? A similar word is anthropomorphism where animals take on the characteristics of humans. But is there a word for what I am describing? How about "anthroperspective".

Would be kinda cool to create a new word.

What is the real message of Epic Fantasy?

This is actually quite simple and there is one scene, with one line in the lord of the rings movie that sums it all up.

There is a scene where Gandalf faces the Balrog. He stands on a rock bridge and slams the butt of his staff on the rock and screams at the Balrog "You shall not pass"

This is the message of epic fantasy. No matter what you face, no matter how scary or how difficult it is you must find the strength to face it. Your will and your strength can overcome any obstacle or any evil.

The Only Real Failure of Epic Fantasy is….

I have discussed epic fantasy in depth on this blog and one of the basic themes of the genre is that is strongly relates to meaning in life and the search for meaning. The heroes of epic fantasy always embark on a quest to find something or to overcome the difficulties in their life and their world. Even though some of these stories are literally thousands of years old the theme still hold true today. We are still human beings and no matter what period of time we come from we are all still searching for the same things.
But there is one aspect of Epic Fantasy that just doesn’t hold up to the reality of our lives and this aspect of it is not the creatiion of fantasy worlds. It is not unicorns, dragons, magic, demons, dark lords, gremlins, goblins, orcs, magic swords or any of these things at all!These things are all of course creations of fantasy and that is why it is called Epic “Fantasy”.All of these things and worlds are accepted replacements for the wonders that we have in the world we currently live in. It is very easy to see our world with new eyes when an author paints a world of wonder. After all, we do live in a wondrous world full of magical things.
No, no. The only one true failing of epic fantasy is this:
The story always has a mentor that knows what to do and what is right.
Let’s take The Lord of the Rings as an example. The mentor in this story is Gandalf. He has lived for hundreds of years and he knows all. He knows about the troubles in the land and he knows how to fix them. He is the guide of our main characters and is almost omnipotent. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a mentor in this world -one that knew all the answers and what to do?
It is a bit of a shame that epic fantasy resorts to the presence of a mentor to answer all the questions. It is a parallel that can’t be drawn to our world. We don’t have any mentors in this world. We are all in this boat together and none of us has any more of a clue than any other.

Free Epic Fantasy Podcast

My second Novel "Lion's Last Kill"

I have been recording the novel into a podcast with a new chapter every week. You can listen to it for free and follow along with the story.

If you have a podplayer the feed url is:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/LionsLastKill

If you want to learn more about the podcast and read overviews of the chapters go to my main website podcast page:

Lions Last Kill at Storm The Castle.com

About Lion's Last Kill:

An Epic Fantasy novel written in short chapters -usually less than 12 mins each and written for the nanowrimo national novel writing month project. Travel along with Bosch as he attempts to find the solution to the "Machine" he has built. His quest takes him to "The Oracle" where the answer is not what he expected.

The Definition of Epic Fantasy

Today I am giving you a definition of Epic Fantasy and tomorrow I will be giving you the Barbarian's Guide to epic Fantasy for beginners.
What is Epic Fantasy?

The definition fo Epic Fantasy is the subject for debate and it differs among critics, readers, and scholars so it is a bit of a challenge. It also shares many overlaps among different genres of fiction -bearing the most similarity to High Fantasy. To understand what it is we should first break the term down into its two components: Epic and Fantasy.

Let's first look at the definitions of Epic. The word is derived from the Latin "epicus", and from the Greek "epikos"

As a noun

1.An extended narrative poem in elevated or dignified language, celebrating the feats of a legendary or traditional hero.
2. A literary or dramatic composition that resembles an extended narrative poem celebrating heroic feats.

As an adjective

1 Of, constituting, having to do with, or suggestive of a literary epic: an epic poem.
2. Surpassing the usual or ordinary, particularly in scope or size: A vast landscape.
3. Heroic and impressive in quality

So "Epic has two components. Heroic and vast. In an Epic there is a hero or heroic feats and the setting is vast in scope -often a complete world.

Now let's look at the definition of Fantasy.

1. The creative imagination; unrestrained fancy. See Synonyms at imagination.
2. Something, such as an invention, that is a creation of the fancy.
3. A capricious or fantastic idea; a conceit.

4 a.Fiction characterized by highly fanciful or supernatural elements.
    b. An example of such fiction.

So fantasy is defined as creative imagination and characterized by highly fanciful or supermatural events.

SO EPIC + FANTASY =

So we put the two together and we get a story of creative imagination that has a hero and or heroic feats and that takes place on an epic scale.

Refinement

Epic Fantasy is generally accepted today to be a sub-genre of Fantasy. The plot line usually centers on one person that develops through hardship and quest from a seemingly average person into a hero that performs heroic feats of might or magic -overcoming challenges that are epic in scope. Usually the whole world laid out in the piece is at stake.

Although often times in the work of Epic Fantasy it is discovered that the "average person" is actually of noble blood line or in possession of previously unknown special skills -typically magical in nature.

The setting for the piece is often one that has a Middle Ages flavor complete with swords, castles, and a magical scheme. Although many successful Epic Fantasy works have used other settings such as the Conan series.

Development of the Character

One of the most important aspects of Epic Fantasy is the development of the main character through the story. And this often follows a tried and true formula of classic steps that a Hero must undertake. This series of steps has been laid out by Joseph Campbell in his work The Hero's Journey and they include steps like

The Call to adventure - Where our average person is called to undertake a journey

Supernatural Aid - Where a mentor or guide is found (Usually a wizard)

The Road of Trials - A series of tasks and ordeals that our hero to be has to undergo on the road to his or her transformation.

So Let's Put it all together!

Epic Fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy and very similar to high-fantasy where a seemingly average person undergoes many trials and ordeals which develop him or her into a hero capable of heroic feats needed to thwart challenges of an epic scale. The work takes place in an imaginitive world and often the setting is Medieval in nature, complete with swords, castles, strange creatures and a magical system.

Encouragement for Fantasy Writers

If you are a writer of fantasy you probably get discouraged sometimes. Keep your chin up and keep grinding away at it. When it comes to writing you have to keep going.

Roaming around the internet I stumbled across something that you might want to see.

This should encourage you : It is a copy of a rejection letter that a very famous writer recieved for a very famous, award winning, masterpiece of a novel. We are all so glad that she didn't give up. The Rejection letter

It makes you wonder if there are any other incredible works of writing out there that we will never get to experience because of a rejection letter taken to heart.

Book Review - Janathan Strange & Mr. Norrell

Book Review
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susannah Clarke

This book has been getting great reviews and I eagerly looked forward to
reading it. But it was not what I expected and I only made it 150 pages
into the novel before I put it down.
This Book is really not my cup of tea. <- That was a pun there; let me explain.
If you are into the kind of book that creates atmosphere and enjoy the old english
stories of high society types sitting around the reading room over tea and pipes and discussing london society then this is the book for you.

Me, I much prefer that problems be solved with a sharp sword and some muscle.
Although this book is exceptionally well written it just moved too slow.

This first even of any interest didn't happen until 50 pages in and that event was only so-so. (A bunch of statues come alive and start talking)

As I progressed it seemed to be building toward something but it just didn't appeal to me.

One more note: The book uses extensive footnotes -which I found tedious and boring. (Some of the footnotes were a page long! Hey if you need a backstory to explain your main story then write the back story. Don't foot note it -at least not this much.

Two stars out of five.

Epic Fantasy Bulletin Board

I have created a Bulletin Board at the Castle Fiction website where you can discuss all your favorite Epic fantasy subjects. Interested in The Lord of the Rings? Do you have a favorite Epic Fantasy series like the Wheel of Time or the Sword of Truth and want to talk about it with other like minded people. Maybe you just want to see what other people have to say about it.
Check out the Bulletin Board at All the World of Epic Fantasy

I have also written a review for the new Orlando Bloom / Ridley Scott Movie: Kingdom of Heaven.

When you get to Castle Fiction be sure to check your sword at the door.

PS. We are looking for moderators for the bulletin board so if you are a fan of epic fantasy and would like to be a moderator when you get to the BB send the admin an email.