King Arthur Meets Lady Guinevere, illustration by Howard Pyle for his book The Story of King Arthur and His Knights, published in 1903
Anonymous asked:
Tell me 6 things about your novel
You wandering and winsome little soul,
The body’s guest and its companion too,
Into what places now will you depart?
You pale and stiff and naked little thing,
You won’t make jokes the way you’re wont to do.
Animula vagula blandula
Hospes comesque corporis
Quae nunc abibis in loca?
Pallidula rigida nudula
Nec ut soles dabis iocos.
–The dying poem of the Roman emperor Hadrian, cited in the “Vita Hadriani” of the Historia Augusta
Winter Night, Adolf Kosárek, 1857
To those in the Northern Hemisphere, happy Winter Solstice.
- It’s blue.
- It’s bigger than a breadbox.
- It has a pH of 6.5.
- It can be sung to the tune of “I’ve Been Workin’ on the Railroad”.
- It has never once been to Paris.
- When provoked, it can release a powerful electric shock.
Okay, okay, sorry for the smart-aleck answers. I really don’t know much about what form it’ll take yet. Only that it’ll be set in ancient Rome–the High Empire, most likely–and that ancient athletics will be a major component of the plot.
Moonlit Night in Winter Outside Amsterdam, Elias van Bommel, 1883
One of my chief goals for 2024 is to write the historical novel I’ve long contemplated. This may sound frivolous, but I’m genuinely determined to make it happen. I have all this knowledge bouncing around in my head, and I want to put it to good use.
Bronze head from a life-size statue of the Roman emperor Trajan (r. 98-117 CE), from the settlement of Ulpia Noviomagus Batavorum = present-day Nijmegen, Netherlands. Now in the Museum het Valkhof, Nijmegen. Photo credit: Carole Raddato.
I enjoyed my trip to Malta this past summer immensely, and I hope to go abroad again in the summer of 2024, circumstances and finances permitting. I’m having trouble deciding where, though, so I thought I would turn to you, the good people of Tumblr.
Which country should I visit in 2024?
Denmark
France
Ireland
Japan
Norway
Portugal
Spain
Other (leave comment)
See Results
How Sir Launcelot fought with a fiendly dragon, illustration by Arthur Rackham from The Romance of King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table, adapted from Sir Thomas Malory by Alfred W. Pollard and published by Macmillan in 1917
Snow at Ginkakuji Temple, Hasui Kawase, 1951
thesilicontribesman
