How About Winged Serpents?

I am going to take my time to respond to Gary’s recent comment that the serpent in the Garden of Eden is depicted with wings in some cases.

Although I have never seen images like this (to my knowledge) of a serpent with wings in the Garden of Eden, it does not suprise me to see one now. We have often had little tussles Gary over the way I see themes at the core of Ordo Lupus and the Temple Gate, and the way you see them. I have referred sometimes to werewolves and warg.

The reason I can do this (and still think myself sane) is because, for me the modern concept of werewolves and vampires etc, is probably a romanticised and glamourised version of what was once, by some, seen as more real than mere myth. I see the roots of these myths and legends being far more interesting, buried as they are deep within esoteric knowledge that is hidden from most of the world. That is why the wolves in my book are not just wolves but communicate on some level with people. The main character in the book is a wolf-being in a human body (ie with the Earthly clothes of a human).
Similarly the Serpent was once a human. Continue reading “How About Winged Serpents?” →

Which are Your Favourite Film Stars?

Quick post today and off-subject but I am in the mood:

A poll:
Which is your favourite film actor in a War Movie:

I have assigned my votes now so please add yours (10 for best down to 1)
Update: I have had a slight rethink. there are not enough Korean and Vietnam movies and also I forgot how good Brando is in The Men. At first I thought yeah – well, he is good but it’s about wounded men in USA trying to recover from war. But then I thought well actually that is exactly what war is about. So I am adding it. This has changed my voting by moving Burton’s performance in Bitter Victory down one and all my lower entries. Here is the list: Continue reading “Which are Your Favourite Film Stars?” →

Writing Style : to be Short and Brief

Been thinking a bit about writing style – the fact that sometimes I am torn between short, really punchy writing like Warren Ellis and more discursive writing like Tolkien.

The thing is that I think very tight dialogue is great if the world is very familiar and so you don’t have to worry too much about the reader knowing his/her way round. It’s especially good too if the main character follows some kind of template – stereotype is too strong a word.
But since my writing is really mainly about people, my characters don’t comfortably fit into patterns so there really seems to be a limit to how often I can do that kind of brief writing.

Any thoughts anyone?

I find it quite nice to post brief thoughts to twitter but 140 characters is a bit short to really get anything down other than soundbites on philosophical matters.