Not The Friday Five: A Sky the Colour of Tin Edition

Hello all, and welcome to another late Friday Five, as once again bank holidays have messed with my life. But never fear, I still have things to share. So let’s be sharing, eh?

1. Reviews

The only thing better than a review is lots of reviews. Para is here with mini-reviews of Mooncakes, Shards of Earth, The Raven Tower, and Spear

We have an in depth spoilery critique of Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Guns of the Dawn by John Mendez

Looking for some Sword & Sorcery? Al at Al Wrote A Book recommends Skallagrim – In the Vales of Pagarna by Stephen R Babb

2. General Book Stuff

Wyrd & Wonder is over, but the links are still there for reading, and Imyril’s final quest log is a good place to go for that

In things that fascinate me – the idea of translating a book that was originally translated from another language back to the original language.

We know that many stories haven’t survived, but did you know how many? Check out of this Guardian article

Looking for some books based on Indian mythology as this incredible taproot finally sees some sustained respect in the west? Sahi’s World of Books is here for you and me.

3. General Non-Book Story Stuff

Lord Samper has some thoughts on Obi Wan Kenobi

MD Tjong Ayong has some thoughts on Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

4. Some writerly advice

The Alexandrian is focused on RPG DM advice, but a lot of DM advice is good storytelling advice. This series of articles on fixing Waterdeep: Dragon Heist are well worth reading

We talked a little about query letter bios yesterday, and someone mentioned it might be helpful to create a thread of bios from "success" queries that writers can look through!

Agented authors, please feel free to share the bio from your success query below! Here's mine:

— Amanda Woody 🌈 (@AmandaWoody_) May 30, 2022

This is a really interesting thread and a lot of it tracks. I'm going to go ahead and use it a as jumping off board to talk about my experience with Miss Percy and its sales, which so far have outstripped everything else I've ever written.

🧵 https://t.co/0ncf5xB0JL

— Quenby Olson is Writing Two Books at Once (@QEisenacher) May 30, 2022

5. And the Esoterica

We have an article on Britain’s Desi Pubs by David Jesudason

Hellenistic glass vessel in the shape of a pomegranate. Dated to 2nd – 1st century BC, 6.9 x 6.6 cm, Phoenix Art Museum https://t.co/6vIxRjaOnx

You might like this thread about the link between pomegranates, poppies and Greek grain goddesses too: https://t.co/rQXp9JnaW6 pic.twitter.com/EmFHDoEWcg

— oldeuropeanculture (@serbiaireland) May 30, 2022

This is blowing people’s minds, so as an amateur historian and sociologist I’m going to try to explain this development/ cultural artifact. pic.twitter.com/vNF0MMpMFK

— Incompent Beneficiary of Nepotism (@WallySierk) May 29, 2022

There you go. Here’s hoping the week ahead is only moderately evil.