Timewaster's Guide Archive

k, got ahold of Isaac, and he reminded me that he sold the rights to the artwork to Brandon. He used to have them on his website, but doesnt feel totally right with keeping them up now. So, he's gonna talk to brandon to have him put them up on the main website for download.  I dont have a timetable, but i doubt it would be a hard thing to do. hopefully they will be up soon.

hope i helped.

EDIT: Isaac might also get permission from Brandon to put them up on his own site. he'll let me know. When I know, i'll link it here.

I shot Isaac an email to see if he has any info. i'll update when he gets back to me.

what you see with Tuon and the Seanchan is one possible reaction to those who channel. thats the actual interesting think about it. yes, the seanchan chose to enslave a portion of the population to deal with it, but that is THEIR response. the main continent has several societies that deal with it differently from Aes Sedai to Aiel to the Kin. It's as if we get to see the different "what ifs".  Now, people growing up in the seanchan culture may say they feel honored to be chosen and sul'dam or d'amani (or however they are spelled - im in audio-book land right now), but does that mean Egwene should feel honored because she was leashed and tortured? In history, those chosen for human sacrifice were told it was an honor. I personally dont feel right saying "yup, it was an honor." but we can argue opinions all day to no good or purposeful result - i suggest we dont.

as to your dilemma question, who can say? you can argue both ways. things are never as simple as the paragraph you wrote - there are always hundreds of other things to consider. I personally dont want to debate it, because it wont lend enough good stuff to the thread without hurting it more. there is no good answer or solution to your proposed situation. it makes for a good story idea due to all the tension, but it would sicken me to see either side of it in real life.

Steven Erikson was once asked a question about how bleak he portrayed life in his novels. He responded by saying that no matter how bleak he paints things, it can never possibly compare with witnessing it in a real-life situation. Stories can make easy answers, but life is never that easy. (that was another example of my endless pimping of Steven Erikson's work. Go get him now!)

i agree with Madness.

by the "those in charge are right" argument, the holocaust during WWII was totally cool. so are the genocides that have happened in Africa, Indonesia, etc. You could argue the the guy who rapes a girl is "in charge," so he is right for doing it. No, i dont think i can roll with those thoughts.

now, Tuon doesn't think she is wrong at all. that has to do with her culture. within her culture she isn't wrong. but that doesnt mean is isnt wrong in general, and it doesnt mean she is right in general. the torturing of people so they behave as a good dog should is viewed as wrong by the main protagonists in WoT. thats just how the story is written.

what is important in the story is not whether she is right or wrong, but how her views cause tension, and should her views change, what effects that will have on her and the story.  thats just storytelling.  tension = better stories.

geez, i stop looking at this thread for a few hours and it degenerates into name calling and belief bashing. Suddenly because people posting are mormon their arguments have less relevance because they are a supposed minority view? when a mormon person is responding to what look like insults they are just being zealous? in a world where violent crimes increase, homicides remain unsolved at at an ever growing rate (nearly 40%), and where the unity of marriage is considered an afterthought by so many, I would have thought that people would be a little more courteous of people's "conservative" views.

it disturbs me that any mormon, or any person in general, is being labeled as sheltered or zealous due to the state they live in, or due to the miles they've traveled. really, this is just silly. it is considered wrong to judge all people of one race based off one of their members. it is considered wrong to say an entire family is messed up because one of their members is making poor decisions. it is considered wrong for all the residents of one nation to be judged based on the actions of a few. how is religion any different? there are a few comments ive seen that could be taken as religious bigotry, and i dont think there is EVER any room for that type of behavior in ANY setting. Utah, Idaho, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama...all have zealous people living in them regardless of religion or backround. The same can be said of Israel, Ireland, the USA, Brazil, Egypt, and Russia.

here's a little bit of perspective. I happen to agree that there are some mormons in Utah that are a bit over the top. I also feel that there are similar types in every state in the union, and in every country in the world. however I have met and associated with FAR more mormons that were just normal people. no over-zealousness. not over-bearing. not sheltered (the former CEO of AT&T Japan comes to mind). just down to earth "normal" people. how is believing in morality not normal? everyone seems so keen on definitions, so define normal. there is a huge measure of perspective involved there.

Here's a good rule for these threads, and for life: be courteous. I dont care if you are mormon, hindu, atheist, white, black, mexican, or irish. leave insulting and inflaming comments out of all of it.

the type of contention im seeing here doesnt do anybody any good, and it sickens me to see what started out as an interesting topic spiral into name calling, intelligence insulting, and religious insensitivity (from all angles, not just towards "mormons"). disgusting.

id also ask that you tone down the hostility a tad. many of those sentences feel like direct attacks on people. the profanity doesnt help much either.  it seems like you are getting a bit riled up over some pretty mild comments.  Come on people, lets keep the discussion mature and not result to blatantly insulting people's comments and beliefs.

fixed - thx Shaggy and wilson

Another thing to point out from my bookstore managing experience is that most people like it pretty mellow on the romance side, especially when written by a male author. im not saying i get it, but that's how things went, and other managers from around the nation agreed with me. It makes the books appeal to a much larger audience. This isnt a Harlequin Romance novel after all, and as people can see, many tend to call the sexuality in books by guys like Martin, Bakker, Gaiman, and Mieville a turn off at times.