Stranger Than Fiction: Octopus Photographer

Someone posted this article on facebook mentioning how Sony gave a New Zealand aquarium a camera in a special underwater housing to show how durable their cameras are as well as how smart octopuses are.  It apparently only took 3 tries for the octopus to figure out how to use it and now it takes photos of visitors.

Stranger Than Fiction: Swearing

A lot of newer gritty fantasy introduced swearing to fantasy worlds, which can sometimes bump you out of the narrative if the words aren't used carefully.  They help make books feel more real - after all, most people swear to some extent.  But what words were used historically, and why were they considered so bad?

David Waid has a short post about historical swearing, which he ended with this video of Melissa Mohr talking about her book Holy Sh*t: A History of the English Language in Four Letters at the Politics and Prose bookstore.  It's a fascinating talk (only 17 minutes + some Q&A).  She goes over how privacy affected what words are considered taboo, and why religious and body obscenities have so much power.

I really want to read this book now.

Stranger Than Fiction: Cribbing From History

A column dedicated to pointing out interesting tidbits of history, some of which would be cool to see in a fantasy novel or two.

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Cribbing from history can be an excellent way to get some great plot and character ideas (you can't make up some of the things people have actually done).

This is a Ted-Ed video by Alex Gendler about the plot similarities between George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire books and the British War of the Roses.  Obviously the books don't follow the history exactly - where would the fun in that be? - but it does show how alliances changed quickly and often nonsensically, and how dangerous politics and kingmaking can be.

History is full of interesting periods that would make the great start to a fantasy (or other) series.

Stranger Than Fiction: Coffee Around the World

When creating your own world remember that people in ours have different ways of doing pretty much everything, as this video by BuzzFeedBlue about coffee shows.

Also remember that depending on the size of your countries/states people within them can have different cultures or variances.  In addition to food preferences, dress, and whatnot, there are also linguistic differences: accents, varied speech, some words/phrases used more than others.

And your world won't be static, things will change as time goes by.  How does the younger generation see things in contrast to the older generation?  Do they want to do things the same way, are they taking on new cultured/rustic habits?  Are there heralds or other figures who pass along information, who might also pass along trends?

Stranger Than Fiction: Climate Change

A column dedicated to pointing out interesting tidbits of history, some of which would be cool to see in a fantasy novel or two.

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I recently finished reading The Third Horseman by William Rosen.  The premise of the book is that a good deal of the problems that arose at the end of the 13th and beginning of the 14th Century in Northern Europe, was caused by 2 great climate changes.  The first, which occurred 400 years before this, made temperatures warmer, allowing for increased crop yields and a population explosion, requiring expansion to find more land to cultivate in order to feed the ever increasing population.  This kicked off the Viking raids, which colonized Iceland, Greenland, made it to Nova Scotia and terrorized the coast of England and more.

The second major climate shift, which the book deals with directly, decreased the amount of sunlight while increasing the amount of rain, involved colder, longer winters and destroyed several years worth of crops in the summer through flooding, followed - perversely - by destroying crops through drought (because the topsoil had all washed away).

The book has a few dry spots, where the science of weather is detailed, but for the most part, it's a highly accessible story of war - between England and Scotland (it's the time of Robert the Bruce and William Wallace), England and France, and France and Flanders, and how those wars exacerbated the problems brought about by the weather to create famines that decimated Northern Europe.  The war between England and Scotland - and its constant draw on resources and destruction of arable land and crops along the border - increased hardship for villagers.  And when food prices rose in the towns, the people - who had no ability to grow their own, unlike the hard hit villagers - died in larger numbers than the villagers.  There are also two amazing chapters, one on the famine that spread and the trickle down effect it had on the people and population, one on the economic factors that hit when sheep started to get sick and die.

I didn't realize the extent to which animals - specifically sheep - were crucial to the English economy.  I knew wool was important, but not how important.  Consider this aspect of climate change: sheep don't lamb well when it's too cold.  In addition to the cold, the famines meant there wasn't much stored food to feed the animals, and flooding meant grazing them was more and more of a challenge.  Assuming the herd didn't catch one of the diseases going around requiring the animals be put down the wool they sheered was sent to Flanders to be made into cloth, which was then reimported to England.  Wool was the collateral used by the kings to get loans to finance their wars, and was taxed at the ports.  Edward II, desperate to reclaim Scotland, increased the taxes, which raised the price of cloth while decreasing the trade surplus those in the cities needed in order to afford food.

The book on the whole is worth reading, but if you're strapped for time, chapters 7 and 9 are brilliant, and terrifying.  I took notes of those chapters, there was so much interesting information.  Here's a sample of what you'll learn from this book:

- rye is hardier than other grains, able to survive in wet, cold lands; only disadvantage was vulnerability to mold that causes ergotism (hallucinogenic ingredient in LSD)

- seed grains for bread & beer the most common crop in Europe (word Lord derived from Old English hlaford = keeper of the bread & lady from hlaefdigge = kneader of the dough

- during the rains & flooding salt became harder to get, which pushed up prices of foods that needed salting to preserve, like fish and cheese

- ale was cheap (traditionally 3 gallons for a penny in England) and safer than water to drink, it was typically served fresh as it soured quickly, peasant brews were weaker in both flavour & alcohol than what nobility produced  

- diets were deficient in calories, lipids, calcium & vitamins A, C, & D

- diet contained so much fibre it blocked absorption of minerals like calcium, magnesium & zinc (which was bad for women of childbearing age)

- for perspective, the death toll in a modern city is 8/1000; the pre-crisis death toll was roughly 27/1000, during the crisis (and remember, this was BEFORE the Black Death) the death toll reached 50/1000; in towns it was closer to 100/1000 

The author has also written Justinian's Flea, about the first pandemic the world encountered, when the Black Death struck Constantinople.

If you're mentioning a war in your fantasy novel, remember that they eat up resources, both in terms of what the army needs, but also with regards to the lands they ruin (burning fields so your opponent can't use the grain is a common tactic).  Also remember that other factors affect the lives of peasantry and citizenry, and that food production and weather can have huge impacts on the wider world.  Also remember that your country's economics are probably intertwined with those of their neighbours, and shifts in production can impact their prosperity too.

Stranger Than Fiction: The Medieval Cook by Bridget Ann Henisch

A column dedicated to pointing out interesting tidbits of history, some of which would be cool to see in a fantasy novel or two.

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This isn't a proper book review, more of a quick pros/cons section with some point form notes of things I learned from this book.

Pros: lots of interesting tidbits, quick read, lots of examples, cautions on use of texts and trouble finding examples

Cons: some repetition, only 19 illustrations which are all black & white and all in chapter 6

The book consists of 6 chapters: 1 cook in context, 2 cottage cook, 3 fast food and catering, 4 comforts of home, 5 staging a feast and 6 the cook in art

It's quite amazing how much information the author managed to glean from the sources available, which are predominantly margin drawings from manuscripts.

- had to fetch water and fuel for fire, keep fire going through cooking (& heating), which took up a LOT of time

- had to grind grain at mill, often had to bake at baker’s (no oven at home but could bake in pan or on coals)

- wafers were popular

- could buy different foods from specialists

- had versions of ‘fast food’ for people in towns who had to work, students (no kitchen facilities)

- could bring filling to specialist who would make pie crust, could get it back cooked or uncooked (uncooked was cheaper but you’d need a way/place to cook it yourself), could also buy fully made pies

- high table at feasts got better food than regular tables, similarly higher ranked people got better/more food than lower ranked at high table

- couldn’t eat eggs or milk for lent, so pancake Tuesday (which was the day before lent started) was used to get rid of them (Calendar picture for February, book of hours, French, 2nd quarter of 16th C., Bodleian Library, MS Douce 135, fol. 2v)

- Tacuinum sanitatis (health handbooks) - group of manuscripts, show more kitchen details

- used white aprons without upper bib, use knotted strings to hold things on (no pockets)

- image of mobile oven, bringing pies to outdoor stall that also sells bretsels (Ulrich Richental, Richentalchronik, 1465. Rosgartenmuseum, Constance, MS Hsl, fol.23a)

Stranger Than Fiction: Platonic Solids

A column dedicated to pointing out interesting tidbits of history, some of which would be cool to see in a fantasy novel or two.

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One of the things I've been studying this past year is the History of Science: Antiquity to 1700 course by Great Courses.  It's amazing how much ancient peoples discovered about the world, and how many ancient practices we still adhere to, even if we don't realize it.  For example the Babylonians chose a mathematical base of 60 for their calculations, which is where we get 60 seconds in a minute.

One of the most fascinating lectures was on Plato.  I avoided the medieval philosophy courses in university because I thought they'd be dry and boring.  Boy was I wrong.  (And yes, I understand Plato isn't a Medieval philosopher, but I suspect you can't study Medieval philosophy without studying the Greek philosophers, as they formed the basis of later works).  

What really caught my interest was Plato's 4 Element Theory.  I've heard variations on this (medieval medicine was based on the 4 humours that draw heavily on this), but never the full theory with a real understanding of it.

Basically Plato believed that there were 4 elements that made up the world and everything on it, when combined.  He also believed that each element had a shape that defined its role.

This is a chart about the elements I made up using information I got from the fascinating Alchemy of Paint: Art, Science and Secrets From the Middle Ages by Spike Bucklow.  If you want to get a decent understanding of Alchemy and the complexity of medieval thought, read that book.

ELEMENT	MODE	GEOMETRY	SIDES	QUALITIES	SHAPE	WEIGHT
FIRE	CONSUMING	TETRAHEDRAL	4	HOT DRY	SHARP MOBILE	SUBTLE
AIR	GASEOUS	OCTAHEDRAL	8	HOT WET	BLUNT MOBILE	SUBTLE
WATER	LIQUID	ICOSAHEDRAL	20	COLD WET	BLUNT MOBILE	DENSE
EARTH	SOLID	CUBIC	6	COLD DRY	BLUNT IMMOBILE	DENSE

The first thing that occurred to me when I thought about the different shapes was that they seemed familiar...

That's right, D&D dice.  Though, of course, there are a few more dice in the game than Platonic solids.

Now, I like to show how these stranger than fiction posts can be useful in world-building when it comes to making up fantasy worlds.  First, it's good to remember that your people may not be as 'primitive' as you think.  Nor are modern ways of thinking necessarily the best way to deal with the past when it comes to how your people relate to the world around them.

Of course, the easiest way to use the Platonic Solids is to do what Peter V. Brett did in his Demon Cycle books, use them (ok, use D&D dice) as augury bones.

And in case you think that's the artist's interpretation, here's an illustration from his website of what the bones the priestesses cast look like:

While Plato had 4 elements in mind, others felt that 4 was one short.  The human hand has 5 fingers. From a mathematical standpoint, 5 is the hypotenuse of a triangle (when you take the first plane number (3) and the first solid number (4) as the lengths of 2 sides).  Five is the number of regular solids.  there were 5 visible planets (sun, moon, mercury, venus and mars - the Greek word 'planet' means 'wanderer') and the belief was that the macrocosm was analogous to the microcosm.  Therefore, shouldn't there be 5 elements?  Thus came the quest for quintessence, the 5th Element (a 12 sided shape - in the centre of the elements), the one meant to show the attributes of heaven, the spiritual, the perfect, the pure. (This information comes from another interesting read, Medieval Number Symbolism by Vincent Foster Hopper, pp 35-36.)

As a side note, since it kind of deals with the D&D dice up above and I think it's cool, Lou Anders pointed out this post about the oldest 20 sided die in the world.  Carved sometime during the 2nd to 4th centuries  A.D., this die from the Ptolemaic era of Egypt has both Greek and Coptic letters on it.  It's currently housed at the Met.

Stranger Than Fiction: The Germanic Tribes

A column dedicated to pointing out interesting tidbits of history, some of which would be cool to see in a fantasy novel or two.
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The Germanic Tribes

Written by Alexander Hogh and Judith Voelker, Directed by Alexander Hogh, 2008

The four-part documentary brought out a lot of great information, showing how using a mixture of written records and archaeological evidence allows modern historians to extrapolate how the Germanic peoples lived two thousand years ago.  Each episode they created a fake person, someone who ‘might have lived’, to follow, as a narrative thread.  But I personally found the fake quotes that mingled with the historical ones distracting, as it was easy to forget that these characters weren’t based on actual recorded lives. 

The documentary goes over the Roman conquest, the Germanic push back, a time of co-operation and the introduction of Christianity.  

I know very little about this period of history, so this miniseries was full of interesting tidbits like:

- the Romans called the barbarian tribes and location, Germania, from which we get the name Germany

- just how far the West the Romans conquered

- Romans considered German tribesmen formidable warriors and good for bodyguards (as they didn’t care about Roman politics)

- people in Germania played lyres and followed some Roman religious beliefs

- Hadrian built a wall of wood and dirt through Germany to mark the end of Roman territory a few years before he built the stone wall in Northern England

- the Germanic tribes raided other tribes for slaves

- the Germanic tribes used Runic writing & worshiped the same gods as the Scandinavians

- gladiatorial fights were hosted in conquered regions of modern day Germany

- the origin of the Fleur de Lis symbol of France came from Medieval representations of Clovis (frogs on his garment, depicting his ‘evil pagan beliefs’ [the frog/toad is a symbol of lying] turn into lilies upon his baptism)

- Allemagne [the French word for Germany] comes from the Germanic tribe/confederation, the Alemanni (also spelled Alamanni and Alamani), who were conquered by the Frankish king Clovis. [According to wikipedia, the word ‘Alemanni’ meant ‘all men’, though only their enemies used it.  Those particular tribesmen called themselves Suebi. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allemanni  On reading about the various modern names for Germany and where they come from, the German name for Germany (Deutschland) comes from the Old High German word diutisc, which meant ‘of the people’ or ‘folk’] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_Germany

Stranger Than Fiction: The Black Death in the Middle East and Europe talk

A column dedicated to pointing out interesting tidbits of history, some of which would be cool to see in a fantasy novel or two.

This is a lecture by Stuart Borsch, an assistant professor from Assumption College's history department.  It was given at the "Epidemics Then and Now: Infectious Diseases Around the World" conference held at the University of Chicago in June of 2006.

I saw it on the Medievalists website.  The talk is fascinating, especially if you don't know much about Egypt in the middle ages, as its economics and irrigation system are what Borsch focuses on in his talk.  I'd encourage you to watch the talk, but if you don't have time you can peruse my point form notes below.  Questions start at the 39 minute mark.

- information and images of the Nileometer a critical structure for judging the extent of the flooding and knowing how the harvest would therefore go

- the Nileometer was closely watched by government officials, if the water level was too low they wouldn't get enough water for the winter crops, if too high the flooding would waterlog the crops and cause possible famine

- silt deposits from the Nile meant Egyptians didn't need to leave land fallow or add fertilizer the way other countries did, so a small area could feed a large population

- Mamluk Egypt, Mamluk was a political system whereby non-Muslims were purchased as slaves mainly from the Caucases and brought in to serve as soldiers.  Highly trained, their army was the only one to repel mongol invaders

- the Mamluk's took over Egypt in 13th C. and rulers had partial landholdings in various places (ie, no direct feudal connection with their land or people)

- irrigation system led by Coptic Christians that had agents in the villages

- loss of up to 50% of the population of villages due to the Black Death meant peasants had to work harder to do all the work while landholders demanded the same revenues they received before the plague

- in Europe landlords were forced over time to change their terms as peasants left areas that weren't economically viable and moved to areas with lower rents and higher pay

- because Egypts landowners were removed from their lands, they raised rents, not seeing the problems firsthand

- the irrigation system began to decay due to lack of upkeep, which in turn lowered revenues, etc..  Lack of incentives to make repairs led to a breakdown in the irrigation system which devastated the Egyptian economy.

- areas of parching and waterlogging led to failure of crops

- post-plague was better for the peasantry that survived in most of Europe as labour was redistributed in more efficient ways

- in Egypt however, due to the repression of the peasants by the aristocracy, many of the peasants fled to major cities, rather than settling lands that were still properly irrigated.  So things didn't improve much for them.  They saw prices rise and wages decrease.

About the Black Death and why it was so lethal in the 14th C.

- it had struck several times in the past in the Mediterranean (5th, 6th, 7th Centuries)

- diseases are successful if they mutate, spread easily and don't kill the host (so it can spread the disease).

- one of many theories of the origin of the Black Death is that there was an isolated reservoir of the disease that was spread exclusively between rodents and flees (the primary carriers) and evolved and mutated outside of humans.  In other words, the plague never went away but from the 7th to 14th C. it had adapted itself to humans (so it didn't kill them).  The theory goes that one strain was isolated from humans, mutating it over time in ways that it was not adapted to human bodies and become more lethal to humans but ultimately self-defeating (since it killed its hosts and killed them quickly, thereby killing itself over time when it could no longer spread).

Stranger Than Fiction: The Law Code of Hammurabi

A column dedicated to pointing out interesting tidbits of history, some of which would be cool to see in a fantasy novel or two. 

The Oldest Code of Laws in the World AKA The Code of Laws Promulgated by Hammurabi, King of Babylon 

Trans: C. H. W. Johns, M.A. in 1903

[Note: I'm sure there are more modern, accurate, and easier to read, translations, but this one's free and I could read it on my iPad, so it's what I went with.]

I had heard that the law code of King Hammurabi had similarities to the Ten Commandments in the Bible, but I didn't realize just how similar the laws were until I read them.  But it's not just the laws themselves that are similar, but also the way in which the law was given, by God (or, in Hammurabi's case, a god) to man.  From the introduction to the code, "It contains on the obverse a very interesting representation of the King Hammmurabi, receiving his laws from the seated sun-god Samas, 'the judge of heaven and earth'".

Though the translation isn't the easiest to read (or understand) the code as a whole has some very interesting laws with regards to property, especially that of women (both in marriage and upon the death of their father or husband).  Here are a few tidbits I found interesting:

section 1. If a man weave a spell and put a ban upon a man, and has not justified himself, he that wove the spell upon him shall be put to death.

section 2. If a man has put a spell upon a man, and has not justified himself, he upon whom the spell is laid shall go to the holy river, he shall plunge into the holy river, and if the holy river overcome him, he who wove the spell upon him shall take to himself his house.  If the holy river makes that man to be innocent, and has saved him, he who laid the spell upon him shall be put to death.  He who plunged into the holy river shall take to himself the house of him who wove the spell upon him.

I find it interesting that the first two sections of the law deal with witchcraft / spellwork, showing that not only were such things considered real, they were of such importance that they're mentioned before any other crime.  The second section also indicates that the idea of 'trial by water' or 'let God decide innocence' predates the Middle Ages by quite a lot.

section 21. If a man has broken into a house, one shall kill him before the breach and bury him in it (?).

I wouldn't have understood this had I not listened to a lecture (The Other Side of History, Mesopotamia) that explained it.  Basically, if I break into your house then you get to not only kill me, but wall me up in (or perhaps bury me in the foundation of) your house.  

section 48. If a man has a debt upon him and a thunderstorm ravaged his field or carried away the produce, or the corn has not grown through lack of water, in that year he shall not return corn to the creditor, he shall alter his tablet and he shall not give interest for that year.

I find it interesting that acts of God are considered worthy reasons to defer payment on a loan, an acknowledgement that life isn't always fair and people shouldn't be punished for things they cannot control.

Men were allowed to divorce their wives without any question BUT their ex's got to take their marriage portion (ie, dowry) with them and could then marry whoever they wanted once their children were grown.  

section 138. If a man has set his face to put away his concubine who has borne him children or his wife who has granted him children, to that woman he shall return her her marriage portion and shall give her the usufruct of field, garden, and goods, and she shall bring up her children.  From the time that her children are grown up, from whatever is given to her children they shall give her a share like that of one son, and she shall marry the husband of her choice.

For their own part, women could divorce their husbands but only if they acted well with regards to their households.

section 141. If a woman hates her husband and has said 'Thou shalt not possess me', one shall enquire into her past what is her lack, and if she has been economical and has no vice, and her husband has gone out and greatly belittled her, that woman has no blame, she shall take her marriage portion and go off to her father's house.

If they didn't, 

Section 143. If she has not been economical, a goer about, has wasted her house, has belittled her husband, that woman one shall throw her into the waters.

There are, of course, some extremely harsh rules, like those that led to the 'eye for an eye' Biblical ones.

section 195. If a man has struck his father, his hands one shall cut off.

section 196. If a man has caused the loss of a gentleman's eye, his eye one shall cause to be lost.

But the rules apply differently based of the class of the victim and perpetrator.

section 198.  If he has caused a poor man to lose his eye or shattered a poor man's limb, he shall pay one mina of silver.

section 199. If he has caused the loss of the eye of a gentleman's servant or has shattered the limb of a gentleman's servant, he shall pay half his price.

When it comes to doctoring, there are set payments for particular procedures, but fierce punishments should the procedure go wrong.

section 218. If the doctor has treated a gentleman for a severe wound with a lancet of bronze and has caused the gentleman to die, or has opened an abscess of the eye for a gentleman with the bronze lancet and has caused the loss of the gentleman's eye, one shall cut off his hands. 

The code ends with the costs of hiring various craftsmen, meaning there was a standard (something the guilds in the late middle ages were brought in to help create and regulate).

So, why post this here?  Because laws tell us a lot about the society that needs them.  If a crime isn't taking place, than a law against that crime isn't necessary.  If you're writing a SF/F novel, then what laws do your peoples follow?  How do they differ - and how might those differences cause problems?  Even lawless societies tended to follow some sort of code of conduct.  And even if the laws themselves don't make your story, they make good background information for you to know.

Personally, I'm curious how long the laws in Hammurabi's code were followed and why he decided it was time to write them down.  Might make an interesting story on its own.  If you disagree, consider the story of Moses and the Ten Commandments.

Stranger Than Fiction: Columbus and the Globe + Medievalizing the Modern World

I saw this video on Medievalists.net.  The site reports on academic papers, videos, conferences etc.

Both talks, part of a conference at the British Academy, touch on how the 19th century's views of the Middle Ages have warped our own education and thought processes.

Terry Jones (of Monty Python fame and author of Chaucer's Knight: The Portrait of the Medieval Mercenary) talks about how the people of the past did not believe the world was flat, and Christopher Columbus was not trying to prove that point when he 'discovered' America.  He also describes more of what Columbus was actually like.

The second talk (starting around the 30 minute mark) is by Patrick Geary, a professor of history at the Institute of Advanced Study in Princeton and author of The Myth of Nations.  He talks on how modern nations look to a single point in their medieval past in order to create a unified nation in the present, without considering the changes that took place before and after that moment.

Please be aware that there is a minor amount of disturbing imagery in the talks with regards to slavery and war.

The last 20 or so minutes are a Q and A with the audience.  I particularly liked the question that comes at 1:07:41 on how people in the Middle Ages saw themselves with regards to their pieces of land and their political status (vs our own view of nationality).  Geary's answer is fantastic.

Stranger Than Fiction: Çatalhöyük

A column dedicated to pointing out interesting tidbits of history, some of which would be cool to see in a fantasy novel or two.

(Note: someone suggested the title 'History Bites' for this historical tidbits column, but while I loved the name, the tidbits I've collected so far are less about how horrible history was and more about some of the cool things people in the past achieved.  That's why I've decided on the title 'stranger than fiction', because in many ways fiction authors can't even come close to what actual people have done - for good or ill.  If you are interested in the horrible side of history, there's a great UK series of kids books by Terry Deary called Horrible Histories, that are just fantastic.  There's also the Canadian TV show, History Bites, from the late 90s by Rick Green, which asks the question, "What if television had been around for the past 5,000 years?"  Now, on with today's column.)

Çatalhöyük (also spelled Çatal Höyük and Çatal Hüyük) "was a very large Neolithic and Chalcolithic proto-city settlement in southern Anatolia [in Turkey], which existed from approximately 7500 B.C. to 5700 B.C. It is the largest and best-preserved Neolithic site found to date. In July 2012, it was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site." - Wikipedia

The city is unique in that it had no streets or lower level doors.  People walked across rooftops in order to get inside houses or around the city.

Again from Wikipedia:

The population of the eastern mound has been estimated at up to 10,000 people, but population likely varied over the community’s history. An average population of between 5,000 to 8,000 is a reasonable estimate. The inhabitants lived in mud-brick houses that were crammed together in an agglutinative manner. No footpaths or streets were used between the dwellings, which were clustered in a honeycomb-like maze. Most were accessed by holes in the ceiling, with doors reached by ladders and stairs. The rooftops were effectively streets. The ceiling openings also served as the only source of ventilation, allowing smoke from the houses' open hearths and ovens to escape.

In some ways it reminds me of the city of Highcastle in Raymond E. Feist's A Darkness at Sethanon, where as a last line of defence each house has a flat roof where archers running between rooftops via ladders can shoot at an attacking army in the streets.

It's hard to imagine a city without streets, which is why seeing something like this in a fantasy novel would feel so new and strange.

I remember learning about this city in my high school ancient civilizations class.  I didn't remember anything other than the name, so it was cool to come across it in one of the courses I'm doing (it's a Great Courses course called The Other Side of History, talking about daily life and what the non-famous people throughout western history were doing.  So far it's fantastic, and I'm learning a LOT.  Please note, this isn't a plug for them (hence why there's not link).  I've wanted to study history again for years, and doing these courses is not only getting me to read history books, it's getting me studying periods of history I haven't looked at since high school, and then not very thoroughly).  

Stranger Than Fiction - Movie Review

Most movies nowadays depend on special effects to hold the audience's attention. Stranger Than Fiction has very few special effects. Your attention is held by something else: the writing.

The plot is fairly simple. IRS agent Harold Crick (Will Ferrell) starts hearing a woman's voice correctly narrating aspects of his life. He quickly comes to realize he's a character in someone's fictional story. And the author's going to kill him.

The narration is exquisitely written. The dialogue is sharp and often hilarious. There's no slapstick (which is why I normally avoid Will Ferrell movies). This is verbal humour a la British comedy. And it makes for a great film.

My favourite part is when Harold visits literature professor Jules Hilbert (Dustin Hoffman), who tries to discover what kind of novel Harold is in. Freakin' hilarious!