• Magic is ancient, often related with the old language or the old tongue.
• Dragons are, or were, the grand masters of magic.
• The first law of thermodynamics holds; a magician exercising magic loses energy in the process.

I guess you could also argue this demonstrates the limited fantasy of fantasy writers, and I guess there’d be some truth in this claim. It’s just incredibly hard to come up with novel ideas that are original and intriguing.

These days, I take pleasure in reading Anne Bishop’s Black Jewels Trilogy. I struggle to describe these books as great fantasy and reserve this label for the insane craze of George R. R. Martin’s truly epic and insanely complex Songs of Ice and Fire. But, Anne Bishop brings in a new twist and a fresh air into the business. Saetan, the High Lord of Hell (and other places) is a pretty loveable and only very human figure. You’ll always be glad to be back in the safety of Hell. Many of the characters are delightful even though they all seem static, either good or bad, with little character development.

Ah well, that’s where George is needed. If you need to kill the time until A Dance With Dragons finally comes out, Anne Bishop’s Black Jewels isn’t the worst choice.

While not quite as hilarious, The Four Corners of the Sky is one of the nicest books I read in a long time. Amusing, engaging, with a good dose of good old romance. You won’t want to put it down until you’re done.

Highly recommended.

I used to think nurses were women,
I used to think police were men,
I used to think poets were boring,
Until I became one of them.

The BBC quoted this poem in their Mastercrafts program on stained glass, and the poem is now cited in a new stained glass featuring in a school in Peckham, south London.

I was intrigued and consulted with a popular Internet search engine, and thus discovered a poet called Benjamin Zephaniah. What a great guy! Well worded, non-boring, non-traditionalist, inventive, fresh. I also like Wot a Pair.

Read it for yourself, and read it aloud. It’s right here.

I notice they have now turned Audrey Niffenegger’s brilliant novel The Time Traveler’s Wife into a movie. I can’t help wondering how they resolve the staging difficulties inherent in this book.

A good reason to watch the movie, and an even better reason to read the book again.

Much rambling, some background information, and close to nothing in terms of guidance is provided. While most of the path is well marked and the basics are simple (keep the water to your left when walking east to west), some sections are tricky. Finding the way out of town, or finding the right path amid a network of paths crossing the dunes, for example, can be tricky. This is where one likes consulting a guidebook, but this one fails to come to the rescue.

Since the map for each walk is spread over multiple pages, it is often difficult to judge the current position relative to the walk. Little hints like “you’ve reached the half-way point,”  “better don’t take lunch just yet. There’s a steep climb ahead and a brilliant Cafe in the next bay” or similar information of that nature is the kind of stuff I look for in a guide book.

I recall at least one occasion (which I fail to find and quote now), he talks about a nature feature or historic aspect, and then proceeds discussing the next feature or historic aspect, ignoring the 6 mile distance between the two.

A good thing each of the guidebooks which cover the entire path between them is written by a different author. Or maybe they should have sought someone who knows how to write a guidebook and given the job to that person. Oh, never mind.

Yes, you should be walking the South West Cost Path. Its brilliant. No, you should not be buying this book. Its a waste of money. Take your common sense instead, and an OS map, and you’ll be fine.