More books!
Feb. 19th, 2007 12:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
helionaOkay, well, I decided quite a while ago that I would post an entry from Diana Wynne Jones' The Tough Guide to Fantasy Land every day, but then I never got round to it. So this is me just starting!
First of all, the reviews on the back are great!
An indispensible guide for anyone stuck in the realms of fantasy without a magic sword to call their own. - Terry Pratchett
I've got a magic sword actually, so I'll stick with that if you don't mind. Even if it is broken. - Aragorn, son of Arathorn
Would have been a lot more use on the quest than three Elven hairs. - Gimli, son of Gloin
And now for the first entry (which isn't actually an entry but a guide in how to use the book, but it's a must read!):
What to do first:
and for Jeannie (or Jack or Debra or Donnie or ...) for putting up with me so supportively
and for my nine children for not interrupting me
and for my Publisher for not discouraging me
and for my Writers' Circle for listening to me
and for Barbie and Greta and Albert Einstein and Aunty May
and so on. Ignore this, even if you're wondering if Albert Einstein is Albert Einstein or in fact a dog.
This will be followed by a short piece of prose that says:
When the night of the wolf waxes strong in the morning, the wise man is wary of a false dawn.
Ka'a Orto'o, Gnomic Utterances, VI ii
Ignore this too (or, if really puzzled, look up GNOMIC UTTERANCES in the Toughpick section). Find the Map.
The whole first entry can be found at this webpage, because I didn't want to blow up LJ! (The reference to Toughpick is talking about the main part of the book; the glossary part.)
[ETA: All of the writing I'm quoting is copyrighted to Diana Wynne Jones and Gollancz publishers. I don't intend to post every entry, because that would take years and bore everyone to death. Instead I was thinking about posting interesting ones with the idea of getting people interested in the book, so I'm not encouraging people to read my entries instead of buying the book. You should buy the book if you like what I post, because it's really funny!]
First of all, the reviews on the back are great!
An indispensible guide for anyone stuck in the realms of fantasy without a magic sword to call their own. - Terry Pratchett
I've got a magic sword actually, so I'll stick with that if you don't mind. Even if it is broken. - Aragorn, son of Arathorn
Would have been a lot more use on the quest than three Elven hairs. - Gimli, son of Gloin
And now for the first entry (which isn't actually an entry but a guide in how to use the book, but it's a must read!):
What to do first:
- Find the MAP. It will be there. No Tour of Fantasyland is complete without one. It will be found in the front part of your brochure, quite near the page that says:
and for Jeannie (or Jack or Debra or Donnie or ...) for putting up with me so supportively
and for my nine children for not interrupting me
and for my Publisher for not discouraging me
and for my Writers' Circle for listening to me
and for Barbie and Greta and Albert Einstein and Aunty May
and so on. Ignore this, even if you're wondering if Albert Einstein is Albert Einstein or in fact a dog.
This will be followed by a short piece of prose that says:
When the night of the wolf waxes strong in the morning, the wise man is wary of a false dawn.
Ka'a Orto'o, Gnomic Utterances, VI ii
Ignore this too (or, if really puzzled, look up GNOMIC UTTERANCES in the Toughpick section). Find the Map.
The whole first entry can be found at this webpage, because I didn't want to blow up LJ! (The reference to Toughpick is talking about the main part of the book; the glossary part.)
[ETA: All of the writing I'm quoting is copyrighted to Diana Wynne Jones and Gollancz publishers. I don't intend to post every entry, because that would take years and bore everyone to death. Instead I was thinking about posting interesting ones with the idea of getting people interested in the book, so I'm not encouraging people to read my entries instead of buying the book. You should buy the book if you like what I post, because it's really funny!]
