Without any comment from me:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/7879596.stm

http://iaindale.blogspot.com/2009/02/dont-blame-council-clear-your-own.html

You’ll have lots of fun reading the Genghis novels; Iggulden knows how to write real page-turners. I have his Caesar epic too and the overall style is the same, ie. basically a historical thriller which has a very cinematic “Hollywood blockbuster” quality, with a good balance between outright blokiness and more poignant, poetic and philosophical stuff (the latter’s not suprising as Iggulden is apparently a big fan of Kipling’s poem “If”).

There is a slight difference in the tone of the two stories as Iggulden’s Caesar is quite idealised as a hero in many ways, whereas his version of Genghis is a much cockier, lairier Klingon-type from a relatively early age (as you’re no doubt already finding out).

I also bought Bernard Cornwell’s Arthurian “Warlord Chronicles” before xmas and have read some of the first book; he has a very different writing style to Iggulden, but he seems to be good at bringing the grittiness (and some of the barbarism) of the Dark Ages to life — it’s clearly not a sanitised PG-rated version of the legend. I have friends who’ve already read the whole epic and they speak highly of it. I thought there was a Blackadderish dry humour to some of the first person narrative too, especially his comments about that priest constantly lurking in the vicinity who clearly has major suspicions about what the guy’s actually writing about.

*************************

Amrit,

That’s pretty interesting. I guess Iggulden just decided to follow his “real” interests. He is a bloody good writer and obviously has a lot of interest in some of the more epic, militaristic aspects of human history. I don’t blame him for deciding to throw out his blackboard and chalk, if writing historical sagas is what he really enjoys doing

I have started to read ‘Wolf of the Plains’. I am enjoying it, but that is no surprise, as I am always a sucker for historical fiction. Have you read any Bernard Cornwell yet?

Amrit:

Interesting.

Been meaning to ask you — since you’re using military analogies in your tongue-in-cheek article — have you managed to check out any of Conn Iggulden’s novels which I mentioned a couple of months ago ?

I like that. You have just prompted me to do the same. I live on a steep hill, and I suspect it will be a day or two before we see anyone going past. Vehicles are definitely not going to make it.

Sad but true. I was there. I saw.

Don’t throw them at people you don’t know.

If you must throw them at randoms make sure it’s not someone bigger than you, and make sure you smile.

Don’t attack someone ammasing an arsenal of snowballs with one snowball. Rather escape. If you must fight, find shelter, amass your own smaller arsenal and then attack. Make sure you have a clear escape path before launching an attack.

Hahaha… I have just Googled ‘Augustine’ and now I get it!

@ Jai:

It can be if you’re better armed (and/or better at using your weapon) than your opponent. Especially if the other party prefers to only attack those they perceive as weak, unable to effectively defend themselves, or generally “easy targets”.

True… but how often does that happen? I can’t help thinking (esp. as a woman) that a lot of people who carry weapons do so because they don’t actually know how to defend themselves otherwise… a bit like when people use dogs as protection. Martial arts, like I said! I feel that not just learning self-defence, but also the philosophy behind a lot of martial arts, which is that force must be used responsibly, could help some to channel and appreciate ‘what they do’ more and reduce things like gang-formation, maybe.

@ sonia:

I know, ain’t it?! We Britishers need to do this kind of thing more!

all this grinding to a halt is great fun as well..

I don’t think being armed is much of a deterrent

It can be if you’re better armed (and/or better at using your weapon) than your opponent. Especially if the other party prefers to only attack those they perceive as weak, unable to effectively defend themselves, or generally “easy targets”.

A lesson about violence begetting violence perhaps?

Not necessarily. You have to think about exactly why violence may be, er, begot (begat ?) in the specific situation, eg:

-Because some people are belligerent and are looking for a fight with anyone who can “shoot back”, thereby giving an excuse to start a confrontation.

-Because some people want to be dominant, so they will attack anyone who is also armed because the latter will be perceived as a threat to their dominance. They may not necessarily attack someone who is unarmed because such people will be perceived as being submissive/subordinate or having capitulated “by default”.

Etc etc etc.

I wrote ‘hippocrite’ as a joke. Sadly, no one has got it yet.

I think snowball throwers ought to be seen as potential recruits to terrorism -pent up aggression, willing and prepared to cause harm (I bet they wore headgear and gloves to cover themselves and mask their identities) as well as possessing weapons of mass destruction. (snowballs can kill you)

I avoided all snow fights as I had too much work to do and meetings to attend. Lazy ass