Some Questions
Happy Halloween!
For a trick, I continue to have trouble with my legs. Walking isn't too much of a problem, but standing still for more than 5-10 minutes is agonizing. And so it goes.
For a treat, the cats are fine, now just over a year old but still acting like kittens. Starbuck wakes me up each morning around 5:30 by knocking things off a nearby shelf, patting my face with his claws out, and/or standing on my CPAP, in the process turning it off. After he chewed through two air hoses, I've taken to sleeping with the unit under the blankets near my head. Not exactly comfortable, with six feet of tubing wrapped around my neck, but not as expensive as replacing hoses all the time.
Meanwhile, I'm making slow progress on the next novel. Currently, I'm gearing up to write a chapter on the Merikit situation and going through the previous books looking for some details that I just can't remember. Old age, too much material/complexity, or the passage of too much time? It's been 45 years since I wrote God Stalk, heaven help me. And I really dislike re-reading my old stories. Anyway, as I go I'll be asking some questions here I'd really like help with, if anyone knows the answers. Warning: potential spoilers.
1. Where did I leave Graykin? Doing what? Do I need to touch base with him again before the end?
2. Did Jame cut off the Master’s hand with the Ivory Knife? If so, did I ever explain why its touch didn’t kill him? This is really important for getting the ending right.
3. The hill tribe known as the Noyat/Noyet(?). What novel covers them? Did I say anything about them except that they have a nasty patriarchal society at odds with the Merikit? Was Chingetai born a Noyat or to a related tribe?
4. Did I explain the Kenthiar collar anywhere as a Builders’ measuring device, subsequently misused by the Kencyrath to prove the true Highlord? That first detail may only be in my notes. I still haven't figured out what it would measure (thin columns?) or why it would lop off some heads but not others. It seems to cauterize what it cuts (re: the Grindark's fingers), so there wouldn't be much blood, but maybe it leaves the trachea open so that the decapitated body can continue to breathe. Suggestions?
5. Blacklord, Black Lord, or Black-lord? Graylord, Gray Lord, or Gray-lord? Highlord? I have a feeling that I haven't been consistent here.
For a trick, I continue to have trouble with my legs. Walking isn't too much of a problem, but standing still for more than 5-10 minutes is agonizing. And so it goes.
For a treat, the cats are fine, now just over a year old but still acting like kittens. Starbuck wakes me up each morning around 5:30 by knocking things off a nearby shelf, patting my face with his claws out, and/or standing on my CPAP, in the process turning it off. After he chewed through two air hoses, I've taken to sleeping with the unit under the blankets near my head. Not exactly comfortable, with six feet of tubing wrapped around my neck, but not as expensive as replacing hoses all the time.
Meanwhile, I'm making slow progress on the next novel. Currently, I'm gearing up to write a chapter on the Merikit situation and going through the previous books looking for some details that I just can't remember. Old age, too much material/complexity, or the passage of too much time? It's been 45 years since I wrote God Stalk, heaven help me. And I really dislike re-reading my old stories. Anyway, as I go I'll be asking some questions here I'd really like help with, if anyone knows the answers. Warning: potential spoilers.
1. Where did I leave Graykin? Doing what? Do I need to touch base with him again before the end?
2. Did Jame cut off the Master’s hand with the Ivory Knife? If so, did I ever explain why its touch didn’t kill him? This is really important for getting the ending right.
3. The hill tribe known as the Noyat/Noyet(?). What novel covers them? Did I say anything about them except that they have a nasty patriarchal society at odds with the Merikit? Was Chingetai born a Noyat or to a related tribe?
4. Did I explain the Kenthiar collar anywhere as a Builders’ measuring device, subsequently misused by the Kencyrath to prove the true Highlord? That first detail may only be in my notes. I still haven't figured out what it would measure (thin columns?) or why it would lop off some heads but not others. It seems to cauterize what it cuts (re: the Grindark's fingers), so there wouldn't be much blood, but maybe it leaves the trachea open so that the decapitated body can continue to breathe. Suggestions?
5. Blacklord, Black Lord, or Black-lord? Graylord, Gray Lord, or Gray-lord? Highlord? I have a feeling that I haven't been consistent here.
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Hello! Sorry to hear about the standing issues :(1. You left Graykin mastering the flow of information in High Bashti by buying a lot of drinks in a lot of pubs. Does he need an ending? I think so. The series is in one way about what we need to be responsible for, and his journey in that way has been distinct from Jame’s – especially since she broke open her soul-image (was that in Honor’s Paradox?) and sent him out into the wide when he didn’t want to be…could be interesting in parallel to Tori’s desire to stop soul-binding.
2. Jame cut off the Master’s hand with a regular knife in the original TL, but in Dark of the Moon he sends her back in time to reprise the whole mess (in hopes of actually marrying her) – only this time Terribend has handed her the White Knife. If she had actually decided to climb the stairs and confront him Jame thinks she could have killed him outright.
3. The Noyat appear in To Ride a Rathorn, Bound in Blood, and The Gates of Tagmeth. I think in tGofT you say 3 northern tribes, and imply Chingetai is from one of the others – but then in Deathless Gods you explicitly say he was from the Noyat. Nidling is no prize but you don’t say much more than what you wrote in your Q. There is a wiki with more, search for Kencyr fandom and you should find it.
4. You don’t explain the Kenthiar but someone speculates the Grindarks know it as a device to control the city in the Anarchies (nowhere does it say measuring). As you say, it’s only used to prove the true Highlord; maybe in the absence of Builders it somehow is only allowed use by the leader of the Kencyr or the strongest Knorth of the Kencyr? I can’t think how someone could breathe without a trachea.
5. You had been pretty consistent about Black Lord / Gray Lord vs. Highlord till the last two books, in which sometimes it’s Blacklord but never Graylord.
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2. As far as I know its implied that she did, that someone else gave her the knife to kill him, but all she did was cut off his hand. I don't think that you ever explained in detail why he didn't die. I always assumed it had to do with time weirdness, being in his house, or that he was mostly dead to begin with.
3. See answer #1, I barely remember Chingetai, just that he was a jerk.
4. As far as I know, the Kenthiar collar was only referenced in relationship to 'the rightful Highlord' and cutting off things inside the circle. It was said to be a Builder's Artifact, and where it was found (I don't remember where) but nothing beyond that in my head.
5. Blacklord, Torison Blacklord. Ganth Grey Lord, Highlord. I don't think you ever had dashes, but maybe Blacklord was Black Lord once or twice. I don't remember it but it could have been. As far as I know, it was always Grey Lord and always Highlord.
I hope you're feeling better, is this the last book? If so, I am both sad and happy. Sad that its ending, happy that its all being wrapped up by the original author.