My poem "Muse" is now online at Strange Horizons. Yes, the bio is longer than the poem. Who was Thanet Ross and why did he play a harp with no strings?
And as I recall, he was an odd man, and played a harp with no strings for the same reason he shaved his head and grew out his beard: no reason at all...
And as I recall, he was an odd man, and played a harp with no strings for the same reason he shaved his head and grew out his beard: no reason at all...
I love those books, but I have to avoid starting them if I've got anything important to do (like, for instance, sleeping) any time in the next few days. They sort of suck me in. 8-)
Thank you. It's an older one; I was very glad it finally found a home.
I hate missing references.
Sorry; it's a riddle one character asks another in Patricia McKillip's Heir of Sea and Fire, one of the books I love.
"I don't know." She dropped her chin in her palms. "I don't know why he wants us all home now. I don't understand him. I asked him why I couldn't leave, and he asked me why Thanet Ross played a harp with no strings."
"Who?" Duac looked at her. "How could . . . Why did he play a harp with no strings?"
"For the same reason he walked backward and shaved his head instead of his beard. For no reason except that there was no reason. He was a sad man and died backward."
"Oh."
"He was walking backward for no reason and fell in a river. Nobody ever saw him again, but they assumed he died since there was no reason—"
"All right." Duac protested mildly. "You could spin that one into yarn."
She smiled. "See what education you missed, not being destined to marry a riddle-master."
It's the second in a trilogy, the others being The Riddle-Master of Hed and Harpist in the Wind. I recommend them highly.
It was a fleeting thing, and more shadow than substance.
In one of the small strange coincidences, I read that exact phrase this afternoon, before reading it here tonight. It's only my second rereading of my copies of those books, which I've had for a while.
Came here because I liked the poem - some beautiful imagery.
I only rediscovered her as an author in the last two years or so, after dimly remembering a wonderful book with a tangled maze of vivid imagery, swans and suns and misty river-witches, that I had read when very young. I found The Sorceress and the Cygnet in a secondhand bookshop, and worked through to the other books from there.
It's amusing to hear about snow for this time of year - it's been warm and sunny here for the last week or so. Good equinox weather...
a wonderful book with a tangled maze of vivid imagery, swans and suns and misty river-witches, that I had read when very young. I found The Sorceress and the Cygnet in a secondhand bookshop
That's my other favorite. I love its constellations and myths and folktales in the everyday.
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And as I recall, he was an odd man, and played a harp with no strings for the same reason he shaved his head and grew out his beard: no reason at all...
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Thank you!
And as I recall, he was an odd man, and played a harp with no strings for the same reason he shaved his head and grew out his beard: no reason at all...
(He was a sad man and died backward.)
You are awesome.
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"You get points for trying!"
Does the riddle of Thanet Ross have a stricture, or is it just sort of koanlike that way?
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Thank you!
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I hate missing references.
I suspect he also missed the reference. It was a fleeting thing, and more shadow than substance.
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Thank you. It's an older one; I was very glad it finally found a home.
I hate missing references.
Sorry; it's a riddle one character asks another in Patricia McKillip's Heir of Sea and Fire, one of the books I love.
"I don't know." She dropped her chin in her palms. "I don't know why he wants us all home now. I don't understand him. I asked him why I couldn't leave, and he asked me why Thanet Ross played a harp with no strings."
"Who?" Duac looked at her. "How could . . . Why did he play a harp with no strings?"
"For the same reason he walked backward and shaved his head instead of his beard. For no reason except that there was no reason. He was a sad man and died backward."
"Oh."
"He was walking backward for no reason and fell in a river. Nobody ever saw him again, but they assumed he died since there was no reason—"
"All right." Duac protested mildly. "You could spin that one into yarn."
She smiled. "See what education you missed, not being destined to marry a riddle-master."
It's the second in a trilogy, the others being The Riddle-Master of Hed and Harpist in the Wind. I recommend them highly.
It was a fleeting thing, and more shadow than substance.
That sounds like an allusion itself . . .
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Came here because I liked the poem - some beautiful imagery.
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They are some of my favorites; I read them young and I probably cannot calculate what they did to my brain.
Came here because I liked the poem - some beautiful imagery.
Thank you!
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It's amusing to hear about snow for this time of year - it's been warm and sunny here for the last week or so. Good equinox weather...
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That's my other favorite. I love its constellations and myths and folktales in the everyday.