Ever wondered what the oldest library in the world is? | Off the Shelf. 4 Elements of Epic Storytelling. When I’m immersed in fantasy, a trance envelopes me. There’s something about great fantasy storytelling that trumps all other genres in drawing me into the world and story. Call me crazy, but I think I’m onto something here. And that something is the recipe for the domination of the imagination. Much like The Hero with a Thousand Faces, I think epic storytelling has a certain formula that can produce a killer product. What is it that makes your heart plummet when the screen goes black after Master Chief detonates the nuke at the end of Halo 4?
What is it that makes you want to lend your back to carry Frodo up the slopes of Mount Doom? What is it that makes your muscles tighten every time your hero takes a blow, as if you were the one receiving it? It becomes clear that great storytelling can have a mind-seizing power over readers. 1. The fates of kingdoms. One of the common themes present in epic storytelling is the underlying threat of doom facing the world and its characters. 2.
Why? 3. The First Step to a Quality Book–A Doubleday Editor Turned Author Speaks | Kristen Lamb's Blog. As you know, we are ramping up for the very first Worldwide WANACon! Enjoy a conference experience that’s as close to the real thing as possible. Technology now gives us the ability to meet top tier publishing professionals face to face, real-time and from the comfort of home. Finally! A conference you can attend in your PJs. Learn from the best in the industry, pitch agents, and socialize. I was fortunate to meet Joel at Thrillerfest this past summer, and I was just blown away by his knowledge, his energy and his personality. Today, we are highlighting a small slice of what you can expect from this editor-agent-now-turned-to-The-Dark-Side-author, J.E.
Take it away, Joel! We all know that famous dictum — courtesy of Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart — about pornography. The same might be said for book quality. God knows that certain aspects of quality reside only in the eye of the beholder. There are tangible qualities, such as the properties of a paperback book binding. What of it? Tami Cowden | Author. The TYRANT: the bullying despot, he wants power at any price. He ruthlessly conquers all he surveys, crushing his enemies beneath his feet. People are but pawns to him, and he holds all the power pieces. Hesitate before getting in this man’s way – he’ll think nothing of destroying you.
The BASTARD: the dispossessed son, he burns with resentment. He can’t have what he wants, so he lashes out to hurt those around him. The DEVIL: the charming fiend, he gives people what he thinks they deserve. The TRAITOR: the double agent, he betrays those who trust him most. The OUTCAST: the lonely outsider, he wants desperately to belong. The EVIL GENIUS: the malevolent mastermind, he loves to show off his superior intelligence.
The SADIST: the savage predator, he enjoys cruelty for its own sake. The TERRORIST: the dark knight, he serves a warped code of honor. The BITCH: the abusive autocrat, she lies, cheats, and steals her way to the top. Top. Top 5 Actual Conspiracies. Historians say the story of Portland’s infamous Shanghai tunnels likely is a myth. Portland-area historians have found virtually nothing in their research to back up the notion that hustlers used a tunnel network for kidnapping men. A few question whether tunnels, beyond some simple connections among basements, ever existed.Although the city does have a history of “shanghaiing,” or “crimping” as the practice was called, local historians say the first recorded mention of the tunnel connection didn’t come until the 1970s — decades after the practice peaked.
The types of historical evidence academics and researchers would normally expect to find are missing. “It’s not good history,” said Jacqueline Peterson Loomis, founder of the Old Town History Project and a history professor at Washington State University Vancouver. “It tends to obfuscate the real history, which I would argue is equally interesting and dicey.”[...]Still, Jones’ tours, which started in 1996, continue to thrive. Full Story: The Oregonian. Antikythera mechanism. The Antikythera mechanism (Fragment A – front) The Antikythera mechanism (Fragment A – back) The Antikythera mechanism (/ˌæntɨkɨˈθɪərə/ ANT-i-ki-THEER-ə or /ˌæntɨˈkɪθərə/ ANT-i-KITH-ə-rə) is an ancient analog computer[1][2][3][4] designed to predict astronomical positions and eclipses. It was recovered in 1900–1901 from the Antikythera wreck, a shipwreck off the Greek island of Antikythera.[5] Although the computer's construction has been attributed to the Greeks and dated to the early 1st century BC, its significance and complexity were not understood until the 1970s when it was analyzed with modern X-ray technology.
Technological artifacts approaching its complexity and workmanship did not appear again until the 14th century, when mechanical astronomical clocks began to be built in Western Europe.[6] The mechanism was housed in a wooden box approximately 340 × 180 × 90 mm in size and comprised 30 bronze gears (although more could have been lost). Origins and discovery[edit] Gearing[edit] Dual Pentagram Amulet-AzureGreen. The Cryptozoologist : Loren Coleman | Cryptozoology. Was the Patterson-Gimlin film ever proven to be a hoax? Posted by Matt Moneymaker; January 31, 2010 The short answer: No. But what about the rumors?
What about the rumor that one of the people who helped obtain the footage "confessed" to wearing the costume? There are, in fact, several different stories involving different people who claimed (or were suspected) to be the man in the costume ... Logically, if the stories involve different culprits ... then most of those stories must be completely bogus ... because not everybody who made the claim of being the guy in the costume ... was the guy in the costume ... Some of those bogus stories have been commercially exploited in books and TV documentaries. On this page you will find links to youtubery of the most influential documentaries, and some relevant background informaton most influential rumor of all -- the Hieronimous "confession". Thankfully, in January 2010 new information was presented on television which graphicly demonstrates that all of those costume stories were falsified.
The Gray Lady of Heceta Head Lighthouse - Florence, Oregon. Heceta Head Lighthouse is located between Florence and Yachats, Oregon. The lighthouse was constructed in 1894 shortly after white settlers moved into the area, named after Bruno de Heceta who explored the area in the late 1700's. It is believed that at some point, a woman lost her daughter at that location, possibly falling from the cliffs. Some say that the child's grave is there on the lighthouse grounds somewhere. This woman is known as Rue and she was very broken hearted over the loss of her baby girl, supposedly an infant. It is uncertain whether or not the woman eventually succumbed to grief and took her own life. To this day Rue has never really left the premises. A man was once cleaning the one of the windows in the attic. The Witch's Castle - Portland, Oregon. Forest Park in Portland, Oregon most notably the area around Balch Creek has some interesting history behind it as well as playing host to one of the area's most famous haunted places.
In 1850, Danford Balch filed a land claim on this portion of land near what was then the fledgling settlement of Portland. Danford's land was large enough that he needed help in order to clear it. He hired a transient worker named Mortimer Stump who was from Vancouver. Balch allowed him to stay with the he and his family which consisted of his wife Mary Jane and his 9 children. Mortimer was with the family so long that one thing led to another and he fell in love with Danford's 15 year old daughter Anna. A few weeks later Mortimer, Anna, and some other members of the Stump family returned to Portland for some supplies and encountered Danford.
Balch was promptly arrested, however the deteriorated condition of the wooden prison allowed him to later escape while awaiting his trial. Haunted Portland: Ghosts, Spooky Spots and Paranormal Activity. When it comes to the paranormal, there are three camps: the hardcore believers, the non-believers, and those that are somewhere in the middle. You either believe the squeaking floor you hear at night as you lay in bed is the ghost of the previous tenant hacked to pieces by his wife in the 1930s taking a midnight stroll in your living room; or, if you’re a non-believer, you’re thinking that you probably need to replace the decaying floor joist and flooring from the 1800s.
And the somewhere in the middle crowd? You’re thinking it’s probably the cat playing with a toy, at least that’s what you keep telling yourself. But you’re definitely not getting out of bed to check out what the odd noise was as you pull the covers over your head. Portland has a fascinating past and history. Old Town Pizza Have you spotted Nina in Old Town Pizza?
Our most famous ghost is probably Nina (pronounced Nye-nah), who has made Old Town Pizza her home for decades. Another instance involved the janitor. Blood Dragons - The Vampire Encyclopedia. Blood Dragons are fallen knights of Bretonnia, neither good nor evil. They are strong in combat and any they find to be a worthy opponent becomes one. Due to this, they have little spellcasting ability. History Edit These vampires are descended from Abhorash, who refused to feed on an innocent human. The Red Duke This Blood Dragon terrorised Aquitaine before he was pierced by his own lance at the battle of Ceren in 1454. Damascus Document. The Damascus Document Scroll, 4Q271Df, found in Cave 4 at Qumran The Damascus Document (CD) (the Cairo Damascus document) or Damascus Rule is one of the most interesting texts of the Dead Sea Scrolls because it is the only Qumran sectarian work that was known before the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
It is a composite text edited together from different sections of a larger source, and scholars have attempted to place the different sections in a chronological order to generate a more complete work of the original using evidence from the Dead Sea Scrolls.[1] There were a number of fragments from the scroll found in the Cairo Geniza before the Qumran discoveries. The Cairo Geniza was located in a room adjoining The Ben Ezra Synagogue in Old Cairo, which was gradually stuffed full of papers until it was discovered by European scholar Dr Solomon Schechter in 1897.
He found over 190,000 manuscripts and fragments that were written in mainly Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic. [2] Structure[edit] A. Astrolabe. Astrolabe quadrant, England, 1388 A 16th-century astrolabe, showing a tulip rete and rule An astrolabe (Greek: ἀστρολάβος astrolabos, "star-taker")[1] is an elaborate inclinometer, historically used by astronomers, navigators, and astrologers.
Its many uses include locating and predicting the positions of the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars, determining local time given local latitude and vice-versa, surveying, triangulation, and to cast horoscopes. It was used in classical antiquity, the Islamic Golden Age, the European Middle Ages and Renaissance for all these purposes. There is often confusion between the astrolabe and the mariner's astrolabe.
Etymology[edit] OED gives the translation "star-taker" for the English word "astrolabe" and traces it, through medieval Latin, to the Greek word astrolabos[1][2] from astron "star" and lambanein "to take".[3] In the medieval Islamic world the word "asturlab" (i.e. astrolabe) was given various etymologies. History[edit] Ancient world[edit] Notes[edit] Qumran. 1. The Identity of the Qumran Community 1.1. Probable Identification of the Inhabitants of the Qumran Settlement with the Essenes 1.1.1.
Pliny the Elder 1.1.2. Dio of Prusa 1.1.3. Epiphanius 1.2. Parallels between Descriptions of Essenes in the Classical Sources and Qumran Sectarian Texts 1.2.1. 1. T. As is now well-known, in 1947 the first of many manuscripts mostly written in Hebrew and Aramaic was discovered in a cave near Khirbet Qumran, a village on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea. Soon after the discovery of these manuscripts investigation began into who was responsible for the composition or copying and preservation of these texts; it is generally assumed that the ruins located nearby were connected to the texts found in the caves, belonging to the community to which the texts belonged, although not every scholar has granted this assumption. 1.1. R. de Vaux, Archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls, rev. ed. (1973) 133-38; M. Qumran Cave Four 1.1.1. There are some 1.1.2. 1.2. How the Vatican built a secret property empire using Mussolini’s millions.
By The GuardianMonday, January 21, 2013 21:15 EDT Few passing London tourists would ever guess that the premises of Bulgari, the upmarket jewellers in New Bond Street, had anything to do with the pope. Nor indeed the nearby headquarters of the wealthy investment bank Altium Capital, on the corner of St James’s Square and Pall Mall. But these office blocks in one of London’s most expensive districts are part of a surprising secret commercial property empire owned by the Vatican. Behind a disguised offshore company structure, the church’s international portfolio has been built up over the years, using cash originally handed over by Mussolini in return for papal recognition of the Italian fascist regime in 1929.
Since then the international value of Mussolini’s nest-egg has mounted until it now exceeds £500m. In 2006, at the height of the recent property bubble, the Vatican spent £15m of those funds to buy 30 St James’s Square. Research in old archives, however, reveals more of the truth. They Cracked This 250-Year-Old Code, and Found a Secret Society Inside | Danger Room. For more than 200 years, this book concealed the arcane rituals of an ancient order. But cracking the code only deepened the mystery.Image courtesy: Uppsala University The master wears an amulet with a blue eye in the center. Before him, a candidate kneels in the candlelit room, surrounded by microscopes and surgical implements. The year is roughly 1746. The initiation has begun. The master places a piece of paper in front of the candidate and orders him to put on a pair of eyeglasses.
The candidate is told not to panic; there is hope for his vision to improve. The master starts plucking hairs from the candidate’s eyebrow. For more than 260 years, the contents of that page—and the details of this ritual—remained a secret. It was actually an accident that brought to light the symbolic “sight-restoring” ritual. In this case, as it happens, the cracking began in a restaurant in Germany. Pages: 1 2345678View All. Top 10 Secret Societies. On Writing and Creativity: Worldbuilding Revisited, part III — Writing Worldbuilding Into Our Books. A-L of the Fae. Fae Dictionary Part 1- Celtic Fae - faerie craft.
Ichor. Tami Cowden | Author. Sig Sauer's Best Kept Secret: The Sig Pro SP2022. SP2022.