Ramblings of an Australian Writer

13 TV Shows. In no particular order.

It's still Thursday somewhere in the world, right? :)

This is thirteen TV shows I love. It isn't all of them, because I can think of several others that didn't make the cut, simply because I didn't think of them while typing out the list! Those include 'True Blood,' 'Battlestar Galactica (2003)', 'Doctor Who,' and more.

1. Babylon 5

B5 was, is and always will be my number one. A novel on telly, is the best way to describe it. Sci-fi mixed with fantasy mixed with politics and containing same sex romance as well as heterosexual romance. Plus stunning music and amazing writing and I love it. JMS created magic when he created this show. (Biased? Me? Nevar! :D) The show premiered in 1993, and had a series spin off ("Crusade" - also awesome) and several TV movies.

Summary: The story is set in the 23rd century on "Babylon 5" — a five-mile-long, 2.5 million-ton rotating colony designed as a gathering place for the sentient species of the galaxy, in order to foster peace through diplomacy, trade, and cooperation. Instead, acting as a center of political intrigue and conflict, the station becomes the linchpin of a massive interstellar war. This is reflected in the opening monologue of each episode, which includes the words "last, best hope for peace" in season one, changing to "last, best hope for victory" by season three.

The series consists of a coherent five-year story arc taking place over five seasons of 22 episodes each. Unlike most television shows at the time, Babylon 5 was conceived as a "novel for television", with a defined beginning, middle, and end; in essence, each episode would be a single "chapter" of this "novel". Many of the tie-in novels, comic books, and short stories were also developed to play a significant canonical part in the overall story.

2. Blake's 7

B7 ran for only four years of 13 episodes per season, but boy howdy did it break ground in TV Sci-fi. Because the budget was so tiny, the show relied heavily on character-driven plots and was set in a dystopian future where humanity had expanded out into space. Concieved and written by Terry Nation for the BBC, this show influenced a lot of others, including 'Doctor Who,' 'Babylon 5,' 'LEXX,' 'Battlestar Galactica,' 'Firefly,' and 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.' It also influenced 'Cold Lazarus,' Dennis Potter's final play. It ran from 1978 - 1981. Readers of Manna Francis' brilliant "The Administration" series will recognise the homage paid to the show and Manna states on her site, "The inspiration for the Administration series of stories is a maxim of Chris Boucher, script editor of Blakes 7—There are no bad guys. There are no good guys. There are only better guys, and worse guys." [Ref.]

Summary: Set in the "third century of the second calendar", and at least 700 years in the future, Blake's 7 follows the exploits of revolutionary Roj Blake as he leads his band of rebels against the forces of the totalitarian Terran Federation which rules the Earth and many of the planets of the galaxy. The Federation controls its citizens using mass surveillance, brainwashing and pacification with drugged food, water and air. Sentenced to deportation to a penal colony on a remote planet, Blake escapes with the help of his fellow prisoners and gains control of the Liberator, an alien spacecraft far in advance of anything the Federation possesses. The craft has superior speed and weaponry and a teleport system that allows crew members to be transported to the surface of a planet without having to land the ship. Blake and his crew then attempt to disrupt and damage the Federation.

While Blake is an idealistic freedom fighter, his associates are petty crooks, smugglers and killers. Notably, Kerr Avon is a technical genius more interested in self-preservation and seeking personal wealth than engaging in rebellion.

3. Supernatural

I travelled half way across the world to go to a convention for this show. The above two and the next show are the only other ones I'd do that for! Two brothers hunting Bad Things, including ghosts, succubi, demons, monsters and ultimately Lucifer. Seasons one through five are stellar; season six fell flat and was pretty hit and miss. The finale particularly was dreadful in its final moments of jumping not just the shark but the entire bloody ocean. But I still watch it because I'm like that. Tenacious. Yes.

Summary: The series follows the brothers as they hunt demons and other figures of the supernatural.

4. Spartacus

Both of them - 'Blood and Sand' and 'Gods of the Arena'. I am so saddened by the death of Andy Whitfield this week. The show is gory and violent and sexy... much like ancient Rome. I am constantly awed by the dedication to detail in the set dressing and the dialogue. I can't remember where I read it now, but the dialogue is structured in such a way as to follow the conversational structure of Latin, a la Cicero, et al. So the show is shot in New Zealand and stars a lot of Aussies and Kiwis - it just reinforces my firm belief that the ancient world was populated by us and that Latin should be spoken with an Australian accent. XD

Summary: The series is inspired by the historical figure of Spartacus (played by Andy Whitfield), a Thracian gladiator who from 73 to 71 BC led a major slave uprising against the Roman Republic. Executive producers Steven S. DeKnight and Robert Tapert focused on structuring the events of Spartacus' obscure early life leading up to the beginning of historical records.

5. Game of Thrones

Never have I seen such a fabulously made adaptation of a novel series as this one. I shall try not to spoil anything here in my gushing praise, suffice to say that all my expectations were exceeded and the only thing I didn't like so much was the way the show dealt with the gay romance (In the books, it's far more a relationship of equals who genuinely love and care for each other, in the show, it's presented much more as a means of manipulation of one by the other. (Loras manipulating Renly.)) and the beginning of Dany's marriage to Drogo. Other than that? Absolutely amazingly brilliant. The opening theme is one of the best pieces of music I've ever heard. (And I know I'm in a minority, but I love Dany, Drogo, Tyrion, Jaime, Brienne, The Hound, Bran and Jon. And Bronn.) The novels are loosely based on the Hundred Years War.

Summary: The series takes place on the fictional continent of Westeros and chronicles the violent power struggles between the noble families as they fight for control of the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms.

6. Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Clever, witty, dark, touching, funny, sad and eminently watchable. Although I always did and still do loathe Xander and Dawn. I didn't mind Riley after a while, he grew on me. But Xander and Dawn never did. Or Anya, actually.

Summary: The series narrative follows Buffy Summers, the latest in a line of young women known as "Vampire Slayers" or simply "Slayers". In the story, Slayers are "called" (chosen by fate) to battle against vampires, demons, and other forces of darkness. Like previous Slayers, Buffy is aided by a Watcher, who guides, teaches, and trains her. Unlike her predecessors, Buffy surrounds herself with a circle of loyal friends who become known as the "Scooby Gang".

7. Oz

One of the grittier shows I enjoy. Set in a fictional prison, in a fictional program called 'Emerald City', "Oz" chronicles the lives of the inmates and their relationships. It also contains one of the most realistic and well-explored love stories, that of prisoners Beecher and Keller. Beecher comes from an upper-class background and is in Oz for drunk driving, Keller for driving under the influence of drugs and armed robbery. They start of as cell mates and their relationship - with betrayals and all - grows from there. It began in 1997 and ran for six seasons.

Summary: Oz chronicles the attempts of McManus to keep control over the inmates of Em City. There are many groups of inmates during the run of the show and not everybody within each group makes it out alive. There are the African American Homeboys (Adebisi, Wangler, Redding, Poet, Keene, Supreme Allah) and Muslims (Said, Arif, Hamid Khan), the Wiseguys (Pancamo, Nappa, Schibetta), the Aryans (Schillinger, Robson, Mark Mack), the Latinos (Alvarez, Morales, Guerra, Hernandez), the Irish (the O'Reily brothers), the gays (Hanlon, Cramer), the bikers (Hoyt), and a number of others (Rebadow, Keller, Stanislofsky). In contrast to the dangerous criminals, regular character Tobias Beecher gives a look at a normal man who made one fatal drunk-driving mistake. The episodes are narrated and held together by inmate Augustus Hill, who provides the show with some context, some sense of humor, etc.

8. Dark Skies

Anyone remember this short-lived, 18 episode series? It was awesome and I was sadfacing that it got cancelled.

Summary: 20th century history as people know it is a lie. Aliens have been among humans since the late 1940s, but a government cover-up has protected the public from such knowledge. As the series progresses, viewers follow John Loengard and Kim Sayers through the 1960s as they attempt to foil the plots of the alien Hive. The Hive is an alien race that planned to invade Earth through a manipulation of historical events and famous figures, including most notably the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. In addition, the pair must stay one step ahead of Majestic 12, a covert government agency that has mixed motives.

9. The Tudors

Okay, so it bears only a passing resemblence to history, but I love it. HBO did a great job with this show and I watch it more as an alternate universe, fantasy storytelling of The Tudors rather than a historically accurate dramatisation. Which is probably why I can watch it without raging at the historical inaccuracies. Mind you, I can't flip that switch for every history based show or movie, I've found. My brain is funny that way.

Summary: The series, named after the Tudor dynasty, is loosely based upon the reign of King Henry VIII of England.

10. Cities of the Underworld

A documentary series! This is a series that looks at what lies beneath our own cities, the remnants of civilisations long gone and what they can tell us about our history. Also? It's awesome.

Summary: The program explored the subterranean environment and culture beneath various civilizations. The series was hosted and narrated by Eric Geller for a short time in season one with Don Wildman taking over for the rest of the series.

The show employed a quick-paced editing and shooting style along with extensive use of 3D computer graphics.

11. Forever Knight

Oh so cheesey awesome Canadian series about a vampire with a conscience, Nick Knight, who works as a Toronto detective on the night shift and his relationships with his peers - Natalie, the forensic specialist who knows what he is, Schanke, his partner, who doesn't know what he is, his maker, LaCroix and his ex-lover, Jeanette. The episodes contain flash-backs, generally from Nick's point of view, which gives the viewer insight into his past and the things he's done and experienced and his tumultuous relationship with both LaCroix and Jeanette.

Summary: Nick Knight, an 800-year-old vampire working as a police detective in modern day Toronto. Wracked with guilt for centuries of killing others, he seeks redemption by working as a cop on the night shift while struggling to find a way to become human again. The series premiered on May 5, 1992 and concluded with the third season finale on May 17, 1996.

12. Primeval

From vampires to dinosaurs! Every single season, "Primeval" has ended with a cliffhanger, usually something that very, very few people saw coming. The writing is tight and intelligent, the casting is great, the dinosaur/creature effects are fantastic and the science is believable. If you like plotty, gritty, SF shows with dinosaurs and great writing, you'll love this. I am desperately hoping they make a season six as season five ended with another cliffhanger, argh! XD

Summary: Primeval is a British science fiction television programme produced for ITV by Impossible Pictures. Created by Adrian Hodges and Tim Haines, who previously created the Walking with... documentary series. Primeval follows a team of scientists tasked with investigating the appearance of temporal anomalies across Great Britain through which prehistoric and futuristic creatures enter the present.

13. Firefly

Oh, "Firefly," I love you so, you short-lived, quirky show. Thanks to you, I know of the beauty that is Moreena Baccarin and the awesome that is Nathan Fillion.

Summary: The series is set in the year 2517, after the arrival of humans in a new star system, and follows the adventures of the renegade crew of Serenity, a "Firefly-class" spaceship. The ensemble cast portrays the nine characters who live on Serenity. Whedon pitched the show as "nine people looking into the blackness of space and seeing nine different things". The show explores the lives of some people who fought on the losing side of a civil war and others who now make a living on the outskirts of society, as part of the pioneer culture that exists on the fringes of their star system. In addition, it is a future where the only two surviving superpowers, the United States and China, fused to form the central federal government, called the Alliance, resulting in the fusion of the two cultures as well. According to Whedon's vision, "nothing will change in the future: technology will advance, but we will still have the same political, moral, and ethical problems as today."

Thirteen Words of Awesomenes.

1. dendroid
adjective: Resembling, branching like, or shaped like a tree.
From Greek dendron (tree). Earliest documented use: 1846.

2. gasconade
noun: Boastful talk.
verb intr.: To boast extravagantly.
From French gasconnade, from gasconner (to boast), after Gascon, a native of the Gascony region in France. First recorded use: 1709.

3. contradistinguish
verb tr.: To distinguish (one thing from another) by contrasting qualities.
From Latin contra- (against) + distinguish, from Middle/Old French distinguer, from Latin distinguere (to pick or separate). Ultimately from the Indo-European root steig- (to stick; pointed), which is also the source of ticket, etiquette, instinct, stigma, thistle, tiger, and steak. Earliest documented use: 1622.

4. usufruct
noun: The right to use and enjoy another's property without destroying it.
From Latin ususfructus, from usus et fructus (use and enjoyment). Earliest documented use: 1646.

5. panjandrum
noun: An important or self-important person.
The word is said to have been coined by dramatist and actor Samuel Foote (1720-1777) as part of a nonsensical passage to test the memory of his fellow actor Charles Macklin who claimed to be able to repeat anything after hearing it once. Earliest documented use: 1825, in the novel "Harry and Lucy Concluded" in which the author Maria Edgeworth attributes the word to Foote.

6. tintinnabulation
noun: The ringing of or the sound of bells.
From Latin tintinnabulum (bell), from tintinnare (to ring, jingle), reduplication of tinnire (to ring), of imitative origin. Earliest documented use: 1831, in Edgar Allan Poe's poem The Bells.

7. interstitial
adjective: Concerning or located between things, especially those closely spaced.
From Latin interstitium, from intersistere (to stand in between, to pause), from inter- (between) + sistere (to stand). Earliest documented use: 1646.

8. locum
noun: A person filling in for another, especially for a doctor or clergyman.
From Latin locum tenens (holding the place), from locus (place) + tenere (to hold). The full form locum tenens is also used in English.

9. asseverate
verb tr.: To affirm solemnly.
From Latin asseverare (to declare in earnest), from severus (serious). Ultimately from the Indo-European root segh- (to hold), which is also the source of words such as hectic, scheme, scholar, and cathect.

10. gallimaufry
noun: A hodgepodge; a jumble.
From Middle French galimafree (stew), probably from galer (to make merry) + mafrer (to gorge oneself).

11. desideratum
noun: Something considered necessary or desirable.
From Latin desideratum (something desired), from desiderare (to desire).

12. tabby
noun:
1. A domestic cat with a striped or brindled coat.
2. A domestic cat, especially a female one.
3. A spinster.
4. A spiteful or gossipy woman.
5. A fabric of plain weave.
6. A watered silk fabric.
7. A building material made of lime, oyster shells, and gravel.
For 1-6: From French tabis, from Medieval Latin attabi, from Arabic attabi, from al-Attabiya, a suburb of Baghdad, Iraq, where silk was made, from the name of Prince Attab. Cats got the name tabby after similarity of their coats to the cloth; the derivations of words for females are probably from shortening of the name Tabitha.
For 7: From Gullah tabi, ultimately from Spanish tapia (wall).

13. cockaigne
noun: An imaginary land of luxury and idleness.
From Middle French pais de cocaigne (land of plenty), from Middle Low German kokenje, diminutive of koke (cake). Cockaigne was a fabled place of ease and luxury, a land overflowing with milk and honey where food fell into your mouth by itself. It was an imaginary place a medieval peasant could aspire to, a place away from the harsh reality of life.

This Thursday 13 is a pic post. I've been doing interviews and have been asked, "If your work was a movie, who would be your dream cast." I think too much about this, because, well, behold this post! XD My dream cast for No Quarter, by L.J.

( Under a cut to spare your flists. )

This week's Thursday Thirteen is Thirteen Places I want to visit before I die. So without further ado and in no particular order, off we go.

1. Egypt.
2. Angkor Wat, Cambodia.
3. The Great Wall, China.
4. Istanbul.
5. Goreme, Turkey.
6. Carcassone, France.
7. Stonehenge, England.
8. Petra, Jordan.
9. The Eifel Tower, Paris, France.
10. Hadrian's Wall, England.
11. Hot Mud Pools, Rotarura, New Zealand.
12. Red Square, Moscow, Russia.
13. Mongolia.

I posted this originally on my blogger, but now LJ seems to be working it's here for continuity. :)

Today's Thursday Thirteen is brought to you by exhaustion, because I am exhausted. So it's not terribly exciting, and I'm not entirely sure LJ will work for me to be able to post it at all, but I'll give it a red hot go.

Thirteen Things on My Laptop Desk.

1. Laptop (duh! XD)
2. Laptop cooling pad.
3. Medications.
4. USB sticks.
5. Modem.
6. Pens.
7. Silver feather charm on a chain.
8. Cigarette lighter.
9. E-Cigarette.
10. Mentos.
11. Lipbalm.
12. Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, Raphael sigil on a cord.
13. BPAL scent 'Seance'.

Wasn't that exciting? :) Now to see if this will post and then go to bed, because I'm unbelievably weary, folks.

And a wee pimp too - Harmonica and Gig by RJ Astruc.



Blurb: When a territory engineer dies in suspicious circumstances, three qverse experts are brought in to investigate. Initially the three hacks choose to work separately on the case, but as they continue their investigations they discover clues leading to some of the most powerful figures in the qverse. Soon the hacks realise they are more than just investigating the crime, they are part of it, and part of an even greater scheme to unbalance the long established foundations of the qverse itself.

Available here: http://www.dragonfallpress.com/products-page/product-category/harmonica-gig


ETA: And LJ isn't even loading, so Blogger first.

So, Life and Nothing But is now KINDLE READY! and available therein. To celebrate, today's Thursday Thirteen is Thirteen Places You Can Buy My Stuff. Ready? Goodo.

1. Amazon.
Aka, KINDLE. Which is here. Go like me or buy me or something nice like that. :)

2. BookStrand.
Which be here.

3. The Book Depository.
Ooh yeah. (This is the one that made me smile like a Cheshire Cat today. Because I am a big fan of the Book Depository.)

4. Powell's.
I love Powell's. I spent a lot of money and time in there while in Portland. And it made my day to see me for sale there.

5. All Romance Ebooks..
I have so much in my wish list here, it isn't funny. And it's awesome to see myself listed there.

6. Android.
Now, it is telling me that it's not available in my country, so I can't see it, but apparently if you are in the US, you can. So here, US Androidees.

7. Borders.
They may be closing shop all around the world, but they still list me for Kobo Readers, so yay!

8. Kobo Books.
And again in Kobo format.

9. The Reading Room.
Which I'd never heard of prior to finding this. Huh. Very cool.

10. Pages EBooks.
Another one I'd never heard of prior to this>

11. Dreamspinner Press.
First publisher's website, yay!

12. Noble Romance.
Second publisher's website, natch!

13. Diesel EBooks.
Last and certainly not least, here.

It's a little self-promotional, this Thurs Thirteen, I know. I'm taking today as a wee celebration day for having Life and Nothing But out in Kindle on Amazon. Hurrah!

Today's Thursday Thirteen is thirteen sentences from things I've written. I've limited it to four works – two that are published (Life and Nothing But and City of Gold) and two that are works in progress (City of Jade and No Quarter). So here we go. Sentences that I picked at random. Also, mea culpa, the works in progress really are still in progress, so any errors, etc, are as yet unfixed.



1. "Difficult and somehow insulting, as if all we are good for is war and when that occupation is taken from us, we are patted on the head and sent off to languish in occupations that are best left to the city's militia."
- City of Jade.

2. " So, I went and had a look around; Shamshiel's ranting at the other Grigori and his wings look a little bare -- he looks like he's a moulting chicken."
- No Quarter.

3. He had not been inside Nick's abode at all, he realized, and he couldn't help himself from looking around curiously, trying to learn as much as he could about the man without being too obvious.
- Life and Nothing But.

4. Misahuen’s lips curved upward in the faintest of smiles, and then he was gone, walking into Constantinople with the merchant and the rest of his pack train.
- City of Gold.

5. He didn't feel like explaining it right then, for the vista of Antioch, golden and lovely, shimmering in the light of the sun, captured his attention.
- City of Jade.

6. "You are the most stubborn, bad-tempered, ill-bred patient in the history of medicine," Raphael was saying, obviously continuing a conversation that had been interrupted by Tzadkiel's call, " you have absolutely no respect for your condition, you refuse to follow my orders, instead gallivanting about like an Archangel of leisure, which you most certainly are not... what am I to do with you, Uriel?"
- No Quarter.

7. The scotch burned his throat on the way down, a welcoming burn that distracted him from his dark thoughts.
Life and Nothing But.

8. Misahuen was silent as the rest of the party he was with talked among themselves, and Gallienus watched, hoping against hope that Misahuen would turn and see him there in the shadows.
- City of Gold.

9. "I will guard it with my life," Michael said solemnly and Gabriel's lips twitched in suppressed mirth.
- No Quarter.

10. "Culturally, I suppose that yes, the Byzantine Empire is more Greek than Roman, but Byzantium grew out of the Roman Empire and so it is the Eastern Roman Empire."
- City of Jade.

11. Turning in a small circle, he couldn't keep the smile off his face as he saw the pinpoints of golden light that were hundreds of candles shining in the windows of every room in every cottage and, up on the hill above them, the windows of the castle.
- Life and Nothing But.

12. “It is traditional in my country to marry, but there are many who have lovers outside the marriage, lovers of both sexes.”
- City of Gold.

13. As he looked up, blinking away the snowflakes, Gabriel let out a slow breath as he watched the beauty of the Northern Lights undulating serpent-like across the sky.
- No Quarter.

The Archangels novel has gone through so many title changes, it's ridiculous. So, as it FINALLY has a title, thanks to the genius 4am brain of meredith_shayne, here's the thirteen titles it had before achieving it's current title. (I'm sure there were more than thirteen, fyi, just that these are the ones I kept a record of!)

In order, from oldest to what it is now, finally, fixed! And I bet both meredith_shayne and jerusalemorbust breathe a sigh of relief, as I've been bemoaning titles to them both for... um. Months. >_<

1. Silver and Gold.
Chosen because Gabriel's power manifests as silver light and Michael's manifests as gold light.

2. Unexpected Destinies.
Yeah... no.

3. Craving to Entwine.
Saying it out loud made me cringe. A blog that my Noble editor Bonnie linked to had a piece about how if you can say your title out loud without wincing or cringing, that's the one to use. And it's true. This... was not the one to use.

4. Masquerade of Stars.
Doesn't fit this first novel, but it does fit the final novel in the trilogy so at least there's that.

5. The Coming War.
Which sounds good, but the story is about more than an approaching war.

6. Flying for Lovers.
Also made me cringe, but might be reused for a short story or something. Something that isn't so plotty as this.

7. Hope Remains.
Cringeworthy.

8. In Silver and Gold.
I recycled and added a word and decided... no.

9. Uprising.
This was a solid contender for quite a while. I actually went back to it after discarding title #10.

10. Wings of Desire.
Which is a really awesome German film, and I love it, film and title both, but it didn't really feel right to me for this book.

11. Genesis.
Suggested by meredith_shayne, while we were brainstorming, and I liked it but it still didn't really feel right.

12. Angels Speak in Dark and Light.
Too close to one of my all time favourite novels, Creatures of Light and Dark by Roger Zelazny for me. So, no.

13. No Quarter.
HALLELUJAH. It immediately resonated with me. This was meredith_shayne's 4am brainstorm, and her thoughts matched mine as soon as I saw it. No quarter is given in wars/battles between angels and demons; no quarter is given in love, when it's the possessive, primitive sort of love that Michael and Gabriel have. It's also the title of a Led Zeppelin song covered by Tool, the first verse of which fits *perfectly* the whole tone of the novel. And I quote:

Lock all the doors, and kill the lights.
No one's coming home tonight.
The sun beats down and don't you know?
All our lives are growing cold, oh...
They bring news that must get through.
To build a dream for me and you, oh.

So, a million thankyous, meredith_shayne. I shall build a temple in your honour.

Oh, and also, the word count of No Quarter is currently 52465 words. I am so close to finishing the first draft. I'm aiming to have it done by the end of the weekend. Then I will ignore it for a week and work on City of Jade, then go back to it and start fixing it into a readable second draft. But being so close... it feels awesome. I'm quite pleased with how the feathery kids have turned out!

Thirteen periods in history that fascinate me.

1. Late Byzantium.
This is the period between 850AD to the Fall of Constantinople at the hands of the Ottomans. It covers a lot of dynasties in terms of the Emperors and their families and saw the boundaries of the Empire fluctuate wildly. It's also the period that Constantinople was seen by some Crusaders as a jewel in the crown of plunder as part of the overall Crusade. The periods between wars and Crusades saw some of the most amazing creations in art, architecutre, literature and music and also the construction of Istanbul's most famous icon, the Haggia Sophia.
There's just something about this period in the history of the Byzantine Empire that I love and I can't quite put my finger on the exact what. Socially, the Empire was more conservative than the Early Empire or the Roman Empire which preceeded it (it's not called the Eastern Empire for nothing after all - Constantine shifted the capital from Rome to Constantinople and the court and society went with him, leaving Rome a sort of red haired stepchild of its own Empire). Constantinople was also enormously cosmopolitan, due to it's location as being the end stop for the Silk Route in the middle ages and being a port of call for Western merchants who were travelling east, so it definitely had a hugely fascinating and fluid population. Orthodoxy was the religion du jour, prior to the Ottoman conquest, and it was pretty strict. There's a lot of stuff written about Late Byzantium that's really fascinating, and the architecture and art definitely appeal. Plus I like military history and some of the most fascinating battles of the Middle Ages fall in the boundaries of the Empire. Plus, Varangian Guards, yay!

2. The Third Crusade.
The Third Crusade (1189–1192), also known as the Kings' Crusade, was an attempt by European leaders to reconquer the Holy Land from Saladin (Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub). It was largely successful, yet fell short of its ultimate goal—the reconquest of Jerusalem. Fascinating personalities - Saladin, Leopold V of Austria, Melisandre of Jerusalem, Eleanor of Aquitaine, etc.
I'm not a fan of Richard Coeur de Lion. I think he was an awful king and politician, but he was a damn good general. The court and culture of Westernised Jerusalem during the period is fascinating, as is the rule of Queen Melisandre, and of course, Saladin, who is one of those characters in history who is endlessly interesting.

3. 1150-1250 France.
My 'pet period' for want of a better term - years ago, I did living history reenactment in this period and it's always been a part of France's history that's fascinated me. There's intrigue, kings at war, feuds, Crusading, plotting, art, music, poetry, c'est tres bien!

4. Ancient Egypt during the reigns of Seti I and Rameses II.
Seti I and his son, Rameses II built some amazing structures in Egypt and left some gorgeous monuments: The Mortuary Temple of Seti I, Temple at Abydos, Great Hypostyle Hall, Abu Simbel, Abydos, Ramesseum, Luxor and Karnak temples.

5. Renaissance Italy.
15th - 16th centuries particularly. So much came out of this period - Christine de Pizan, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Luigi Pulci, Matteo Maria Boiardo, Ludovico Ariosto, Castiglione, Machiavelli, Giotto di Bondone, Masaccio, Piero della Francesca, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Perugino, Michelangelo, Raphael, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Titian, Brunelleschi, Leone Alberti, Andrea Palladio, and Bramante and such works as Florence Cathedral, St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, and the Tempio Malatestiano in Rimini.

6. Imperial Rome.
Emperors! Invasions! Conquests! Defeats! Poisonings! Intrigues! Spartacus! Gladiators! SPQR! Yeah, Rome was cool.

7. The Kievan Rus.
The Kievan Rus' was a medieval polity in Eastern Europe, from the late 9th to the mid 13th century, when it disintegrated under the pressure of the Mongol invasion of 1237–1240. Byzantium quickly became the main trading and cultural partner for Kiev, but relations were not always friendly. Rus'-Byzantine relations became closer following the marriage of the porphyrogenita Anna to Vladimir the Great, and the subsequent Christianization of the Rus': Byzantine priests, architects and artists were invited to work on numerous cathedrals and churches around Rus', expanding Byzantine cultural influence even further. Numerous Rus' served in the Byzantine army as mercenaries, most notably as the famous Varangian Guard.
Kaching, Varangians! I find the Varangians to be not just fascinating but awesome. This might be helped by friends who historically reenact them, admittedly, but the history of them is really cool. They were to the Byzantine Emperor what the Praetorian Guards were to the Roman Emperor, but more loyal to the office than the person on the throne, so there was a few murders and such. Plus, they got paid in Imperial sanctioned plunder and lived on the grounds of the palace in Constantinople. Anna Comnena, daughter of Emperor Alexios I wrote The Alexiad which is full of gushing, glowing praise for them, probably helped by the fact she was married to one.

8. Medieval Russia.
The Grand Duchy of Moscow is taken to originate with Daniel I who inherited the town in 1283, eclipsing and eventually absorbing its parent duchy of Vladimir-Suzdal by the 1320s. The power of Moscow expanded further, annexing the Novgorod Republic in 1478 and the Grand Duchy of Tver in 1485. It remained tributary to the Golden Horde (the "Tatar Yoke") until 1480. Ivan III, during his 43-year reign, further consolidated the state, campaigning against his major remaining rival power, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, by 1503, had tripled the territory of Muscovy, adopting the title of tsar and "Ruler of all Rus'". By his marriage to the niece of the last Byzantine emperor, he established Muscovy as the successor state of the Roman Empire, the "Third Rome". Ivan's successor Vasili III was also militarily successful, gaining Smolensk from Lithuania in 1512, pushing Muscovy's borders to the Dniepr River. Vasili's son Ivan IV (the later Ivan the Terrible) was an infant at his father's death in 1533. He was crowned in 1547, assuming the title of tsar together with the proclamation of Tsardom of Russia.
Sort of expanding the Rus but separate in itself. Not that Muscovy as it was called really took off as the Third Rome.

9. The Gansu corridor during the Tang Dynasty.
As part of the Northern Silk Road running northwest from the bank of the Yellow River, it was the most important route from North China to the Tarim Basin and Central Asia for traders and the military. The corridor is basically a string of oases along the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. To the south is the high and desolate Tibetan Plateau and to the north, the Gobi Desert and the grasslands of Outer Mongolia. At the west end the route splits in three, going either north of the Tian Shan or south on either side of the Tarim Basin. At the east end are mountains around Lanzhou before one reaches the Wei River valley and China proper.The Tang Empire fought with the Tibetan Empire for control of areas in Inner and Central Asia. There was a long string of conflicts with Tibet over territories in the Tarim Basin between 670–692 CE. In 763 the Tibetans even captured the capital of China, Chang'an, for fifteen days during the An Shi Rebellion. In fact, it was during this rebellion that the Tang withdrew its western garrisons stationed in what is now Gansu and Qinghai Provinces, which the Tibetans then occupied along with the territory of what is now Xinjiang. Hostilities between the Tang and Tibet continued until they signed a formal peace treaty in 821.
If this sounds interesting to you and you like history based film and don't mind a bit of fiction thrown into your fact, watch Warriors of Heaven and Earth, which is set right in this period of time, in this exact spot. It is awesome and shows how awesome the history is.

10. Ur.
Ur was an important city-state in ancient Sumer located at the site of modern Tell el-Muqayyar in Iraq's Dhi Qar Governorate. Once a coastal city near the mouth of the Euphrates on the Persian Gulf, Ur is now well inland, south of the Euphrates on its right bank, 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) from Nasiriyah. The city's patron deity was Nanna, the Sumerian moon god, and the name of the city is in origin derived from the god's name. The site is marked by the ruins of the Great Ziggurat of Ur, which contained the shrine of Nanna, excavated in the 1930s. The temple was built in the 21st century BC.
Ur and Petra are two of the most amazing places of the ancient, ancient world. I'd love to see them both, but I think a good chunk of Ur's been destroyed during the two Iraqi wars.

11. Angkor Wat, Cambodia.
The initial design and construction of the temple took place in the first half of the 12th century, during the reign of Suryavarman II (ruled 1113 – c. 1150). Dedicated to Vishnu, it was built as the king's state temple and capital city. As neither the foundation stela nor any contemporary inscriptions referring to the temple have been found, its original name is unknown, but it may have been known as Vrah Vishnulok after the presiding deity. Work seems to have ended shortly after the king's death, leaving some of the bas-relief decoration unfinished. In 1177, approximately 27 years after the death of Suryavarman II, Angkor was sacked by the Chams, the traditional enemies of the Khmer. Thereafter the empire was restored by a new king, Jayavarman VII, who established a new capital and state temple (Angkor Thom and the Bayon respectively) a few kilometres to the north. It is a unique combination of the temple mountain, the standard design for the empire's state temples, the later plan of concentric galleries, and influences from Orissa and the Chola of Tamil Nadu, India. The temple is a representation of Mount Meru, the home of the gods.
Very little known tidbit - Crusaders made it to Cambodia during the Second Crusade era and Third Cruade, and there are carvings on part of Angkor Wat that commemorate this. Cambodia in general is somewhere I'd love to visit, but particularly Angkor Wat.

12. Mongol Invasion.
The Mongol military tactics and organization helped the Mongol Empire to conquer nearly all of continental Asia, the Middle East and parts of eastern Europe. In many ways, it can be regarded as the first "modern" military system. The original foundation of that sysem was an extension of the nomadic lifestyle of the Mongols. Other elements were invented by Genghis Khan, his generals, and his successors. Technologies useful to attack fortifications were adapted from other cultures, and foreign technical experts integrated into the command structures. For the larger part of the 13th century, the Mongols lost only a few battles using that system, but always returned to turn the result around in their favor. In many cases, they won against significantly larger opponent armies. Their first real defeat came in the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260, against the first army which had been specifically trained to use their own tactics against them. That battle ended the western expansion of the Mongol Empire, and within the next 20 years, the Mongols also suffered defeats in attempted invasions of Vietnam and Japan. But while the empire became divided around the same time, its combined size and influence remained largely intact for more than another hundred years.
Another film rec here, Mongol, which is about the early life of Genghis Khan and is shot in Mongolia, stars Mongolian actors, was directed by a Mongolian and Chinese joint venture and really is an amazing film. Plus, Mongolia. Beautiful.

13. Babylon.
It was an Akkadian city-state (founded in 1867 BC by an Amorite dynasty) of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers (55 mi) south of Baghdad. Babylon, along with Assyria to the north, was one of the two Akkadian nations that evolved after the collapse of the Akkadian Empire, although it was rarely ruled by native Akkadians. All that remains of the original ancient famed city of Babylon today is a mound, or tell, of broken mud-brick buildings and debris in the fertile Mesopotamian plain between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The city itself was built upon the Euphrates, and divided in equal parts along its left and right banks, with steep embankments to contain the river's seasonal floods.
A few relics survived, like the Gate of Ishtar, which is *gorgeous*, all lapis lazuli and gold. I idly wonder if archaeologists could use depth photography or whatever it's called and see what lies beneath the tell that's the remains of Babylon today. Like x-ray photography of the earth. There's a name for that and I can't think of it!

It's still Thursday somewhere, right? ;)

So this is thirteen places I've visited that I love, for various reasons, and I hope you enjoy this entry. It's a little late because I have a cold (again! Argh!), so yeah. Onward!


13 of my fave places

1. Shaniko, Oregon.
Good article about it. The only photos of inside the hotel.

I visited Shaniko with corellian_sugar when I was in the US last year and it totally exceeded my hopes as to how awesome it would be. My only regret is that we didn't spend more time there. (And at Bridal Veil and Antelope, but that's how daylight lasting only X hours goes.) This ghost town that isn't quite is awesome. I love the fact it was like walking back in time, the place is so lovingly preserved by the few residents that live nearby, on the outskirts of the town or in the town of Antelope. The whole area was simply breathtaking - all this yellow rolling hills with sharp vicious rocky outcrops and then suddenly... an old west town. I toy idly with one day setting a story in Shaniko or having Shaniko play a small part in my Archangels novel.

2. Centralia, Pensylvania.
Good article about the town. And another one. Centralia is the inspiration for the Silent Hill films and is used as a location in the film.

Totally worth hiking around through the undergrowth to find a miner's wash station hidden away, look and poke at coal shale, smell sulfur and generally be an abandoned places geek. g_shadowslayer braved the narrow, winding path behind the hill of dirt with me to find the wash station and we pawed through it wondering what the hell it used to be. Consensus on the abandonedplaces comm suggested it was a wash station/house, not a residence as we'd thought. I'm a bit sad we didn't see the smoking road with all its holes and lumpiness, but hey, we saw ruins and weirdness and all round awesomeness.

3. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington DC.
The Byzantine collection.

Another one I visited while overseas, this time at the suggestion of strangemuses, who told me it had a huge collection of Byzantine artefacts and as I am a Byzantine loving history geek, I jumped at the chance to visit. It didn't disappoint, and as I doubt I'll actually get to Istanbul, this was a very brilliant substitue. What she didn't tell me about, however, was the Music Room. The whole room is late medieval/early Renaissance artefacts, art and furniture and the ceiling is just breathtaking. I sort of leaned against the wall while the curator eyed me suspiciously and stared at the ceiling. I may have shed a tear, but thankfully no one saw that. And why? Unless the V&A or the Louvre or the London Museum or the York Museum do a travelling exhibition of medieval art, etc, I will never see these things. And this was just... well, it was. Basically.

4. Sci-fi/Rock n Roll museum, Seattle.
Main info page.

The funnel of guitars from floor to ceiling! The Jimi Hendrix collection! The life size Gort saying hi! The singing Death Star! The first edition pulp SF novels! The SF Wall of Fame! Yeah, I was in my element here. Health shit notwithstanding. corellian_sugar took me here on the way back from Canada and it was *awesome*.

5. Stonehenge, Washington.
Good article about Stonehenge. And another with great photos.

I am a lover of the weird, wonderful, crazy and kitsch and when corellian_sugar told me about Stonehenge and sent me a photo, I knew I had to see it. I hobbled around it cackling like a delighted hyena and took a ton of photos, including getting T to take one of me doing my 'I am the high priestess of the sun!' pose. Also the view from Stonehenge of the Gorge and the river is breathtaking. It's such a beautiful spot and another one I'd like to feature in a story at some point, somewhere. The idea of Archangels fighting demons in the middle of a Stonehenge in the US appeals to me a lot.

6. Talc Alf/Ochre Pits/Parachilna Gorge
Talc Alf, video of the Ochre Pits, which doesn't really do it justice, Parachilna Gorge.

When I was a little Star, aged 12, my primary school took us on a week long school camp. We went to the Flinders Ranges and Leigh Creek, so right up to central and northern South Australia. This was my first time in this part of my country and it really stayed with me. So much so, that everytime I go up there, these places are a must to visit. Talc Alf may well be an eccentric bloke in the bush with some strange ideas, but he carves the most gorgeous things in talc stone, and I still have the piece I bought back then, a dove. (If anyone wants to see it, let me know, and I'll take a photo of it.) The Ochre Pits are still used by the local Aboriginals to this day, for the ochre used in their tribal rituals and the vids and photos really don't do it justice - the richness of the colours, the softness of the ochre pits themselves, these just don't come across until you actually see and touch it for yourself. Parachilna Gorge is one of many gorges around Australia, but I like it because it's a pretty walk and it's peaceful and you can get chased by pink and grey galahs. Also, Ochre's coloru meanings: yellow represents the sun and means rebirth and new beginnings (and who couldn't use one of those every now and then), pink is the colour of lungs and therefore breath, purple means cleansing.

7. Wilpena Pound
One of the most majestic places on Earth. The Age article is a good one. Wilpena is Aboriginal for 'The place of bent fingers.'

I have climbed up the sides of this thing and down into the flat center then up again. The view is amazing. The hike is hard. I couldn't do these days. I've done it many times in my youth, teens and twenties. It's a natural amphitheatre which is full of wildlife and scrub - the hike can be arduous and the rangers do recommend if you're not used to it, to do the beginners hike. That takes two hours. The experienced hike is six hours up, six hours down, rinse, repeat, and yep, I've done that one too. It really is beautiful and you don't really notice the passage of time, because there's so much to look at.

8. Kanyaka Ruins
Info page for the ruins.

Kanyaka is one of those many stories in outback colonial Australia - Europeans, ignorant of just how harsh it is to live outback decide to do it anyway, either for gold mining, sheep farming, cattle farming or crop farming. Kanyaka was a livestock station and for a while, it did very well. Then, Australia's climate being what it is, drought hit. Everything died and finally, the station owner and his surviving family and workers moved to the nearby town of Quorn and the station was left to fall into ruins. It's not a heritage listed site and it's really eerie to walk through the ruins of a huge homestead that used to house over 100 people and was such a major part of the livestock trade in the nineteenth century. Eerie, but beautiful too - I love these ruins and I always get a sense of hope and tenacity from them, unlike other ruins I've visited in the Flinders Ranges which have been nothing but despairing and sad. So yeah, Kanyaka is awesome.

9. La Perouse, New South Wales.
I'm actually amazed there's a good site about La Perouse! And another one!

Sydneysiders (I'm looking at meredith_shayne!) are probably looking at me askance right now and wondering, "La Perouse? Really? Seriously, Star?" But yep, really and seriously. I've been there a few times with my brother and he's got friends there, but I've always enjoyed myself, poking around it. Next time I'm in Sydney, he's taking me there again, so I can trot over to the fort on Bare Island there, I've decided.

10. The Big Macadamia, Queensland.
Yup.

It's a big macadamia nut. Seriously. You see, Australia is a land of big things. Big orange, pineapple, rocking horse, Murray cod, koala - you name it, there's probably a big thing somewhere of it. How the trend of big things came to be isn't known, but there's lots of them and they constantly crack me up. The first time I saw the macadamia, I laughed so hard, I couldn't stop. It's part of the now closed Big Pineapple complex (and I'm sad it's closed, the whole place is wonderfully cracktastic), and inside the nut is a shop where you can buy, you guessed it, macadamia nuts!

11. Simpsons Gap, Northern Territory.
One site, small article and more detailed information.

In my bio, I talk about how when I was a very little Star, perhaps aged 6 or 7, I won a competition by drawing Humpty Dumpty with an Aussie hat, complete with corks and writing a little story about it. My prize was a holiday to the Northern Territory, so mum and I took five days and up we went to Alice Springs. My teacher at the time, I remember mum telling me, was thrilled I was doing this because she felt that travel was one of the best teachers for a child. I remember that week in the Alice with great fondness - we stayed at a youth hostel and I made friends with other guests and the owner, we went to the River Todd and I had baramundi for the first time (best fish EVER), I rode a camel for the first time while mum went "Eeeeeeeek!", and we visited Simpson's Gap. Simpson's Gap is an image that's stayed with me all these years because I remember how cold it was in the middle of the gap. The water was cool, the rock walls were cold and red and it was amazingly silent. I loved it. So, Simpson's Gap is one of those places that stays with you forever.

12. The Big Merino, NSW.
He's really the biggest merino in the world. And he's in Goulburn.

Another big thing. The Big Merino is awesome. Inside his belly is a shop where you can buy... wait for it... wool! And wool products! You can also buy jam, which is a big part of Goulburn's industry. But he's a big concrete merino sheep in the middle of nothing. I was coming home from one of my many visits to Sydney, and doing it the cheap way, ie, by very cramped bus. The drive is something like 16 hours, and it's all in one hit. Yeah, we're hard arse here. XD So, I'd had a nap, and I woke up, it was around mid-morning and heading towards lunch time and the bus driver said we were stopping at Goulburn for lunch. For miles around was nothing but flat arable land, crops as far as the eye could see... and this big grey thing rearing out of the middle of it all. It got bigger and bigger as we got closer and then I realised that oh. It was a giant fucking sheep in the middle of nowhere. And I love it. It's been moved to a different location in Goulburn since I first saw it, but I'm happy to have seen it and hung out there a few times, in the original and new locations.

13. Noosa Heads, Queensland.
General info and a little more.

If Heaven is a beach, it's Noosa Heads. This is the most beautiful beach I've ever seen, and I live in a country full of beautiful beaches, where each curve of the coastline is more beautiful and breathtaking than the one before it. The water is blue and crystal clear, the rainforest is lush and green, the wildlife is *everywhere*, the air is warm and comfortable, the sand is white, the town shopping precinct is like a lazy, easygoing, non-rushed area, it's just amazing. If I was going to retire anywhere outside of South Australia, Noosa would be it. Alas, that I am not rich. Noosa Heads really is a paradise.

And now some pics. I didn't take these, no. Under the cut to save flists.

( Pics )