Hello from gorgeous cow country in upstate NY!
Recently I asked my friends a question on facebook: "Do you have any strong feelings about a place, so much so that if you lost that place, it would be like losing a part of yourself?"
I wasn't merely being nosy. I was genuinely curious, and for good reason. Some of the answers were pretty amazing:
"The redwoods of California — always get feelings of magic when walking through them. Memories of spending time with my dad, of exploring with my brother, of the best-smelling bacon that you ever did smell (redwood air is the best bacon-spice). If the redwoods were lost, a part of me would be destroyed."
"I brought my family home to live with my father after my mother passed away, and now it is 'ours'.... except now we are approaching retirement, and none of kids in the family want to farm, and, so.... well, we're selling off the acreage, parcel by parcel."
Others thought not of home, but of a place they visited:
"The Chihuahuan desert is one of the most extreme terrains for mammals. Testing my body with extremes in temperature, drought, fire, wind, monsoons, etc., it made my body come alive in a way I've only experienced in that place. Humans crave sensual experience -- living -- I really *lived* there."
That feeling of loss associated with place can be incredibly traumatic. It's something that I grew up with vicariously, hearing and reading about the loss of Russia to the Soviets in the early 20th century. It's still a loss that haunts our family to this day.
(This painting by Andrei Shishkin evokes, for me, that frame of mind of nostalgia for a land lost)
This theme is central to my new book, The Forge of the Covenant. In it, Lebía seems to be living in a paradise with a large family of four (which if you read books 1-3, you know is impossible). Then it's all taken away from her in the most traumatic way possible. The subsequent choices she makes may shake the foundation of the history of her nation. (It is epic fantasy, after all).
Another story that beautifully dramatizes the loss of identity through the loss of place is Guy Gavriel Kay's Tigana. I just finished reading it recently, and I can warmly recommend it. (Do be advised that there is some rather graphic sex. It's not gratuitous, in the sense that it actually has a thematically important role to play in the novel. But it's definitely graphic).
Bi-Weekly Links of Internet Interestingness
There were some pretty exciting stories in the world of fantasy lately.
Special Sale!
I've discounted The Song of the Sirin to FREE for the first time on all retailers. Grab a copy while it's free!
And thanks, as always, for joining me on my writerly adventures!
~Nicky
P.S. Don't forget to grab your copy of The Forge of the Covenant! |