I received a copy of Ivanhoe, by Sir Walter Scott, for Christmas. The edition they forced on us in high school convinced me that Sir Walter was an idiot. I was not aware that the editors had done him a mischief, tearing all the guts out of his book and leaving only the hollow shell of a rather silly story. So it was decades before mere curiosity–could it really have been that bad?–moved me to read it again.
And it blew me away. Ivanhoe is a truly great novel that richly deserved to be a classic.
But there’s another thing to love about my Christmas present. They’ve included all of Scott’s notes and footnotes on Ivanhoe–how he came by this or that tradition, this or that old song, what he was thinking when he had a character perform a certain action, etc. It’s the next best thing to having Sir Walter sitting across the room from you and talking to you.
How I would love to sit down with him over tea and cigars, for a nice long natter! He had a gift for taking the reader along with him as he wrote the story. He had a gift of self-deprecating humor. I’ll bet the two of us together could talk the sun across the sky.
Well, of course I can’t do that, unless it’s one of those things the Lord has in store for us in heaven. But what I can do is always be available to my readers–and friends!–right here, on this blog. Ask me anything about my books, or how I write them, whatever. I love talking about stories, and how they come to be told.
Wouldn’t that be cool, if some famous writer read this, and replied?
Byron: the Next Comment Contest
G’day! Byron the Quokka here. Cousin Jupe and me once found a whole package of Big Burger Taste just left there for anyone who might want it. There’s a lesson to be learned from that! And if I ever find out what it is, I’ll tell you.
So I’ve been talkin’ to the Big Mango here–oh, all right! he doesn’t like that nickname–I mean, talkin’ to Lee, and finally got him to let me run another comment contest.
Just now we have 54,602 comments, so the goal for this contest will be 56,000. Whoever posts Comment No. 56,000 will win an autographed copy of Bell Mountain No. 12, His Mercy Endureth Forever, when it comes out sometime early this year. I’ve read some of it already–wow!
He still won’t let me offer a bicycle as the prize. Sometimes the poor chap has no vision.
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8 Comments | tags: a message to my readers, bell mountain series by lee duigon, Byron the Quokka, comment contests, His Mercy Endureth Forever, lee duigon blog | posted in Book Updates, Just for Fun