The Pale Horseman
Gabriele said that The Pale Horseman is available in trade paperback. On checking out Amazon UK, it certainly isn't available there at present, so she's lucky to get a copy. However, it looks like the hardback is getting discounted, but then there's postage on top ... Or there's an audio version. The small pb (£6.99) is due out in June, and if I'm really patient, it might be available very cheaply from one of the big supermarkets. It may not be a case of heoric patience though, as I've got plenty of books waiting in the to-be-read pile ... Including Jack Whyte.How about one of Mr Whyte's paragraphs from his introduction to The Eagle:
Be warned, then, that readers familiar with Clothar and his previous exploits will find much of what follows here to be familiar, but I have chosen to repeat it for the benefit of new readers , who are not familiar with the fifth-century world of which I write.
Cor blimey!
posted by Alex Bordessa @ Monday, January 02, 2006
7 Comments:
Now, that's weird. Amazon.de still has it, and 24 hours delivery, too.
They also have the cheaper paperback version listed already, though as 'not yet avaliable'.
I hope that's Jack Whyte's Author's Note and not the start of the text!
Anyway, why can't we be trusted to work it out from context? You don't get Bernard Cornwell repeating stuff for new readers at the front of every Sharpe novel.
Alex, you will be pleased to hear that yesterday I came across a 34-word, three-and-a-half line sentence written by Dorothy Parker and being lauded as a superlative example of her talent. And there was an adverb in it, too. What rules?
Carla - don't start about the perceived lack of rules; you know it sets me off :-) More about that anon ... The next time I'm critted for _slightly_ long sentences I shall be quoting the Dorothy Parker example. I got rather over-familiar with Whyte's repetition of familiar, to say the least.
Gabriele - is your Pale Horseman in translation? I was wondering if there was a US trade paperback.
"Rules are for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men." I believe this is attributed to Douglas Bader, a man worthy of anyone's admiration. You could quote that to yourself next time you get ticked off by a finger-wagging critic (it's rather more intellectual than muttering 'And Mornington Crescent to you, too, mate', like I do).
And I promise this is positively the last thing I shall say on the subject.
Oh, there are rules. I think we are just differing as to what they are or apply to. I'm not so stupid as to think there's, say, one formula to writing a book. I think what I've said or hinted at, indicates this amply, particularly regarding grammar (the published are beyond any grammar rules for example; the great unpublished are not). :-)
No Alex, it's an UK trade paperback. I don't think there's a German translation yet.
Weird. I haven't seen it here (but this is just one small city!) and nor is it on Amazon UK
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