Vohu Manu

I'll admit it was the Steve Carrell which drew me to this ("Where did you get a hand grenade?" "I don't know!") and the film had a very low Carrell-factor. But that was entirely as it should be being an ensemble film. If anyone stole the show it was Alan Arkin, but he's had years of practise.

The film also had the side effect of exposing people to the word 'dramedy' as I try to explain to them that while the last fifteen minutes had the audience rolling around on the floor laughing the film isn't really a comedy.

But that fifteen minutes, hoo boy.

With a few month reprieve before the feeling that everything I read should have an educational value (and the best that the field has to offer at that) I'm squeezing in some time for fiction, perhaps eventually even crap fiction, but only the good stuff right now.

The Riddlemaster of Hed by Patricia McKillip

One reward of many for finishing my degree a re-read of one of the best fantasy stories ever written. All the usual praise of a good story of course, but a few new lessons.

A story doesn't have to be long to be epic, by jumping between chapters you create time and you skip over the dull parts. This idea wakes modern publishers in their bed screaming, but shown here to be true. You don't have to discuss who will cook every dinner, or precisely how green the forest is, we get it.

The fantasy world should revolve around the character and their story, everything relates back to that. That's a part of what makes it epic. Every part of the world has a part to play, every part is important to the story for a different reason.

The introduction is everything. When you read it, which you will, go back and re-read the first three chapters (10 pages apiece) and marvel at how much of the world is introduced in this tiny, tiny space.