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“The Forest Knights” is born
Five years ago my girlfriend said “It’s time to meet my parents.” This was my response: She paused for a very long, uncomfortable moment before responding, “Uh, yeah. I think so.” Now what’s this got to do with “The Forest Knights” you ask? Well, my girlfriend immigrated to Canada about eight years ago from…(yep, you guessed it) Switzerland. And since her parents still live there, we would need to go on a trip. Now I’ve always been a history buff, and when I finally came to terms with the fact I was going to Heidi-Land, I began to read up on the little country. When I found out this is where William Tell came from (not England!) I got especially excited, and began to hum the overture while I made a long list of all the “Tell hotspots” to visit. I met a lot of great people and saw some beautiful country on that trip. and somewhere along the way, the seeds of a novel began festering in my subconscious. At that point, all I knew for sure was it would have nothing to do with chocolate or watches. Army knives were, of course, still a...
read moreThe Kappa Hunter
Sorry I have to interrupt my regularly scheduled posts on Switzerland because I just got my new cover for a short story that will be coming out soon! Some worthless information: If you’re a sushi fan, you probably already know “kappa-maki” are cucumber rolls. But did you know that a “kappa” is a mythological river monster in Japan? Ah, but here’s where the information really gets useless. The rolls are called “kappa” rolls because apparently it is well known that these monsters love cucumbers. All right. Next post I promise I’ll go back to...
read moreWilliam Tell Swiss? Who Knew?
I sure didn’t. Five years ago I thought he was English. I mean all guys good with bows were English right? Who’s the kid you ask? That would be his son Walter. The story goes that after William Tell disrespected the local governor, Hermann Gessler, the evil man stood the young boy up in the town square and made Tell shoot an apple off his head. Later, our hero ambushes Gessler on a dark forest road and shoots him in the chest. Then I think everyone sings. At least that’s the version popularized by Friedrich Schiller in the early 1800’s. Here‘s the full play if you feel like some light...
read moreOnly Swiss people can climb
I’ve been to Switzerland twice and Austria once researching my new novel The Forest Knights, which I hope to self-publish in September 2011. So I’m going to do a series of posts on Switzerland. I took this picture while out hiking. It’s a storage shed for a farmer (maybe for hay or other food for livestock). Notice the legs made of rocks? On the top of each leg is a large, flat stone. I was told this keeps mice out of the storage shed because they can’t handle the overhang. Apparently Swiss mice have never seen Stallone in...
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