Bernard Cornwell

I don't oppose it mate. Each to their own and all that. I do hate religion though, it is the corrupt fortress in which the weak hide themselves behind.
 
So you, instead of falling into the "weakness of religion", fall victim to your own hubris and instead opt for hate? I've heard hatred being the fortress of the weak many more times than I've heard the same said about religion.
 
But you've heard it said about religion. All cliches anyway, I don't spend much time or thought considering religion it is simply not for me. Why believe a set of lies?
 
And you are avoiding the question, Peter. Why is hating the hatred of religion an improvement?
 
Because two negatives make a positive. :) Or because the opposite of love is not hate, but indifference....
 
Fighting fire with fire does not work - it only causes a whole lot of burnt fingers.
 
Lace, would this fall under a historical fantasy bracket? I've been looking for a good historical fantasy novel, but the few I've picked up have been grossly inaccurate to the times and settings they were placed.
 
God damnit, Peter. Here I am trying to bait you into a reasonable fight and you go chicken on me. What the hell, man, what the hell?
 
Arthurian legend is pure myth Gremlin. The landscape and many events are true but most of the characters and most of this story is pure fancy. That said I like to think that this story has some semblance of reality.

Religion in these books is given a pretty rough ride, but I think that this done fairly. The representives of both religions are shown to be zealous but corrupt. However, if you were to view Galahad as the average christian and Ceinwyn as the average pagan, then you would have say that both religions are shown in a good light.

I dislike the three middle eastern religions particularly. Judasism, Islam, and Christianity. I have reasons for disliking these religions but do not see the need for upsetting some pathetic god fearing christian just so that I can have a rant.

Flying pigs and all that.
 
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Lacedaemonian said:
Arthurian legend is pure myth Gremlin. The landscape and many events are true but most of the characters and most of this story is pure fancy. That said I like to think that this story has some semblance of reality.
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The way I like to think of it is that if Arthur truly existed, this is the most accurate supposition of his life. The myth most likely.

Incredibly accurate to the times and setting, Gremlin. It depends what you mean by 'historical fantasy'. Do you mean a fictitious tale set in a real history, or a 'fantasy' - replete with dragons and wizards and the familiar tropes therein - set in a real history? 'Cause this is the former.
 
That whoever's up there can get on with their day jolly well without me. I'm essentially Taoist - though it is hardly a denomination in the same way that branding yourself Christian, Moslem or Hindu is.
 
Beliefs, faith and religion are not one and the same thing. I personally believe that religion serves no purpose, that those that fervently pursue a religion are brain dead, and that the religion indrustry is an absolute joke. Just my opinion. At the core of every religion is a set of beliefs which I find to be fundamentally humane, and beneficial for mankind.

Away from my negative opinions of organised religion, I do feel that 'the church' plays and can play a very important role in peoples lives. If anything it is a community for which people can socialize together. It is just not for me. I believe in nature, life and the collective human spirit. End of.
 
I see what you are getting at, Peter, but as usual I don't agree to how you're getting there. Some things never change, mate. Everyone can find their way, and their ways are always different - many ways to the Buddha, after all. Hardly makes them brain dead, now does it (just baiting for the old time's sake). I do agree that religion in itself is quite amusing and I think we'd all be better off if we saw it as such.

I would like to believe philosophy to be the core you speak of, and the religion simply a shell that has been put on by clergy to shape its interpretation in a way beneficial to a select group.
 
I should always try to respect people's beliefs, however, I really don't mind failing in the trying. :)
 
Trying is the first step to failing, I'm sure you see.

Skirting back to the topic we set out with, I recently finished Sharpe's Tiger and am in the final pages of The Winter King, both of which are absolutely magnificent books. Sharpe has much of the same gripping power that the Da Vinci Code did, but with infinitely more meat and texture to it. In fact, I feel that I've sullied the book merely by comparing it to the Code. Same goes for The Winter King though it is slower paced (but equally breathtaking in all its facets). I read Fortress a while back, but not until after I got ahold of these new books did I realise the extent of Cornwell's genius. And it only seems to be getting better and better.
 
I had Cornwell marked wrong. I always thought that because he always had a book out, and because he had so many books published that his work was obviously poor fare. I was wrong. The Warlord Chronicles trilogy is easily in the top five of the best books I have ever read. It walks all over any book from the fantasy genre, and it is clear that George RR Martin was inspired by Cornwell when writing A Song of Ice and Fire.
 
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