Taverns???

GOLLUM said:
So Mark do your books have any Tavern scenes in them??.. :confused:
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Indeed they do, Gollum. My heroine character, Jenna, in Trail of the Huntress has a brawl in 'The Jolly Ploughman', there is also a tavern called 'The Stonecutter's Rest' which a party of characters stop at in The Chosen One. In my new novel - Imperial Spy, I use an upmarket Inn called, 'The Silver Chalice'.

I try not to let down the side when it comes to traditional fantasy scenes. :)
 
Mark Urpen said:
Indeed they do, Gollum. My heroine character, Jenna, in Trail of the Huntress has a brawl in 'The Jolly Ploughman', there is also a tavern called 'The Stonecutter's Rest' which a party of characters stop at in The Chosen One. In my new novel - Imperial Spy, I use an upmarket Inn called, 'The Silver Chalice'.

I try not to let down the side when it comes to traditional fantasy scenes. :)
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Yep I remember that brawl :D
 
The Master™ said:
I always liked the idea of MY tavern... The Dragon... I designed it Dragon Magazine, when they had a competiton... It was a multi-dimensional tavern... Where it interacted with all the Dungeons & Dragons universes... It was a really cool place... Where time moved differently to the rest of the universe... Where all sorts of people lived, visited, traded, etc...
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Not that I'm accusing you of plagiarism, but... Isn't there something like that in Feist? In the Hall of Worlds, no? Can't remember the name, though...
 
Mark Urpen said:
The Lord of the Rings has a few - The Prancing Pony, The Green Dragon and there was another one between Hobbiton and the Brandywine that they avoided to prevent delays, but the name of that one escapes me momentarily.
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The Prancing Pony?

Mark Urpen said:
You're right, though, bars/taverns/inns frequently play host to scenes in fantasy. They are a great place for characters to discover information and interract with characters that they might not normally meet anywhere else. They provide a tool to progress characters and storylines with an exchange of information, or a confrontation in a public place that offer the chance to accelerate events. I think it's fair to say that there are not many fantasy stories that feature golf courses, or betting shops, so the guys have to have somewhere to meet. ;)
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You find them almost as often in historicals, especially those following characters not of the upper class - my impression is that in medieval times if you didn't have a wife to cook for you, you ate all your meals at the local bar/pub/tavern. At least, that's the impression they give in many of the historicals I've read. Could be the origin of the mostly untrue ;) stereotype of men not being good cooks.

Some good names come from a mystery series I'm fond of:
The Dirty Duck
The Grave Maurice
The Old Fox Deceiv'd
The Horse You Came in On
Rainbow's End
The Old Silent
The Man with a Load of Mischeif
 
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I had a book accepted for publication in 1995, and the editor note read that my tavern scenes brought the book to life, and was the 'meat and potatos' of the whole story. Reason: The characters were at home in the tavern. Everyone knew everyone. They ate roast and chugged mugs of beer while talking about what life was doing for them. Mantze, the bartendor was constantly klinking mugs together and telling stories of old feats from his younger days...

Tavern scenes are a must in most fantasy, sci fi stories...:)
 
Fantasy doesn't have exclusive rights to tavern settings.

Callahan's Place from Callahan's Cross Time Saloon.
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe.
Mos Eisley Cantina.
Ten-Forward.
 
A while back I set a fantasy novel entirely inside a roadside tavern (with a few scenes set in its garden).
It was criticised for not showing the epic scope of most fantasy.
But it was really good to write a novel set inside only one building. I hope to have a got at that again - maybe a third re-write...
 
There is a collection of bar related SF & Fantasy stories called (I think?) "Tales From The Space Port Bar".
There is also a sequel but am damned if I can remember who edited them???
 
I know it's mentioned earlier in this thread - Terry Pratchetts 'Mended Drum' - but I'm fairly certain that, in one of his Night Watch stories, they met for a drink in ' The Broken Drum'. I'm not sure if it was the same tavern. I do remember the mention of it's slogan "The Broken Drum, it can't be beaten"
 
dannymcg said:
I know it's mentioned earlier in this thread - Terry Pratchetts 'Mended Drum' - but I'm fairly certain that, in one of his Night Watch stories, they met for a drink in ' The Broken Drum'. I'm not sure if it was the same tavern. I do remember the mention of it's slogan "The Broken Drum, it can't be beaten"
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I love that slogan. :lol:
 
BigBadBob141 said:
There is a collection of bar related SF & Fantasy stories called (I think?) "Tales From The Space Port Bar".
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A friend of mine called Dave Weaver wrote a book of short stories connected by a bar in a spaceport. I think it was called "Tales From The Black Hole Bar". It's probably not the one you're thinking of, as it's a small press book, but he's a decent writer and it's worth a look.

Do bars of a more film noir sort count? A fair chunk of Blade Runner is set in bars, and William Gibson's Sprawl trilogy has the Chatsubo and the Gentleman Loser. There's also a very interesting story by Gibson called "The belonging kind" about a creature that seems to have evolved to live in bars.

Personally, when writing fantasy I've gone more for the Medieval village rather than Victorian coaching inn feel, so the taverns tend to be converted outhouses, barns or just somebody's front room when they've got some ale to sell.
 
dannymcg said:
I know it's mentioned earlier in this thread - Terry Pratchetts 'Mended Drum' - but I'm fairly certain that, in one of his Night Watch stories, they met for a drink in ' The Broken Drum'. I'm not sure if it was the same tavern. I do remember the mention of it's slogan "The Broken Drum, it can't be beaten"
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The Broken Drum burnt down, was rebuilt and renamed as the Mended Drum.

Incidentally a conversation I had with a policeman - but apparently TP gets the atmosphere of a police bar absolutely spot on. He'd definitely been in a few (presumably as a junior reporter).
 
REF: Toby Frost.
Sorry Toby but I'm pretty sure it was The Space Port Bar.
Plus it was published sum time ago, maybe 10 years or more and there was a sequel.
Called I think More Tales From ect.
Larry Niven did a series of fairly short stories which take place in the Draco Tavern.
These involve various visiting aliens.
Plus he wrote a short story called I think "The Fourth Profession" about a human bar tender who gets new abilities from RNA tablets given to him by a drunk alien.
 
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I like nothing better than a good tavern scene, particularly in Fantasy. It just feels, I don't know, natural, like breathing or drinking ale. I think they're also a great place for characters to interact - most people tend to be more at ease in such settings, let their guard down etc.

I like them so much that I just had a brief moment of panic, thinking that my last novel didn't actually include a tavern scene. Fortunately, I was mistaken (though it is rather brief*).

The tavern scene that sticks in my mind is Frodo's encounter with Strider in the first vol of Lord of the Rings. It's quite a while since I last read it, but the scene really stuck with me. Later, I also really liked the inn described in the opening chapters of Dragonlance Chronicles, Inn of the Last Home.

There are some great tavern names out there, but my favourite is from a Tori Amos song: the Dewdrop Inn. I chuckle every time I think of it.

Some great ones in real life, too, like the Five Miles From Anywhere, No Hurry Inn, which is in my neck of the woods. And guess what?
The village where the pub is situated is pretty much five miles from anywhere

*But makes up for it with some hearty ale-related fisticuffs
 
I like a scene from one of Terry Prachett's night watch books.
Two men try to rob a tavern full of off duty police men.
When they realise there mistake they take a female officer hostage not knowing that she is a werewolf.
After making there way outside loud screaming can be heard.
The rest of the officers just sit there drinking their beer.
Someone says "Aren't you going to help?".
To which an officer replies "Why should we?", "It's their own silly fault for trying to rob this place!"
P.S. Terry's werewolf's don't need Moonlight to turn, they can do it at will!
 
Another scene I've enjoyed is when the same officer takes a newly recruited female Dwarf to her drinking hole.
Unlike the Human, Dwarf or Troll inns in Ankh-Morpork this one is full of all sorts of non-humans.
Werewolf's, Vampires, Night Gaunts and stranger things.
And sitting in the middle of it all is a little old lady sipping sherry.
She has been drinking there for years, because she is nearly blind with cataracts she does nor realise it's no longer a human inn.
But the creatures look out for her.
She had recently been knocked down and robbed of her pension.
The next night their is a loud knocking on her door.
She opens the door fearfully only to find no one there but a large bag of money on her doorstep.
The next day the body of a local thief is found in an alley, drained of blood and with two puncture marks on his neck!
 
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