Hannah

Oh yes, @kate-flournoy…Long white hands and fingers with a grip of steel, a sure sign it’s the Pimpernel. 🙂

Yes, thank you both— I probably need to clarify that. 😛

Good thoughts, Rolena. Thanks for sharing.

So yes. Your post definitely established that vampires and zombies are evil, but that isn’t what we were debating. I misunderstood that at first myself—that we were not debating whether they were evil or not, but whether or not we—understanding fully their wickedness and ties to darkness and…[Read more]

Yeeaahh… pretty much. Welcome to the world of Henty, all ye uninitiated.

The only Henty books I’ve read are In Freedom’s Cause and Treasure of the Incas. How do those compare with the repetition/character flatness of his other works, in you all’s opinions?

Yes! Totally get what you mean.

But you forgot a rule.

The filthy, slimy character with long hands is always Sir Percy in disguise. Without fail.

Glad you like the name! It’s Norse… 😛

No, the watchman is not a girl— good guess, though! It could almost be that way, couldn’t it? But the watchman is what is technically called a ‘mook’. He doesn’t have a name, appears for only one scene, and then disappears for the rest of the book. These kinds of characters are usually the ones that die…[Read more]

Yes, I like (‘like’ is relative) all those you mentioned, Daeus, if for no other reason than that they are all so historically rich. Another one I liked, partly because I am a history buff, fascinated with all Old English stuff, and an avid reader of Shakespeare’s historical plays, was Both Sides the Border.

@Hope— hey, I do that mental…[Read more]

Not to say I don’t like his stuff; I’ve really enjoyed a number of his writing. It’s just that the more I read, the more patterns I see, and the less enjoyable it is over time.

I completely agree. I picked up a Henty book recently after not reading one for a long time and keep mentally correcting all the things you shouldn’t do……[Read more]

Like everyone else here, I love the name Denholm. 🙂

Question…is the watchman a girl? Clear young eyes; smooth cheeks; visor down; not speaking… He might not be, but I can see a possibility…

Anyway, one thing no one else pointed out. At the very beginning of the scene, Denholm looks at the spear stuck in the wood. Reading the rest of the…[Read more]

Like everyone else here, I love the name Denholm. 🙂

Question…is the watchman a girl? Clear young eyes; smooth cheeks; visor down; not speaking… He might not be, but I can see a possibility. 🙂

Anyway, one thing no one else pointed out. At the very beginning of the scene, Denholm looks at the spear stuck in the wood. Reading the rest of the…[Read more]

@kate-flournoy

Rule #1: The Scarlet Pimpernel is never dead.
Rule #2: The Scarlet Pimpernel always knows what he’s doing.
Rule #3: Don’t mess with Sir. Percy’s wife.

I love the Scarlet Pimpernel books; there are some pretty good parts. 🙂

One thing I find thrilling in books is when I get to a spot, and suddenly the title of the story makes…[Read more]

Actually, Martin Rattler and Peterkin are Ballentyne. I get them mixed up too! But Ballentyne is great with characterization. His plots are not as fast or intricate or exciting than Henty, but his characters— there’s no comparison.

But Henty did a good job with his side characters. Peterkin and that sailor from Martin Rattler (Can’t remember the name) were great. Martin Rattler is actually a lot like Tintin. Tintin is a really extreme role-model perfect character. But if a little kid goes “Oh, I want to be like Tintin!” It’s more a question of where to start. I mean, he’s…[Read more]

Okay Rosey— I see what you’re saying. Yes, I definitely could have constructed that sentence better. Thank you…

…and just so you know, I have no clue what a verb is. I know. I’m a writer. I’m supposed to know these things. But every English program I ever took went in one ear and out the other. *sigh* Oh well. I know how to use them—…[Read more]

Oooh… nice topic. Good and un-serious. 😛

Um… for some reason I get the impression that I have had many more than currently come to mind, but the one I can think of off the top of my head comes from a book that I think is relatively little known. ‘El Dorado’, by Baroness Orczy. It belongs to the story of ‘The Scarlet Pimpernel’. Actually,…[Read more]

I read through that sentence a few more times. There are actually a few ways to read that I guess, and I accented the wrong words. What I was thinking was that you had hit a midway point between
“Some of the inkwells broke, spreading puddles of greasy ink on the black granite and the scattered parchments.”
and
“Some of the inkwells broke and…[Read more]