<![CDATA[Drunkard's Walk Forums - Drunkard's Walk I: A Horse Ain't A Horse, Of Course, Of Course]]> http://www.accessdenied-rms.net/forums/ Sat, 18 Apr 2026 11:50:11 +0000 MyBB <![CDATA[Drunkard's Walk I Forum]]> http://www.accessdenied-rms.net/forums/showthread.php?tid=1127 Wed, 26 May 2010 15:27:00 -0500 Bob Schroeck]]> http://www.accessdenied-rms.net/forums/showthread.php?tid=1127 Drunkard's Walk I: A Horse Ain't A Horse, Of Course, Of Course, as well as wild speculation, song lyrics, and other such fun.  While this project is, for the first time since the 1990s, "alive", it is not currently in production.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.]]> Drunkard's Walk I: A Horse Ain't A Horse, Of Course, Of Course, as well as wild speculation, song lyrics, and other such fun.  While this project is, for the first time since the 1990s, "alive", it is not currently in production.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.]]> <![CDATA[Missing Forum - DW I]]> http://www.accessdenied-rms.net/forums/showthread.php?tid=1126 Fri, 21 May 2010 00:26:00 -0500 Wiregeek]]> http://www.accessdenied-rms.net/forums/showthread.php?tid=1126 Quote:However Mrs. Lackey (or at least her lawyers) is
"Anal Retentive" about the Copyright to the World in Question.
You malign Mrs. Lackey, sir!

well, tongue firmly in cheek there, but she has instituted a new policy
which means all-green for DW1...

Quote:News: Concerning Fanfiction:

As you folks already know, my agent, Russel Galen, has in the past been
opposed to fanfiction. However, he is also Cory Doctorow's agent now,
and Cory is a persuasive little gnome.

As a result of this, I am happy to announce that we are officially
permitting fanfiction to be licensed as derivative fiction under the
Creative Commons umbrella.

What this means is: NO, you cannot make money on it. NO, you cannot
self-publish a fanfiction novel of Valdemar (or any of my other stuff)
and try and sell it on Amazon. And NO, I still am not going to read it,
because I am already so far behind on my research reading I barely have
time to read that.

But YES, you may write and post away, folks, so long as you license it
as derivative and under Creative Commons. If it is anything other than
PG-13, please take all the proper precautions to stick it somewhere that
innocent souls won't be corrupted. Do not scare the children or the
horses. Have fun!

http://www.mercedeslackey.com/news.html
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies]]> Quote:However Mrs. Lackey (or at least her lawyers) is
"Anal Retentive" about the Copyright to the World in Question.
You malign Mrs. Lackey, sir!

well, tongue firmly in cheek there, but she has instituted a new policy
which means all-green for DW1...

Quote:News: Concerning Fanfiction:

As you folks already know, my agent, Russel Galen, has in the past been
opposed to fanfiction. However, he is also Cory Doctorow's agent now,
and Cory is a persuasive little gnome.

As a result of this, I am happy to announce that we are officially
permitting fanfiction to be licensed as derivative fiction under the
Creative Commons umbrella.

What this means is: NO, you cannot make money on it. NO, you cannot
self-publish a fanfiction novel of Valdemar (or any of my other stuff)
and try and sell it on Amazon. And NO, I still am not going to read it,
because I am already so far behind on my research reading I barely have
time to read that.

But YES, you may write and post away, folks, so long as you license it
as derivative and under Creative Commons. If it is anything other than
PG-13, please take all the proper precautions to stick it somewhere that
innocent souls won't be corrupted. Do not scare the children or the
horses. Have fun!

http://www.mercedeslackey.com/news.html
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies]]> <![CDATA[DW1: AUTHORIZED!]]> http://www.accessdenied-rms.net/forums/showthread.php?tid=1125 Tue, 20 Oct 2009 08:54:00 -0500 Shay Guy]]> http://www.accessdenied-rms.net/forums/showthread.php?tid=1125 http://www.mercedeslackey.com/news.html

Apologies if this was already posted elsewhere and I missed it. So is Creative Commons workable?
Pronounced "shy guy."]]> http://www.mercedeslackey.com/news.html

Apologies if this was already posted elsewhere and I missed it. So is Creative Commons workable?
Pronounced "shy guy."]]> <![CDATA[Song of the Day, 2/17/04]]> http://www.accessdenied-rms.net/forums/showthread.php?tid=1123 Tue, 17 Feb 2004 17:01:00 -0500 Bob Schroeck]]> http://www.accessdenied-rms.net/forums/showthread.php?tid=1123 And the perfect waves are starting to come
His hair is flying out in ribbons of gold
And his touch has got the power to stun
I've got a dream 'bout an angel in the forest
Enchanted by the edge of a lake
His body's flowing in the jewels of light
And the earth below is starting to shake
But I don't see any angels in the city
I don't hear any holy choirs sing
And if I can't get an angel
I can still get a boy
And a boy'd be the next best thing
The next best thing to an angel
A boy'd be the next best thing
I've got a dream 'bout a boy in a castle
And he's dancing like a cat on the stairs
He's got the fire of a prince in his eyes
And the thunder of a drum in his ears
I've got a dream 'bout a boy on a star
Lookin' down upon the rim of the world
He's there all alone and dreamin' of someone like me
I'm not an angel but at least I'm a girl
I've got a dream when the darkness is over
We'll be lyin' in the rays of the sun
But it's only a dream and tonight is for real
You'll never know what it means
But you'll know how it feels
It's gonna be over (over)
Before you know it's begun
(Before you know it's begun)
It's all we really got tonight
Stop your cryin' hold on (tonight)
Before you know it it's gone (tonight)
Tonight is what it means to be young
Tonight is what it means to be young
Let the revels begin
Let the fire be started
We're dancing for the restless and the broken-hearted
Let the revels begin
Let the fire be started
We're dancing for the desperate and the broken-hearted
Let the revels begin (Tonight is what it means to be young)
Let the fire be started (Before you know it it's gone)
We're dancing for the restless and the broken-hearted
Let the revels begin
Let the fire be started
We're dancing for the desperate and the broken-hearted
Say a prayer in the darkness for the magic to come
No matter what it seams
Tonight is what it means to be young
Before you know it it's gone
Tonight is what it means to be young
Before you know it it's gone
I've got a dream when the darkness is over
We'll be lyin' in the rays of the sun
But it's only a dream and tonight is for real
You'll never know what it means
But you'll know how it feels
It's gonna be over (over)
Before you know it's begun
It's all we really got tonight
Stop your cryin' hold on (tonight)
Before you know it it's gone (tonight)
Tonight is what it means to be young
Tonight is what it means to be young
The things they say
And then the things they do
Nothin's gonna stop us if our aim is true
The things they say
And then the things they do
Nothing's gonna stop us if our aim is true
The things they say
And then the things they do
Nothin's gonna stop us if our aim is true
Tonight is what it means to be young
-- Fire, Inc. (as "Ellen Aim and the Attackers"), Tonight Is What It Means To Be Young, from the motion picture "Streets of Fire"
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.]]> And the perfect waves are starting to come
His hair is flying out in ribbons of gold
And his touch has got the power to stun
I've got a dream 'bout an angel in the forest
Enchanted by the edge of a lake
His body's flowing in the jewels of light
And the earth below is starting to shake
But I don't see any angels in the city
I don't hear any holy choirs sing
And if I can't get an angel
I can still get a boy
And a boy'd be the next best thing
The next best thing to an angel
A boy'd be the next best thing
I've got a dream 'bout a boy in a castle
And he's dancing like a cat on the stairs
He's got the fire of a prince in his eyes
And the thunder of a drum in his ears
I've got a dream 'bout a boy on a star
Lookin' down upon the rim of the world
He's there all alone and dreamin' of someone like me
I'm not an angel but at least I'm a girl
I've got a dream when the darkness is over
We'll be lyin' in the rays of the sun
But it's only a dream and tonight is for real
You'll never know what it means
But you'll know how it feels
It's gonna be over (over)
Before you know it's begun
(Before you know it's begun)
It's all we really got tonight
Stop your cryin' hold on (tonight)
Before you know it it's gone (tonight)
Tonight is what it means to be young
Tonight is what it means to be young
Let the revels begin
Let the fire be started
We're dancing for the restless and the broken-hearted
Let the revels begin
Let the fire be started
We're dancing for the desperate and the broken-hearted
Let the revels begin (Tonight is what it means to be young)
Let the fire be started (Before you know it it's gone)
We're dancing for the restless and the broken-hearted
Let the revels begin
Let the fire be started
We're dancing for the desperate and the broken-hearted
Say a prayer in the darkness for the magic to come
No matter what it seams
Tonight is what it means to be young
Before you know it it's gone
Tonight is what it means to be young
Before you know it it's gone
I've got a dream when the darkness is over
We'll be lyin' in the rays of the sun
But it's only a dream and tonight is for real
You'll never know what it means
But you'll know how it feels
It's gonna be over (over)
Before you know it's begun
It's all we really got tonight
Stop your cryin' hold on (tonight)
Before you know it it's gone (tonight)
Tonight is what it means to be young
Tonight is what it means to be young
The things they say
And then the things they do
Nothin's gonna stop us if our aim is true
The things they say
And then the things they do
Nothing's gonna stop us if our aim is true
The things they say
And then the things they do
Nothin's gonna stop us if our aim is true
Tonight is what it means to be young
-- Fire, Inc. (as "Ellen Aim and the Attackers"), Tonight Is What It Means To Be Young, from the motion picture "Streets of Fire"
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.]]> <![CDATA[DWI]]> http://www.accessdenied-rms.net/forums/showthread.php?tid=1124 Fri, 18 Jul 2003 19:12:00 -0500 Bob Schroeck]]> http://www.accessdenied-rms.net/forums/showthread.php?tid=1124 ---------
Drunkard's Walk I: A Horse Ain't A Horse, Of Course, Of Course
Summary copyright (C) 1996-2003, Robert M. Schroeck.

The local timeframe for the story is a year or two before the Valdemaran portions of "By The Sword". Elspeth would be in her early teens, long out of her "Brat" phase.
Doug awakens in the Companions' Grove in Haven, Valdemar. His arrival and attempts at diplomacy alarm the Companions, but the subsequent appearance of Heralds helps calm things down a bit. During this time he first meets Delandra ("Dee") vel'Devarn, late-teens Herald-Trainee and sole orphaned child of a noble family whose holdings lie on the Hardorn border. Dee is obsessively intense and prone to overworking herself; her Companion Sylvath is even more distrustful of Doug than most of the other Companions.
Doug establishes his bona fides, gets a bit of an orientation, and eventually is presented to the Queen, who declares him an honored guest and grants him quarters at the Collegium until he can find a way home. A magical accident involving (unknown to anyone involved) Vanyel's heartstone exchanges language skills between Dee and Doug, and for this reason she is assigned as his semi-permanent guide and aide; this relationship eventually blossoms into a deep friendship, becoming the first of the "brother-sister" relationships Doug acquires on the Walk.
To avoid going stir-crazy from lack of activity, Doug ends up teaching unarmed combat to Trainees, and trades some of his advanced techniques to Alberich for advanced training in various weapons.
While Doug settles in, we explore Dee's backstory, which centers around border disputes over her lands, which butt up against Hardorn. The death of her parents seems to be cut-and-dried, but there is something that makes her wonder; were they murdered? Who would benefit from destabilizing the area?
We meet some of the main cast from the books, including a 12-year-old Elspeth, who gets some specialized -- and deadly -- self-defense training from Doug. Doug grows increasingly depressed as he tries to find a way home and repeatedly fails.
In exploring the Collegium and the Palace, Doug discovers a forgotten part of the library holding many books on magic, and really notices for the first time the compulsion that keeps the Valdemarans from thinking much about magic. Unable to do anything about it, he studies the texts he found and learns about node magic.
Around this time he also encounters the vrondi for the first time. He can see them in magesight, and is more amused by them than anything else. Being the egotist he is, he enjoys being watched, and does some silly stuff just to get a reaction from them.
Dee suffers an accident or two that might have been intentional attempts on her. Or not.
Growing desperately lonely and homesick, Doug tries to create a gate on the site of his arrival. It backfires in a subtle and devastating way: he does little but create a massive magestorm and an illusion of Shadowwalker that breaks his heart before he realizes what it is. Dee and Sylvath have to go out, find him, and drag him back in, but not before he falls ill from a combination of exposure, his depression, and burning all his strength to force a gate.
Dee nurses him back to health, and during that time he tells her more about his homeworld than he's told anyone else.
(...)
Dee goes on leave/holiday/whatever to her family home on the Hardorn border. Doug goes with her.
Visit to Demsbury, a city (ie, large town) in Dee's home district -- it's under attack by a suspiciously large and well-equipped band of bandits. Doug and Dee fight the attackers. He uses "This Corrosion" to destroy the attackers' armor and siege weapons. In the midst of the attackers' confusion and retreat, Doug and Dee get inside the town
Doug fixes and improves the town's wooden palisade wall, using "We Built This City". Doug (using "I'm Alive") and Dee minister to the wounded of the city, as they have no healers left... including a "mole", who, after healing, attacks and critically wounds Dee; Doug kills him with his bare hands, then, over Sylvath's obvious but unvoiced objections, flies her back to Haven and the Healers' Collegium, who stabilize her.
Right after midnight, he is able to heal her, and the next day they return together to the town, which has by now discovered that their fields are absolutely devastated -- first by the battle, and then by "This Corrosion" -- most of their crop is gone. Doug tries to jumpstart the fields using "Sowing the Seeds of Love" by Tears for Fears. Meanwhile, Sylvath throws a hissy fit about Doug while Dee is amused.
Doug and Dee finally make it to Dee's estates, discover the band of mercs wasn't an isolated incident. Somebody wants the land and they're wearing down at the defenses. The fellow overseeing the lands in Dee's absence is old and to a certain degree willfully blind about the severity of matters. He didn't want to alarm her, so he hasn't been telling her (or the Crown, for that matter) about the troubles.
(...)
Doug and Dee's defense of Demsbury seems to have stemmed the tide; regular dispatches from her estates indicate that the attacks and whatnot have dwindled to almost nothing since the big defeat. After several months, they relax and begin prepping Dee for her graduation to full Herald.
(...)
Dee is kidnapped right out of Haven just as she's leaving on some pre-arranged trip (her internship?), so her disappearance is unnoticed for a while. (Sylvath is disabled somehow.)
When they discover her kidnapping (kidnappers' demands?), he tries a new song (Radar Love, by Golden Earring) to see if he can locate her; to his surprise, it not only allows him to home in on her, it physically drags him there at mach speeds, leaving an arrow-straight swath of shockwave-caused destruction in his wake.
Dee is imprisoned in a keep on the Hardornen frontier, despairing. Feedback from song (lyrics specify two-way linkage) alerts Dee that he's coming; she's languishing in a cell of some sort. She decides that she's not going to be stuck there waiting to be rescued, and figures out a way to spring herself.
(...)
Kidnappers include a mage -- they're a hit team from Hardorn, intended to destabilize the region so it can be politically annexed. Doug faces the mage, detects a nearby node he's using. Not knowing how to handle a node properly (the books really don't say much except "don't"), Doug sucks the entire thing down in one gulp as he's triggering a song, and turns into something like a fire elemental by accident... bye-bye mage.
Dee is somehow instrumental in bringing him back, as he's lost in the welter of power.
(...)
Weeks later.
Doug moves on with a song he thinks will get him home. Tearful parting between him and Dee, cool one from Sylvath. Before he goes, he takes Dee on an illusionary tour of his home world.
(...)
Two years later, Dee is caught up in a vision -- a communication from Doug. Make it a touching coda that provides a neat closure.
------------
As you can see, it's pretty crude. Delandra doesn't get nearly as much to do as she should, and is in fact more passive than she should be. Furthermore, I set up hooks for her at the beginning and never follow through on most of them. Of course, this is mostly because I abandoned it in deference to Lackey's views on fanfiction, but if I were to ever pick it up again, I'd rebuild Dee's part from scratch, almost.
So there you go.

-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.]]> ---------
Drunkard's Walk I: A Horse Ain't A Horse, Of Course, Of Course
Summary copyright (C) 1996-2003, Robert M. Schroeck.

The local timeframe for the story is a year or two before the Valdemaran portions of "By The Sword". Elspeth would be in her early teens, long out of her "Brat" phase.
Doug awakens in the Companions' Grove in Haven, Valdemar. His arrival and attempts at diplomacy alarm the Companions, but the subsequent appearance of Heralds helps calm things down a bit. During this time he first meets Delandra ("Dee") vel'Devarn, late-teens Herald-Trainee and sole orphaned child of a noble family whose holdings lie on the Hardorn border. Dee is obsessively intense and prone to overworking herself; her Companion Sylvath is even more distrustful of Doug than most of the other Companions.
Doug establishes his bona fides, gets a bit of an orientation, and eventually is presented to the Queen, who declares him an honored guest and grants him quarters at the Collegium until he can find a way home. A magical accident involving (unknown to anyone involved) Vanyel's heartstone exchanges language skills between Dee and Doug, and for this reason she is assigned as his semi-permanent guide and aide; this relationship eventually blossoms into a deep friendship, becoming the first of the "brother-sister" relationships Doug acquires on the Walk.
To avoid going stir-crazy from lack of activity, Doug ends up teaching unarmed combat to Trainees, and trades some of his advanced techniques to Alberich for advanced training in various weapons.
While Doug settles in, we explore Dee's backstory, which centers around border disputes over her lands, which butt up against Hardorn. The death of her parents seems to be cut-and-dried, but there is something that makes her wonder; were they murdered? Who would benefit from destabilizing the area?
We meet some of the main cast from the books, including a 12-year-old Elspeth, who gets some specialized -- and deadly -- self-defense training from Doug. Doug grows increasingly depressed as he tries to find a way home and repeatedly fails.
In exploring the Collegium and the Palace, Doug discovers a forgotten part of the library holding many books on magic, and really notices for the first time the compulsion that keeps the Valdemarans from thinking much about magic. Unable to do anything about it, he studies the texts he found and learns about node magic.
Around this time he also encounters the vrondi for the first time. He can see them in magesight, and is more amused by them than anything else. Being the egotist he is, he enjoys being watched, and does some silly stuff just to get a reaction from them.
Dee suffers an accident or two that might have been intentional attempts on her. Or not.
Growing desperately lonely and homesick, Doug tries to create a gate on the site of his arrival. It backfires in a subtle and devastating way: he does little but create a massive magestorm and an illusion of Shadowwalker that breaks his heart before he realizes what it is. Dee and Sylvath have to go out, find him, and drag him back in, but not before he falls ill from a combination of exposure, his depression, and burning all his strength to force a gate.
Dee nurses him back to health, and during that time he tells her more about his homeworld than he's told anyone else.
(...)
Dee goes on leave/holiday/whatever to her family home on the Hardorn border. Doug goes with her.
Visit to Demsbury, a city (ie, large town) in Dee's home district -- it's under attack by a suspiciously large and well-equipped band of bandits. Doug and Dee fight the attackers. He uses "This Corrosion" to destroy the attackers' armor and siege weapons. In the midst of the attackers' confusion and retreat, Doug and Dee get inside the town
Doug fixes and improves the town's wooden palisade wall, using "We Built This City". Doug (using "I'm Alive") and Dee minister to the wounded of the city, as they have no healers left... including a "mole", who, after healing, attacks and critically wounds Dee; Doug kills him with his bare hands, then, over Sylvath's obvious but unvoiced objections, flies her back to Haven and the Healers' Collegium, who stabilize her.
Right after midnight, he is able to heal her, and the next day they return together to the town, which has by now discovered that their fields are absolutely devastated -- first by the battle, and then by "This Corrosion" -- most of their crop is gone. Doug tries to jumpstart the fields using "Sowing the Seeds of Love" by Tears for Fears. Meanwhile, Sylvath throws a hissy fit about Doug while Dee is amused.
Doug and Dee finally make it to Dee's estates, discover the band of mercs wasn't an isolated incident. Somebody wants the land and they're wearing down at the defenses. The fellow overseeing the lands in Dee's absence is old and to a certain degree willfully blind about the severity of matters. He didn't want to alarm her, so he hasn't been telling her (or the Crown, for that matter) about the troubles.
(...)
Doug and Dee's defense of Demsbury seems to have stemmed the tide; regular dispatches from her estates indicate that the attacks and whatnot have dwindled to almost nothing since the big defeat. After several months, they relax and begin prepping Dee for her graduation to full Herald.
(...)
Dee is kidnapped right out of Haven just as she's leaving on some pre-arranged trip (her internship?), so her disappearance is unnoticed for a while. (Sylvath is disabled somehow.)
When they discover her kidnapping (kidnappers' demands?), he tries a new song (Radar Love, by Golden Earring) to see if he can locate her; to his surprise, it not only allows him to home in on her, it physically drags him there at mach speeds, leaving an arrow-straight swath of shockwave-caused destruction in his wake.
Dee is imprisoned in a keep on the Hardornen frontier, despairing. Feedback from song (lyrics specify two-way linkage) alerts Dee that he's coming; she's languishing in a cell of some sort. She decides that she's not going to be stuck there waiting to be rescued, and figures out a way to spring herself.
(...)
Kidnappers include a mage -- they're a hit team from Hardorn, intended to destabilize the region so it can be politically annexed. Doug faces the mage, detects a nearby node he's using. Not knowing how to handle a node properly (the books really don't say much except "don't"), Doug sucks the entire thing down in one gulp as he's triggering a song, and turns into something like a fire elemental by accident... bye-bye mage.
Dee is somehow instrumental in bringing him back, as he's lost in the welter of power.
(...)
Weeks later.
Doug moves on with a song he thinks will get him home. Tearful parting between him and Dee, cool one from Sylvath. Before he goes, he takes Dee on an illusionary tour of his home world.
(...)
Two years later, Dee is caught up in a vision -- a communication from Doug. Make it a touching coda that provides a neat closure.
------------
As you can see, it's pretty crude. Delandra doesn't get nearly as much to do as she should, and is in fact more passive than she should be. Furthermore, I set up hooks for her at the beginning and never follow through on most of them. Of course, this is mostly because I abandoned it in deference to Lackey's views on fanfiction, but if I were to ever pick it up again, I'd rebuild Dee's part from scratch, almost.
So there you go.

-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.]]>