Philip Hart <philiph at slac.stanford.edu> wrote: > Wherever Paarfi got his information, it's all second-hand. Matter of opinion. Err, no. It's NOT a matter of opinion; it is, at the very least, fact. Unless you're prepared to propose that Paarfi himself was witness to everything he's writing about, by definition all of his information is, at -best-, secondhand. I honestly can't see why so many listees continue to desire to claim that Paarfi's a honest historical fiction writer; he isn't. He -says- he isn't. When someone asks him, to his face, what his answer is to accusations that he's talking out his posterior, he plays to the crowd and says that he's 'above all that' or some godforsaken thing; not having the text, I can't quote it the way some would like, but it's at the end of FHYA, and might well be the only straight-up factual part of Paarfi's books. Paarfi's found a way to sell books, and make money. SKZB -deliberately- based Paarfi on Dumas -- and, just as deliberately, on Dumas's way of taking historical events and either injecting his own characters into them in such a way as to make them near seamless, or taking individuals so minor as to be nearly nameless and telling 'their story' -- note the quotes -- in a completely unverifiable manner. All the characters in Paarfi's later works are still around; you can still encounter the Viscount of Adrilankha, the Brigadier of the Phoenix Guards, the Lord of Castle Black, and -- heaven help you -- the Enchantress of Dzur Mountain. I expect people just don't think it -wise- to go up to any of them and say, 'hey, I was reading Paarfi the other day, and I was wondering ...' Do that to Aliera, and you'll probably be meeting her for a duel tomorrow morning. It might even be better to insult her about the way she walks... I read Paarfi for my entertainment, not for my 'historical accuracy'. If I want to know a fact, I look in Vlad's works first. I also imagine that 4913 years of a reign would require more than one emperor. Or two or three, maybe. S. Thomas Crain Author-in-Training --------------------------------- Yahoo! Mail Bring photos to life! New PhotoMail makes sharing a breeze.