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Tag Archives: Jacobite Risings

Ink and Paper Jacobites

11 Thursday Oct 2018

Posted by la Clarina in Books, History, Stories

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

History, Jacobite Risings, novels, R. L. Stevenson, Rosemary Sutcliff, Scotland, Susanna Kearsley, Walter Scott

Obviously Scotland does this to me: it sends me on Jacobite tangents. Fictional tangents, mostly – because really, the moment you try a history book, the whole adventure loses much of its shine. Then again, seven decades of intermittent and unsuccessful attempts at restoring a royal line with the dubious aid of a foreign power were bound to be, on the one hand not terribly well organised, and on the other, perfect novel material… I mean: how can you have plenty of exiles headed by a handsome and charming prince, loyal clans, recurring bursts of violence, conspirations, secret messages, toasts to the King Across the Water, songs, divided families, spirited ladies, battles, and an ultimately doomed cause – and not expect an abundance of fiction? And of course, the foremost charm of the Jacobites is that of the doomed and defeated. Would we care very much about them, would we write novels, if they’d won? Continue reading →

How I Met Alan Breck

26 Tuesday Jan 2016

Posted by la Clarina in Books, History, Stories

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Alan Breck Stewart, Edinburgh, Henry James, Jacobite Risings, Kidnapped, R. L. Stevenson

AlanBookOne day many years ago, in Edinburgh,  I took shelter from yet another icy downpour in a little bookshop – and what could I do, but browse the shelves? For some reason, a small blue book caught my attention: Kidnapped, by R.L. Stevenson. I’d read Treasure Island, of course, and Jekill&Hyde – who doesn’t? – and The Black Arrow had been a childhood favourite. Now another historical novel from the same author, and with a Scottish setting to boot, seemed like a good idea, even though it was printed on flimsy grey paper, in a font so small to imperil one’s eyesight… Still, buy it I did, and after the bookshop, ensconced myself in a nearby tea room, ordered tea and scones, and began to read. Continue reading →

The Flight of the Heron

07 Thursday Jan 2016

Posted by la Clarina in Books

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Tags

historical novels, Jacobite Risings, K. D. Broster, the Flight of the Heron, The Jacobite Trilogy, vacation

ReadingfIn the end, my Christmas Reading Vacation (henceforth CRV), boiled down to one book – the first volume of D.K. Broster‘s Jacobite Trilogy.

My choice fell on The Flight of the Heron because a stirring adventure in the Highlands seemed like fitting material for Christmas time, and I wasn’t disappointed.

To begin with, The Flight of the Heron is a colourful tale of derring-do, with two very different heroes. In spite of being orphaned at a young age, young laird Ewen Cameron has everything: a loving substitute family, an adoring clan, a lovely and plucky fiancée, an exquisite sense of honour – and he is even uncommonly handsome. He’d be at the risk of being insufferably perfect, if a sense of humour and a boyish touchiness weren’t there to redeem him. Continue reading →

Videogames

30 Saturday Nov 2013

Posted by la Clarina in Stories

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

#StoryMOOC, Games, Jacobite Risings, Monopoly, The Future of Storytelling, Video game

No, not Lana Del Rey.

videogames-main_Full

Sooner said than done…

Last week, our creative task for The Future of Storytelling, was to discuss the storytelling in our favourite videogame.

And guess what? I don’t have a favourite videogame.

Actually, I have played very few videogames in my life, and none of them with anything like a real narrative structure. Which is rather odd, come to think of it, because I am the one who needs a story in everything she does. Why, I never could play a game of Monopoly without adding a story to it. In my College years, I used to attach stories to every game of pinochle: sometimes it was the Vandean Wars, sometimes the Jacobite Risings, sometimes the Anglo-Boer Wars, but mostly the Revolt in the Desert*. You’ll laugh, but even while playing solitaire on my laptop – a dreadful procrastinating strategy – I tell myself stories to go with it.

My cup of tea...

My cup of tea…

So, I guess that for me the trouble comes with the mechanics of videogames themselves? My eye-hand coordination isn’t too terrible, usually – but, for some reason, when it comes to moving around with a mouse, a keyboard or a joystick, I suddenly grow ten thumbs and a lot of cottonwool in my brain. It’s not that I never tried, I’m just unbelievably bad at it.

I remember playing I don’t know what fantasy videogame with friends, when I was fifteen or so. My elf was a walking danger, because I would mix up my keys and start shooting arrows with wild abandon at the wrongest moment… After I killed all my team-mates for the fifth time, we went out for icecream, and never played again… Not that I minded too much: when I’m too busy minding my keys to enjoy the story, I bore very, very easily.

And so, I stuck to paper-and-pencil RPG, and the occasional very easy single-player game in which I could click and point, and tell myself stories as I went – because yes: the short and the long of it seems to be that games are all very well, but woe to the game that comes between me and my story.

____________________________________

* I’m told that, as a result, in my College jokers went under the name of vickers for years…

Related articles
  • 10 of The Best Uses of Music or Songs in Videogame Trailers, Part One (tokyoblazer.wordpress.com)
  • Videogames that are as Good as Literature- Top 10 (qburtsblog.wordpress.com)
  • Charlie Brooker on How Videogames Changed The World (edge-online.com)

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