Greetings I was finally lured over here from the Historical Fiction side, and now I am wishing I had come sooner...
I suppose I better tell you a little about myself: I live in England, I'm home-educated, I am a Christian, saved by Jesus!!! I am madly interested in Regency and the Romans, and I have an imaginary lizard named Higgins that follows me about places.
Not much more to tell, really!!
Am looking forward to getting to know everybody here

*Glomps Reb* It is soo good to have you here as well! After our phone conversation about tarantulas, and novel ideas *laughs* I just know you're going to fit in here superbly.

*Showers glitter in thread*

*Hugs tight*

Ahhh yes! The devoured-from-the-inside-out theory has already been assimilated into one of my stories!!! heh heh
*laughs at Higgins who is chasing the glitter*
*and hugs tight back*

Welcome to Holy Worlds, Cynthia! It's nice to see you on this forum, also.

Tell me more about Higgins.

Thank you Jonathan!
Ahhh Higgins? It's a long, long story. But basically, he's a 'lizard' with bug eyes, a three foot long tail, he's orange, and when annoyed can inflate the blue spines which are all over his back. He can also change sizes, and likes to follow me through the shopping centre puffed out to the size of an elephant. He doesn't realise no one can see him and as he is obviously ignored alot, the spines come out pretty regularly!!
He is a beautiful creature... *sighs happily*
I could go on but I don't want to bore you.

Hi, Cynthia! It's wonderful to have one of Ela's friends over here. Elanor and I were mixed up quite a lot, because of our similar names and rank, so we were dubbed 'twins'.

Welcome, Cynthia! It is so wonderful to see you here on fantasy too. I do hope you will consider uploading some of the wonderful castle photos you posted on historical to the art gallery for photomanipulaters to use.

Welcome Cynthia! What is Regency? I'm also interested in the Romans! Though my knowledge of them is quite small.

What sorta books do you like to read?

What sorta books do you like to write?

Looking forward to seeing you all over the forum!

@Elly It's great to be here! Yes I can see why!! I'm most glad to meet Elanor's twin

@Azlyn Thank you!! Heh heh, I have done that, although I accidentally uploaded some of them twice. How am I able to delete the doubles? Trying to work it out!

Thank you Lycanis!! Oops I wasn't very clear! - by Regency I meant the Regency era - Jane Austen and that sort of fluff
Books I like to read... well, classics and historical fiction is way at the top, but in regard to fantasy etcetera C.S.Lewis is aaaalways a favourite I am also quite ashamed... dare I say it?... *whispers* I have never yet read any Tolkein!! but it's at the top of my list, promise!
I like writing mostly in the Regency or Victorian era and at the moment I'm working on a novel that is a light-hearted take on the Princess and the Pea fable but with a twist.
What about you?

You can go to the one of the pictures and look on the right side, below "view gallery" there will be an show controls button. Click that, click delete, and then one of the doubles will be gone.

I also haven't read any Tolkein.

Ahhh found it! Thanks no more doubles now.
Really?! *breathes a sigh of relief*

This is the first I have heard of Higgins. You shall have to introduce this character to me when we meet.

Ooooh I can't believe I haven't told you about Higgins!!??!!
No fear, you'll meet him soon, hopefully

You're welcome! *googles regency era because he's unfamiliar with it*
Ah, I see what you mean now.

C.S. Lewis is one of my favorites as well! And don't feel bad about not having read any Tolkien yet, I only read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings a year or two ago.
Even still, it's good that it is at the top of your list. *nods emphatically*

That sounds interesting.

My favorite fantasy authors are Lewis and Tolkien, after them I enjoy John Flanagan's books a little (though they are disappointing in a lot of ways) and Bryan Davis' books are pretty good.
I've read some historical fiction...I don't know how good of quality it was, but my favorite example of historical fiction is Jack Wade, Fighter for Liberty, a great story about a boy from a southern plantation near Charlston during (I think) the war of 1812.
I haven't done enough writing to know what my favorite is, but probably fantasy once my world is more developed, because when I try to write about the real world I'm too paranoid about realism, or rather, the lack of it.

By the way, did I mention that Higgins sounds AWESOME?

Ah yes I've never heard of Flanagan or Davis... must look them up! How are Flanagan's books disappointing?
1812?? *ears perk up* Who is Fighter for Liberty by? It sounds like it has a good story
Mm, that's the good thing about fantasy - anything goes! I only started getting more into it quite recently and realising just how much there is in it!!
And heh heh, he is! If I don't say so myself (He's very flattered by your compliment and has turned quite purple)

Yes, you should! Flanagan's Ranger's Apprentice series disappointed me because it started out with these mysterious creatures, etc. But after that it's only different people groups warring with eachother. Apparently they are also full of cliches but I didn't notice that. The characters are awesome, though, so they are still worth a read! Oh, and one of the books it seems like he is indirectly knocking Christianity, that bothered me, but didn't quite ruin the book for me.
Then his Brotherband Chronicles series that he's just started awhile ago is really awesome! I can't think of anything that disappointed me in the first book.

Let me see...*finds book* Irving Werstein wrote it. It definitely has an awesome story! It's one of those books that are just too short (even though it isn't super short), I won't spoil any of it for you.
Oh, but one thing, it is an oldie, at least the copy I have, so you might have trouble finding it, I'd suggest the library or interlibrary loan.

I know! That is one of the things that I like about it best, I can even write sci-fi sort of stuff that takes place in my fantasy world...if I decide to.

Well I'm glad he appreciated my compliment.

I think I'll check Flanagan out then! You've got me interested! I love good characterization so mayhaps that will make up for the lack of mysterious creatures And Brotherhood Chronicles sounds intriguing... *adds to the list next to Tolkien* Methinks I must have a good reading spree!

Thanks for the author name, I tried looking it up and it looks like your right about hard to find, but I'll give it a good go. Do you know any good sites that might have it? I tried Project Gutenberg but they don't seem to, sadly. And now I really want to read that too!!

Yes! Actually, what is the difference between sci-fi and fantasy? Is it that the sci-fi is... fantasy but all to do with science? I am rather uneducated, I know

Hey, Cynthia! This is Molly from Historical Fiction, in case you didn't recognize me. Welcome to Fantasy!

Higgins sounds fun, and like a good friend.

I'm not bored, so tell me more about him.

Hi Molly!! - ahem, I mean, Millicent Thanks for your welcome!!

@Jonathan... well, heh heh... He eats leftovers, hates the colour yellow and is invisible to all but those who know of him. I haven't decided whether or not he has any special powers other than being able to change sizes, but we'll see what the future holds!
I invented him to keep the monotony from long car journeys and at the moment I'm trying to draw his portrait, it's the first time I've ever put him onto paper so the result should be interesting!

Do you know why he hates the color yellow? Or is it a mystery?

Will you show us his portrait when you're done?

Aha! Good question! It is a mystery... it is something that is irking me as I don't know. And he won't tell me. Before I picked him up off the road on the long, long journey he had been elsewhere. Where he had been and what his life had been like before that I don't know, but I'm hoping to eke it out of him somehow... All I know is that he won't go near or touch anything that is yellow.
And sure! I'll hopefully upload it to the artwork gallery.

I'm sure he has a fascinating past.


Okay. Good.

Yesh!



Aw, that's too bad. :-( After a quick google search, I could only come up with it listed on Amazon: linkage.
It looks like you could get it for under $5...but I don't know how you feel about paying for a book before you know much about it. =P But I'll tell you it's worth it!



Well, genres are hard to define (especially for me!), but it seems like a lot of sci-fi is set in our own universe (though it doesn't necessarily have to be) and has a lot of weird gadgets while fantasy usually has more of a mystical element and is (in quite a few cases) set in a completely imaginary world, though obviously some of it is in a "fantastic" version of our world.
Oh, and I don't think you're uneducated...not knowing how to define genres is I think pretty normal.

I look forward to seeing Higgins' portrait.

We talked about this in the sci-fi podcast. The two genres are not actually that different. Sci-fi is futuristic fiction, basically, and fantasy is more medieval (Though that varies) fiction, sometimes with magic and fictional races. Really, what you do in one can be done in the other genre - You just give it a more futuristic feel. I.E lightsaber duels instead of sword fights.

I don't mind if you call me Molly here. Whichever of my cabinet full of names you want.

Higgins sounds fun! I have an imaginary dragon (well, sometimes I am the dragon) but I've never tried to put her on paper...she's just too hard to picture properly.

Ah yes, thanks! I'd be fine paying for it, I'll take your word for it Methinks I must finally get an Amazon account now I have good reason to!



Aaaaaah *lightbulb flashes* I see... so a white sparkly unicorn would be fantasy, and a weird green robotic alien would be sci-fi... Thank you for your explanations guys! I understand more clearly now

Aw that's sweet I know I'm having that problem with Higgins... but it's quite fun inventing what his features are like. At the moment his face resembles a mosquito, so the rest should be interesting!

Exactly! You're on the right track.

I'm looking forward to hearing that podcast!
What you said at the end reminds me of a story (nonfiction), a guy wrote a sci-fi based on a young colony on some other planet and tried to submit it to a magazine that did sci-fi only and they rejected it because they thought it was fantasy due to the generally low-tech setting! That goes to show how hard it can be tell them apart sometimes.

Oh good! If you get it you should PM me and tell me what you thought of it!



Yep you've got it.

Welcome, Cynthia! *offers cookies* So happy to have you!

Pleased to meet you!
Have you read any Stephen Lawhead?

Nooooo poor guy!! Hopefully he then went off and managed to get it published in a fantasy mag?!
Will do that!

Thank you Amaris! Ahhh cookies! *decorates them with green icing and hands them out to everyone*

Pleased to meet you too Aldara No I don't think so... *goes to look him up* ahh, the Pendragon Cycle! I think I have heard of it before... Would you recommend? (My book list is expanding rapidly!!)

I don't remember what happened with that...he may have explained it to them and then it got accepted? *shrugs* I was just sayin' that shows how easily mixable they are as genres...

Okay sounds good!

So, ahem... *squeaky trumpet fanfare*... we introduces - Higgins!



I realised after drawing him that he rather resembles a newt... But oh well.

That is awesome! Awesome pictures...and awesome lizard. I have a lot better idea of what he looks like now.

Those are adorable pictures! I love the cartoon feel of the first one.

Higgins is cute. And you are a good artist. Perhaps you should write a picture book about him.

That would be very neat!

That's an awesome idea, actually, because your top picture reminds me of art from children's books I used to look at...*thinks, searches google* Possibly similarities to the art found in "if you give a mouse a cookie" but I'm not sure, it reminds me of some art from some kids book, that's all I can remember.

Heh heh glad you like them everybody! I had fun drawing them ...yes I might do that sometime! Presenting the Incredible Life of Higgins... Maybe I should start bribing him to dictate his autobiography
Really?! *is excited* That's made me so happy because I want to go into illustration professionally one day!

Rebecca, those are really good! *Has enjoyed seeing Higgins*

Thanks Steph!

Just tell him you'll share the money you make from the book with him. Plus, he might get famous.

*Laughs* Good one Jonathan

Nice! I think you're well on your way...

Hooray! Thanks Lycanis!