No, wise guys, I did NOT enter.
NATIONAL LAYDOWN AUGUST 23, 2005
It's hard to believe that August 23rd is finally here, for so long it seemed ages away, but now as you read this letter, ELDEST has been published at last. If I could use magic, I would use it tonight, so that I could be at each and every ELDEST event, celebrating with all of you. But alas, that is Eragon's territory!
I hope that I will meet many of you during my travels this fall and I'm especially looking forward to spending time with the sweepstakes winner, who will be flown out to meet me on tour in September.
For those of you who want a sneak preview of ELDEST, I'll say this:
Two die, one is reborn, and one is renamed.
Flowers sing, birds speak, and ants wage war.
And a hammer sails through the eye of a boar.
A sword, a dragon, a half-answered riddle.
A scar, a blood oath, a celebration.
He who was broken must be made whole,
Before blood may meet blood in the field of battle.
Sitting here at my desk, on the eve of my trip to New York, I started thinking about everything that has happened to my family and me because of Eragon. It delights and humbles me and leaves me shaking my head in mute amazement. I have been incredibly fortunate, and for that, I have you and every other reader to thank.
Atra du evarínya ono varda. May the stars watch over you.
Christopher Paolini
My comments: Bleaargh.
A) It's pretentious to talk to people in a language you made up and pretend they're gonna understand it. B) "But alas, that is Eragon's territory." This is a letter, not part of the fantasy story. Even in the story the language sounds goofy and inappropriate a lot, but in a letter that doesn't even pretend it's not written by a modern person? GOOF SUPREME. C) The poem: That's not a preview. That's an attempt to stir up some kind of "wow, how epic!" sentiment, which really doesn't work very well when you say stuff like "A sword, a dragon, a half-answered riddle." So? And why does it change its mind halfway through to deciding it's a prophecy or something? Ehhh, I don't get it. D) "Shaking my head in mute amazement." Me too! Me frickin' too.
At the bookstore this letter was sent to, the event was attended by about six people, and the manager attempted to read the letter but didn't bother with the elf junk and had a hard time getting people to participate in the little trivia quiz which accompanied the book. It was all pretty, erm, lukewarm. And the person who won the book was kind of like, "uh, what am I supposed to do now? I already bought a voucher for the book and now I have two." Heh.
Maybe they should have had a dragon piñata.
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