I'm halfway through the new one and loving it. The tie in with Black Wind is great.

I particularly like the P. Frank Winslow (right spelling?) character-the novel within a novel. Very creative thinking.

Chris

I'm halfway through the new one and loving it. The tie in with Black Wind is great.

I particularly like the P. Frank Winslow (right spelling?) character-the novel within a novel. Very creative thinking.

Chris

I hate to say this, and I hope it will be taken in the good sense I mean it. I love Paul's fiction, but...but...P. Frank Winslow's books rule.

I seem to remember a discussion in Oct 2007 about the word TAINT. I remember everyone making fun of the word that i suggested for the title. And NOW I read it in the first few chapters ( Over and Over and Over again) .....


Linus.

Just finished reading "By the Sword". There were several things that I've notices and thought to share with the rest of the class. In no particular order.

-One the best RJ books. People on Amazon don't know what they're talking about.
-"The Compendium of Srem" reminds me terribly of Borges's "The Book of Sand." Actually, now that I think about it, a lot of Borges's work reminds me vaguely of the Compendium.
-If the katana was partly forged from a metal so strong that it managed to withstand a direct nuclear blast, how was the metal was shaped in the first place?

-If the katana was partly forged from a metal so strong that it managed to withstand a direct nuclear blast, how was the metal was shaped in the first place?

With great difficulty. And the blast was high in the air -- a thousand feet or more, and I don't know how high the temperature of the blast was, but it didn't vaporize everything which surrounded it. Although there was great heat from the explosion, what a bomb mostly creates is (for lack of a better term) an extremely high wind. It "blows" things up -- and around.

Ken V.

Just finished reading "By the Sword". There were several things that I've notices and thought to share with the rest of the class. In no particular order.

-If the katana was partly forged from a metal so strong that it managed to withstand a direct nuclear blast, how was the metal was shaped in the first place?

In By The Sword,

"He said the metal in the dirk had fallen from the sky in the blaze of light and he wanted it transformed into something more graceful.......when Masamune began to work with the metal, he found it the strongest steel he'd ever encountererd"

So, now you already know, that sword has special power since it was a steel.

I know I'm often late in my RJ reading. Yes,I just got done BY THE SWORD. I was laughing starting on page 4. Jack and his antics....The book had the feel of a stand alone novel to me.FPW did a super job in bringing out the intensity of a lot of scenes.I don't know if anybody else brought this up but read BLACKWIND first----mark

I know I'm often late in my RJ reading. Yes,I just got done BY THE SWORD. I was laughing starting on page 4. Jack and his antics....The book had the feel of a stand alone novel to me.FPW did a super job in bringing out the intensity of a lot of scenes.I don't know if anybody else brought this up but read BLACKWIND first----mark

I believe Paul thinks BLACK WIND is his best work, and I'd be hard-pressed to argue. Masterful fictioneering.