| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| The Sage |
Posted - 14 Jul 2010 : 01:53:58
Well met
This being another collective scroll of any questions the Scribes and visitors of Candlekeep wish to put to a renowned author of the Realms, namely - Elaine Cunningham, whos works include: Elfshadow, Elfsong, Daughter of the Drow, Tangled Webs, Windwalker and of course Evermeet: Island of Elves, to name but a few.
Present your questions herein and check back to see what news may also come forth from the quill of this author. |
| 30 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Naeryndam |
Posted - 14 Feb 2022 : 00:26:36
Thank you for such a quick reply Elaine!
Someday, if FR novels or even short stories ever become a 'thing' again, I would love to hear about the lives of Matteo and Tzigone. Not to mention what happened to Amlaruil, Lamruil and the mysterious realm of Auseriel, etc.
Halruaa and Evermeet are my two favorite places in the Realms, largely because of the life you breathed into them. I hope that there will come a day when I can read about them again, even with new characters and in a new era. |
| ElaineCunningham |
Posted - 13 Feb 2022 : 23:00:35
quote:
Originally posted by The Masked Mage
quote:
Originally posted by ElaineCunningham
quote:
Originally posted by The Masked Mage
Well, there's the cover, all we need now is all the words that go inside it :)
The words exist. Kinda sorta. I wrote about half the story, and I still have the file. If the opportunity arises, I would love to finish it.
But it would, of necessity, be a very different story. For one thing, much time has passed and the Realms has moved on. For another, the moonblade lore experienced some significant shifts while I was writing the novel, which pretty much cut the legs out from under the plot. The book I'd planned to write couldn't be written, but there are many ways to tell a tell, and Arilyn is nothing if not resilient.
Wouldn't mind the other half-done ones as well. P.S. Forget what they did with the rest of the realms. I know I try to :)
Somehow I missed this comment. Apologies for the long delay in responding!
There are only ("only!") two half-finished novels: Reclamation and The Serpent's Daughter. |
| ElaineCunningham |
Posted - 13 Feb 2022 : 22:56:16
Hi, Naeryndam. Thanks for the kind words re Evermeet and Halrua!
quote:
Originally posted by Naeryndam
Hi Elaine!
I was wondering if you could answer a few questions (whenever you have the time).
- Did Tzigone and Matteo have any children and, if so, would their descendant be the current King/Queen in present day Halruaa?
They did not--at least, not with each other. It is my opinion that Matteo and Tzigone remained close but platonic friends throughout their lives.
quote:
- I love Sun Elves and was wondering, was Tintageer the only sun elf realm in Faerie?
The lore on Faerie was written after my time in the Realms. I haven't kept up with new developments, so unfortunately, I don't have the information needed to answer this question.
quote:
- Last but not least... are you able to shed any light on where Amlaruil is?
I don't know what Amlaruil's Official Story is, if indeed there is one, but I would imagine that she finally moved on to Arvandor. It's interesting that the lore is so vague on this question. She was an important figure in the Realms for a very long time, and yet her departure is explained with, "Nope, not there anymore. Move along--nothing to see here."
Perhaps someday the story will be told of Evermeet's strange departure from the Realms, her sojourn in the realm of Faerie, and her eventual return--along with the story of what became of her queen and who's running the show now.
(If by chance the Powers That Be are considering such a tale, I just MIGHT be available....) |
| Naeryndam |
Posted - 13 Feb 2022 : 22:14:40
Hi Elaine!
I was wondering if you could answer a few questions (whenever you have the time).
- Did Tzigone and Matteo have any children and, if so, would their descendant be the current King/Queen in present day Halruaa?
- I love Sun Elves and was wondering, was Tintageer the only sun elf realm in Faerie?
- Last but not least... are you able to shed any light on where Amlaruil is?
Thank you so much Elaine! 'Evermeet' and your Halruaa trilogy are still some of my favorite books. |
| Gary Dallison |
Posted - 30 Dec 2021 : 21:13:12
I checked with Ed, looks like DMs Guild is not accepting any novels. In order for something to not be classed as a novel it requires more crunchy bits than fluffy bits. |
| ElaineCunningham |
Posted - 30 Dec 2021 : 16:49:42
quote:
Originally posted by Gary Dallison
I'm unsure if that is still true as Ed Greenwood wrote a novella set in the Borderkingdoms.
If you provided a page of brief character stats for 5e at the back I'm sure you could claim it was not a novel.
Nope. A novel with a stats appendix is still a novel.
It DMG is accepting fiction, I'd be more likely to do a novella than a novel. |
| Gary Dallison |
Posted - 30 Dec 2021 : 14:48:05
I'm unsure if that is still true as Ed Greenwood wrote a novella set in the Borderkingdoms.
If you provided a page of brief character stats for 5e at the back I'm sure you could claim it was not a novel. |
| ElaineCunningham |
Posted - 30 Dec 2021 : 14:15:03
quote:
Originally posted by Gary Dallison
Write it with an aged elf in 1490 recalling the events of 13xx, that way it could all be a dream or a misremembered mistake, doesnt really matter. That would probably satisfy the dmsguild requirements for everything being in the new setting timeline.
Last I heard, the DMG was not accepting fiction set in ANY era. |
| Gary Dallison |
Posted - 25 Dec 2021 : 16:53:00
Write it with an aged elf in 1490 recalling the events of 13xx, that way it could all be a dream or a misremembered mistake, doesnt really matter. That would probably satisfy the dmsguild requirements for everything being in the new setting timeline
Those that follow 5e likely dont know enough about realmslore to find any mistakes if the lore doesnt match up. Those of us that follow 3e dont care about 5e lore so will be happy enough if it contradicts what is written in the non existent 5e campaign setting. |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 25 Dec 2021 : 16:48:01
quote:
Originally posted by ElaineCunningham
quote:
Originally posted by The Masked Mage
Well, there's the cover, all we need now is all the words that go inside it :)
The words exist. Kinda sorta. I wrote about half the story, and I still have the file. If the opportunity arises, I would love to finish it.
But it would, of necessity, be a very different story. For one thing, much time has passed and the Realms has moved on. For another, the moonblade lore experienced some significant shifts while I was writing the novel, which pretty much cut the legs out from under the plot. The book I'd planned to write couldn't be written, but there are many ways to tell a tell, and Arilyn is nothing if not resilient.
Merry Christmas Elaine |
| The Masked Mage |
Posted - 25 Dec 2021 : 13:24:53
quote:
Originally posted by ElaineCunningham
quote:
Originally posted by The Masked Mage
Well, there's the cover, all we need now is all the words that go inside it :)
The words exist. Kinda sorta. I wrote about half the story, and I still have the file. If the opportunity arises, I would love to finish it.
But it would, of necessity, be a very different story. For one thing, much time has passed and the Realms has moved on. For another, the moonblade lore experienced some significant shifts while I was writing the novel, which pretty much cut the legs out from under the plot. The book I'd planned to write couldn't be written, but there are many ways to tell a tell, and Arilyn is nothing if not resilient.
Wouldn't mind the other half-done ones as well. P.S. Forget what they did with the rest of the realms. I know I try to :) |
| ElaineCunningham |
Posted - 25 Dec 2021 : 12:37:31
quote:
Originally posted by The Masked Mage
Well, there's the cover, all we need now is all the words that go inside it :)
The words exist. Kinda sorta. I wrote about half the story, and I still have the file. If the opportunity arises, I would love to finish it.
But it would, of necessity, be a very different story. For one thing, much time has passed and the Realms has moved on. For another, the moonblade lore experienced some significant shifts while I was writing the novel, which pretty much cut the legs out from under the plot. The book I'd planned to write couldn't be written, but there are many ways to tell a tell, and Arilyn is nothing if not resilient. |
| The Masked Mage |
Posted - 23 Dec 2021 : 14:50:18
quote:
Originally posted by sleyvas
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by ElaineCunningham
Yes, that is the art for the cover of Reclamation. I don't know who the artist is.
The artist is Matthew Stewart. I found him using Google's Image Search function (which is far better than that Lens thing they're pushing now).
http://www.matthew-stewart.com/#/reclamation/
Thanks Wooly for this... I'd never seen this artist, but I like him. I'll be damned if I don't have too much wall art on my walls already. Makes me wonder if there's not an electronic frame I can buy that's not itty bitty and wouldn't need constant battery changing (because a cord would look horrible if not hidden).
I think this one, the eternal promise, and dragon forge are all pretty enough to want to hang.
Well, there's the cover, all we need now is all the words that go inside it :) |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 23 Dec 2021 : 14:21:31
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by ElaineCunningham
Yes, that is the art for the cover of Reclamation. I don't know who the artist is.
The artist is Matthew Stewart. I found him using Google's Image Search function (which is far better than that Lens thing they're pushing now).
http://www.matthew-stewart.com/#/reclamation/
Thanks Wooly for this... I'd never seen this artist, but I like him. I'll be damned if I don't have too much wall art on my walls already. Makes me wonder if there's not an electronic frame I can buy that's not itty bitty and wouldn't need constant battery changing (because a cord would look horrible if not hidden).
I think this one, the eternal promise, and dragon forge are all pretty enough to want to hang. |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 23 Dec 2021 : 13:35:33
quote:
Originally posted by ElaineCunningham
Yes, that is the art for the cover of Reclamation. I don't know who the artist is.
The artist is Matthew Stewart. I found him using Google's Image Search function (which is far better than that Lens thing they're pushing now).
http://www.matthew-stewart.com/#/reclamation/ |
| ElaineCunningham |
Posted - 23 Dec 2021 : 12:28:58
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by ElaineCunningham
The link doesn't open to an image.
Try this one:
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/forgottenrealms/images/f/fd/Arilyn_Moonstar_Reclamation_.jpg
Yes, that is the art for the cover of Reclamation. I don't know who the artist is. |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 23 Dec 2021 : 12:17:02
quote:
Originally posted by ElaineCunningham
The link doesn't open to an image.
Try this one:
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/forgottenrealms/images/f/fd/Arilyn_Moonstar_Reclamation_.jpg |
| ElaineCunningham |
Posted - 23 Dec 2021 : 11:37:22
quote:
Originally posted by George Krashos
Hi Elaine
I came across the fabulous art which may have been the prospective cover for Reclamation:
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/forgottenrealms/images/f/fd/Arilyn_Moonstar_Reclamation_.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20210422020424
Was this in fact the intended cover art? Do you know the artist that was commissioned to create the illustration?
Wishing you a fabulous festive season.
-- George Krashos
The link doesn't open to an image.
|
| George Krashos |
Posted - 23 Dec 2021 : 09:19:38
Hi Elaine
I came across the fabulous art which may have been the prospective cover for Reclamation:
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/forgottenrealms/images/f/fd/Arilyn_Moonstar_Reclamation_.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20210422020424
Was this in fact the intended cover art? Do you know the artist that was commissioned to create the illustration?
Wishing you a fabulous festive season.
-- George Krashos
|
| ElaineCunningham |
Posted - 04 Oct 2021 : 23:22:29
As a gift to readers, I put together a little seasonal fiction collection. Ko-fi, a donation/tip site, now has a store and, unlike Amazon, you can list free stuff. Here's a link:
https://ko-fi.com/s/f2ed1e9df3
You can download a PDF from Ko-fi. If you'd rather have an ebook, it's also listed on Amazon for $.99. (NOTE: If you've already read VISIONS, a recent ebook collection, you've already read these stories.)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09HR1Z3N1/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1...
|
| TheIriaeban |
Posted - 01 Oct 2021 : 16:34:21
Don't do it! It's a trap!!
Facebook is like Thay. They draw you in with some cheap magic items and the next thing you know, you are just another minion in their army of the undead.  |
| ElaineCunningham |
Posted - 01 Oct 2021 : 14:39:13
I have FINALLY set up an author page on Facebook.
Here's the link:
https://www.facebook.com/ElaineCunninghamAuthor |
| ElaineCunningham |
Posted - 28 Sep 2021 : 21:12:11
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
I love Spelljammer, but as a product line, it was a great example of everyone doing their own thing and no one paying attention to anyone else.
Nailed it. There were times during the writing process that I went overboard in an attempt to GET attention. There was an old saying at TSR to the effect of "don't blow up the moon." So I called my editor and said, "Oh, btw, I'm thinking of blowing up a planet," and all he said was, "Cool."
They DID draw a line at Drow In Space, though, so there's that. |
| nblanton |
Posted - 08 Aug 2021 : 23:38:56
It's a good adventure in my opinion, and was what introduced me to the setting (that and a Greyhawk campaign journal in Dragon #199 about The Black Pegasus Trading Co.)
I started buying the TSR magazines with my leftover lunch money in late 1993. It was less risky at that time with my limited funds to purchase than a potential stinker of a module. So that timeframe makes sense. Dungeon #45 was the first Dungeon I ever purchased, and Dragon #199 was the first TSR magazine I purchased and I knew that I got them close to each other, but the Dragon mag was first. #199 was in November 1993. The next month I got my first AD&D stuff (I had been playing OD&D with odds and ends of stuff that kids in my Boy Scout troop had photocopies of photocopies of. No one had dice. It was a mess trying to play. Sucked back then in a small town in NC.) with my Christmas money. PHB, DMG, FRS1 The Dalelands, MC3 FR Monsters Compendium, and had to pay the Waldenbooks to order me a Monster Manual as they didn't stock that. Man, you put me in the wayback machine Wooly.
Oh, the days before reviews, message boards, and forums.
I've ran that adventure of Steve's numerous times over the years. Everyone has always enjoyed it. I didn't realize until much later that Steve was the author of a lot of Al Qadim and the great The Complete Book of Necromancers.
I always played my Spelljammer stuff as a mechanic to add to the game, moreso than a standalone setting. Seemed better to run that way to me. |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 08 Aug 2021 : 04:17:28
I love Spelljammer, but as a product line, it was a great example of everyone doing their own thing and no one paying attention to anyone else.
I wasn't familiar with that Dungeon adventure, but having taken a quick glance at it, I like what I saw. |
| TBeholder |
Posted - 08 Aug 2021 : 02:51:11
quote:
Originally posted by sleyvas
What's this about making Raistlin a drow? I know they did that with his apprentice Dalamar (because of confusion over Krynn's dark elves and everyone else's).
Sorry, Dalamar, of course.
Then again. I'm not paid to write it when not half asleep. 
quote:
Originally posted by nblanton
At the risk of delving too far off topic, one of the best uses of Drow in Wildspace was by Steve Kurtz in his Dungeon #45 adventure "An Artist�s Errand."
He really managed to develop the methodology of how and why the Drow were in Wildspace and how they operated with the game mechanics of the time. He utilized a lot stuff from Ed's Drow of the Underdark, and the Drow in his adventure were originally from Toril, even though the adventure is set in another crystal sphere.
To tie it back to the topic: Dungeon #45 was released in January/February 1994 (according to forgottenrealms fandom com); The Radiant Dragon by Elaine Cunningham, November 1992.
It's feasible the matter somewhat cleared by then, rather than having the left leg still not know where the right leg tries to walk. If not quite expected, since their continuity editing wasn't good before or after. |
| nblanton |
Posted - 05 Aug 2021 : 00:04:16
At the risk of delving too far off topic, one of the best uses of Drow in Wildspace was by Steve Kurtz in his Dungeon #45 adventure "An Artist’s Errand."
He really managed to develop the methodology of how and why the Drow were in Wildspace and how they operated with the game mechanics of the time. He utilized a lot stuff from Ed's Drow of the Underdark, and the Drow in his adventure were originally from Toril, even though the adventure is set in another crystal sphere.
Highly recommend the adventure to look through, even if you have zero interest in Spelljammer, as it provides a bunch of Drow that are different from the stereotypes the race devolved into lately.
Since I'm guessing Steve was wandering around TSR in the same period as Elaine, I wonder if some of his depictions of the Black Widow Nation came out of Elaine's depictions of the Drow. There were individualist motives for the different characters, while they were overtly evil, they had nuance, etc. |
| sleyvas |
Posted - 04 Aug 2021 : 13:00:52
What's this about making Raistlin a drow? I know they did that with his apprentice Dalamar (because of confusion over Krynn's dark elves and everyone else's). |
| TBeholder |
Posted - 04 Aug 2021 : 08:29:27
quote:
Originally posted by ElaineCunningham
He only balked at two things: No drow in space,
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
The first boxed set mentions a modified elven Armada that may be in drow hands, but also says the drow avoid arcane space.
Yes, but... the same editors who made Raistlin a drow? Not surprised at all.
quote:
Originally posted by ElaineCunningham
it tended to change size, length, and color at odd moments. Sometimes for no apparent reason. So I made a spreadsheet of the changes, the circumstances, and the apparent effects the cape had, trying to discern some pattern. (Gentle reader, there WAS none.)
quote:
The later War Captain's Companion, though, details a couple types of drow ship -- Jade Spiders and Jade Spider Commandships (the latter can carry up to five of the former).
It appears to be half-baked, however (lacking proper weapons, for one).
Between this and great continuity editing on the cloak, it's likely the editors were left wandering in the fog and just made stuff up themselves.
quote:
And this set mentions that even more than elves, spacefaring drow hate the neogi, to the point that when the drow are using a lifejammer, a neogi will be stuffed into one before an elf is.
Makes sense. Spider-kissing drow have to loathe them because these abominations are disgusting mockery of the noble spider.
Spider-hating drow have to loathe them because they are half spiders.
And the rest... well, those are Neogi, after all. |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 03 Aug 2021 : 19:06:15
quote:
Originally posted by Barastir
Well, if I recall correctly, the drow were in Spelljammer, after all. Maybe they were introduced later, though.
The first boxed set mentions a modified elven Armada that may be in drow hands, but also says the drow avoid arcane space.
The later War Captain's Companion, though, details a couple types of drow ship -- Jade Spiders and Jade Spider Commandships (the latter can carry up to five of the former). These ships are powered by a radiant helm that only works on drow ships. And this set mentions that even more than elves, spacefaring drow hate the neogi, to the point that when the drow are using a lifejammer, a neogi will be stuffed into one before an elf is. An umber hulk slave of the neogi will also go in before an elf does. |
|
|
