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Woodward Academy, Year 3, The
David Stroud, demighost, is now a licensed magician. Freed of the criminal management facility, he decides to continue pursuing his education, and especially his apprenticeship in potions.
A professor with animosity towards all non-humans, however, is bound and determined to force David out of the Academy. Will David manage to survive the teacher's constant badgering?
And if that wasn't bad enough, a strange amulet turns up in the mail. What in the world is this all about? Will he ever figure out the secret?
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*deleted*
Last edited by Jamril (2017-03-06 22:19:54)
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And you felt the need to point this out.
In public.
I feel so warm and fuzzy now.
Eric Storm
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Yeah sry about that should have written an E-mail or PM. But .... well .... no i got nothing as excuse. lets just delete it then.
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In August after staying with the river troll David says that he wouldn't want to be able to roll over drown; talking about the troll's bed. Does David breath during sleep? I remember it being mentioned I think in year one David said that he breaths only out of instinct(can't remember if that's the word that was used). And even if he did it's not like he could really drown though I would think having your lungs filled with water would be very discomforting for David.
Last edited by thehilz (2017-04-14 22:24:59)
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It's an expression. He still thinks of himself as human, and humans drown when they try to breathe underwater.
Don't take everything so literally.
Eric Storm
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Lol, I had forgotten about the Cleopatra bit. Came back for a re-read and ended up holding my sides. Sadly Olissa makes about as good a Cleopatra as she would a Helen of Troy.
(posted from Chapter 6: November)
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Most people forget that Cleo was a Greek (Mesopotamian and as Caucasian they come) and would not have been black.
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Except that both of you seem to conveniently forget that the purpose of a costume is to be recognized as the character you're going as.
Most people have never even heard that Cleopatra was Caucasian. And most of the people who have heard it (like me), promptly forgot it as unimportant. Therefore, if you want to go as Cleopatra for Halloween, and be recognized as Cleopatra...
You don't go as a white chick.
Eric Storm
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Eric Storm wrote:
Except that both of you seem to conveniently forget that the purpose of a costume is to be recognized as the character you're going as.
Most people have never even heard that Cleopatra was Caucasian. And most of the people who have heard it (like me), promptly forgot it as unimportant. Therefore, if you want to go as Cleopatra for Halloween, and be recognized as Cleopatra...
You don't go as a white chick.
Eric Storm
True enough, its kinda like people using Lancelot in stories based on Arthurian lore for the recognition value, since most people wouldn't understand if you removed him from the story.
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I'm re-reading from the start and just got to "Halloween" in Year 3. Shell and David happen upon Flo and the following bit helped me chuckle and then laugh hard at a time when I desperately needed a laugh. Therefore Eric, I humbly thank you.
"What in the world are you dressed as?"
"I'm a unibear!" she said. Her outfit covered her from head to toe in pink fur. Only her face was visible, and a few stray locks of her brown hair poked out the face hole. She had huge bear ears on her head, with mitten-paws and bulky bear feet. She looked like a huge pink teddy bear, except that in between her ears, pointing almost straight up, was a pearlescent white unicorn horn, which trailed sparkles everywhere she went. David couldn't help but smile on seeing her.
"Where's Pickles?" David asked, meaning her squirrel familiar.
On hearing his name, Pickles poked his head up from behind the apple barrel. He had on his head another unicorn horn.
"A unisquirrel?" David asked dubiously.
"You bet!" Flo answered with a grin.
Last edited by bigfoot (2021-08-26 23:39:46)
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Glad to have been able to provide some needed relief. I do honestly write my books mainly to give people an escape from their reality for a little while, so when someone says it worked, I'm happy to hear it.
BTW, just to give credit where it's due, I did not invent the unibear. That credit goes to Mark Kistler. He was an artist who did an education program about drawing (The Secret City, PBS, late '80s), and the unibear was one of his characters. It was basically a generic Care Bear shape with a horn sticking straight up out the top of its head.
The unisquirrel, however, is my own squirrelly idea.
Eric Storm
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If I'm being honest, it was the unisquirrel that made me laugh. Personally, Pickles has always been my second favorite familiar (next to Jailla). Speaking of Jailla, how do you pronounce his name? I always read it as "high-ya" - Am I close?
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Well I'll take credit for that, then.
As to the pronunciation of Jailla's name, you are close, but not quite. It is pronounced J-EYE-uh, (That is, normal J sound, long I sound, schwa sound. Emphasis on the first syllable.)
I honestly cannot remember whether the name came before the joke, or the joke came before the name, but you'll recall in book 1, Jailla mentioned his father doting on him, and saying, "This is my son, Jailla..." (emphasis added). This was poking fun at Sanjaya Malakar, the American Idol contestant. (And by extension, Ashley Ferl, the girl who kept crying for him.) Keeshaba was an avid AI fan, so I was subjected to this torture regularly.
I cannot say for certain this is where Jailla's name came from: the joke may have simply been my tendency to play with words. Then again, the name certainly may have come from the joke. I just can't say now, some eleven years later, and without Keeshaba here to try to reconstruct things.
Eric Storm
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On pronunciation, I have had this nagging question in my head, how is Lise pronounced? I assumed it was “Liz†but I can see it being said as “Li-cee†. I could also just not have any idea what the intended way to say it is.
I know this is an extremely important detail in the story and absolutely is question everyone (maybe just me) has, so I hope you find time in your busy day enlighten me on my plight!
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Same as "lease". That is, L, long-E, soft-S.
Eric Storm
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