I’ve been working extremely hard this week because money is ultra tight right now, so this will be an extra-short post. I usually only work 4.5 to 5 days a week, but this week I opted to put in close to 6 full days of work. Phew. It sucks, but it won’t suck so much next week when I get paid AND get another dose of e-cigarette commissions! My plans? Buy a new pair of headphones and books, books and more books! I LOVE BOOKS! Speaking of which . . .
The Magic of Twilight | Book 1 of the Nessantico Cycle
First of all, this book has nothing whatso friggen ever to do with vampires. It is, in the words of New York Times bestselling author George R. R. Martin, “a delicious mélange of politic, war, sorcery and religion.”
It centers around the holdings of Nessantico, a collection of states ruled by the Kralijica (Empress) and Archigos (Pope) of Nessantico City. The word secular doesn’t really exist in the Nessantico holdings, as everything is tied to the Concenzia Faith—including magic, or what they refer to as the Illmodo.
It is the belief of the teni (priests) of Concenzia that the Illmodo can only be channeled through faith. There are others, though, namely the Numetodo, who claim to be able to channel the Illmodo through reason and logic. It is the hope of the Kralijica and Archigos to eventually convert the Numetodo to the faith through non-violent ways. Others lack the patience for this method, however.
In particular, the leader of the a’teni (those directly beneath the Archigos), a’teni Orlandi ca’Cellibrecca, and the leader of the state of Firenzcia, Jan ca’Vorl, scheme to overtake the Archigos and Kralijica, respectively, so as to usher in a new age of true dedication—one based strictly on the crude teachings of the Divolonte, a loose collection of manmade rules and regulations by which the faith is governed. Their goal is to literally kill off all the nonbelivers, including the Numetodo, whom they deem as a threat to Concenzia.
The irony is that it is in fact the Toustour (kind of like a Bible) that speaks Cenzi’s (God’s) true words. Sadly, those like the ca’Cellibrecca and ca’Vorl are quick to quote the Divolonte’s archaic rules when defending their actions.
Sound interesting? Below is my favorite extended-quote from the book:
Warning: It may seem really long, but it really isn’t.
“You’ve never been to the western borders? Never crossed the Strettosei to Hellin or the Isle of Paeti?” Cu’Rudka shoot his head. “If you had,” Karl continued, “you might understand. Ah, the Isle . . . There’s not a greener, more lush and more varied country in the world. And there, Commandant, where a dozen cultures have come and gone, we understand that ‘different’ isn’t a synonym for ‘wrong.’ There are many ways to learning the truth of how the world works, Commandant. The Concenzia Faith is just one. It’s just not the one, not the only way. I have seen things . . .” He stopped, shaking his head. The motion rattled the chains around his hands and caused the guards to glance into the cell again. “You would probably have me flayed for telling you,” he said.
Ca’Rudka had turned back into the room, leaning against the wall by the balcony. “If I wanted to flay you, Vajiki, I would have already done it, and for less provocation. Tell me.”
Karl licked his lips. “My parents lived on the eastern coast of the Isle. They were of the Faith, and they brought me up to believe in Cenzi. They read the Toustour to me; they followed the precepts of the Divolonte. When I became a young man, though, I had the wanderlust and I traveled with a company of traders beyond the Isle to what you call the Westlands, past the green mountains on the borders of Hellin. That trip opened my eyes and my mind. There, out in a flat plain of grasses that stretched like a waving ocean from horizon to horizon, I saw a city that could have easily held three Nessanticos, grand and glorious, with enormous buildings like stepped mountains on top of which their priests held their ceremonies, with buildings of cut stone that gleamed in the sun, while canals glittered with sweet water alongside avenues wider than the Avi. The people there wore clothing of a fabric I’d never seen before, bright and smooth to the touch, a cloth that let the breezes flow through to keep you cool in the heat. And at night—Commandant, they city glowed with magefire brighter than the Avi. They used your Illmodo, too, though they didn’t call it either ‘Illmodo’ or ‘Scath Cumhacht,’ nor did they worship Cenzi, who they considered just another God among many. But they could shape the Second World as well as any of the teni. That, Commandant, is when my own faith began to waver.”
“Perhaps it was a test,” ca’Rudka answered without emotion. “One that you failed.”
“That’s what the teni on the Isle told me later.” Karl shrugged. “The traders I traveled with said that there were even greater cities, farther west and south, all the way to the shore of the Western Sea two hundred days’ or more march from where we were. They said that they were part of an empire larger, richer, and more powerful than the Holdings. I don’t necessarily believe those stories—I know as well as you that travelers’ tales grow with each telling, and that it’s our nature to make ourselves sound more like great adventurers than simple tourists. But this city . . . I saw it with these eyes, and I’ve never seen its like anywhere else. I know this, Commandant: there are more mysteries in this world than the Concenzia Faith will allow you to believe.”
Ca’Rudka smiled indulgently at the long speech. “Sometimes, to young eyes, the small looks larger than it is. I would think that if such a great empire exists beyond the Hellin Mountains, we would have met its armies or at least its envoys when we came to the Hellins. I may not have been there myself, but I met the Governor of the Hellins when he was last in Nessantico, and he said that the nations there were little more than savages.”
“He sees them with the wrong eyes, them,” Karl answered. “Like looking through the stained glass of the temple, he doesn’t see the true colors beyond.”
“And you do? I find that rather arrogant, Envoy ci’Vliomani. It surprises me to find that quality in you.”
“We all have colored glasses through which we view the world, Commandant,” Karl answered. “Our society and our upbringing and our experiences place the glass before us, with the Numetodo no less than the Concenzia Faith. I don’t deny that. But I think we Numetodo have more shades of color from which to choose and that, as result, we are closer to the truth.”
I highly recommend it. And oh, the main character is a sexy, brown-skinned teni known as Ana cu’Seranta.
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PHEW! If that ain’t fire, then I don’t know what is!
PS #1. To hell with Lulzsec. I didn’t mind them screwing with Fox a little or stealing files from corrupt governments, but I don’t f**king appreciate them messing with the lives of innocent Americans, including officers of the law. That they released 60,000 logins and passwords for random people’s Facebook, Twitter and WoW accounts was bad enough. Now they’ve released confidential information regarding hundreds of Arizona’s finest. That irritates me.
I’m not a fan of Arizona’s law either, because I believe it’s morally wrong. By the same token, I feel that Lulzsec’s actions are just as reprehensible, if not more so. And yeah, I’m not afraid to say it, though I do want to take a brief moment to offer Lulzsec a one-on-one message…
PLEASEEEEEEEEE DON’T HACK ME! PRETTY PLEASE DON’T HACK ME! I’LL SUCK YO **** IF YOU DON’T HACK ME!
On a more serious note, I hope all the “I bench press 60-pound” twads from Lulzsec get caught, arrested and then anally raped by a big, possibly-black guy named Darnell (or Donald).
PS #2. WHITEY WENT DOWNNNNNNNNNNNNN, FOO’! (nuff said!)
PS #3. Please start paying attention to the friggen news if you don’t understand PS #2., lol.
PS #4. Shout out to Raleigh’s own, JuStyle Entertainment, for their latest video, Put My Hands On You, which, I would like to note, is worthy of being on 106 n Park, without a doubt! The video quality is amazing, the lyrics are just what the bitches *cough* I mean females *cough* like and the beat is pretty hot.
PS #5. If the Onion doesn’t get a Pulitzer, I will track down every friggen person on the Pulitzer board—Danielle Allen, Jim Amoss, Randell Beck, Lee C. Bollinger, Kathleen Carroll, Joyce Dehli, Junot Diaz, Thomas L. Friedman, Paul Gigot, Sig Gissler, David M. Kennedy, Nicholas Lemann, Ann Marie Lipinski, Gregory L Moore, Eugene Robinson, Paul Tash, Jim VandeHei and Keven Ann Willey—tie them up, pull out my dick and then make them pull it til I have an orgasm.
pEaCe n 1
FINAL PS – For some odd reason, whenever I orgasm, I utter the word “Sir.” Hmm…
(Let me explain this for the idiots who now think I’m gay. I’m making them PULL IT. And I say SIR when I orgasm. PULL + IT + SIR = PULL IT SIR = Pulitzer. Jesus friggen Cenzi, you guys are some real dingbats!)
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