hey, some general tortall questions to provide scope for research. what did you have in mind for the ships used by the various nations? are they leaning more towards columbus era wooden clippers powered by sail, more romanesque vessels with rowers providing power, or a combination of the two? and also, about how far milage wise is it from corus to pirate's swoop?

i got a funny feeling
they've got plastic in the afterlife

Ideas? Anyone? please?

*bump*

What the heck, I've got a billion questions, so I'll ask some! Hehe.

Question 1: Ok, I think I have the countries you based all the Tortall lands on... So, is Tortall based on England, Scanra on Russia, Yamani Islands on Japan, Carthak on Egypt, and I dont know what you based the Copper Islands on. Am I correct? I'm just kind of curious.

Question 2: I'm one of those people who, after school, goes online and studies stuff that the school district doesnt find important enough to teach in school(this makes me a geek, huh?), like medieval times(my favorite!). Unfortunately, there seems to be very little on what your books got me interested in, how people became knights and stuff. Did you do much research when writing your books? Any books or websites you found very helpful?

Question 3: I know you probably get asked this a lot, but I'm asking it anyways Are you ever going to have your books made into movies? I swear.. every single time I go to the theaters, I always hope that a trailer for one of the quartets will appear. Especially the Protector of the Small quartet, my favorite. Yeah, I'm a bit of a geek. Oh well.

Thats all folks! *dances away whistling the looney toons theme song*

~Kyalii of Barons Point~

I so agree with your countries apart from maybe that Tortall is based on England. It does seem v. medievil englend with the Knights and Monarchy and such but i think the desert and the bazhir are very un-England.

The Yamani Islands are so Japan. The martial arts etc. and Hoshi is Japanese for star. lol.

As for movies i think i remember Tammy saying that they would probably be toe expensive to make properly cos of
*Costumes-everyone would have to have costumes
*Special effects- Shapeshifting anyone?
*You would either have to make one massive movie out 4 books or four sepertate movies.
Personally i think the movies wouldn't do the books justice cus theyd have to miss so much out and i love the details in tammys worlds. I think thhe Emealen books would be easier 4 sum reason.

The Copper Isles were based off Brazil, I think. And Scanra was based after the Vikings

Jon and Raoul are the BEST
I love Sirius
And I obsess over...Vidanric and Russav! woohoo

~To deliberately try to kill an opponent unnanounced IS dishonorable~

Ah! I completely forgot about the Bazhir! oi.... I think those people were based on one of the middle eastern countries.. maybe afganistan

~Kyalii of Barons Point~

Some studio bought the rights to SOTL, but they haven't taken any other steps to make a movie out of it. Also, I think that 4 movies would be much more expensive than 1 long movie, because editing and film would cost more, even if the one movie was extremely long. I think the best solution would be for them to make two films. Although, if the movies were true to the books, each film would have two expositions, climaxes, and denouements, and that would be very awkward.
As for a question for Tammy, I would like to know if you read reviews or comments people make on your books.
Gail
Mage of Tortall

>>Question 1: Ok, I think I have the countries you based all the Tortall lands on... So, is Tortall based on England, Scanra on Russia, Yamani Islands on Japan, Carthak on Egypt, and I dont know what you based the Copper Islands on. Am I correct? I'm just kind of curious.<<
Tortall, Tusaine, Maren, and Galla are based pretty much on medieval Europe and England, without particular differentiation between countries. Scanra is more Scandinavia (I tapped medieval Russia for Kugisko in COLD FIRE). Tyra is my Venice-like merchant republic; Saraine is a medly of medieval Europe, Southeast Asia, and samurai culture (well, samurai armor, anyway). Carthak is a mishmosh that includes Egypt, but also Phoenecia, Assyria, and the Hittite Empire of the Middle East, caulked with Roman cuisine in places. The Yamani Islands are definitely based on samurai history. The Copper Isles, well, the wildlife I dumped there in earlier books was Central and South American, but the Amazonian cultures are tribal ones, and I wanted an established culture that has things like palaces, so I looked to Indonesia.

>>Question 2: I'm one of those people who, after school, goes online and studies stuff that the school district doesnt find important enough to teach in school(this makes me a geek, huh?), like medieval times(my favorite!). Unfortunately, there seems to be very little on what your books got me interested in, how people became knights and stuff. Did you do much research when writing your books? Any books or websites you found very helpful?<<
I do medieval research all the time! I nearly went nuts find out placements for lances in jousting . . . For general stuff and everyday life, track down book by Frances and Joseph Gies, who have written about most aspects of daily medieval life. Stephen Biesty's INCREDIBLE CROSS SECTIONS: CASTLE and David Macaulay's books CASTLE and CATHEDRAL are also good for castle life.

For the knights, here goes: A KNIGHT AND HIS WEAPONS, Ewart Oakeshott; THE MEDIEVAL WARHORSE, Ann Hyland; THE MEDIEVAL SOLDIER, A.V.B. Norman; MEDIEVAL WARFARE, A HISTORY, edited by Maurice Keen; LONGBOW, Robert Hardy; THE MEDIEVAL ARCHER, Jim Bradbury. Warning: some of these tend to be a bit dry. I also like Eyewitness and Usborne kids' reference books because they have more pictures. You could also check out biographies of William Marshall (basically the model of the medieval knight); Henry V; Edward, called "The Black Prince of Wales"; Richard the Lionhearted (not a good king but a ferocious warrior), and the circle of men who fought with Joan of Arc, including la Hire and Gilles de Rais.

I don't use websites much for research because they can be wildly erratic, but you might try Renaissance Magazine online--I think it's www.renaissancemagazine.com, but I'm not sure. You can also ask Sheroes' very own ladymarian, who jousts at Renaissance Faires and has had to study up on this stuff.


>>Question 3: I know you probably get asked this a lot, but I'm asking it anyways Are you ever going to have your books made into movies? I swear.. every single time I go to the theaters, I always hope that a trailer for one of the quartets will appear. Especially the Protector of the Small quartet, my favorite. Yeah, I'm a bit of a geek. Oh well.<<
So far, everything's fallen through. The money would be nice if a movie did happen, but in all likelihood the resulting movie would not look much like the books. Believe me, if I ever do conclude a real movie deal, everyone will hear about it!

Tammy

“No person is your friend who demands your silence.”
Alice Walker

Wow, thanks! I'll have to go see if our (very sad and understocked) library has some of those! Thanks again!

~Kyalii of Barons Point~

The ships for the Tortallan universe are pretty much a combination of oar and sail, with the Scanran ships roughly corresponding to the Viking ones, and the Carthaki ships like the Roman ones. Deep water sailing vessels are also on the medieval model (rowed ships are best in coastal waters), but they have better luck because their captains like to invest in wind spells.

I think it's about sixty miles from Pirate's Swoop to Port Caynn, and eighty or so from the Swoop to Corus (if you want to chance the forest), but don't quote me on that. My abilities is interpreting mileage and scale are, well, non-existent.

Tammy

“No person is your friend who demands your silence.”
Alice Walker

Unless I dreamed it up, I heard that Tammy is coming to Canada some time in the distant future... is that true? and if so, when and where? Does anyone - or Tammy - know?

much appreciated ^^