I freely admit: De Bello Lemures, Or The Roman War Against the Zombies of Armorica is one of the more obscure ones I’ve picked. It is a translation – oh, don’t look at me like that – of a Roman’s account of his encounter with the Living Dead; and the translator (Thomas Brookside, and stop snickering) gives a certain dry wit and academic japery to the whole thing. Plus, the footnotes entertain.
And so, farewell to Hoka! Hoka! Hoka! What would the Hokas have made of zombie fiction? Be grateful that question was never answered.
I just wish the Hokas had made their way onto kindle. You sparked the nostalgia, but I’ve had bad experiences bidding on used paperbacks.
You can get Hokas Pokas! from Baen. There is a way to put that on kindle, I just got an email on how they had to change the method.
Today, at lunch, I impulse-bought “Legions of Rome” by Stephen Dando-Collins. It is supposed to be a definitive history of every Roman Imperial Legion.
Since I am moving it will take me a while, but I am so looking forward to this book.
(I admit, there are many fantasy stories were I often wondered ‘what if a Roman Legion of 150 AD just stepped out and started saying “hello” Roman style?’ Javelins first, followed by shield-rush, followed by a gladius ‘in and up and twist and back – repeat’. Imagine the Pellanor Fields with Scipio Africanus running those Legions. Holes dug and covered, open ranks, and once the mumakil stepped into the traps ‘here’s a scutum across the face and the point of a gladius wherever it hurts.’)
Random Question:
The Siege of Helm’s Gate. Why do the main gates of the fortress open inward? The original fortress was built by the Numenoreans, who really knew how to engineer. If the gates open outwards, then they set back into the stone door jambs of the wall. And once closed, and barred, and pinned top-and-bottom, then using a battering ram on such gates earns you a lot of work because then you have to smash down every part of that gate to get past them. Oh – and why isn’t there a drawbridge in front of those gates?
I get the dramatic effect, but if the people who built it were such wonderful engineers why did they do that? And the culvert – why not build an underground drain? A basin collects the Deeping Stream, it drains down through several pipes, and re-emerges outside of the walls in another basin.
The Numenoreans were great builders and engineers, correct?
Moe, you know there is such a thing as fanfiction, correct? Which means that if there isn’t one already, there will be in the future. Likely poorly done if I have any part of it.
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I just glad I’m not bored enough to attempt writing ‘Hoka Read Slash’.