Tuesday 5 December 2017

Paces II

See Paces.

Here is a leisurely literary pace if you like. In SM Stirling's Prince Of Outcasts (New York, 2017) -

at the end of Chapter Four, Orlaith and her companions, traveling by train:

eat tasty ham-filled crusty baguettes and nut-covered buttery blueberry tarts;
drink strong ale;
laugh about people they know;
play cards or fidchell;
sing;
play lute or flute;
doze through the night;
drink cold herb tea;
eat hard-boiled eggs, bread and fruit;
discuss the scenery -

Chapter Five describes a battle at sea -

at the beginning of Chapter Six, Orlaith and her companions, still on the train:

eat pork-and-beef sausages, Fol Epi or Tillamook cheese, flatbread, garlic-cured mushrooms and maida cake;
drink chilled fizzy mild cider.

They are going somewhere but not fast.

3 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

More tempting meals so unsuitable for sedentary guys like us! (Sighs and smiles)

As we know, Princess Orlaith was in the dog house with the Queen Mother Mathilda for that unauthorized quest for the Grass Cutting Sword AND "losing" her brother Prince John. So she is now being sent to rusticate at a country manor to meditate on the virtue of obeying legitimate authority!

Sean

S.M. Stirling said...

And when 15mph is high speed, long journeys are... long!

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

A good way to show this is to recount all the details of the journey, what is said, sung, seen, eaten, drunk etc.