So Sayeth the Imp

Sessio Venatus

I’ve always wanted to be a writer. Even as a little kid, when I entertained being a super-hero, astronaut, or globe-traveling archaeologist, it was with the caveat that these occupations would be sidekick to my story weaving. Of course what I would write evolved mightily throughout my life. In elementary I imagined myself becoming a comic book writer, but just shy of junior high I was pretty damn sure that I’d be penning fantasy. And not just any fantasy. I had been chewing through Robert E. Howard, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and J.R.R. Tolkien voraciously at that point and was toying with a world of my own making, populated by a larger-than-life hellraiser named Bowynn.

Bowynn was the heir to the throne of Norsicca, a viking-influenced kingdom on the edge of the frozen wasteland populated by massive wolves, frost giants, and primeval barbaric nomads. Through a bit of political intrigue, young Bowynn and his kin fell victim to the cruel hand of assassination. The royal family was slaughtered, but nine year old Bowynn survived and ended up in the wild lands of the north, raised to be a great warrior by the Sabretooth Clan. He would eventually reclaim his inheritance by unseating the treacherous black magus Lord Malhavok.

These stories never really made it onto paper, but they grew in my mind over the years and influenced my fantasy role-playing.

Watching Game of Thrones last night brought all of that back.

The adaptation of George R. R. Martin’s epic masterpiece is an amazing achievement. It felt and looked more like a big budget summer blockbuster than a small screen mini-series. The acting was superb, the sets and costuming dead-on. It was brutal. It was sexy. And it was filled with all the political machinations one would expect considering the title of the piece.  I will, without a doubt, be parked in front of the television every Sunday night to see where this will lead.

And who knows, maybe it will inspire me to dust off  Bowynn for a short story or two just for old times sake.