The Hand of Oberon, chapter 4

Spoiler alert: This post is part of an in-depth discussion of The Hand of Oberon by Roger Zelazny, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. I recommend you support your local bookseller or public library, and read the book first.

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Corwin, Random, Ganelon, and Benedict compared notes after Corwin's party returned from the primal Amber, where the Pattern was found damaged by blood assumed to be from Random's illegitimate son Martin. Benedict revealed that he had been in frequent contact with Martin. The last time had been a note left with his friends, the Tecys, whom Martin had visited while suffering a serious stab wound. While Benedict and Random went into Shadow to call on the Tecys, Ganelon and Corwin returned to the palace.

There, Corwin calls on Vialle, Random's wife, to tell her Random is travelling for a day or two. After sleeping, he visits his old cell in the dungeon, where he cleans up the two sketches left there by Dworkin: one of the Lighthouse of Cabra that he used to escape, and the other of Dworkin's quarters on the other side of its wall. He teleports through the latter. Dworkin, mistaking Corwin for Oberon, asks if it is finally time to destroy the world.

The Hand of Oberon, chapter 3

Spoiler alert: This post is part of an in-depth discussion of The Hand of Oberon by Roger Zelazny, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. I recommend you support your local bookseller or public library, and read the book first.

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Corwin, Random, and Ganelon discovered the primal Amber, where no Mt. Kolvir or palace existed: just a mesa with a Pattern embedded in it. This proto-Pattern was damaged by the spilling of Amberite blood, the source of the black road running through Shadow. They discovered a Trump of Random's son Martin at the centre of the Pattern, impaled by a dagger. Corwin recognized the Trump's art style as Brand's. He kept this knowledge from Random. They called on Benedict to return to their Amber, and brought him up to sped on what they had been doing.

Benedict had suspected that the proto-Amber had existed, and that Oberon and Dworkin had created their Amber close by to draw on its power. Learning of Martin's apparent death, he reports that Martin had spent nearly a year living with him, learning about moving through Shadow and using the Trump's (of which he gifted him a spare deck), before leaving again. The last time Benedict had heard from Martin, he turned up at the home of a family Benedict knew in Shadow, the Tecys, with a knife wound. He had left a note saying not to worry. Random and Benedict leave to visit the Tecys (with Random riding Corwin's horse, Star), while Corwin and Ganelon return to the palace.

The Hand of Oberon, chapter 2

Spoiler alert: This post is part of an in-depth discussion of The Hand of Oberon by Roger Zelazny, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. I recommend you support your local bookseller or public library, and read the book first.

After a trip to the ghostly, floating city of Tir-na Nog'th, Corwin, with his brother Random and general Ganelon, were led by a unicorn to a place that appeared to be Mt. Kolvir, but with the top of the mountain and the palace missing, and only the Pattern remaining. They realized they were looking at the primal Amber and Pattern.

The Pattern was marred with black splotches, and at the center they found a dagger impaling a Trump of an unknown person. They figured out that the damage to the Pattern was caused by spilling blood of Amber. Random realized that the figure on the Trump was his missing son, Martin.

The Hand of Oberon, chapter 1

Today I continue my readthrough of Roger Zelazny's The Chronicles of Amber. I've been sick, so I'm late—sorry! So far I have competed the first three books in the series, so we pick up the story with the fourth novel, The Hand of Oberon.

Spoiler alert: This post is part of an in-depth discussion of The Hand of Oberon by Roger Zelazny, which will inevitably reveal key plot points. I recommend you support your local bookseller or public library, and read the book first.

And now ... this - June 6/24

Hot and cold running waterfalls

Yuntai waterfall, supposedly the tallest waterfall in China, was reveled this week to be (at least partly) artificially supplied by a water pipe.

Yuntai Mountain Park's management responded to the video, explaining how changes in the dry season necessitated the extra boost to the falls.

"(The waterfall) cannot guarantee to meet the public in its most beautiful appearance due to season changes," they said, adding that the waterfall underwent "a tiny improvement during dry season."

[Full Story]

Remember the CGI-enhanced fireworks at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, or the little girl who lip-synched during the opening ceremony? I'll bet we'll soon be finding out that everythng in China is artificial. The whole country is a fictitious theme park designed by Disney.