Re: Kris Hirst's page on Why Don't We Call Them Cro-Magnon Anymore? updated

On Feb 13, 10:51 am, Tom McDonald <kilt...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
J.LyonLayden wrote:
On Feb 12, 10:48 pm, Tom McDonald <kilt...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
J.LyonLayden wrote:

<snip>

Sigh. I guess I'll have to find references to every bone of cro-magnon
and estimations by every individual by scientists from no less recent
than 2007 just to be able to say, "Even the shortest of the outsiders
stood a head above Naftu and his men, and their arms and legs were
twice as big around."
If you are looking for background to write a story, you don't
need to do that depth of research. If you are looking for the
best information we have today on the issue, you need to do some
research; and you can ask for help from folks who know where to look.

OK thanks Tom. Perhaps I should do less argueing and instead present
some of my fictional prose to you all. If you would eye it with the
same scrutiny as you've afforded me here it will be most helpful, and
perhaps interesting to you as well.

I think that's a good idea. As you may recall, I am a writer,
too, and my undergrad major is in English, with a History minor;
while I have a year of undergrad and a couple of years of grad
work in archaeology. Your work is therefore doubly interesting to me.

For that reason, since I have to shuffle off to work now, I'll
read and comment on your story draft when I have the time to give
it its due.

Thank you a bunch! If you have the time I have some much longer drafts
of a seperate story set in indonesia/sundaland, and would give due
credit on publication.


BTW, in a reply to Doug you mentioned that you needed quotations
for your readers that they could understand. I don't see why you
couldn't write something about the size issue, mentioning the
evolution of the size estimates for Cro-Magnon proper, with a
short discussion of the issues involved in using the term
'Cro-Magnon' for later remains, and contemporary remains in other
regions. Then you could give references to some easy summary
sites, as well as references to the primary literature. This
would, among other things, have the salutatory effect of making
you look intellectual and thorough. Which couldn't hurt!

Thanks great idea! If it were an amazon short it might serve as a good
marketing tool for the stories it prefaces, as well. The venue is
doing well in non-fiction, though the bestsellers in that category are
of course political at the moment.




It's a very rough draft and any feedback would help me get it to
final.

Comments/suggestions appreciated:

No Working Title

The giants stood upon a hill, gazing down at the valley. There were
seven of them, and all of them were thicker of frame than any man that
Nufta had ever seen. And though Nufta was a tall man, in fact the
tallest man in all the hamlets this side of the inner sea, he would
have had to stand on his tiptoes to look even the shortest of them eye
to eye.
The giants were looking down upon the fields where Nufta's people had
been working, reaping wild wheat from the bountiful fields that lay
across the slope. Now the men stood still, faces grim and scythes held
defensively braced before them, or before a woman near them. Some of
the women were scurrying back towards the hamlet, and one just a
second before had let out a disheartening scream. Beyond them, far off
in the center of the valley, small pillars of smoke rose from clusters
of huts, one of which Nufta called his home. The intruders had come
just at the ending of the day, and the sun was beginning to set behind
a further hill.
Dusk draped the tallest giant like a cloak. He was eyeing Maya, the
girl who had screamed. She was running down the hill towards the
smokey huts, her attractive skin glowing bronze in the fading light
and her dark brown hair and garments flowing out behind her like wake
in the wind. the giant looked satisfied; he looked like a man who had
come home.
Nufta breathed in the Mana from the air. He visualized the energy
swelling up around him. He saw his spirit rise above his body, saw it
drop down into the body of the giant, and looked at his own body from
the giant's eyes. Then Nufta imagined a brilliant chord of light,
flowing from the center of his own chest to the giants, and flowing
from the giant's chest to his. He allowed the rest of the world to
fade away, so that only he and the giant existed, poised in time for a
moment, seperate from the world...
But then the giant shook his head and thundered a roarous laugh down
into the valley below. As it echoed among the hills, the other giants
joined in, and the world came back into quick focus for Nufta. his
magic had failed.
The giants words were strange to Nufta, but he understood them for the
most part, being very close to the speech of the woodsmen who lived to
the north of nufta's people. And in those days men had not yet fully
learned to hide their communications with words.
"I have come to protect you," laughed the giant. "It is a wonder my
people have not yet come to claim you. But you will harvest for ME,
now, and we will keep them and all others at bay."

Hirst appears to know a lo; but the About.com article (and its
mutations over time) is only a summary of other people's work.
Why not ask her where to go to answer your questions?- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Also the final word will probably not be "giant" but a more ancient
word, maybe basque but not jentilak because it's too much a
possibility that they borrowed it from "gentile" when they got
religion.

.

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