Habitation of the Blessed

[bodlon]

When I was in my early twenties, I was pretty sure I was going to be a Medievalist. True story.

Mostly it’s because I love how vivid and subversive things like The Decameron and Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales are in our current culture. I also love anchorites, and the the wild experiences that people have when they lock themselves in cabinets/bury themselves in tiny holes/otherwise cut off stimuli and start hearing Amazing Things. I love the way Old and Middle English sound. I like the strange, stylized, art where Big means Important.

And then life kicked in and becoming an academic stopped being something I could realistically plan to do, and then I was like, “You know, I don’t need a degree to make stories,” and here I am.

Which is why I’m so excited about Habitation of the Blessed. It’s two things I really like (medieval geekery + Catherynne Valente’s writing), all cozy like peanut butter and chocolate.

The main premise is that the Prester John legends — that somewhere in the East there was an empire with magical beasts and a race of immortals with a priestly king — are true.

Prester John’s journey, the implications of the things in his kingdom, and the story of the missionary brother who finds out about all this? Oh yes. People, it’s only my desire to maintain a roof over my head that has stopped me getting my hands on this book. Wednesday? Just be smart and get out of my way.

(If, unlike me, you are not broke enough that you have to wait, you can get Habitation of the blessed here, here, and here among other places. You can also read more about it here at John Scalzi’s blog.)

And if none of that convinces you, Valente (in the guise of Infinite Crisis Wonder Woman) explains it herself using action figures:

This post has been mirrored from Christian A. Young's Dimlight Archive. To see it in its original format, visit dimlightarchive.com

Comments

[contrarywise]

That video will never not be awesome. I fanboy it in all the best ways. I'm looking forward to scoring my own copy soon!