"Where Virtue Lives," by Saladin Ahmed

[Scott H. Andrews]

This thread is to discuss "Where Virtue Lives," by Saladin Ahmed, which appears in BCS Issue #15 (http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/toc.php?s=15) from Apr. 23, 2009.

Feel free to post a comment even if you haven't yet registered on the BCS Forums--you can reply to the thread as an unregistered Guest.

[Asakiyume]

Adoulla and Raseed make a great team--hope we get to read more of their adventures in the future.

[Saladin]

Thanks so much! The next Crescent Moon Kingdoms story is slated to appear in IGMS this summer, though it's a bit darker and has a different protagonist. But Adoulla and Raseed do star in the novel I'm working on -- which opens a couple of years after the events of "Where Virtue Lives."

Thanks again for reading and I'm glad you liked the story.

[Unregistered]

I loved this story. Thank you.

[Unregistered]

This was excellent. I look forward to reading more from you in the future! Such a small thing after such a great story, but did you come up with knot-blowing or is there back story? I love reading about magics and traditions new to me.

[Saladin]

Hi there, Mysterious Reader! Glad you liked the story.

Knot magic (try googling that phrase instead of "knot blowing") exists in all sorts of cultures...there's something particularly about the tying and untying that seems to hold symbolic power in the human imagination...

My specific use comes from a passage in the Qu'ran that always intrigued me... "I take refuge with the Lord of the Daybreak...from the evil of the darkness when it gathers, from the evil of the women who blow on knots, from the evil of an envier when he envies." [the English translation doesn't quite get at the melifluousness here]

Historians don't know much about what exactly 'blowing on knots' looked like, but we know that it was a form of witchcraft/cursing...so I took that and ran with it...

[Unregistered]

I really liked this

[Unregistered]

Really enjoyed this story. I'd be interested in seeing more tales of Adoulla and Raseed, and knowing more about the world of the Crescent Moon Kingdoms. Good stuff. -- Lou Anders

[DFowler]

Can't believe I missed this one when it appeared.This story was so well done and in such an interesting setting. Kept me riveted from beginning to end.

[Scott H. Andrews]

In conjunction with the release of BCS Saladin Ahmed's new novel Throne of the Crescent Moon (http://amzn.to/mrlw0b), which features the characters who debuted in this story "Where Virtue Lives" in BCS #15 (http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/forums/../story.php?s=32), BCS is giving away a hardcover copy of Throne of the Crescent Moon (http://amzn.to/mrlw0b).

http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/images/throne-small.jpg


To enter the giveaway, reply in this thread, the comments thread for "Where Virtue Lives" (http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/forums/../story.php?s=32), saying what character from the story, or element about the setting or anything else in the story, you are most interested in seeing in the novel, and why.

The giveaway ends Wed. Feb. 15. The full rules are here (http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/forums/showthread.php?t=859).

Good luck! Enjoy (re)reading the story and the novel.

[Tinrobot]

Whether the contrasting characters of Adoulla and Raseed have a moderating or polarizing effect on one another in future adventures, it's going to be a lot of fun seeing what kind of trouble they get into and out of.
The setting is tremendous. It reminds me in a very satisfying way of R.E. Howard's Hyborean-Age kingdoms. I'll wager the author has an arcane-looking map or two lying about the house. This is great stuff, and I'm looking forward to seeing these characters again in a novel-length work.