Wilbur Smith Audio Clip on the Quest

[Matbow]

Hi all,

There's an audio clip posted on the official WS site in which "The Quest" is discussed:

http://www.wilbursmithbooks.com/novels/the_quest.html

A couple of interesting points are discussed:

1) Taita is pronounced Taa-eeta. (What!)
2) The Quest is more of the mystical novel.
3) It was greatly influenced by the Ryder Haggard novel "She" - WS says the Quest is almost a prequel to this book.

Enjoy.

Matt

[Ada]

^Thanks Matt

TA DA! Finally, from the horses mouth....Taa-eeta. It's too late though, we've all got our favourites. The "How do you pronounce these?: thread here in the Egyptians has every pronunciation under the sun. Mine was always Tay-Ta but I did like the Tye-eeta - it sounds much nicer but old habits die hard. WS probably guessed there would be many interpretations & even has his own in the stories, e.g. Tata which I now assume must be pronounced Taa-Taa.

The mystical theme is not going to worry me at all but from what I've read on this Forum, not everyone is going to be happy.

There used to be a copy of She in the house but I can't find it - it might have gone to the Op. Shop. I'm tempted to see if I can borrow it from the library & read it again before The Quest arrives here. IIRC 'She' isn't very long - certainly no where near as long as WS novels.

Like a lot of members I'm currently rereading Warlock & because of a few references to Lostris & how long ago this & that happened, I'm working out how old Taita is at the beginning of Warlock. At this stage I think he is 71 so not as old as everyone is making out. I will try to work out how many years Warlock covers to enable a calculation of Taita's age at the beginning of The Quest. (I'll scream if WS actualy deigns to tell us this time. )

[Matbow]

For anyone that's interested, "She's" not copyrighted anymore so you can read the full book here:

http://www.bralyn.net/etext/literature/ ... rd/she.txt

[Ada]

Thanks again Matt. I was right, it isn't very long at all is it?

[Nefer]

Thanks Matt

And as for the name pronunciation - I shall stick to mine! I haven't spent half my life pronouncing it one way to now change it,

I'm looking forward to reading the book - might read "She" after "Quest"

[Monsoon]

And as for the name pronunciation - I shall stick to mine! I haven't spent half my life pronouncing it one way to now change it,

Good for you Nefer, i will be sticking to my guns aswell

[Penitent]

A prequel to “She”. Wilbur Smith sure knows how to keep us interested! “She” was part of a series of three or four books I remember reading up to the second “Ayesha, the return of She” A bit dated, still good adventure/fantasy.

[Ada]

I finished She today and enjoyed it despite HRH's extremely long flowery descriptions. (Do you think his parents planned those initials?) (At one stage he admits himself he's waffled on a bit!) I had forgotten how old fashioned his writing style was but the story itself is so good you plod along regardless. Having read it before, I was fortunate enough not to remember how it ended so was enthralled till the end.

Possible spoiler below - wasn't sure so made it one anyway as some members aren't going to read She, listen to the Audio Clip or read the excerpt until after they've read The Quest.
[spoiler]
When I finished She I initially thought WS was going to write about the original inhabitants/builders of the tombs where Ayesha resided but now realise he has probably written about "The Fountain of Youth" - as that is what She is mainly about and it's what WS 'talks about' on the Audio Clip.[/spoiler]

[Ems]

I have never heard Wilbur Smith's voice, it was weird hearing his voice for the first time, not anything like I imagined.

The mystical theme is not going to bother that much, one of the best features of the River God is that there is some elements of Egyptian history stuck in and mythology, e.g. the Egyptian Myth of Osiris and his son Horus at the beginning.

I always prounced Taita as Tay-Taa, I think I prefer the way Smith prounces it.