From page 25 “The Romans were obsessive record-keepers and they occupied Britain for almost half a ) Century, from Caesar's invasion in 44 BC to 409 AD. They make no mention of anyone remotely like Arthur. The Saxon conquest was complete by about 450 AD, Two hundred years later, the Roman church returned to Britain and began keeping records again and the legend was in place then.” For Whyte, Arthur and,Merlin may be the stuff of legend, but not of myth. They are figures glimpsed in ihe mist that sometimes descends on human history; seen in outline, but whose features are elusive. The need to put faces and person- alities on those figures drove Wiyte into his basement writing room in 1978, where he read Roman history, mallitary tactics and politics. And he began to write..A decade later, he had four piles of manuscript, ‘ ‘acon- ; tinuous fictional narrative” spanning half a century. © What Whyte has done in the pre- vious volumes, The Skystone and ‘The Singing Sword, is not to de-bynk . the mythic of magical elements of | the Arhurian material, but to illus- - trate the power of knowledge: a per- son who knows just a little bit moré ; about h w.the. world works than...» ~ “everyone else is bound to be called ay * “wizard and become the stuff of : legen : ‘ My concem throughout” Whyte ‘says firmly, deliberately distancing *:. :. himself from the “sword & sorcery”. . genre that has pillaged the same material, ‘was to show that the real :. magic is how ordinary people... , respond | to extraordinary circum-. -: stances and thus become the. stuff of ~ legend and myth.”,””'- . The voluble 54-year-old Scot, ; who emigrated to Canada in 1967 to . 2. teach English ‘and went cn to a suc- . cessful Cateer in advertising, isa - ‘compelling story-teller whose soft. brogue has been polished by yous of performing as a singer and _ ‘Though he is modest about his : talent for writing fiction, “t regard: myself as a joumeyman writer. I just write ‘simple cleat English,” he not .- only gets fan levers from academic: = historians of the period, but the third |: ‘-ivolurne of the series The Eagle’s : Brood (Viking/Penguin, $18.99) - looks to be every bit as much a best- seller 4s the first two: . _ «An unapologetic admirer of . Robert Service who tums as — - . . scathingly livid as only a Scot can when critics ‘automatically dismiss - any narrative thyming verse as “dog- ‘gerel,” Whyte is an impassioned pro- ponent of the ancient Bardic tradition . in which poets were not unseen _ ., Sunday, November 27 _ “8:00 pm, Doors open at 7:00 Pm _gsVogue Theatre, 931 Granville Street — Tickets $20.00 — General Admission at any VTC outlet or charge by phone 280-4444 JANE BAKER PRODUCTIONS presents Don’t miss the opportunity to hear, and see, the intemationally renowned . Chilean group, Inti-Illimani. This = group of 7 musicians evokes the colours of Chile through their ° songs and their more than 30 _ instruments and creates an irvesistible hybrid of sound (jazz, contemporary European, and Latin ‘American), capturing a spirit that crosses all boundaries. Sponsored by the Vancouver Chilean Cultural Committee to support Monte Patria Youth Centre. 4th Region, Chile, c/o CoDevelopment Canada. oH “writers” of slim volumes of self- obsessed footnotes, but public per- formers, spokesmen for, and of, the people. A volume of his own narrative verse, /t's abour Canadians, not about Caalit, is soon to be published by Oolichan Books as The Bard's Calendar. At the moment, Whyte faces the somewhat daunting task of adding a fifth and final volume to his Arthurian cycle. As originally conceived, A Dream of Eagles was intended only to bring to life a “credible, feasible” - socio-political milieu, to set the his- torical age for King Arthur. The Eagle's Brood ends with a wonder- fully credible version of Arthur both as the son of Uther Pendragon and magically “born from the sea” under the aegis of the clever Caius Merlyn Britannicus. The fourth and final vol- ume was to end with Arthur drawing the Sword from the Stone. “Everyone knows what happens after that,” Whyte remarks dryly. (He wouldn’t tell me how it’s done. Wait - for the book.) His publishers, pres- sured by fans, wouldn’t let him off the hook, however. “You can’t just end it there,” they said, Whyte recalls, grimacing at the notion of. “dealing with material so thoroughly worked over that a writer is apt to be haunted by the spectre of Richard Harris as the “singing Arthur” in the ; musical Camelot. “What you write,” his editors told him, “will be the logical‘ ‘extension of _what you’ ve already written, the ~ world you’ ve already created.” They were right, Whyte realized, and - "- promptly blocked out the fifth and final volume, The Golden Eagle, that : deals with the reign of Arthur and the Quest for the Holy Grail. . “There was no more magic in the world then than there is now,”. ' Whyte says cryptically. “And that’ leaves you with certain remarkable ‘ characters, like Caius Merlyn Britannicus who has the enormous task of training a leader to unite and ensure the survival of his people, both individually and as a society, . “He inherits the task of the two "Roman “Eagles” of the first book, | Publius Varrus and Caius “ Britannicus, who decide to throw in -. their lot with the Celts and create a new Republic, a resurgent Empire, _ from the fortress island of Britain.” “A Dream of Eagles is their : dream, not a fantasy, but a vision of the future by two men, a practical weapon-smith and a philosopher, who,” Whyte notes, “were only out- by a thousand years in their calcula- tions. It was called the British ~ Empire.” ; In 1984, I visited Cadbury Custie a mesa-like natural fortress in a broad valley in western England, ringed with the overgrown remains of earthworks and palisades that date back to the Stone Age. It is often reputed to be the site of Camelo/Camulod. In the 1970s an archaeological dig led by Geoffrey Ashe discovered the remains of a Roman-style campus as well. Reading The Eagle's Brood, Whyte’s descriptions of Camulod took me back to that peaceful place that seemed so haunted by history. “That’s the spot,” Whyte con- firmed. I confessed to an act of his- torical vandalism; I put a small stone from the site in my pocket and I’ve kept it on my desk ever since. Jack Whyte, who does not believe in magic, leaned across the table and said, “I’ve used a stone from Cadbury Castle as a paperweight since 1 began writing A Dream of Eagles.” Khot-La-Cha | | an autobiography Astory about Simon Baker, a First Nations Leader making his way-as a student.at resi- dential school, as a long- shoreman on the Vancouver 1 waterfront, and as Chief ff Councillor of the Squamish f Band. - Khot-La-Cha, a compelling _first-person account of grow- | ing up Native in British ‘| ‘Columbia during the rapidly changing Twentieth Century. Sat. 10-5 | Dee. only — Sun. 12-5 1500 Block McGuire North Vancouver. For that special personalized Christmas gift select a work of art from Rendez-vous Art Gallery RENDEZ-VOUS Exhibition of small and medium works Nov. 19-Dec. 24 LISE LACAMLLE :THE PENGUIN RUN™ Gallery Hours; Tues.-Sat. 10-6 © Sun. 12-4 1009 Cambie St. (Yaletown) Vancouver 687-7466 Tid Fish & Chips - Horseshoe Bay Established 1946 THE ALL INCLUSIVE MEAL DEAL Start with a bow! of our delicious clam chowder 2 pieces of our famous Bottered Fish & Chips A slice of cheesecake topped slice ¢ H ch eeseca @ te pped Coffee & $7 (substitute Halibut, add $1.50 }) 6408 Bay Street t - West Vancouver © Expires Dec. 1 ‘94 ® Mon, - Thurs. only ° 2 pm ® Horseshoe Bay location only © Dine-in only © Not valid with other promotions with | this $ 29. bate 921-7755] Food & Beverage Specials Be here for kick offat3 pm “Come Early = -Play Bi Interactive Football game- Ticket Giveaways © Saturday 26 November ‘Book your | 135 Pemberton St ad |ohristmas pary| (at Wetch) N.Van, 984-3558 . Choose from quality brands @ BERNINA ° ELNA e > JANOME ° HUSQVARNA ¢ JUKI ¢ OMEGA ° PFAFF ° WHITE Elna Grafiti. Heavy duty FA machine with stretch stitches and buttonholes (Reg. $500) Janome 1818 “one step buttonhole” stretch stitches tension, easy threading (Reg. $700) $* , automatic Husavama 21.0 Swedish quality, industrial strength. Full rotary, easy threading, buttonholes. (Reg. $750)