Tom solved this one for me. A coffin.

I'll post a follow up riddle tomorrow I hope.

I have just read the article on Beowulf, which is the last that you linked. I really enjoy Anglo-Saxon and Icelandic literature, and so I was a sucker for that article. I think that it is interesting how much weight he gives to the idea of Beowulf being a religious story/poem. In a sense, I hardly know what qualifies something as Christian or religious in general -- if it just takes references to faith, or an overt perspective on the part of the narrator or author, then I guess Beowulf qualifies. It reminds me a bit of the Icelandic saga about Grettir the Strong which contains similar supernatural foes and feats of warrior-hood as Beowulf.
The article made me think of how fantasy relates to horror in so far as fantasy is full of evil villains. One of the strengths of fantasy as a genre is that there are obviously evil bad guys. A book about war between humans can never be the same as a book about war between humans and the orcs of Tolkien, or Gandalf and a Balrog. Those creatures were horrific representations of evil, externalized forces of evil waging war for human lives. In Tolkien, Saruman gives into evil through fear and mental captivity to Sauron's power, too, so people were destroyed by evil through fear and violence in Tolkien's work (fear seen working in the effects of the Nazgul, too). In that sense, we see a lot of allegory in fantasy, even if just the externalized battle against evil.

I've never thought much about horror as a genre, but I can understand how it could be conceived of as allegorical.

It's impractical for me to live in, also. But I can see myself trying to make them with my family for a project or something someday.

Reaching stiffly for the sky,
I bare my fingers when it's cold
In warmth I wear an emerald glove
And in between I dress in gold.

Fear or cowardice?

A candle, indeed.

This guy basically lives like a hobbit (with less tea and refinement, maybe).
https://youtu.be/zdLAM-wChxY

I haven't read much of horror -- none that I can recall. But I can see how it can be considered related to the fantasy genre.
I've never been one to watch horror movies either. I find it interesting to consider why people enjoy it, though. The idea of wanting to be scared is an interesting concept. Of course, most ghost stories it seems are about simply the spiritual world -- that's what a lot of people find fascinating, more than actual fear.

A sundial works by light, but would get no help from the light of this.

You're correct. It is an inanimate object. If only you could shed light on the subject . . .

A lot of what this guy is saying is out there and I don't agree with his spiritual points, but what he has made is pretty dang cool. He has constructed a small floating island out of trash, dirt, and plants. Check it out.
https://youtu.be/GnLhWpy_nqI

Thanks for the links, Justin.
I don't really feel like I'm looking to self publish right now -- although I may again in the future, I don't know.

What you describe is basically people, yourself included, doing the work to create a literary canon -- a collection of what's worth reading. This means that what we read is the result of community involvement not just in how it is published and/or influenced by or marketed through contemporary media but also in how we determine if it is worthy to be read, as in the case of the compilation of lists.
It is interesting that acts that could be seen as so solitary -- writing or reading a book -- rely so heavily on community.

Your comment about the new forms being a form of marketing for the old is interesting. I suspect the Harry Potter movies did cause people to read the books. I saw one of the movies before I started the books, I think, so in that sense the movie did market the book to me.

I would be really interested to see a graph or other visual representation of data that shows the increase in number of books written/published/available to readers in the time span from the invention of the printing press to the present. The growth within the last 100 years has to be exponential. Google has estimated that there are 129 million or so books in the world, and this article kind of goes through their criterion: http://www.pcworld.com/article/202803/google_129_million_different_books_have_been_published.html

Apparently, anywhere from half a million to a million books are published in the US each year depending on who you read, book sales are decreasing, whereas the number of books published is increasing. This article outlines some of this: http://outthinkgroup.com/the-10-awful-truths-about-book-publishing/
That article also discusses how publishing companies are wanting authors to do more of the marketing, I think. . .
Here's an article with some stats in the first paragraph: http://www.forbes.com/sites/nickmorgan/2013/01/08/thinking-of-self-publishing-your-book-in-2013-heres-what-you-need-to-know/#184dfd1729f4

This article discusses whether we have too many books: http://publishingperspectives.com/2014/10/many-books/#.Vt-cfI-cHIU
There were 28 million in print in English in 2013 it reads.

So, with all that overwhelming information, I have a few further questions.

The primary problem with self publishing is that you have to market your own book and that is very hard. You have to have a platform from which to do it, i.e., an established name or brand.
The secondary problem with self publishing is that it does not have the feeling of authenticity and legitimacy that comes with a traditional publishing house.
But even so, traditional publishers are very interested these days in authors who have ready made platforms so they have a leg up in marketing. Obviously, big name publishes a book easier than a no-name.
But these are somewhat side notes to my main questions.

With so many books, such an abundance of possibilities in the world, who or what is constructing our canon? In our other thread, we are listing fantasy authors. In a sense, we are constructing a canon, a list of people worthy of being read. Out of all the millions of books, we chose that handful. In our culture, film and other media are operating in a similar way. The Harry Potter movies incited me to read the Harry Potter books. In a sense, bookstores both used and otherwise, as well as libraries, create canons of literature that is worthy of being on the shelves. The book I self published would not likely qualify, partly because it is obscure and self published, I'd suspect. I self published it and had it printed on demand to be sold through my own performance platform at my concerts. It did well, in my own small scale way, and overall I am happy about it. But of course, it is no wide-spread thing.

Out of all those millions, how are we finding and deciding what to read? Is it industry standards or marketability, pushing onto shelves what is deemed suitable for mass sales? Is it a mixture of that and artistic merit? In what ways do artistic merit, or at least the demand created by people willing to spend money for a book for a certain reason, influence what publishers see as marketable. It has to be a loop to some degree.

Basically, how do I find a good book to read? Really. . . Because I've been having a hard time picking books to read for the past while (with hopefully a reprieve after Justin's excellent work in the fantasy authors section). In fact, one of the series of books I've worked on writing had as one of its seeds the desire to write a book that I would want to read.

Anyway, these questions are interesting to me. What do we do in a world with an abundance of books. . . Is it an over abundance as is asked in the one article? Or is the abundance good as the article quotes someone as saying.  How far we have come from the medieval world where a manuscript was a precious, hand crafted, painstakingly produced work of art. What has mass production done to our sense of quality and value of the written word?

Gar!
A vampire. Blood is the drink. Your hints were very good.
Here's another for you:


My life can be measured in hours,
I serve by being devoured.
Thin, I am quick
Fat, I am slow
Wind is my foe.

Are we discussing a newborn baby and is this milk?