> > My current project, I'm happy to say, passes the test, though
> > sometimes with a narrow squeak or on a technicality. 9 is a close
> > one, and the only reason I get by 28 and 29 is that, from what I've
> > got worked out now, there should be four books in the series, not
> > three, five, or ten. Some might accuse me of violating 19, but I
> > protest that it is not so. All the others I sail by with ease. Woot.
>
> So you know the year the hay baler was invented (#25). Impressive.

Knowing that the hay baler is a modern invention and that people in a world where technology has apparently stagnated at the level of the European dark ages for millennia would be using the "hay stack" method of storing hay is sufficient.

And that's another one I wish I had put in, now--why is it that every fantasy world seems to never get beyond the medieval level of technology, even after thousands of years of development? The real "dark ages" only lasted about 500 years. Think on this, fantasy novelists. Only two millennia ago, the Roman Empire ruled a large chunk of the world. They did it using bronze age technology, horsepower (literally) and some clever engineering (also lots of slaves). We went from that to walking on the moon (WITHOUT the benefit of magic, even!) in less than 2000 years. All of recorded history (which basically means from the start of true civilization to the present) encompasses about 10,000 years.

So if the "elves" have had basically the same civilization for the last 20,000 years in your novel, or if the great human empire has ruled for 1,000 years (and HAS the benefit of magic!) and hasn't yet progressed beyond feudalism and iron age technology, something is probably wrong.

-- Dave