Category: Blog Series Page 4 of 223

Fantasy with Friends is a weekly meme hosted by the good people over at Pages Unbound. Fantasy with Friends poses questions each Monday about fantasy, either as a genre as a whole or individual works.

This week’s prompt is:

Is there a particular fantasy that got you interested in the genre? Do you remember any of the earliest fantasy books you read?

I think one of the earliest–maybe the earliest–fantasy novels I read was Jane Yolen’s The Wizard of Washington Square. I’m not positive it’s the right one, I spend a good amount of time looking for it this weekend, and it feels right. And I have a strong memory for where it was on the library shelves–and Yolen fits for alphabetical by author placement.

Several others followed–those that stand out the most are Julie Edwards’ The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles (an all-time favorite), Robert C. O’Brien’s Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH was something I read a dozen or more times. A Wrinkle in Time, A Wind in the Door, and A Swiftly Tilting Planet were in heavy rotation (the fourth book in the series wasn’t released until I’d moved on from “Juvenile” fiction). The Phantom Tollbooth…what can be said about it that hasn’t been several times before? I’m not going to say anything about Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson, because the emotional scars are still raw. I have strong memories of reading Below the Root by Zilpha Keatley Snyder (not just because it didn’t help me at all with the Commodore 64 game), although I couldn’t find the rest of the trilogy in bookstores or the library.

Also, how cool is the name Zilpha?

There are two big series in my mind, though. John Christopher’s The Sword of the Spirits. I sadly remember very little of it–but I remember reading it often, and that it was one of the earlier books I remember that had a lot of morally gray moments and protagonists who weren’t to be admired all that much.

I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again (and again, and again, knowing me)–the big one for me is The Chronicles of Prydain. The Chronicles of Narnia and/or The Voyage of the Dawn Treader turned me into a C.S. Lewis reader, but the saga of Taran, the Assistant Pig-Keeper, Princess Eilonwy, the ex-king/would-be bard, Fflewddur Fflam, and the oracular pig, Hen Wen…that’s what turned me into a Fantasy reader. The stories based on Welsh-mythology, tapped into my imagination–shaped it, too, actually. Life, love, laughter, and loss–it’s all there. I’ve read the series twice in the last decade, and it still works. It’s my favorite from my childhood, and it’s one of my favorites still.

A few years after that, I came across the DragonLance Chronicles, DragonLance: Chronicles, the original Shannara trilogy and Magic Kingdom for Sale/Sold, and…well, we’ve left “earliest.”

I’m really looking forward to some of the other posts in response to this prompt, iT’s fun looking back on what early books shaped the readers we become.

Fantasy with Friends is a weekly meme hosted by the good people over at Pages Unbound. Fantasy with Friends poses questions each Monday about fantasy, either as a genre as a whole or individual works.

This week’s prompt is:

Has reading a fantasy book ever inspired you to do further research into something else?

Not really–I mean, Fantasy is pretty much about beyond reality, right? I mean, occasionally, I’d do a quick web search to check for a detail or two on a notable fae or mythological figure–just to make sure I remembered them correctly. I did that with Grossman’s The Bright Sword when it came to a knight or two, and some of the characters in Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw. That’s as close as I can think of when it comes to research.

Well, I mean–there’s looking into the backlist of a new-to-me author.

This prompt did made me think of How to Slay a Dragon: A Fantasy Hero’s Guide to the Real Middle Ages by Cait Stevenson.

What should you ask a magic mirror? How do you outwit a genie? Where should you dig for buried treasure? Fantasy media’s favorite clichés get new life from How to Slay a Dragon: A Fantasy Hero’s Guide to the Real Middle Ages, a historically accurate romp through the medieval world. Each entry presents a trope from video games, books, movies, or TV—such as saving the princess or training a wizard—as a problem for you to solve, as if you were the hero of your own fantasy quest. Through facts sourced from a rich foundation of medieval sources, you will learn how your magical problems were solved by people in the actual Middle Ages.

Divided into thematic subsections based on typical stages in a fantastical epic, and inclusive of race, gender, and continent, How to Slay a Dragon is perfect if you’re curious to learn more about the time period that inspired some of your favorite magical worlds or longing to know what it would be like to be the hero of your own mythical adventure.

Were I the sort to be inspired, I think that many of the questions I’d want to research were touched on by this book. Honestly, I was disappointed in the book–I really didn’t think it lived up to the premise. But still, there were some entertaining bits. Obviously, your results may vary. It wasn’t research per se–but it’s me looking into various and sundry fantasy tropes.

I’m really looking forward to some of the other posts in response to this prompt, if only because I expect a good recommendation or six.

Fantasy with Friends is a weekly meme hosted by the good people over at Pages Unbound. Fantasy with Friends poses questions each Monday about fantasy, either as a genre as a whole or individual works.

This week’s prompt is:

What fantasy books do you think will be classics in the future?

This question is making me stumble. That’s not Pages Unbound’s fault. It’s just the way my brain works.

First, I’m stumbling over the idea of “contemporary.” Are we talking about the last couple of years, the 21st century, or something else? And, yes, I’m certain that the way this question is phrased is that it’s up to me to decide for the purpose of this post. I’m sticking with this century, although I’m squeamish about calling it contemporary.

For the purposes of this post, I’m not going to define classic as anything more than “you know it when you see it.”

The other problem I’m having with this question is that I don’t know how many people can predict what’ll become a classic. How many people e reading about that band in the Mines of Moria back in 1954 were thinking, “There will be an entire genre that’s largely defined by people reacting to/reacting against/building from this book?” Did Peter S. Beagle’s editor know the impact that little book about a unicorn would have on countless readers for decades?

Who knows what effect the events in the world and what’s being published are going to have on the aesthetics of generations to come? It’s so hard to guess what books will be read in 2060, what books that writers of 2090 will resonate with. How many of those things we’re throwing awards at will be punchlines to our great-grandkids?

Isn’t that part of the fun? Reading something and having no idea what people who aren’t on social media are thinking about it? What’s going to get passed on to a child/grandchild—and what percentage of that will actually get read? (I know full well what my kids do with the books I give them, but that doesn’t stop me from trying). I love it when I stumble onto someone younger than me stumbling onto The Prydain Chronicles and feeling what I felt in elementary school. I imagine a lot of Tolkien’s early fans felt a sense of satisfaction and surprise seeing his work captivate their children and grandchildren. I’m eager to look around in my dotage and see what I recognize on bookstore shelves—or the shelves in people’s homes (I’m one of those people who spend half their attention as a guest scoping out the titles on my host’s shelves to really understand them)

And lastly, I know that no one is going to bring up my guesses in 25 years to point and laugh at me. No one is going to Nelson Muntz me. (Will anyone in 25 years know Nelson Muntz?) This is, of course, assuming I live to my mid-70s. (get your mockery in early, folks—you don’t know what this sedentary lifestyle is going to do to my longevity).* Still, I hate giving an answer I can’t feel reasonably sure is correct.

My big prediction is that there are going to be fewer White European Dudes (percentage-wise) in the Fantasy Canon. We’re going to see a lot of non-Europeans, a lot of Women, and read a lot of voices that will make Tom Bombadil say, “That’s a little strange.” There are plenty of future classics that aren’t making a lot of Best Seller lists here in the States/UK, and my grandkids are going to go wild over them and shake their heads at me for missing.

But that meandering is not what the question asked for. So here’s my stab at it…just a stream of consciousness here, totally not binding. I hope that The Name of the Wind will be seen with affection by a bunch of people who can’t be bothered to care about the fate of The Doors of Stone. I don’t know if I’d put money on The Lies of Locke Lamora standing the test of time, but I’d love it if it would. It’s possible that all/part of A Song of Ice and Fire will be considered a classic—see TNotW, but all of them feel less stand-alone-ish than Rothfuss’ book is, so we might actually need a conclusion. I’m sure something by Jemisin—if not her entire oeuvre—will be a classic, I don’t know that I can choose one. Brandon Sanderson almost has to have a future in the canon—if only because of volume. Terry Pratchett, too (but will people find him funny?) R.L. Kuang? John Gwynn? Nnedi Okorafor? S.A. Chakraborty?

As much as I adore some of Gaiman’s works** I’m guessing his stuff is doomed to obscurity***. I don’t know if Joe Abercrombie is going to last longer than this generation (I hate to say that, I hope he does), ditto for Seanan McGuire or Jim Butcher. I’m not trying to throw shade on the subgenres, but I don’t know that the best Romantasy or Cozy Fantasy authors are going to be remembered, much less celebrated.

I cannot wait to see what titles and authors are mentioned by the less cautious bloggers–a.k.a. those who don’t have to issue paragraphs of disclaimers before their anxiety will let them publish–have to say. Check out this post for links to the braver-than-me-souls.

* Wow, this is taking a dark turn.

** Stay with me here.

*** Deservedly.

Do you have responses to this? (either for the comment section below or from your own post)