Fantasy Worlds

Review: _A Quest-Lover’s Treasury of the Fantastic_

2012-02-03T18:53:00.000-08:00

Many people have been on a quest some time in their life. It could be for a better job, a house, saving for a dream vacation, etc. The quest is a common theme and part of the Fantasy genre. A Quest-Lover’s Treasury of the Fantastic edited by Margaret Weis is an anthology of Fantasy stories by various authors revolving around quests. The stories range from humorous to dark renditions of suspense. There are several entertaining stories for readers to enjoy.

A vivid story with a dark quest is “Misericorde” by the late Karl Edward Wagner. Tamaslei hires the legendary assassin Kane to avenge her lover’s death. She buys the four lives of those responsible. Kane proceeds on this nasty quest in a long tale of suspense and death. This is a startling tale filled with vivid images and a twist ending. It is a memorable story about revenge that readers will not forget for a long time.

Humor raises its head in the story “Mirror, Mirror on the Lam” by Tanya Huff. Ciro the thief steals a magic mirror from the most powerful wizard in the world. Magdalene discovers the theft and pursues Ciro to his city. She works with the thief to retrieve the mirror before a demon prince escapes into the human world. A funny story full of amusing incidents and dialogue ensues in this quirky story.

Arthurian Fantasy is represented in two stories. The first is "Chivalry" by Neil Gaiman. It is a story about an elderly woman who finds the Holy Grail in a thrift shop. She places it on her fireplace mantle for decoration until a young knight called Galaad comes to her home to request it. He keeps returning, offering Mrs. Whitaker fabulous things for it. This is a nice story of dreams fulfilled brought to life my Mr. Gaiman's descriptive talent.

The second Grail story is "The Cup and the Cauldron" by Mercedes Lackey. Set in the past, two young girls, one a pagan and one Christian, seek out the Grail. The country suffers from famine, plague and death. Elfrida, the pagan girl, goes on a quest for the cauldron of the Goddess. Leonine lives in a convent. She is called on to have a vision and sent on a quest for the Holy Grail. They meet on their quests and discover a truth about their goal. Ms. Lackey brings the world of Arthurian Britain to life with realistic descriptions of the setting and likable characters that grow.

“The Beast and the Bully” by Orson Scott Card is the story of Bork, a gigantic man who is considered a bully by everyone. He dreams of becoming a knight and marrying the count’s beautiful daughter. After winning many battles, Bork fails to slay the dragon and faces derision until he makes an important decision about his life.

“The Lands Beyond the World” by Michael Moorcock Elric finds himself trapped on an island where he meets the sailor warrior Smiorgan. Together they try to save the woman Vassliss from a determined sorcerer while finding a way back to their world. Mr. Moorcock provides an intriguing story full of suspense and adventure about his troubled incarnation of the Eternal Champion.

Quests are the lifeblood of the Fantasy genre. A Quest-Lovers Treasury of the Fantastic edited by Margaret Weis has several entertaining stories for readers to enjoy. Try the book and go on a quest into Fantasy worlds of humor, darkness or adventure. The journey is worth the reading.

Review: _The Magic of Recluce_ by L.E. Modesit, Jr.

2012-01-20T18:02:00.000-08:00

Most Epic Fantasies are stories that follow a group of characters through many events that lead to a final battle between good and evil. These books are exciting to read with a lot of action. Some authors create Epic Fantasies that are slower paced and focus on a smaller part of a story. The Magic of Recluce by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. is one of these books. Readers will find the book entertaining because of its interesting plot, realistic characters and subtle magic system.

First, this book does not move at a fast pace but has an interesting plot to hook the reader. Readers follow the main character is this coming-of-age story through several fateful events. The story begins with Lerris leaving his island home to wander the continent of Candar under orders of the Brotherhood. He becomes involved in various adventures that eventually lead him to a final encounter with a a dangerous mage. A slow pace gives the book more depth as the reader gets to know the fantasy world and the character. Mr. Modesitt brings this plot to life with detailed, lively descriptions of an interesting conflict.

Next, the book is entertaining due to its realistic characters. Lerris is a young man from Recluce where order rules. He is bored and always wants answers to his questions. Trying his hand at wood working as his uncle’s apprentice, Lerris discovers he is bored with that too. Recluce requires its people to have a purpose to spread order or they must leave the island. After undergoing some training as a dangergelder, Lerris is sent to the land of Candar with a group of his fellow young people. There he begins his growth in maturity and magic. He meets other people like Justen, a gray wizard, and a wood worker that helps him grow. The author’s characters are realistic, since many have traits and problems like people such as providing for family and protecting others.

Finally, the subtle magical system keeps the story entertaining for readers. The magic is not of a flashy type like some novels. In this world, there is order and chaos magic. Order magic must be used carefully to strengthen and further order in the world. Chaos magic is of destruction. This magic comes with a price for its users, making them die young. Lerris has a talent for order magic, but gets frustrated at learning about it. He travels through Candar slowly learning the magic as he helps people. Mr. Modesitt weaves the magic system into the book seamlessly, which adds suspense to the book that makes it more entertaining.

The Magic of Recluce by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. is an entertaining book for readers. An interesting plot, realistic characters and subtle magic system provides several elements that keeps a reader hooked on the book. This is the first book in a long series of loosely connected books exploring the history of Recluce and other nations of this world in their struggles with magic.

Review: _Gods Old and Dark_ by Holly Lisle

2012-01-07T17:38:00.000-08:00

The last human world is on the brink of destruction, brought there by dark gods that feed on the deaths of worlds. Two young women fight to prevent it. Love. Sacrifice. Redemption. These are the themes of Gods Old and Dark by Holly Lisle. It is the exciting conclusion of her “World Gates” trilogy. The book and trilogy comes to a satisfying conclusion because of its main characters, action plot and sympathetic themes.

After a brief respite from danger, the main characters are in danger again, which hooks readers into the story rapidly. Lauren is a Gateweaver. She is a widow with a young boy, torn by love for her dead husband and Pete. The dark gods threaten her life, making her become a stronger warrior with determination. Molly is Lauren’s sister who suffers from a serious problem of her own. She loses a part of herself each time she dies and comes back to life. Fearing to become a Dark God, she faces some difficult choices. Other characters help these two main characters and rounds out a strong cast for the story. Ms. Lisle creates lively characters to go along with her plot.

The book starts with a lot of action very quickly. It moves at a fast pace with few slow areas. Lauren sets a new magic siphon to help restore magic to the world, which draws the attention of Thor to Cat Creek. An attempt is made on Lauren’s life, but she kills the assassin sent by the Dark Gods to protect her little son. Meanwhile, Molly hunts various members of the Night Watch (Dark Gods), killing them, but dies again, losing more of herself in the process. This is how the story begins and keeps moving at a brisk pace until the end. Ms. Lisle keeps the action going with vivid descriptions of the events.

Finally, the author uses familiar sympathetic themes that keeps a reader interested in the conclusion. Love, sacrifice and redemption are the core themes of the book. Many aspects of love play a strong role in the book. There is romantic love and the love for a person’s world. Sacrifice is exemplified by characters willing to die to saved loved ones or the world. Redemption is demonstrated by Molly as she strives to regain a soul. Ms. Lisle incorporates the themes seamlessly, creating a vibrant story that keeps a reader focused.

Gods Old and Dark by Holly Lisle is the final volume of the World Gates Fantasy trilogy. The book brings the trilogy to a satisfying conclusion through its main characters, action plot and sympathetic themes. Ms. Lisle is a talented author of entertaining books with action. The climax of the book seemed a little rushed, leaving the minor perception of missing parts. Still, it is an entertaining book that is hard to put down. Readers should enjoy it.

Merry Christmas Everyone

2011-12-25T13:20:00.000-08:00

I just want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

I didn't post an article Friday because I was celebrating the holiday with family. An article will be posted early next week.

Review: _Kingmaker's Sword_ by Ann Marston

2011-12-09T17:42:00.000-08:00

It starts with a dream: He practices with a sword on a hill topped by a circle of stones like Stonehenge. The boy, Mouse, wakes up to face a new day of struggle in slavery. This is the beginning of the Fantasy novel Kingmaker’s Sword by Ann Marston. It is the first book of the “Rune Blade” trilogy. Ms. Marston gives Fantasy readers a vivid new world with memorable characters, an action plot and believable setting.

Memorable characters help keep readers interested in a book. The author’s characters in this book keep it interesting. Kian grows throughout the story from a mistreated boy slave to a powerful warrior. He overcomes many obstacles including a difficult romance. His uncle, Cullyn, adds to the story with his fierce loyalty and love. As Kian’s mentor, he helps him to become a strong man. Into this mix comes Kerridwen, a head strong young woman from a far off land. She is tough and a formidable warrior. These characters help the plot with their emotional stories.

Ms. Marston’s book is helped by a good plot with a lot of action. There is a quest and many battles. The story begins with Kian as a slave. He escapes his brutal master by using his wits. Later, he obtains a mysterious sword by killing a bounty hunter. Kian meets his uncle and discovers that he is a healer. Next, the book moves on to the quest for the lost grandson of the king of Skai. Kian, Kerridwen and Cullyn must fight warriors and terrible blood mages during their quest. Ms. Marston keeps the action going at a good pace with intriguing p twists along the way.

Lastly, a believable setting for the story to take place in, adds to the liveliness of a book. This book has such a setting. The author brings her setting to life with vivid descriptions of the peoples and cultures of her world. Some of the people are based on Scottish culture, but this gives the reader some familiarity. Her magical rune blades of Celae are an interesting touch along with the love bond. All of these things provides the setting with a realistic touch.

Kingmaker’s Sword is an entertaining beginning of a trilogy. Memorable characters, an action plot and believable setting makes the book a worthwhile read. Ann Marston is a fresh voice in the Fantasy genre. She creates a vivid book with clean, descriptive prose that brings her world to life. I recommend this book as a wonderful place to start a winter of enjoyable reading.

Appeal of _Lord of the Rings_

2011-11-25T18:20:00.000-08:00

Why is Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien so popular even among people who do not read Fantasy? This is a hard question to answer. When the new century rolled around Tolkien was named the author of the Twentieth century by many groups. Two movies based on the first two parts of the book have been huge box office successes. Tolkien’s books have been responsible for exploding Fantasy into a huge genre, bringing it into great demand. Numerous books try to emulate the book but few succeed. Lord of the Rings is popular because of its characters, story, setting and themes.

Characters must be memorable, likable and sympathetic for readers to identify with to follow them through a book. Tolkien’s characters are a powerful draw to readers. The characters have many admirable traits that make them realistic. Frodo is an innocent thrust out into a dangerous world beyond the Shire. He becomes a noble, self-sacrificing person to save his world. Sam Gamgee is the loyal friend any person would want, sticking ;with you through all problems. Aragorn is a reluctant warrior who believes he will never rule. He grows throughout the story into a wise leader of his people. Faramir is a young warrior that must take on a great responsibility. Women characters were not completely absent from the book. Eowyn proves her worth as a warrior and interesting love interest for one of the characters. Members of the elves and dwarves play important roles. Legolas and Gimli discover friendship where distrust once ruled. Galadriel and Elrond of the elves play vital roles of wisdom. The wizard Gandalf provides a fatherly figure of great virtue and courage. Gollum is a complex character wavering between two extremes of personality, but obsessed with possession of the ring. A reader can find many characters to love or identify within the book.

Another element of the book that appeals to readers is the setting. Middle Earth is a vividly realized world with a vast history and many cultures. Tolkien spent hours in researching mythology and creating languages for his book. The setting has a large array of landscapes from tall mountains, deep forests and underground living places of the dwarves. A strong presence of nature is depicted throughout the book with the different creatures. Ancient ruins from previous cultures permeate the land giving it a sense of history along with different races and strange creatures like the Ents. Tolkien describes Middle Earth in great detail bringing the world to life. This provides readers with the illusion that Middle Earth could have been real somewhere, which helps keep the reader’s sense of wonder alive.

In addition to characters and setting, Lord of the Rings is popular because of the plot. Tolkien fashioned a plot on a grand scale. He drew from the area of the ancient epics like “Beowulf.” The story revolved around a magic ring that corrupted anyone it touched. This set off events in the quest to destroy the ring. Armies clashed to defeat the growing evil in the land while two innocent hobbits underwent a grueling journey into the heart of evil. Readers find such epic stories of great interest, perhaps touching something deep inside their psyches. Tolkien was a master of appealing to this interest.

Finally, the last element that makes this book popular are the themes. The many different themes provide readers with timeless ideals that people hope exist in the real world. One of the main themes is the quest to destroy the ring, symbol of evil in Middle Earth. It is a dangerous, but noble endeavor. This leads to the themes of friendship and loyalty demonstrated by characters like Frodo, Sam, Legolas and Gimli. Honor is a theme shown by Aragon’s growth into leadership and being an accomplished warrior that inspires people. The themes of Lord of the Rings are universal, appealing to the higher nature of people.

Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien is popular because it speaks to everyone through its characters, setting, plot and themes. Tolkien created a book that resonates with people from all walks of life. When I read the book for the first time, I kept reading it until the end without stopping. The book impressed me and embarked me on a lifelong love of Fantasy. People cannot be wrong when various groups name Lord the of Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien the greatest book of the last century.

Review: _The Ivory and the Horn_ by Charles de Lint

2011-11-11T17:55:00.000-08:00

A winter wind blows down a city street. Out of the corner of an eye, one sees a strange being slip into the shadows. A fairy? Something else? Events like this happen to the people living in the Fantasy city of Newford. This city is the creation of the master of Urban Fantasy, Charles de Lint. In his second collection of stories about Newford, The Ivory and the Horn, Mr. de Lint tells more intriguing stories of the inhabitants of the city.

Sophie Etoile is a woman with a remarkable talent. She dreams of other places that are as real as our world. Most of the time her dreams take her to Mabon, but in “Where Desert Spirits Crowd the Night,” she finds herself trapped in a desert filled with spirits from Native American myth. The trickster god Coyote follows her through the dream until she resolves a problem. This story contains vivid descriptions of the desert dream world. Sophie a ìnd the other characters are realistic. Readers will find this a poignant, entertaining story.

“Bird Bones and Wood Ash” is a story about the subject of child abuse. Jaime encounters strange spirit women with animal heads. They give her magical gifts which she uses to stop those who physically or sexually abuse children by turning them off. Christopher, a jaded social worker, makes a deal with Jaime to tell her where abusers can be found. Even though Jaime acts like a superhero, her acts come with a price. This is a moving story of the darker side of humanity.

Mr. de Lint writes about those living in poverty in “Waifs and Strays.” Maisie is a street kid, homeless until she gets help from Angel and a homeless woman called Shirley. She has adopted a special needs young man named Tommy and several dogs. Trying to provide a home, work and going to school takes its toll on Maisie. Eventually she gets help from a ghost. This is a powerful story with the themes of caring for people, self reliance and courage. The author gives us memorable characters that readers can sympathize with throughout the story.

“The Forest Is Crying” introduces readers to social worker Christopher Dennison. After another child he tried to help is found dead, he resolves to quit his job. He gets drunk and ends up sick in an alley. A young woman helps him, taking him home and staying with him through the night. She says some weird things to him. When she disappears, he finds himself on a last case, which changes his jaded outlook on life. The strength of Mr. de Lint’s characters creates a potent story of the human spirit overcoming terrible situations.

Friendship and loss are the themes of the mournful story “Pal O’Mine.” Sue was a lonely child until she met Gina. They became best friends as children. As they grew up, their lives took different paths. A call from Gina’s mother brings Sue back into the life her depressed friend. Sue learns about the magic in the world on Christmas Eve as she remembers Gina. This story has a bittersweet ending provided by the author’s masterful talent for creating memorable characters and plots.

The Ivory and the Horn by Charles de Lint is a collection of more stories set in the fictional city of Newford. The stories range through different themes and are entertaining. A main theme of all the stories is that magic is not the solution to problems, but strength of character is. Readers will enjoy the stories of people as they encounter the magic of Newford.

Review: _Brightly Burning_ by Mercedes Lackey

2011-10-28T17:57:00.000-07:00

Being tormented by bullies in schools has led to several tragedies in recent years. The importance of preventing this is one of the central themes of Brightly Burning by Mercedes Lackey. This is a stand alone tale in Mr. Lackey’s Fantasy world of Valdemar. It is the story of Herald Lavan Firestorm. The book is an entertaining different addition to this world because of its characters, plot and themes.

Characters in the book are well drawn and three dimensional. Lavan Chitward is the son of cloth makers. He has no interest in the family business and is a sixteen year old adolescent in search of a purpose in life. Ms. Lackey describes his problems and character very well. She adds other characters that flesh out the story. There is Herald Pol, a middle a Pged man that becomes Lan’s mentor. Kalira is Lan’s Companion who gives Lan a stable, loving focus in his life. All of the characters help the plot move along quickly.

Ms. Lackey develops an entertaining plot for this book. Lan’s parents send him to a school so he will not languish at home. He is subjected to cruel bullies at school that torment him and make him sick with terrible headaches. His suffering leads to the awakening of his dangerous fire talent. Later, he gains his Companion Kalira and begins his training as a Herald. War with Karse looms on the horizon, providing Lan with new obstacles in his life. The author deftly manipulates the plot elements to create an interesting tale of adventure.

Lastly, the characters and plot combine to give emphasis to the important themes of the book. Lan suffers at the hand of bullies that en Kds in tragedy. He must deal with his hard to control gift through the adversity of coming of age. Along the way he faces persecution from an obsessed enemy and then must confront a war. The themes have resonance with things adolescents must face in our modern day world. These themes are presented in a subtle, appealing way by the author.

Brightly Burning by Mercedes Lackey is an entertaining addition to the Fantasy world of Valdemar. Readers learn about a time not covered in the other books. Ms. Lackey weaves sympathetic characters, an interesting plot and timely themes into a sad tale with life affirming values. Sentimental readers should keep a box of tissues by their side while reading this book. It is well worth the time spent in the effort. The story of Lavan Firestorm is memorable. Check it out if you get the chance.

Review: _Dreams of the Compass Rose_ by Vera Nazarian

2011-10-16T16:45:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had a vivid dream where it stays in your memory for a long time? Many Fantasy books have been inspired by author’s dreams that have become good works. _Dreams of the Compass Rose_ by Vera Nazarian was inspired by a dream. This book is a collection of short stories set in the Fantasy world of the Compass Rose, an exotic place of deserts and other landscapes where the gods interact with mortal humans. Ms. Nazarian presents each story as a dream. Nearly every story is a memorable tale filled with interesting characters and powerful themes.

“Sailing the Eye of Sun” is the story of a ship captain and a young man with great powers. Lero is the captain of an unsinkable ship. She has sailed the sea for many years with a loyal crew, but is considered insane because she is married to her ship. One day, she takes on the transport of a passenger. He is a young man with great magical power going to a schoo l to be trained before he loses control. The loss of control could destroy the world. A conflict of wills ensues in this remarkable story. It is highly memorable with masterful scenes of the sea voyage told in vivid words.

The author explores the theme of how a goddess might be born through human tragedy in the story “Goddessday.” Ailsan is the queen of Risei. Only she and her son are the last survivors of their people after a large battle. The people have been slaughtered by the conqueror Cireive who desires to rule the entire world. He is obsessed with having the beautiful Ailsan yield to him. Obsession and tragedy leads to a strong tale of mythic themes. Characters play off each other in a delicate dance of death. Ms. Nazarian’s descriptions are colorful and alive through her talented skill, bringing this bittersweet tale to a wonderful conclusion.

Nadir is a young boy who walks out of the desert with a mangy pack beast and a cup that keeps filling with water. At the oasis, he sees a beautiful horse that is a trapped god and longs to be free. “Tale of Nadir” tells the story of Nadir as he is tricked by villainous men and learns valuable lessons when he gets trapped into being a playmate to the vicious princess Egiras. This story begins a cycle of stories about the character Nadir at various points in his life serving Egiras. Ms. Nazarian continues providing an interesting story with her descriptive talent.

“City of No-Sleep” is the story of a strange city. The people live in hear and do not sleep. Their king is insane and every time he sleeps at night his dreams change the landscape of the city. Lives are ruined every day because of this phenomena. An assassin comes to the city to kill the king and free the people. One of the loyal king’s guards, Ierulann, tries to stop the assassin. This is a moving story with overtones of how change affects people. Its interesting setting makes the story unforgettable.

Words of storytellers can change the world. Annaelit is a storyteller of great talent. She likes telling humourous stories, making special fun of one of the gods. Her life changes one night when the god of leftover things comes into her life to teach her a lesson. This story is humourous in places, but makes important points about making fun of the gods. Readers will find this story entertaining and a nice addition to the collection.

_Dreams of the Compass Rose_ by Vera Nazarian is an excellent Mythic Fantasy collection of short stories. There are too many great stories in the book to discuss in this article. I found all of the stories entertaining and memorable. Vera Nazarian has created an engrossing book of dreams with vivid, unforgettable characters and themes, and a different Fantasy world of the Compass Rose. I highly recommend this book to readers. The book is available in trade paperback and as an E-book at: http://www.fictionwise.com

Hope for More Fantasy Movies

2011-09-30T10:38:00.000-07:00

Few fantasy books translate well to movies or television. “Legend of the Seeker” based on Terry Goodkind’s “Sword of Truth” books made an attempt to capture the story but failed. Recently, “Game of Thrones” made it onto television and the reviews are good so far. (One of the actors even won an Emmy recently.) There have been many films in the genre before. In the past, the entertainment industry has made Fantasy themed movies, but they have been limited in scope. The movies have been about angels, devils, people switching bodies, ghosts, poor versions of sword wielding warriors and many humorous ventures. Granted, some of these are well done, even classics, but most are terrible disappointments. They have inconsistent plots, boring characters and cheap special effects. Few of them explore the depths of the Fantasy genre or leave us with memorable stories. Newer attempts at creating new movies and series are promising for fans of fantasy. This trend could lead to more fantasy series or movies in the future. Film makers have a chance for successful movies and television series because of a large fan base, special effects improvements and a large number of books in the genre to choose from for inspiration.

First, there is a large untapped fan base for film makers to court for an audience. The fan base consists of readers in the genre, role playing gamers, video game players and many others ranging in age from children to elderly adults. Appealing to the base by making more fantasy series or movies would bring a ready-made audience to watch their works. These fans might increase the audience by word of mouth, since fans of fantasy tend to be excellent at networking. Just look at the success of the Harry Potter movies that tapped into the fan base of the books. General movie audiences would appreciate this too and could bring more readers to the genre. With the recent success of the “Game of Thrones” series, the books have catapulted on to the Bestseller lists again due to new readers checking out the books.

Next, the constant rapid improvements in special effects make it easier for more fantasy films to be made. The newer special effects like CGI brings fantasy worlds to life and makes fantastic creatures look realistic. This allows for the suspension of disbelief to be easier for the viewers. In years past, these effects were clumsy, shoddy and cheap, giving the film a very fake appearance. This ruins the watching experience for the movie viewer, leaving the feeling of being cheated. A viewer gets pulled away from the fantasy elements by fake looking costumes, inferior sets and bad plots and dialogue. In the present day, special effects have improved greatly. Computer generated images and monsters create imaginative images. When blended with live action shots and actors, a viewer is drawn into the film, which makes it easier to suspend disbelief.

Finally, the large number of books in the genre provides a greater choice for film makers to draw from for inspiration. Using the many different fantasy books available can bring more depth and improve genre films. Many books could or would make excellent movies. Fantasy themes deal with many things that concern people now. The fight between good and evil, hope, love and many others are displayed in many books. Fantasy removes us from the real world to deal with difficult issues. Numerous books could be used for ideas instead of falling back on overdone fairy tales, devils, angels, ghosts and other repeated plots. Authors that could be looked into are: Robert Holdstock, Neil Gaiman, Andre Norton, Mercedes Lackey, Guy Gavriel Kay, Robert Jordan, David Eddings, etc. The list could go on for a long time. Books could be made into TV series, miniseries and movies. It only takes the vision and courage of film makers to mine Fantasy books for some entertaining gems.

Fantasy movies poise on the edge of a possible boom of films for fans. The improvement of special effects, a large untapped fan base, and many books to choose from can provide film makers with a large audience. They can improve the genre and get away from overdone themes that have been repeated too often, which bores people to the point of not watching. If they mine the depths of Fantasy, they could provide viewers with new visions in TV series, movies and miniseries. Come on entertainment industry. Take a chance.

For other views on fantasy movies and television shows there are these articles:

http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Culture-Cafe/2011/0621/10-fantasy-novels-that-would-make-great-TV-shows

http://www.magicalwords.net/diana-pharaoh-francis/fantasy-and-sf-movies/

Book Review: _Children of Amarid_ by David B. Coe

2011-09-16T18:49:00.000-07:00

The mages of Tobyn-Ser are healers and protectors of the land. People respect them, but something is happening. Suddenly, the mages are killing people and things are changing. In another part of the land, a young man is having prophetic dreams that will change his life. This is the beginning of The Children of Amarid by David B. Coe and the first book of the “Lon Tobyn Chronicles” trilogy. The book has a suspenseful plot, likable characters and intriguing magical elements.

A suspenseful plot keeps the reader hooked for a gripping adventure. This Fantasy novel has a lot of that for readers. It starts out with an attack by mysterious mages with black birds all over the land. Jaryd begins manifesting his powers, so leaves with his uncle to journey to the gathering of the mages. There he soon binds with his hawk familiar and goes on a journey with other mages to confront a long dead mage about the massacres. On reaching their destination, one of the mages betrays the company. A story of ambition, murder, intrigue and justice ensues with sharp descriptions. Mr. Coe keeps the pace of the story moving with plenty of action and quiet interludes of character development.

Likable characters are important to a novel in making a book worth reading. The characters of this book fits this requirement. Jaryd grows from an unsure mage into a warrior that saves the people. He gains wisdom and learns about love while becoming a mage. Help comes from his uncle Baden who teaches him many things and has a strong love for the land of Tobyn-Ser. Alayna is a more experienced mage then Jaryd, but still new to her powers. She starts out resentful of Jaryd, but grows into friendship and love by the end of the novel. All the characters have realistic personalities because of the author’s keen development over the course of the book.

Lastly, the intriguing magical elements of the book allows it to have a lot of action. In this Fantasy world, the mages are known as the “Children of Amarid.” They serve the land of Tobyn-Ser as healers and mediators. All of the mages are bonded to a bird of prey. Those bonded to hawks have weaker powers until they bind to an owl. The Owlmasters are considered the ones with more wisdom and understanding; they rule the order of mages. Also, every mage carries a staff topped by a crystal the unique color of the mage’s personality. Without a staff or bird, the mage is helpless. Their main fear is dying unbonded to a bird because they become trapped ghosts that haunt the land forever. Mr. Coe weaves these elements into an entertaining story.

The Children of Amarid by David B. Coe is a strong beginning of a Fantasy trilogy. The magical elements, characters and plot combine together to give readers a suspenseful story full of action. Don’t miss this book or the other two in the trilogy, The Outlanders and Eagle-Sage.

Book Review: _Changer_ by Jane Lindskold

2011-09-03T13:17:00.000-07:00

A hidden people lives among humanity. They are immortals, shapeshifters and magicians. They are called the Athanor. These people spawned humanity's myths and legends. Changer by Jane Lindskold is a novel about the Athanor. This is an intriguing Contemporary Fantasy novel full of interesting characters, an entertaining plot and fascinating culture of the Athanor.

All of the Athanor are interesting characters. The main character is called the Changer. He is an ancient shapeshifter and wild element among his people. Most find him enigmatic and scary. He prefers to live in the wilds and stays away from his people most of the time. Arthur is the king of the Athanor, though he is mostly an administrator in the present day. He tries to keep the peace among his people and humanity from discovering their presence. The king has the help of Vera (Athena) and Eddie (Bedivere). There are many other interesting characters among the Athanor that contribute to the plot.

The plot of the book is very entertaining and keeps the reader wanting to race through the book. Changer starts out when the Changer returns to find his coyote family murdered except one daughter; the runt of the litter. He wants revenge, so goes to King Arthur for help. A triumverate of Athanor (Loki, Circe and the Head) drew him into their plot to overthrow King Arthur unwillingly. Changer doesn't involve himself with Athanor politics. The plot continues to draw the reader in with other subplots against Arthur and a growing movement among the nonhuman members of the Athanor to have a bigger say and tired of living on the fringes of human a civilization.

Lastly, the hidden culture of the Athanor is fascinating. The Athanor are all immortal, but vary greatly. Some are human in form, while others are animals or creatures like sasquatches, yeti and tengu. A few can change their shapes or do magic. The younger ones revere the ancient ones because of their experience. They are all bound by the life force of Harmony, which lets them survive. There is an Accord they all live by. These factors allow them to live remarkable lives among humanity.

Changer by Jane Lindskold is an entertaining Contemporary Fantasy novel. It tells the story of the immortal Athanor that live hidden among humanity in our modern world. The book has interesting characters, an entertaining plot and fascinating culture of the Athanor. Readers will find this book hard to put down. Be sure to check it out if you can.

Review: _Hexed_

2011-08-19T11:30:00.001-07:00

Urban fantasy is a popular subgenre of fantasy with magic and mythical creatures existing in our world. Many of these books are gritty, have strong female and male characters and some with romance elements. Hexed is an urban fantasy book with four novellas featuring side stories to some popular series by four entertaining authors. The themes of the stories revolve around hexes and curses.

The first story is “Magic Dreams” by Ilona andrews set in the Atlanta, Georgia of her “Kate Daniels” series. This story tells the adventure of shapeshifter Dali Harimau who is very intelligent but is small statured and possesses poor vision She comes home to find Jim the shapeshifter security chief sleeping in her bedroom. He is suffering from a psychic magical attack from a dangerous, mysterious force. Dali must find out who is responsible for the attack and save him in this interesting story. Ms. Andrews adds an entertaining side story to her series.

Next, Yasmine Galenorn provides a journey to another world with “Ice Shards.” Iris was a house sprite destined to serve her goddess until she supposedly killed her lover. She was cursed and cast out from the temple. Six hundred years later, she returns to discover the truth by getting her memory back and destroying the monster her ex-boyfriend has become. Iris travels with three companions to the magical Northlands so she can clear her conscience and win back a chance to marry her new boyfriend. Ms. Galenorn gives readers a memorable story with vivid images and likable characters.

Magellan, Arizona is surrounded by magical vortexes that are doorways to dangerous worlds. Janet Begay owns the hotel near the crossroads. She has powerful magic and a dragon boyfriend. Janet and several of her magical friends become trapped in the hotel in the story “Double Hexed” by Allyson James. A spell curse imprisons the characters within the hotel and becomes double in power when they try to escape. Janet and company try to solve the mystery before it is too late. Ms. James delivers a suspenseful, gritty story that readers will enjoy.

The book finishes with the story “Blood Debt” by Jeanne C. Stein. Anna Strong is a modern day bounty hunter and vampire living in San Diego. One of her witch friends calls her for help. The witch asks Anna to save her brother. Beings from an astral plane want to trade the brother, Stephen, for her life because she violated their laws of sanctuary. Anna ends up in a struggle to save Stephen with a creature named Samual. Ms. Steine gives readers an interesting story of other world struggles and some romance.

Hexed contains four novellas that are entertaining, suspenseful urban fantasies. Written by four of today’s popular urban fantasy authors, the book’s themes of hexes and curses provide four action stories with touches of romance set in well-liked series. This is a gripping book that readers can enjoy.

Interview with Laura J. Underwood

2011-08-05T12:33:00.001-07:00

This interview first appeared at Suite101 in 2004. I’m sharing it again because she is a wonderful fantasy author.

Laura J. Underwood is a Fantasy author of many talents. She is a librarian as well as a writer. Her many skills include being a former fencing champion and a harpist too. Ms. Underwood uses her many talents to provide entertaining Fantasy short stories and novels. The main worlds her stories are set in include Keltora and the harper mage world of Annwynn Baldomere. Her short stories can be found in different anthologies and magazines, while the books include: Ard Magister, Dragon’s Tongue and others.

More information can be found at her web site: http://www.sff.net/people/keltora

Debbie Ledesma: When did you decide to become a writer?

Laura Underwood: I’m not so sure that I ever really decided that for myself. Seems like I have always been writing down my fantasies from the time I could hold a pencil. I was one of those children whose imaginations always ran wild. I was reading on my own by the time I was three, which always amazed my parents. They thought I was mimicking the books they read to me, but one day I picked up a newspaper and started pointing to words and sounding them out. I was the only child in my first grade class who could read when I started school.

Because I was a rather solitary child (in spite of having siblings) I used to
daydream a lot. Put myself into the stories that I liked best, and I talked to myself a lot. I did a speech recently where I blamed my fantasy writing career on Mighty Mouse, because when I was little, I used to talk to Mighty
Mouse. My poor mother was under the impression in those days that talking to yourself was a sign of insanity, and she tried to discourage it because she worried what people would think (and there were those d 3ays, like when I made the bus driver stop the bus to let Mighty Mouse on, and I told the ladies at the church Sunday School that I needed an extra cookie and orange juice for Mighty Mouse--I honestly think those poor church ladies thought I was possessed...), so I started writing down my imaginings so I could read them to myself.

Of course, it is obvious that I was not willing to give up my imaginary worlds that easily. The only difference is these days, the talking to myself takes place on a laptop, and I call it storytelling. And because I keep getting those stories published, my mother thinks it’s pretty cool.

DL: Do you prefer writing short stories or novels?

LU: As a teenager, I thought I _was_ writing novels, though I suspect they were just novellas. :-) In fact, my efforts at mystery writing were all novels.
But when I started to sell my fantasy fiction, I wrote short fiction, mainly
because I could produce more of it at a greater speed. But I love novels for the scope they allow. It’s the difference between a short sprint and lengthy marathon race. Both can leave you short of breath. One just takes longer than the other. I’m what one might call a “sneezing” writer (my friend David B. Coe always teases me about that). I literally toss everything on the page at a rapid pace and then clean it up in the editing phase.

DL: What authors influence your writing?

LU: Well, if we start with the earliest influences, those would be anyone who wrote fairy tales. When I was six, my great aunt gave me a beautifully
illustrated book of fairy tales (The Golden Book of Fairy Tales by Adrienne Segur who illustrated it as well) that I still have. It’s rather moth eaten and fragile, and my evil younger brother drew all over the pictures, but I did manage to find a reprint of it recently. I also read a lot of Greek and Roman mythology. I used to be able to recite nearly every story from
Bulfinche's and D’Aulaire versions of mythology. And of course, I fell madly in love with Kipling and must have reread The Jungle Book over and over.

As for specific authors, Edgar A. Poe, Fred Fields, Shakespeare, but then I
advanced to Lloyd Alexander and George MacDonald and C. S. Lewis and Alexander Key in my teens. At that point, I actually switched to reading mystery novels and was a long time fan of Ngaio Marsh, Peter Lovesey, Dick Francis and many others. Then somewhere along the way in my early twenties, I rediscovered fantasy with Andre Norton, Marion Zimmer Bradley and Fritz Leiber. Barbara Hambly and Teresa Edgerton are now my biggest influences, though I am also fond of Lynn Flewelling, Esther Friesner and a host of other authors who write really good fantasy.

Surprising to most people is that I did not read any Tolkein before the movies came out. Now, of course, I see what I missed since I have gone back and read the books. They always seemed to wordy to me when I was a teenager and a librarian handed them to me, but now I can see a lot of the poetry in the work...I can also see the sources Tolkein drew from.

DL: Do you use any mythology sources in your writing?

Celtic mythology plays a strong part, but not the stuff you usually see in the
D&D manuals (I really have a long rant there that I won’t go into here), but I
do mix a touch of Anglo-Saxon lore and old Norse lore in from time to time. Since my days of reading fairy tales and Greek and Roman mythology, I got into folklore, and have been an avid reader of older texts that were gathered in the 18th century. But I am also interested in Native American mythology (being part Choctaw and Cherokee), in English folktales, Scandinavian lore, and in the mythologies of India.

DL: Most of your stories are centered in two worlds- the Harper Mage and Keltora. Which world do you find easier to write about or prefer?

LU: That’s a hard one. I find both worlds easy to work in, though sometimes have to remind myself that they are not the same. Keltora is just part of the world of Ard-Taebh which is my “grand scheme of things” epic fantasy world. It’s a world where mages are genetic and magic essence is in everything, and mageborn are able to tap this essence so they don't drain their own essence casting spells. And it’s getting more complex by the day. My latest project has put me in a position of taking a hard look at the history of Ard-Taebh and realizing that the part I write now is just one era of an even bigger milieu.

The Harper Mage world is one where the gods choose who will have the power, and then it is up to the mage to make the right sacrifice to release the power. The greater the sacrifice, the greater the power, and to have that power, one must give up one of the five senses. Oddly enough, it started out as a novel, and then I started writing the short stories, and the late Marion Zimmer Bradley started buying them. I would offer her other things, but she always asked for more Anwyn and Glynnanis stories, and as a result, the world has grown legs based solely on the short fiction. Anwyn is a fun character because he is always at odds with himself and his legacy. Makes for some serious angst. I still get requests from readers as to when I plan to write a novel telling the origin of his power. I have also written one novel where we learn the history of Rhystar and how he came to his power.

Of course, these days I admit that I have grown fond of writing in Selina
Rosen’s Bubbas of the Apocalypse Universe because I get to apply the mythology of my Appalachian roots.

DL: Who is your favorite character?

LU: That’s like asking who is your favorite child among the many you have given birth to. Probably depends on the project, but I will admit that I have a lot of fondness for Conor Manahan. That amuses me since the real focus of those stories is supposed to be Rhoyd who is the Ard Magister. But Conor sort of takes over when he opens his mouth, and it’s hard not to follow him around. There are times I want to be Eithne, except I doubt I would have her patience. :-)

DL: What do you think is the important function of a Fantasy novel?

LU: To keep opening our eyes to the wonders of a world that "might have been." I'm of the opinion that fantasy helps us to keep the storytelling techniques of our ancestors alive and well. Giving credence to things that never were can be fun. Fantasy allows us to tell and retell the favorite stories in a new way. If we can enjoy ourselves on the journey, all the better. If we can make the material seem fresh and new, it becomes even more "fantastic." As a writer, I tend to write the tales I have always wanted to read, and the reward is hearing readers tell me that they think my worlds and characters are very real to them.

DL: With the success of the "Lord of the Rings" movies, do you think any of your stories would make a good movie?

LU: I think all of them would, but that is probably because I am a very visual writer and very fond of my own work. *g* I see scenery being played out in my head. I get up and practice fight moves from time to time. By now most people know that I am a former fencing champion and fencing coach who now does fencing demonstrations for the SFWA Emergency Medical Fund.

I would seriously love to see any of my books turned into a movie. Or a
miniseries. In fact, I think there are a lot of authors now who are holding up their hands in hopes of getting the attention of Peter Jackson. But if I had to pick only one, I suspect I would hold up my current projects Dragon’s Tongue and Wandering Lark because they have the sort of depth (at least I hope they have the sort of depth) that Jackson could have a field day with.

But of course, because I am a practical sort of person by nature, I won't hold my breath. *g*

DL: What other stories are you working on for the future?

LU: I just finished editing Wandering Lark, which is the sequel to Dragon’s Tongue (a novel that will be coming out from Meisha Merlin some time later in 2004). I also recently finished a “collective novel” called Shadow Song, which is set in Anwyn’s world and essentially ties together what happened to that message he carried that I mentioned in “Harper’s Moon” and “The Black Tower.” Of course, I don’t have a publisher for that one yet, but it's the book Marion was always pushing me to write.

I’m currently working on a couple of short stories that I have been asked to provide for future anthologies, and because everyone keeps asking me “What happens next? after Ard Magister, I am working on the further adventures of Conor, Eithne and Rhoyd under the tentative title of Box of Bones. It takes place about three years later. Rhoyd is getting close to preteens mage-wise, and he’s a lot bolder and more trusting of his own power, but there are times when the little boy in him gets in the way. It brings back characters like Michan (From Chronicles of the Last War) and mentioned “The Demon-Bound” as well as the late Fenelon Greenfyn.

Selina Rosen and I just finished collaborating on a “gonzo” mystery novel we’re calling Bad Lands that we are seriously hoping will become a series. I have a soft spot for mysteries still, and writing this book was like going back to my roots of writing mysteries. Plus the characters are a hoot.

I am also hoping to get around to editing Anwyn’s first novel one day and
marketing it and a couple of independent novels set in Ard-Taebh. I have a book about Ginny and Manus (who appeared in a number of my Sword and Sorceress stories) that I am calling The Hounds of Ardagh that is almost ready to submit.

Of course, what I actually get into working on for publication next (besides
the short stories) is probably going to depend on how well my novels Dragon’s Tongue and Wandering Lark do when they come out. (An author’s career is only as good as their numbers.) There’s a trilogy that follows those two books that deals with how Keltora took the High King’s crown and another trilogy in the works dealing with Rhoyd’s Aunt Genna. Plus one day, I want to go back and write something in the time of the Shadow Lords. There are a lot of places in my own worlds that I have not begun to explore. So who knows what stories are hiding there?

DL: Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?

LU: Keep writing, rewriting, revising and resubmitting. And keep reading as well--everything you can get your hands on, be it history, biography, folklore, archaeology, letter and memoirs as well as what you want to write. You can't learn to write if you can't take time to read. And you can't write well if you don't read broadly enough.

Above all, never give up. I see so many beginners who want instant success, and I can tell you after thirty years of writing, there is no instant success. Not without hard work. It's something you earn by taking the steps of the ladder to publication one rung at a time. Too often, aspiring writers will think there is a secret they are missing out on. A handshake, a wink, a password. Trust me. If they existed, I would have found them and bottled them and made myself rich by now. *g* As one of my own mentors would have said, "It takes time to become an overnight success..."

Personally, I'm still waiting. *g*

DL: Thank you very much for the interview.

Interview with Laura J. Underwood

2011-08-05T12:33:00.000-07:00

Patricia McKillip

2011-07-22T12:49:00.002-07:00

Do you like riddles? Mysteries? Patricia McKillip is a fantasy author that can evoke these things and leave a reader wishing for more. She has written many novels with great depth and realistic characters. Her deft, poetic use of language in her novels leaves memorable images in the reader's mind for years. Many of her books have created outstanding, unforgettable fantasy worlds.

The Forgotten Beasts of Eld is a story about a sorceress, her strange pets and her learning to deal with humanity. Sybel grows up alone in a magical castle with only the animals in her strange menagerie for company. When Coren enters her life, her world is turned upside down. This book is a moralistic story with a legendary quality and surprised people by winning the World Fantasy Award in 1975. It foreshadowed the talent of her next endeavor.

The Riddle Master trilogy ( The Riddlemaster of Hed, Heir of Sea and Fire, and Harpist in the Wind ) is a wonderful epic fantasy bordering on true originality. These books are full of riddles and complex human characters. Morgon of Hed is a simple man, coming from an agricultural community, who likes riddles. Radearle is an independent woman seeking her destiny. Together they embark on a tale of adventure, mystery and fulfillment that doesn't end as readers would expect. Along the way we are treated to a story which requires thoughtful reflection after reading the books.

Ms. McKillip turned to science fiction for a time, but eventually returned to fantasy with The Sorceress and the Cygnet and The Cygnet and the Firebird. The author demonstrates her gift for evoking powerful images and stories with language in these books. Readers are presented with a mystical world of constellations that are gods, which mingle with quirky humans. These fantasy worlds are full of wonder and striking beauty.

She wrote a book based on Brian Froud's art work of fairies. In In Something Rich and Strange, two human characters deal with encounters from fairy folk of the sea. This book is illustrated with beautiful art work that inspires a quest story full of strong images of the ocean. A person feels like they are there. Though a hard book to find, it is a treasure to read.

Patricia McKillip has created fantasy worlds that readers will enjoy for many years to come. Every new book by her adds to the Fantasy genre stories of depth, emotion and wonder. Her lyrical forays into Fantasy should not be missed by lovers of the genre.

Other books by Patricia McKillip:

The Changeling Sea

The Book of Atrix Wolfe

Winter Rose

Song for the Basilisk

Riddle-Master- - The trilogy in one book.

Alphabet of Thorn

Solstice Wood

Ombria in Shadow

Od Magic

The Bells at Sealy Head

Bards of the Bone Plain

Patricia McKillip

2011-07-22T12:49:00.001-07:00

Review: _American Gods_ by Neil Gaiman

2011-07-08T18:05:00.000-07:00

Shadow waits to get out of prison and be with his wife in a new life. Shortly before his release, he receives tragic news and goes home. On the airplane home he meets a mysterious man named Mr. Wednesday who draws him into a battle of the gods. Neil Gaiman’s beginning of his Fantasy novel American Gods draws readers into a mythic Contemporary Fantasy with a dark edge. The book has a lot to offer readers with its well developed characters, realistic setting and, intricate plot and theme.

Mr. Gaiman is a master in developing characters. The characters of this book are well developed and realistic. It begins with the main character Shadow in prison. He waited for his release, just wanting to go home to have a normal life with his wife. Events and encounters with gods change him as the book proceeds. Wednesday-Odin is a tricky, crusty old man trying to save his fellow gods from oblivion. Other gods are quirky or dangerous from various mythology backgrounds. The new gods such as the one of the Internet and Media fit their roles completely. Their lives are sad because they are forgotten, desperate to survive at any cost.

Set in the United States of today, the realistic setting gives the story an immediate feeling of suspense. Mr. Gaiman moves the story all over America to familiar places and rare strange ones. Traveling with Mr. Wednesday, Shadow visits new places touched by magic or strangeness. For example, Lakeside is a small town of the North Woods. It is a perfect place with no crime, but with a dark side. One child disappears every year to mar the perfection. The author’s descriptions of the setting are vivid and memorable, making it very familiar for readers and bringing the plot to the forefront.

Finally, the intricate plot and mythic themes gives the book a deeper meaning that touches something in ourselves. This is the tale of a broken mortal human caught up in a war of god Ãs. Shadow just wants his life back. He is at the mercy of Odin, a brutal desperate god. His sojourn throughout the land changes him. Mr. Gaiman blends the heroic myth with elements of horror expertly to produce a memorable affecting novel. The author makes the reader see a darker side to America which most people would not consider possible.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman is a brilliant mythic Contemporary Fantasy. Well developed characters, a realistic setting and, intricate plot and mythic theme makes this a memorable book that is hard to put down. The vivid descriptions and horror stay with you for a long time. This book is not so much read as experienced. It is no wonder. American Gods has won awards. It has won the 2001 Bram Stoker Award for Horror and the 2001 Locus Award for Best Fantasy novel. It is nominated for the 2002 Mythopoeic Award and others too. Do not miss this complex novel. It will leave you thinking about it for some time.

ALERT: American Gods has been picked up to be made into a TV series in the future. It will be interesting to see.

On Vacation

2011-06-26T18:02:00.001-07:00

Sorry I didn't post an article on Friday, June 24, 2011. I'm on vacation out of town and don't have access to my laptop. There will be a new article on Friday, July 8,2011.

Best wishes,

Debbie

Tamora Pierce

2011-06-11T18:52:00.001-07:00

With the huge popularity of the Harry Potter, young adult Fantasy has exploded. More publishers are publishing books for the young adult reader, introducing new voices to the genre or exposing older authors to new audiences. Tamora Pierce in one such author. She writes entertaining books with strong characters and interesting plots. Adult readers can enjoy her many books also. Ms. Pierce sets most of her stories in her Fantasy world of Tortall.

Her first book series is the Song of the Lioness quartet. The books tell the story of adolescent Alanna and her quest to become a knight in a world that does not allow women warriors. Alanna: The First Adventure finds her traveling through the forest, dressed as a boy on her way to the castle to train for a knight. She encounters the Goddess who aids her with her destiny. The second book, In the Hand of the Goddess, continues Alanna’s story as she becomes squire of the young king. In the third book, The Woman Who Rides Like a Man, Al ¿anna spends time in a desert kingdom doing further growing and training three children in the use of their magic gifts. Alanna must save her nation from a war by going on a quest in the last book Lioness Rampant. She is a great character to follow through the four books.

Ms. Pierce’s next four book series is called The Immortals. This series follows the character of Daine. She is a girl with the wild magic talent to talk with animals and change her shape. The books follow Daine through several adventures as she grows and uses her powers to save her kingdom from threats to it. Wild Magic, Wolf-Speaker, The Emperor Mage and The Realm of the Gods are the books in this series.

The Circle of Magic books is a series of loosely connected stories of four young people with magic talent. They all go to a temple that trains each one in the use of their particular magic. Each book tells the story of the one ˇof the four characters as they grow and join together in friendship with their training. Magic Circle: Sandry’s Book covers the story of Sandry master of needlecraft and fabrics. Magic Circle: Tris’s Book tells the story of Tris who controls storms. Daja is a smith mage and her story appears in Magic Circle: Daja’s Book. The last book is Magic Circle: Briar’s Book, which follows the story of the thief Briar and his plant magic. These books are entertaining for young readers.

Keladry wants to be a knight. She takes advantage of the law allowing women to become warriors by entering training. The Protector of the Small series follows her through her training years. In the first book, First Test, Keladry must undergo a year’s probation and finds friends before entering training. In Page she spends time overcoming the grueling training by demanding teachers. Squire prepares her for the final test before becoming a knight while dealing with problems like bullies. Lady Knight has Keladry wanting a combat post, but put in charge of a refugee camp instead. The series is an entertaining story of a young girl’s dreams.

Favorite characters from a previous series return in the loosely connected Circle Opens series. Sandry must train a young boy with magic talent and they must save the city from a brutal killers in Magic Steps. Briar, the streetwise boy, returns in a new book trying to thwart an evil woman killing off the gangs in Street Magic, which has a lot of action. Cold Fire features the return of Daja as she settles in a northern city with her mentor for winter. There she encounters twins with magic talent and an arsonist burning the city. Shatterglass concludes the series with the story of Tris who must try to capture a serial killer. The book is mostly a mystery with interesting magic and strong characters.

Her most recent series focuses on the daughter of Alanna through her coming of age. Alianne wants to be a spy but her parents will not let her. Trickster’s Choice follows her as she is kidnapped and becomes a slave on far away islands. Trickster’s Queen returns to Alianne’s story as she helps the rebellion to end slavery. These books are filled with the author’s usual entertaining combination of a strong female character, interesting plot and vivid action centered on the theme of racism.

Tamora Pierce is the author of several young adult Fantasy books. She explores her created world of Tortall with young characters that have inner strength and various talents. Each of her series are coming-of-age tales set in different parts of her fantasy world. Adult readers will enjoy her books too. She is a good author to read while waiting for the next Harry Potter book. More information can be found on the author’s web site at: http://www.tamora-pierce.com

Review: _Highwayman_ by R.A. Salvatore

2011-05-28T18:15:00.000-07:00

Like action? Want to read a good story? Readers will find this in the stand alone Fantasy novel The Highwayman by R.A. Salvatore. A veteran author of the genre, Mr. Salvatore provides an entertaining book for readers. The book has an action plot, sympathetic characters and interesting setting.

The setting of the book is the world of Corona, the place for previous books of the author. In the land of Honce, there are several lairds ruling their respective holdings. Goblins and Powries, dwarves that kill people and dip their berets in the blood, prowl the land. Two religions vie for dominance in getting the peasants to believe in each of them. It is a place due for change. Far to the south is another country that has a different culture. Mr. Salvatore’s interesting setting helps create an interesting world for the characters to play out their stories.

Next, sympathetic characters draw the reader into the story. The main character is Bransen, a young boy born with severe handicaps. He is bullied and ostracized by the other villagers. Only Cadayle, a young woman he grew up with in the village, helps him and is friends with him. With his love for his foster father and Cadayle’s support, Bransen discovers ways of overcoming his handicaps to find justice for himself. Cadayle must overcome her troubles to find happiness too. Garibond is a loyal man that loves Bransen and protects him from the religious zealots. These characters are realistic due to the author’s talent for description that allows readers to identify with them.

Finally, Mr. Salvatore’s action plot brings it all together for an exciting read. The book starts with the tragic story of Bransen’s parents. Bran Dynard returns with his wife Sen Wei to his homeland, bringing new teachings to enlighten his religious colleagues of the church of Blessed Abelle. Bransen is born to be raised by Garibond. He finds himself caught between the struggles of two religions while a war rages through the land. Laird Prydae has trouble with a bandit called the Highwayman who is like Robin Hood, helping the people to survive the vicissitudes of war. All of the plot elements blend together to create a story with a lot of action. Mr. Salvatore is a master at describing battle scenes and sword fights.

The Highwayman by R.A. Salvatore is an exciting stand alone Fantasy novel. An interesting setting, sympathetic characters and action plot blend together to create a very entertaining book to read. There is also a bonus Drizzt story for fans of that character. It is a good book by a talented author of Fantasy books with plenty of action.

Commentary on Popular Fantasy

2011-05-14T13:05:00.001-07:00

There are some voices grumbling about the Fantasy genre. They complain about how books are like junk food, plenty of calories, but not enough substance. These voices complain that commercial or popular Fantasy is ruining the genre. This is not true. Without the proliferation of popular Fantasy works, the genre would inhabit a minor niche in the world’s literature. Popular or commercial Fantasy is important to the genre because it brings new voices to the genre with different viewpoints, acts as a measure to judge the merits of books, and it brings in new readers to the genre.

The publishing of popular Fantasy books brings new voices with different viewpoints to the genre. It is always good to have different viewpoints from new people. Without fresh, new voices, the genre would stagnate. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings opened up the Fantasy genre to the publishing of many books. The genre grew from this to what it is today. On any given week there is at least one book on the Bestseller lists. Perhaps many books are just rehashes of ground covered by Tolkien, but readers can find something appealing in the latest Robert Jordan, David Eddings, Mercedes Lackey, etc. Without books being published by new authors, there would not be any new voices to add their take on the genre. For example, readers would have missed the depth and characters of George R.R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire series. Or, they would not have discovered the exotically different story to be found in Wheel of the Infinite by Martha Wells. New voices need to be heard to keep the genre bright.

Additionally, popular Fantasy acts as a measure to judge the merits of books. Author Theodore Sturgeon’s law states: “That ninety percent of anything is crap.” By this rule, only ten percent of the books published are good and literary in quality. All of the books in Fantasy range from media tie-ins to role playing rehashes to books of excellent quality and literary merit. Books fall into every place along that range. The merits of every book gets judged along the way by readers, reviewers and academics. Judging the merits of books is hard, but are measurable by those books that remain in people’s minds and become timeless. Lord of the Rings is such a book along with many others. It is necessary to give books time to see if they develop into a classic. That takes a reading audience that finds a book worthwhile to read over again through many years.

Lastly, popular Fantasy brings in new readers to the genre. Any genre needs new readers to keep it viable and strong. When the audience ages or books dwindle in publishing, the readers find something else. Also, detractors of the commercialization of Fantasy complain of a lack of books with depth or literary qualities. These critics forget an important point: Readers in general are looking for entertainment. Most are not interested in books with messages or that aspire to literature. There are many books that should be read, but the quest for literary recognition can lead to elitism. The search for such prestige can cause a defection of readers that could ruin the genre.

Fantasy is a large genre with room for all kinds of books. Popular books might not be literary greats, but they keep the genre prominent by bringing in new authors, acts as a measure for books and brings new readers into the genre. Readers must have a choice of books to choose from for their tastes. Most of the time a reader wants something for entertainment only. Other times, a reader wants something with more depth and powerful themes. There is a necessity for both kinds of books. We can not become narrow minded about books for that leads to the ruin of a wonderful genre.

Review: _The Company of Glass_ by Valery Leith

2011-04-29T18:25:00.000-07:00

Nine years have passed. The floating city of Jai Pendu comes close to Everien again. Tarquin the Free rides toward the citadel to warn the king of an invading army from Pharice. This is how The Company of Glass by Valery Leith begins the first book of the Everien trilogy. The author brings this different Epic Fantasy to life through its characters, setting and plot.

The book revolves around two main characters of different backgrounds. Tarquin is a jaded, tormented warrior once known as Quintar who blames himself for a failed quest eighteen years before that resulted in the loss of his Company of men. He tries to right a grave wrong from the past. Istar is the daughter of one of the lost company. She wants to prove her worth as a warrior and leader of men by going on a deadly quest. Quintar is a loner, running into different characters throughout the book but with few friends. Istar has the help of her companions Kassien, Pallo, Xiriel and Pentar who aid her through her growth. Ms. Leith crates memor ˇable characters through action and dialogue.

Next, the setting of the book helps to give it suspense. Everien is a land consisting of mountains and a high plateau. The people are made up of separate clans devoted to totemic animals such as bear, wolf, deer and others. Each clan has its own fighting style with their own weapons. Ancient ruins from the vanished Everien civilization are everywhere, giving the clans knowledge to explore. Pharice is a decadent empire bordering on Everien. This leads to trouble with other creatures. The author brings the setting to life with vivid descriptions that enhance the suspense of the book.

Ultimately, the plot of the book makes it an exciting read. The clans have been threatened for years by a species called the Sekk. These creatures enslave clan warriors making them slay their people in berserk massacres. A woman clan warrior unites them and becomes the queen. She seeks out the technology from the vanished Everien race to protect the clans from the Sekk. Her quest to J 8ai Pendu gained her entry to the ancient citadel of Jai Khalar. Nine years later she sends Quintar and his company to Jai Pendu, which gave them access to the Eyes to protect the land. Unfortunately that quest ended tragically with the mysterious loss of the Company except Quintar. Jai Pendu returns again. Istar wants to take her companions there to get new technology because the Eyes are failing. Quintar is drawn in again on a wild journey of redemption. All the elements of this plot are deftly put together by Ms. Leith providing a suspenseful, graphic adventure.

The Company of Glass by Valery Leith is a grand start to a different type of Epic Fantasy trilogy. Ms. Leith creates an exciting novel through her characters, setting and plot. This book is different because the characters do not win easily and the quest for Jai Pendu causes a lot of suffering. Interesting images remain with readers such as Jai Khalar’s shifting rooms and characters having to find a new route to places within the citadel. The book is an unforgettable beginning to be followed by The Riddled Night.

Book Review: _Dragoncharm_ by Graham Edwards

2011-04-17T12:41:00.000-07:00

Fantasy authors create many imaginative worlds to set their stories in. They add different types of creatures to their worlds to convey their plots and themes in a place far distant from our reality. Dragoncharm by Graham Edwards is such a book. It combines elements of Epic Fantasy and Animal Fantasy to produce an entertaining book.

The book opens in a world of dragons. There are no humans or any other types of intelligent beings on this world. Two types of dragon inhabit the world; the Charmed dragons who possess magic and the Naturals, large fierce dragons with no magic. Their world is on the brink of destruction, giving the main characters a quest to accomplish.

Fortune is the main character. He is a young Natural dragon frightened by events occurring among his fellow dragons. There is a growing madness in the naturals. They want to destroy the Charmed ones living in the caves out of fear of the Charmed's magic. Fortune meets the Charmed dragon Cumber and they watch as their settlement is destroyed. Cumber and Fortune flee toward the large dragon city of Covamere.

Though dragons, all of the characters are given realistic traits by Mr. Edwards. Fortune is a brave, innocent hero. His love, Gossamer, is a loyal, courageous female with great strength. Wood loves his father, but realizes his mistakes. Cumber discovers that magic isn’t as important as friendship. The insane Charmed black dragon Wraith and mad Natural dragon Shatter are excellent villains. These wonderful characters bring the story to life.

The characters and plot help the themes to give the book a lot of adventure and action. With the world on the edge of destruction, the dragons must overcome great obstacles to save it. Wraith is in a struggle with the old leader of the Charmed dragons for supremacy. The Natural dragons are at war with the Charmed. Madness has destroyed most of the dragons. Winter is closing in on the end. Through all the book runs the themes of good versus evil, change, innocence and love. Edwards weaves these themes into a powerful story.

Dragoncharm by Graham Edwards is a good Fantasy book about dragons. The author creates an imaginative world inhabited only by dragons out to save their world. Plot, characters and themes combine to provide readers with a powerful story full of adventure and heroes. This book is the beginning of a trilogy. The other books are: Dragonflame and Dragonstorm

Book Review: _The Hallowed Isle_ by Diana L. Paxson

2011-04-02T18:30:00.000-07:00

The King Arthur legend is ingrained in our imagination. In every generation some author writes an Arthurian novel, adding new perspectives to the story. Fantasy author Diana L. Paxson recently added her contribution with The Hallowed Isle. Consisting of four books, Paxson wrote a Historical Fantasy about King Arthur. She blended historical material with the legend to creat a story filled with realistic characters, a vivid setting and strong themes.

The first book, The Book of the Sword, starts the story before King Arthur's birth. It sets the stage for the birth of Arthur by telling the story of Merlin. The priestesses of the goddess guard an ancient sword of power. Artoria Argantel, the high priestess, leaves to marry Amlodius to fulfill a prophecy. Her sister is kidnapped by a wild man and after being rescued bears Merlin. He grows up, learns magic and later helps Uthir conceive Arthur. Paxson incorporates the historical details of a Britain after the Roman Empire abandoned it, giving the book a grim reality.

The Book of the Spear revolves around Artor's early years of reign and dealing with the Saxons. Oesc is the grandson of Hengest. He joins his father in Britain. Years after his father's death he becomes a prisoner of Artor. During those years, Oesc's enmity turns to friendship. Eventually he returns to his people and finds his destiny. Throughout this book the reader sees the growth of Artor into kingship. The second book adds new aspects of historical Britain and a growth in the characters. This sets up the third book.

Artor's life and his marriage to Guendivar is the focus of The Book of the Cauldron. Told from the point of view of Guendivar and other women, this book tells the story going on among the women in Artor's life. They strive to protect or possess the mystic cauldron of the pagan goddess, a powerful artefact of healing and magic. Guendivar is a woman gifted with power, but untrained in its use. She is uncertain about being a queen. Morgause, Artor's sister, causes problems with the marriage in her ambition for power. She wants the cauldron to give her even greater power. This book adds an interesting touch to the legend of the Holy Grail and has a conclusion that neatly sets up the last book.

The Book of the Stone concludes the series with the final chapter is Artor's life. Medraut, Artor's son from Morgause, joins his father after his mother joins the priestesses on the Isle of Maidens. Artor has a dream to bring peace to Britannia, so he takes his army to help the Britons settled in Brittany. While he's gone, Medraut seizes power and Qyeen Guendivar. The book proceeds to a satisfying conclusion of this Arthurian tale.

The four books of The Hallowed Isle adds a realistic, mystical story to the Arthurian legend. Diana Paxson created a Historical Fantasy of vivid images, memorable characters and strong themes. The fantasy elements add a special touch to the historical period. One day this series might become a classic in Arthurian literature.

Michelle West

2011-03-19T13:33:00.000-07:00

Fantasy authors create imaginative worlds and populate them with interesting characters. Readers flock to these worlds in great numbers to get away from reality for a short time. One Fantasy author that creates intriguing worlds and cultures is Michelle Sagara West. She brings her works to life with vivid, detailed prose that captures the imagination. Her books have strong themes and not everything is black and white. The books and stories are entertaining, but leave you thinking.

Ms. West wrote her first Fantasy series as Michelle Sagara. The series of The Sundered starts with Into the Darklands. This tells of the battle between the forces of the Bright Heart and the Dark Heart. Erin is a warrior of the Bright Heart and Sarillon or battle leader of the army. She is defeated and captured by Stefanos of the Dark Heart. Renamed Sara, she carries on a strange romance with him. By the end of the book, Stefanos places her in an enchanted sleep. Children of the Blood picks up many years later. Sara awakens from her sleep. She and a boy, Darin, are the only ones left with the powers of Light. They must try to survive in Stefanos’s empire. The third book Lady of Mercy shifts its focus to other characters. Sara and Darin meet a rogue and another man who might have magic that is not of the Light or Dark. Chains of Darkness, Chains of Light brings the series to a conclusion when Sara and King Renar must venture into the Dark Empire to save the last source of the Light.

Her next series is the duology of The Sacred Hunt written as Michelle West. This takes place in a different world. In one kingdom there lives the Hunter Lords. Each Hunter Lord has a companion that follows him. The Hunter Lords and their Huntbrothers must submit themselves once a year to be hunted by the Hunter god. One pair is always sacrificed. Hunter’s Oath is the story of street orphan Stephen who becomes a Huntbrother to Ghilliam of Elseth. Ms. West further deepens the story and adds a new culture in the second book Hunter’s Death. Stephen and Ghilliam must risk breaking their oath when they travel to another city. They face a battle with the evil god Allasakar. The book is full of interesting characters and conflicts with various gods. A lot of court intrigue adds to the story.

Ms. West’s recent series is the Sun Sword. These books focus on the culture and some of the characters from her last book. The Broken Crown takes place fifteen years later and introduces Diora. She possesses the forbidden magical talent of influencing people with her voice. This sets into motion events which might free Allasakar. In the next book, The Uncrowned King, we get the story of Valedan of the Dominion and his struggle against the evil god. Jewel of House Terafin returns in The Shining Courts where she and Avander must face Allasakar too. The latest book, Sea of Sorrows, brings all the characters together from the previous books. They must embark on a quest to find help in the battle against Allasakar that keeps building. All the books contain detailed images and imaginative plots. There should be one more to complete the series.

From the beginning, Michelle Sagara West has been an entertaining author to read. She writes books of involving plots. likable characters and powerful themes with considerable talent. Her works have become increasingly complex and vivid with each new book. Ms. West’s Fantasy worlds are wonderful. Readers will continue to watch her grow for years to come.

Review: _Owlflight_ by Mercedes Lackey

2011-03-05T12:56:00.000-08:00

Valdemar is one of the most popular worlds of the Fantasy genre. Author Mercedes Lackey has written many novels set in this world of her creation. Many novels have centered around the Heralds and their magical Companions. Owlflight is the first book of a trilogy that focuses on different cultures of Valdemar through the eyes of new characters. This book is entertaining because of its sympathetic characters, suspenseful plot and a vivid setting.

Ms. Lackey has a talent for creating interesting characters. The characters in this book are very sympathetic, making them likable. Darian is an orphaned teenager living in the village of Errold’s Grove. He is rebellious because the villagers treat him like an outcast. Apprenticed to the old mage Justyn, Darian must grow through his pain. Help comes from a young Hawkbrother named Snowfire who befriends Darian. Several other characters such as the griffin Kelvrin and others round out a group that keeps readers interested in the plot. The author has interesting nonhuman characters as well with the deer-like dyheli and intelligent lizards called the hertasi.

The suspenseful plot begins with an attack by Northern barbarians on the village. Young Darian flees into the forest followed by some of the raiders. Snowfire saves him and brings Darian to his camp. While Darian slowly makes friends, the small contingent of Hawkbrothers must decide how to save the villagers. The barbarians have a powerful mage working for them while the Hawkbrothers have little access to magic because of the Mage Storms. In the end, it comes down to Darian making important decisions to save his people. Plot elements are woven by the author into - the story of a troubled young boy to create a plot that keeps readers turning pages.

Finally, Ms. Lackey’s vivid setting brings the story to life with realistic descriptions. The forest world of the Hawkbrothers is fascinating with their culture. They have large hawks, owls, falcons and other birds that bond with them. A reader can imagine the great forest trees surrounding them like Darian. Descriptions of the village and the Hawkbrother camp are detailed, making the story more suspenseful with them.

Owlflight by Mercedes Lackey is another entertaining addition to the Fantasy world of Valdemar. Sympathetic characters, a suspenseful plot, and a vivid setting hooks the reader into the interesting story of Darian as he comes of age. This book is a good beginning to another trilogy of Valdemar.

Review: _The Dark Glory Wary_ by Michael Stackpole

2011-02-19T18:01:00.000-08:00

Becoming an adult in the modern world is easy by turning eighteen. There are no ceremonies to the process. In the fantasy realm of Oriosa, young people are given a moon mask and must pass a month of initiation into adulthood. Four young men face this in The Dark Glory War by Michael Stackpole, which changes their lives forever. Readers will find this book suspenseful from the characters, plot and themes.

The characters in the book help create suspense due to likability. Told in the first person point of view, readers are introduced to the main character of Tarrant Hawkins. He is a young man undergoing his month to adulthood. Tarrant is a loyal friend and level headed person that undergoes severe trials that change him. His closest friend is Leigh, the son of a noble. Leigh is flamboyant and brave, tempered by Tarrant’s friendship. A third friend is Nay, the calm, steady smith with quiet strength. Mr. Stackpole brings these characters to life in a timely fashion that gets readers to sympathize with them, which creates suspense through their experiences.

Next, the author creates a strong action plot full of suspense. Tarrant and his friends are taken out of the city for an initial trial. They end up in a fight for survival with a dangerous monster. This experience propels them into adulthood quickly by being included in a trip to the capital city to warn the queen of the monsters. On their journey they fight a desperate battle in the ruins of an ancient city where Tarrant meets the elf Resolute. From there, the young men find themselves quickly becoming warriors in the war against the evil empress Chytrine of Aurolan as she invades the realms of the south. The author weaves an engaging plot through tight, vivid descriptions that keeps readers turning pages.

Finally, the themes of the book create suspense because readers can relate to them. The characters must face their coming-of-age. In their society, they where masks at different stages of life. Every experience adds to the mask. Each character faces events that change them. Loyalty is another theme of the book. Tarrant, Leigh and Nay remain loyal to each other despite strains on their close friendships. Mr. Stackpole weaves these themes subtly into the book through the vivid incidents and characters’ reactions, which makes it have more tension.

The Dark Glory War by Michael Stackpole is an action packed novel full of suspense. Characters, plot and themes make the book suspenseful and ultimately entertaining. Mr. Stackpole is an excellent Fantasy author that uses his experiences to create books that keep readers hooked until the end. This book is a prequel to the Dragoncrown trilogy, which continues the story of some of the characters begun here.

Book Review: _The Winter Rose_ by Patricia McKillip

2011-02-04T18:41:00.000-08:00

A young woman runs wild through the woods and stops to sit by a hidden well overgrown with roses. One fine summer day as she sits by the well, she sees a strange young man step out of the sunlight. He looks otherworldly. His arrival begins events that will change lives. The Winter Rose by Patricia McKillip is a beautifully written fairy tale Fantasy of mysteries, change and winter. Memorable characters, a vivid setting and mystery plot makes the book on entertaining story of wonder.

Memorable characters gives readers focus points and interesting people to stay with the book until the end. Rois is the youngest sister of two with a caring father who is a farmer. She spends most of her time wandering the forest barefoot, exploring and collecting medicinal plants. Her family gets exasperated with her wild ways. Gifted with a strange magic, Rois can see things which drives her restless spirit, especially in winter. Laurel is the older sister, practical and engaged to be married. She is the foundation of her family that keeps them balanced. These two sisters encounter Corbet Lynn who affects their lives in different ways. He arrives in the village with a troubled past linked to an old mystery. The author makes these characters believable and sympathetic with her descriptive talent.

Next, Ms. McKillip creates a vivid setting for her story that gives it a strong sense of wonder. This book is set in a quiet farming village near a secretive forest. The forest has many secret places like the hidden well surrounded by roses, which leaves a strong image for readers. Also, the two rooms of Lynn Hall with its things like the magical tapestry seems real. Changing seasons play an important role in the setting too. The story begins in spring, but it is the images of winter that leaves a stronger impression. With added descriptions of the fairy other world, the setting brings the book to life.

Finally, the mystery plot blended with fantasy elements keeps the reader anxiously reading. Rois sees Corbet some out of sunlight one day by the well. She is uncertain about what she saw. Corbet’s appearance brings up the old mystery of his grandfather and the curse upon his family to the villagers. This creates a lot of speculation and sets the whole tale in motion. Rois is attracted to Corbet and becomes obsessed with solving the mystery of his life. Laurel falls in love with Corbet even though she is engaged and pines away for him. All these events dovetail neatly into a satisfying climax with the author’s subtly vivid descriptions.

To conclude, The Winter Rose by Patricia McKillip is a wonderful fairy tale Fantasy that is very thoughtful and full of wonder. The memorable characters, vivid setting and mystery plot makes the book an entertaining read that stays with the reader. Ms. McKillip is an excellent Fantasy author of many thought provoking, descriptive works. Most readers will not be disappointed with this or any other of her books.

_A Cavern of Black Ice_ by J.V. Jones

2011-01-23T16:40:00.000-08:00

I apologize for the lateness of this entry. Friday sneaked up and passed me before I realized it. Sorry. On to the entry.

A Cavern of Black Ice by J.V. Jones is the first book of a new fantasy trilogy called "Sword of Shadows." The author's writing is impressive about a fantasy world with dark edges and deep themes. The book is full of interesting characters, a good plot and different magic system.

Characters in the book are well-developed with powerful conflicts. Raif Severance belongs to a clan of people in the North. He is horrified by a terrible event his clan commits, leaving him an outcast from clan and family. Asharia (Ash) is a foundling orphan frightened by physical changes of her body and the motives of her foster father. She struggles to be free of him and her awakening power. The villains in this book have motivations for their evil and are not cardboard characters.

The realistic characters help a good plot move along quickly. It starts out in the far North with the men of the Blackhail Clan on a hunt. Raif Severance and his brother are off fooling around. When they return to the camp, they find their father and everyone else dead. On returning to the clan hold, they discover another member survived the attack. Raif doesn't trust or like this clan member. Things move from there. Ashe's story is told separately until she teams up with Raif and his uncle.

Ms. Jones has created an intriguing magic system for this book. Magic has a price to the user, often embarassing and weakening. People can fight against the magic if they know what is happening to them. Ash is the inheritor of the even stranger magic of being a Reach. Another group of people, the Sul, have their own magic that I hope will be explored in the next book.

A Cavern of Black Ice is not to be missed. Many plot ends are left open to intrigue the reader waiting for the next book. Hopefully the author will explore some other cultures like the Sul in the forthcoming books. If you like serious fantasy with a dark edge, read this book. You won't be disappointed.

Review: _Quatrain_ by Sharon Shinn

2011-01-07T12:38:00.000-08:00

Sharon Shinn is an author who has written may books. She writes fantasy and some science fiction, mixing the genres is some of her stories. She has created interesting worlds with memorable characters. Her book Quatrain contains four long stories set in four of her popular worlds.

“Flight” occurs in her world where angels interact with humans. Women are attracted to the angels and want to have one as a lover. Salome, the main character, is an ex-angel seeker. She lives quietly on a farm with her niece determined to keep her away from angels because she doesn’t want her niece’s life to be ruined. Part of Salome’s attitude is driven by betrayal of angels she once knew and loved. The story comes to a satisfying ending due to the interesting characters.

In “Blood,” Kerk is a gulden (golden skin color) man who moves to the city. He wishes to find his mother and sister after seventeen years of separation. The gulden culture possesses a strong oppression of women and their rights. Jalci, an indigo (blue skin color) woman, strikes up a friendship with him while helping him with his search. Such relationships are not heard of between the two cultures. The story has an interesting conflict of characters that leads to a satisfying conclusion.

Next, “Gold” is set in the world of Castle Auburn. Princess Zara is sent away to Alora for safety since the kingdom is under attack from a rival army. Alora is a forest kingdom of a magical race that lives on the fruits provided by nature. The Alorans have a pleasurable magical affect on humans when they touch them. Few humans want to leave the kingdom once they experience this affect. Zara must struggle against the lure of Alora and her desire to return to her family. This is an entertaining story about love and responsibility.

Finally, “Flame’ is the story of the fire mystic Senneth. Mystics are feared by the members of the normal population because of their magic. Senneth, who is a loner, makes some new friends in a village. Someone is starting fires in the town and she is blamed. Senneth must fight the suspicious citizens while she tries to find the real culprit. This is a nice story with memorable characters and an intriguing world.

Overall, the book is very entertaining. Each of the stories in the book revolves around the themes of love, independence and determination among other things. The characters in the stories are realistic and memorable along with the imaginative settings. Ms. Shinn provides more thought provoking stories to her various worlds. This book would be a good introduction to the author’s works for readers who have never read her books.

RA Salvatore Interview

2010-12-24T18:39:00.000-08:00

Born in Massachusetts in 1959, Robert Salvatore’s love affair with fantasy, and with literature in general, began during his sophomore year of college when he was given a copy of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings as a Christmas gift. He promptly changed his major from computer science to journalism receiving a Bachelor of Science Degree in Communications from Fitchburg State College in 1981, then returned for the degree he always cherished, the Bachelor of Arts in English. He began writing seriously in 1982, penning the manuscript that would become Echoes of the Fourth Magic.

His first published novel was The Crystal Shard from TSR in 1988. Since that time, Robert has published numerous novels, including the New York Time bestselling The Halfling’s Gem, Sojourn, and The Legacy. Robert held many jobs during those first years as a writer, finally settling in (much to our delight) to write full time in 1990. Over three million R.A. Salvatore novels have been sold with many translated into different languages and audio versions. CrossGen will be releasing his latest graphic novel, DemonWars volume 2: Eye for an Eye, later this year.

In the fall of 1997, Robert’s letters, manuscripts, and other professional papers were donated to the R.A. Salvatore Library at his alma mater, Fitchburg State College in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. When he isn’t writing, Robert attends his three children’s hockey games, horse shows, and fencing events. His gaming group of 18 years still meets on Sundays to play everything from Nintendo 64 to the AD&D game, and even set up its own company: Seven Swords. His hobbies include softball, hockey, and music, particularly a good blast of Mozart while tooling down the highway. He makes his home in Massachusetts, with his wife Diane, and their three children, Bryan, Geno, and Caitlin, their dog, Puddles, and a calico cat named Guenhwyvar.

More information about his books can be found at his web site: http://www.rasalvatore.com

Debbie Ledesma: How long have you been writing? Was it difficult getting published?

R.A. Salvatore: I started writing in 1982. I finished my first novel in the spring of 1983. I wasn't planning on publishing the book; I just wanted something to distinguish me from the other "Social Security numbered" working stiffs. I wanted something my kids would someday show to my grandkids.

Well, friends read it and loved it and said I should publish it. So I tried - and got hammered with rejection letters. That just made me more determined, though. If you tell me I can't do something, I get very stubborn and work hard to prove you wrong. I landed my first book contract in 1987.

DL: Do you find writing books based on role playing games easier to write then your own creations?

RAS: No. In both cases, these are my own creations. In both cases, it's the scope of the book itself, not the amount of world building I need to do or the amount of world research I need to do, that determines the difficulty of the book. One of the most difficu lt books I've written was Sojourn because I had to bring the Drizzt story in line with a previously written work, namely The Crystal Shard.

If you look at my work in the Realms, you'll see that I've spent a great amount of time finding places to stay out of other peoples' way. Icewind Dale is my creation, as much as is Corona of the Demonwars saga. Same with Menzoberranzan - using the mythologies of Gary Gygax and others instead of the real-world mythologies I used in the Corona setting.

Working in a shared world can be frustrating of course, as when things are printed that affect your work and for which you were not consulted. It can also be incredibly rewarding, like when Ed Greenwood and I shared ideas of what Longsaddle should look like.

DL: Do you have ideas for any other books besides your current series?

RAS: At this point, I don't even know where my current series is going! I do hav eon other book that I'm planning to write, but I'm not starting it un Átil next year and I won't talk about it, because when it comes out, it will be under a pen name. I don't want anybody reading it with any preconceived notions.

DL: One of your most popular characters is Drizzt. What do you think readers find appealing about him? Who is your favorite character to write?

RAS: Drizzt is a classic romantic hero. Misunderstood, often wrongly persecuted - sounds like High School, right? Add to that his indomitable spirit and high moral code and his ability to kick some butt and you have someone who offers hope to people who feel powerless.

That's what I think, but I honestly don't KNOW why Drizzt has become such a huge popular hit.

My favorite character to write? That changes all the time. Marcalo De'Unnero from DemonWars would be up there, as would Bruenor and Drizzt. Pikel Bouldershoulder is a blast, but Oliver deBurrows of the Crimson Shadow books takes the prize for comedy, with Pikel and Thibbledorf Pwent coming in at a second-place tie.

DL: How is The Highwayman different from your other books?

RAS: First of all, it's a stand-alone novel. You don't have to read anything before it or after it. It's a book, not a piece of a larger series, and that seems unusual in fantasy these days. This has been my plan since I started DemonWars: I wrote seven books to define the boundaries - magical, social, geographical and political - of the world and now I can go there and just tell stories.

Second, I made The Highwayman>/u> more human-centered than anything I've ever done. There are non-human monsters, but every named character is human, and some, like Bransen, are very, very human. I wanted the book to be accessible to people who don't read fantasy; the book a Drizzt reader can give to his girlfriend who keeps asking him what he's reading.

DL: What authors do you enjoy reading?

RAS: I'm all over the place with my reading. Generally these days I stay out of the fantasy genre altogether. I do enjoy David Gemmell and Terry Brooks.

Currently I'm devouring political books. We've got an important election coming up and I want to be as informed as possible. Right now I'm slogging through the Tom Clancy/Anthony Zinni collaboration. It's slow going.

DL: What do you think are the reasons for the popularity of Fantasy?

RAS: Because the world is dangerous and times are tough and the News makes a point of being depressing ("blood leads") and scary. Because work, for most people, is mundane and boring and overwhelming. Fantasy is the ultimate escapist fiction, and "escapism" isn't such a bad word to so many people.

Also, between Harry Potter and the Jackson "Lord of the Rings" movies, fantasy has been thrust into the imaginations of many, many more people.

DL: Could you give some advice to aspirin æg writers?

RAS: Sure: if you can quit then quit. I mean that with all my heart and soul. If you can walk away from this ugly business, then don't walk, run!

If you can quit, then quit, and if you can't quit, you're a writer. You don't
write to get published or to get rich and famous (because few writers get
published and a tiny speck of a percentage become rich and an even tinier speck of a percentage become famous). You write because you have stories clawing at the inside of your skin, desperately trying to tear free.

Once that question is settled, my advice would be to study the business of
writing as well as studying literature. Go to the library and look in "The
Writer's Market" or "The Literary Marketplace." Find out how to submit your
work, to whom and in what format. Every little piece is important.

DL: What books are you working on now?

RAS: None! I'm on vacation for the first time in 16 years. I'll start a new
Forgotten Realms book featuring Artemis Entreri and Jarlaxle later this summer.

DL: Thank you very much for the interview Mr. Salvatore.

Book Review: _The Kingless Land_ by Ed Greenwood

2010-12-10T18:12:00.000-08:00

Aglirta is a kingdom without a king. The king sleeps an enchanted sleep hidden by magic. Only the magical world stones can awaken him, and everyone wants them for their own power. This is the main premise of the Adventure Fantasy book The Kingless Land by Ed Greenwood. Its interesting characters, action plot and recognizable themes makes it an entertaining book for readers.

Readers need interesting characters they can sympathize with to engage them in a book. The four main characters of this book are interesting because of their backgrounds and personalities. Hawkril is a tall, strong warrior who does not talk very much, but extremely loyal to his friends. Craer is Hawkril’s friend and has a sense of humor as well as being clever. Lady Embra Silvertree, a powerful s orceress, wants friends, working to keep the band together despite her problem. The healer Sarasper gravitates from gentle concern to a hard man. Mr. Greenwood brings all of these characters to life through their actions and dialogue. They work together to keep the plot moving at a fast pace.

Action is an important aspect of the plot of an Adventure Fantasy. This book has a strong action plot that keeps a reader hooked for every chapter of the book. The action is nonstop from the beginning when Hawkril and Craer break into Castle Silvertree to steal a bejeweled gown from Lady Embra. They get caught in the act by the lady who is a powerful magic worker. She asks them to help her escape from her ruthless father instead of imprisoning them. They flee, hounded by her father’s wizards sending monsters to stop them. Helped by Sarasper, they join together to start a quest for the magic stones to free the sleeping king. Aglirta is a chaotic kingdom run by various barons that are constantly at war with each other. Th e bards have hidden motives too. All of these plot threads are deftly woven together by Mr. Greenwood to provide a vivid, fast paced book that is entertaining.

Themes are important to books to give them meaning and a connection for readers. The recognizable themes in The Kingless Land keeps the book entertaining. Friendship and loyalty are two themes that bind the plot together. Four different people forge friendships under difficult conditions. They remain loyal to each other. Readers can identify w °ith this since everyone makes friends and wishes them to be loyal in their lives. Another theme for this book is the quest. The four main characters search for the world stones to help Sarasper and save Lady Embra from a life threatening problem. All the themes form strong connections for the reader.

The Kingless Land by Ed Greenwood is an excellent Adventure Fantasy for readers. The interesting characters, action plot and recognizable themes make this an entertaining book to read. It starts out with a lot of action and continues throughout the book, making it hard to put down. This is the first of the Band of Four series. Try it out for an enjoyable read.

Interview with Sharon Green

2010-11-26T18:15:00.000-08:00

I did this interview with Ms. Green a few years ago, but it still has good information.

Sharon Green is the author of several Fantasy novels full of strong women characters and understanding men characters. She writes many romantic adventure Fantasies that are infused with romance, a lot of action and subtle themes. Many of her books have shapeshifters and other interesting magical systems. Though she writes Science Fiction too, her Fantasy novels are entertaining. Her first foray into Fantasy came with The Farside of Forever about the sorceress Laciel. This was followed by Hellhound Magic. Later, she wrote the beginning of a five book sequence starting with Silver Princess, Golden Knight. These books involve the stories of people that are shapechangers in their cultures and the problems this entails. There have been other novels in between, but her most recent popular series is the “Blending.” The se novels are about a world where everyone has magical powers tied to the five elements of earth, air, fire, water and spirit. Five very different characters must learn to blend their powers into a powerful force to save their world. Convergence, Competitions, Challenges, Betrayals and Prophecy. These books are followed by a new trilogy in the “Blending” beginning with Intrigues and Deceptions, which was published this month. She has new novel coming out in May 2001 that she is publishing herself. It’s called Silver Bracers, an omnibus of previously published Lady Blade, Lord Fighter and new part called The Argent Swords. It is available through her web site at http://www.integritytech.com/sharong.htm .

Debbie Ledesma: Why did you become a writer?

Sharon Green: I've always been involved with writing, but when I was married I was very unhappy and needed an escape badly. So I began to visualize other places and people, and the need to write about those places and people got me started. I think I ought to mention that my initial efforts were really *bad*. It takes practice - of the right things - for your writing to be readable.

DL: It seems all sorts of things can trigger you into writing. I started one day because I was bored at work. What direction did your first published books take?

SG: My first published book, The Warrior Within, was written in response to something I read - one of the Gor books - that made me hit the ceiling and bounce. I felt that John Norman had missed on all counts: not only didn't he understand that there are women who won't *allow* themselves to be made slaves, he even got the "h ®elpless" kind of woman wrong. The Warrior Within was meant to show what a three-dimensional "helpless" woman would be like, and The Crystals of Midas, my second book in print, showed the other side of the coin: a woman not helpless in the least. “The Warrior” series eventually grew into an effort to show how only you can keep yourself from being "helpless," and even having really strong abilities doesn't do any good unless you have the right attitude to go along with the abilities.

DL: Why did you pick the Fantasy genre to write in?

SG: I started out as a science fiction writer, which is what I consider
myself. I got an idea for a fantasy so I wrote it, and that became The
Far Side of Forever. After that I was offered contracts only for
fantasy, so that's what I'm now writing. I should mention that I'm also
looking for a science fiction publisher, since I have a lot of unwritten
ideas that don't fit in 7to fantasy.

DL: It was a good thing for readers that you branched out into Fantasy. The definition of what Fantasy is is always under debate. What is your definition of Fantasy?

SG: For some reason the basic, original definition has been lost along the way. The definition I learned years ago goes as follows: if what you write can happen in this, our universe, without changing any natural laws, then you're writing science fiction. If you have to change a natural law in any way at all, you're writing fantasy. For my own stuff, I should add that if it *looks* as though you're changing a natural law, these days it's also considered fantasy.

DL: How do you approach world building in your Fantasy books?

SG: My answer to this question is going to be very unsatisfactory. I've heard the term "world-building" quite a lot during the past years, but have never engaged in the practice myself. I usually start with a character and/or a situation, and then think about the circumstances the two would fit into. That gives me the kind of world my characters and situation need, without having to sit down and visualize a world. The world comes with the package, so to speak.

The most important thing to me is the people who are caught in some kind of situation. How they interact with their world is more important than what the world is; the nicest or most horrible of worlds can be the worst or best environment, depending on what's expected of you in those places. Humans have the ability to cope with and overcome he most trying of hardships, and then trip and fall over something some would never even notice. Most writers seem to use the idea of an ordinary person being thrust into a situation where he or she has to strive to become a he
ro. I prefer to use a hero who runs into something he or she can't handle, something that an ordinary person might have no trouble with. If you're really good and know it, you also know, on a subconscious level, that you'll never find a situation that you can't handle. If you *do* find a situation like that, you just aren't prepared to cope with it. Makes for an interesting story, I tend to think.

DL: I find Fantasies that have a mythic underpinning very memorable. Do you use mythological themes or sources in you books?

SG: Not deliberately, but the subconscious can't be trusted. Mine tends to steal from everywhere and anything, and I have to be careful about making sure I'm not treading on toes that have walked the trail before me. But I'm also one of those people most others won't play Trivial Pursuit with because I tend to remember the most useless, obscure things I come across. I've been exposed to a good deal of mythology, of course, so you never know when one bit or another will surface - usually changed in some way.

DL: Your women characters have changed over the years with your new books. Do you find a lot of gender stereotypes in Fantasy?

SG: There are gender stereotypes everywhere, and I've noticed something strange: if I'm not mistaken, books with "helpless" characters, both male and female, seem to be more popular; the bigger the "fraidy-cat," in effect, the better the sales. I have a weird theory to cover the
trend, but I'm not quite sure how sound the reasoning of the theory is.
The situation links into the very popular "sitcoms" on tv these days, I
think, which makes the theory even more convoluted. If you'd like me to
go into the theor ùy, let me know. It isn't a short explanation.
Other than that, I have to say that my personal taste in characters is
tired to death by the "young, inexperienced beginner" too many people
use as major characters. That kind of character also seems to be part of
the trend toward using the helpless as role models, and I'm afraid I
can't connect to it. I like to see people who already know what they're
doing tackling a bad situation, not someone groping through the time
making it up as she/he goes. The second *can* be entertaining and
riveting, but most writers don't seem to be able to handle the
crossover. Does that make any sense?

DL: Maybe beginning writers have trouble with the second kind of character because they don't feel experienced enough to write them. Tell us about your theory?

SG: To state the theory as briefly as possible, we have too many nonfighters in this country today. Nonfighters can't cope with a situation the way a fighter can, nor should they be expected to... See, I can't be brief. There are two kinds of people in the world: fighters and nonfighters. The fighter carves out of the wilderness a place that people can call home, and then defends the area against anyone trying to take it. The nonfighter then builds on the land and makes the "home" comfortable. Fighters and nonfighters *should* be partners because neither can go forward without the other, but our weird situation in this country has changed that state for the worse. Nonfighters call fighters "warmongers," and fighters call nonfighters "peaceniks" and "wooses." Did you know that after a war, the birth rate of male children goes up? It's an established fact, and shows that Mother Nature is trying to replace the males who were killed in the war. The trend continues until the population is balanced again. Now, think back to how long it's been since we had a war “ ON OUR OWN SOIL. That, I think, is very much a part of the need for a change. We haven't had a war in this country in many years, so Mother Nature thinks we need fewer fighters - and therefore causes less of them to be born. That leaves much too large a preponderance of nonfighters, which explains why our reps in the government are trying to legislate everyone into safety instead of doing something more direct - and more effective.

Now, too many of the nonfighters are unhappy with their jobs and their lives. They're afraid to lose their job because they don't know if they can get another, so they swallow down their unhappiness and don't dare to say "boo" in their places of work. But when they get home they watch sitcoms, because then they can laugh at the fools in the program WITHOUT WORRYING ABOUT BEING SAFE. The fool on the screen can't hurt them, and certainly can't take their job away. They can't tell fools off in their lives, so they laugh at the fools on dtv.

To extend the idea, the nonfighter reader can most easily identify with the helpless character. They know they would be just as helpless in the same situation, so identification is easiest. Phew! Does any of that make sense to you? There's more, but I won't go into it now.

DL: That is very interesting. So, how do you come up with characters? Which are easier for you to write male or female characters?

SG: To take the second part of your question first, females are easier for me to write than males because *I'm* female. I've had enough close male friends in my life to have learned that men and women may look at the same thing, but they're not *seeing* the same thing. I don't understand the male point of view more than distantly and from the outside, so I have to fake it as best I can. My male fans sometimes tell me if I'm doing a good enough job, and I've been told that I'm getting closer...:] Now, how do I come up with characters... Sometimes I have the character first, and then think about a situation that will give her/them the most trouble. Sometimes I have a situation, and think about what kind of person would have the most difficulty with that situation. But then, sometimes the two come together at the same time, and all I have to do is write it down.

DL: What authors influenced your writing?

SG: The very first s.f. book I ever read was at the age of 12, and the book was Wild Talent by Wilson Tucker. The book grabbed me so hard that the fact I couldn't understand what was going on didn't matter. After that I started to read juveniles, went through them fast, then continued with more adult fare. (Ahem) After having been exposed to most of the writers of the day, my favorite was - and still is - Robert Heinlein.

Even back then I noticed that Heinlein didn't just tell a good story - with a writing style that to this day I can't copy - but he also included excellent advice for living. For instance, I picked up what I consider my most important rule of life: honor is an individual thing. It doesn't matter what anyone else in the world does, you're responsible only for yourself. If you lie a znd cheat and steal, what you're doing is announcing to the world that you can't get what you have *without* lying, cheating, and stealing. Even if no one else in the world is honest, that doesn't matter. Only what you do matters, so whether or not you behave honorably is entirely up to you.

Wow. I'd never had things explained like that before, and I knew Heinlein was right. I decided to live my life as honorably as possible, and also try to show characters who do the same. In addition I also try to pass on what I consider good advice. And, hopefully, tell a good story at the same time.

Over the years, I've realized that what Heinlein said was that we need heroes. We don't have enough heroes in our culture, so I do what I can to add to the numbers.

DL: We certainly need heroes now. Do you think September 11 will change the genre? Has it affected your writing?

I think people will just go back to their old ways of looking at things as September 11 fades in their memories. Too many people still think that trouble will disappear if you ignore it, which is what made the trouble to begin with. But fearful people don't understand that point, and truthfully they shouldn't have to. It's something that fighters ought to be facing, not non-fighters, but we have too many non-fighters around these days due to the lack of wars in our own country. Are you aware of the fact that after a war more boy babies are born than girl babies? It's an established fact; nature is trying to correct the imbalance that death in war brings. It's my theory that the same happens with fighter and non-fighter kids. If there are wars, more fighter babies are born. If there are no wars, more non-fighter babies are born. Since we've had no wars in our country in a very long time, the number of fighters in our popul Íation is way down. September 11 will likely change that, but not in time to do much good. Seeing tv commercials against "violence" gets me very upset. The various stars come on and state that there's never a need for violence. Excuse me? What world do they live in? You might want to hope that violence will never be necessary, but in the real world violence is always there and waiting to pounce. The only way to cope with that is to be prepared, not pretend it will never happen. I raised my sons (fighters, like me) with the attitude that's proper for fighters: you don't start it, but if someone else does the starting you do your best to finish it. One more comment and I'll get off the soapbox. Isn't it about time that people were told the truth about school - and "otherwhere"
- bullies? Bullies aren't fighters; they're non-fighters who are being hurt elsewhere, probably at home. If you hurt a fighter kid, that kid will get even with you even if he or she has to wait until you sleep or he/she grows up. If you hurt a non-fighter child, that child is too afraid of you to do anything to you, so he/she looks for someone weaker to pass the hurt along to. A true fighter will never pick on a non-fighter; there's no challenge in besting someone who doesn't want to fight in the first place, and the only name you get from that isn't a nice one. If we make sure to raise our fighter kids in the proper way, no non-fighter will have to fear them. Right now our fighter kids are being penalized for being what they were born to be, and that's a recipe for trouble if there ever was one. As far as my writing goes, it will stay the same as it's always been. I've been on this soapbox for quite some time.

DL: There are a lot of books by authors like Robert Jordan, David Eddings, Terry Goodkind, etc. that are popular. Do you find a lot of the Fantasy books hitting the bestseller lists derivative? Do you think they’re helpful to further the field?

SG: Most of the books that are really popular aren't derivative, but are new ways to look at old ideas. The only problem is, once something becomes popular too many editors want the same kind of thing rather than something else. Experienced editors know better, of course, but there are a lot of newcomers in the field these days. And what furthers the field is anything so well done that you can't put it down. That kind of book is welcome no matter what story line it has.

DL: The Harry Potter books have brought a lot of young readers into the genre. What do you think of this? Is it helpful to the genre?

SG: I haven't read the Harry Potter books, but anything that makes kids stretch their imaginations is a Good Thing. And once they're past the simple beginnings, they will probably move on to more mature efforts. I think that's what the Star Trek people are trying with Enterprise this season. The only problem with that idea is the much-too-PC characters and scripts being used. I watched the series with high hopes, but have since given it up. No one in their right mind would appoint an overgrown boyscout to command a star ship, but that's what's been done with both Enterprise and Andromeda. Too bad, too. They both had lots of promise.

DL: Movies are a different medium, but do you think any of your books would make a good movie?

A number of my books would make good movies, and apparently someone in Hollywood agrees with that. My agent there is working with a producer who wants to do Haunted House, my first Harlequin Intrigue, as a tv movie. It's the best mystery I've done so far, so I hope it does get made into a movie. After that I mean to try to interest them in The Far Side of Forever, which is a fantasy. The book is very visual, so it ought to translate really well to the big screen.

DL: What books will we see from you in the future?

That all depends on which proposal is bought next. I have a couple of science fiction ideas going around, a couple of fantasy ideas, a mystery, and a mainstream serial murderer novel.

DL: Thank you very much for your time. We’ll all look forward to your future endeavors.

Robin McKinley

2010-11-12T12:12:00.001-08:00

Fairy tales are an important part of the Fantasy genre. They play a part in many Fantasy books and are part of its history. Many authors use fairy tales as a springboard for their stories, either as retellings or using their elements to write new books to capture the interests of readers. Robin McKinley is one of these authors. She is an imaginative author of revised fairy tales and two Epic Fantasy books. Her characters are realistic, the stories memorable and descriptions vivid, providing readers with deeply unforgettable books.

Ms. McKinley’s first book was Beauty. It is a strong retelling of the fairy tale “Beauty and the Beast.” The book follows the original story closely, but the author deepens the characters with r ealistic motivations and flaws. Beauty is a strong, practical young woman that develops a friendship with the Beast that grows deeper as time passes. She explores the magic of the castle to learn how to help the sad creature. A dramatic story is created by the author’s descriptive talent for bringing fairy tale worlds to life.

Her next book is a collection of short stories. The Door in the Hedge contains four fairy tale stories. Two retell the fairy tales of “The Princess and the Frog” and “The Twelve Dancing Princesses.” The other two are the author’s works told in fairy tale style: “The Stolen Princess” and “The Hunting of the Hind.” They are all told in Ms. McKinley’s unique style, breathing new life into some original fairy tales.

The author ventured into Epic Fantasy with the next book The Blue Sword. Her Fantasy world is called Damar. Harry, the main character, is a young woman who comes from a sedate culture. She is kidnapped by the king of Damar and taken to a harsh desert kingdom where she discovers her magic, finds the legendary Blue Sword and becomes a warrior. This is a story of a mystical land full of magic and destinies. Ms. McKinley fills the book with memorable images with her writing.

Her next book was the second Epic Fantasy novel The Hero and the Crown. It is a prequel to the previous book, taking place hundreds of years earlier in the land of Damar. Aerin is the daughter of the king. She has a painful childhood, facing the death of her mother and treated as an outcast by the people. With the Blue Sword and a special ointment, Aerin becomes a renowned dragon slayer. This is a powerful book with strong themes. The author won a Newberry Medal for this book.

The Outlaws of Sherwood was a bit of a departure from Ms. McKinley’s usual stories. She adds a vivid texture and realistic struggles to the characters of the Robin Hood legend. Though not a Fantasy, the story is given interesting new twists with feminist themes included. The book has romance and a lot of adventure. It is very entertaining.

Next, Robin McKinley turned to an adult fairy tale with a dark edge with Deerskin. Princess Lissar grows up with the same beauty as her dead mother. Her father abuses her throughout her childhood which ends in a sexual assault. Lissar flees her home into the woods. She spends a long time to find a new life, but without the traditional fairy tale ending. This book is not for children. It is a disturbing read that deals with the hard issues of child abuse. Ms. McKinley does an excellent job of telling a difficult story.

The author has branched out in recent years with other books. She has a book with vampires called Sunshine. The world has been taken over by vampires. Sunshine, who works in a bakery, is kidnapped by vampires and held captive with a vampire named Constantine. She uses her magical powers to free herself and Constantine then they flee. Together they strive to save the world from the control of the vampires. This is an interesting, entertaining different book by the author.

Her latest book uses Pegasus from Greek mythology set in another world. Pegasus is the story of a princess bonded to her Pegasus. The two species live in uneasy coexistence on their world. Special speaker magicians are the only ones who can communicate between the two species until the princess and her friend come along. Their ability to talk to each other threatens the status quo of the world. This is a beautifully written new book to the author’s body of work.

Fairy tales are an important part of the Fantasy genre. Readers of all ages have been exposed to fairy tales and enjoy them. Robin McKinley is a Fantasy author that retells fairy tales, creates new ones and writes Epic Fantasy using her imaginative talent. Her books add depths to the characters that live in vivid settings. She incorporates modern day issues and important themes in her books. More information can be found at her site: http://www.robinmckinley.com

Other books:

A Knot in the Grain and Other Stories

Rose Daughter

Spindle’s End

Chalice

Dragonhaven

A Knot in the Grain

_Sometimes the Magic Works_ by Terry Brooks

2010-10-29T18:23:00.000-07:00

This week’s article is a review of a book by Terry Brooks about writing. I thought I would share this review again since Nanowritmo is coming up. Enjoy.

Ever wonder where writers get their ideas, or how do they write books? Many people believe writing is easy and they can some day write a book too. Sometimes the Magic Works by Terry Brooks is a book that can answer these questions. The book is a combination of an autobiography about the author’s writing career and advice on writing books. Readers will get fascinating insights about the author. Writers will find a lot of good information about writing books.

Terry Brooks is a veteran Fantasy author with many books to his credit. He burst into the Fantasy genre with The Sword of Shannara and went on to publish several other books in the genre over the years. Once a lawyer, he became a full time writer after the success of his first book. In Sometimes the Magic Works, Mr. Brooks talks about the successes and failures in his career along with lessons he learned about writing and the publishing industry.

The opening chapters talk about Mr. Brooks’s early years. He explains how he was not all there, meaning he does a lot of daydreaming. This plays a lot into his writing. He talks of the importance of writers having to be in the real world and in whatever world they imagine to write about for their books. Another chapter covers his story about how publishing a book is partly luck. Readers learn that writing something is a major drive to a writer to produce works of enjoyment for the reading public as well as for their own pleasure.

Later chapters talk about the ups and downs in an author’s career. Mr. Brooks covers this with his experience with Hollywood in being asked to write a novelization for a movie. The entire experience is eye opening and leaves him frustrated. He learns excellent lessons that aspiring writers can heed for their careers.

Many other chapters provide valuable information for aspiring writers. Mr. Brooks covers the importance of outlining for some writers and thinking your novel or story completely through to the end before actually writing. He talks about beginnings and endings of novels. Talking about his time spent with his grandson, he tells the reader about the precious lessons to be learned from the imaginations of children. Writers should remember these lessons for their own creativity.

Sometimes the Magic Works by Terry Brooks is an enjoyably helpful book. Readers of Mr. Brooks’s books will learn some interesting things about this author’s life and career. Writers, whether beginning or accomplished, will gain considerable information about writing and the publishing industry. This small book is packed full with good information, humor and insights about writing. I highly recommend this book to Fantasy readers and aspiring writers.

Review of _Lord of the Isles_ by David Drake

2010-10-15T18:25:00.000-07:00

A thousand years ago, an island sinks into the sea by magic. One sorceress saves herself by traveling to the future by her magic. She ends up on the island of Haft, setting dangerous events in motion. This is the beginning of an Epic fantasy series begun in Lord of the Isles by David Drake. Mr. Drake has written many books in both the Fantasy and Science fiction genres. His books are full of action and plenty of lively events. This book is entertaining because it has an action plot, interesting characters, and a grand setting.

Books of any genre need action in their plots to draw a reader into the story. Some Epic Fantasy books start out slowly, taking many chapters before the action begins. Lord of the Isles has an action plot that begins right away. Tenoctris, the sorceress from the past, is washed up on the beach of Barca’s Hamlet. Her presence triggers events that will change the lives of four young villagers. The King of the Isles’s rule is in jeopardy. His queen practices dark magic again st him. Magical forces are building toward a dangerous confrontation. Mr. Drake takes all of his plot threads and weaves them into an action story. Chapters change to different viewpoint characters as he tells the story of each character from their point of view. Each chapter leaves a character on a cliffhanger, adding to the suspense. Action is a major part of each chapter.

Another entertaining factor of the book is the interesting characters. Four young people have their lives change rapidly. They come from a small village of sheep herders and fishermen. Garric reads poetry while herding sheep. He discovers new fighting abilities after leaving the village. Cashel, Garric’s friend, grows with a new magical talent. His quiet strength helps him through many difficult situations. Sharina is the daughter of murdered nobles and embarks on a dangerous trip to her new destiny. Ilna is drawn into darkness with her talent of weaving. The hermit Nonnus is a loyal protector of Sharina with a dark past. All of these ch aracters have flaws and grow throughout the story. They contribute to the entertaining pleasure of the book with likable characters going through challenging events.

Finally, the book’s grand setting adds to enjoyment of reading it. The setting is a strong piece of world building. Mr. Drake created a world with a vast history and interesting cultures. This world is made up of islands that form one nation with a king. One of the intriguing cultures is the Floating Folk. They are tribes of people that live on :boats tied together on the sea. Wherever the currents take them, they go around in a yearly cycle. The Folk hunt whales for their food and building materials. Islanders live in cities that are thousands of years old, which the author makes you see with his vivid descriptions. This book’s descriptive setting brings the story to life. It helps increase the book’s entertainment high.

Lord of the Isles by David Drake is an entertaining Fantasy because of its action plot, interesting characters and grand setting. David Drake is an excellent Fantasy author with a good imagination and who creates an impressive secondary world. He delivers a gripping Epic Fantasy that is the beginning of a new series. I recommend this book to readers who love action and intrigue. Be sure to check out the other books in the series.

Mermaids in Fantasy

2010-10-01T18:14:00.001-07:00

They roam the seas of our imaginations. Half woman, half fish, mermaids are mythical denizens of the ocean. Their presence in our myths reflect our continued fascination and fear of the mystery of the sea. Mermaids, mermen and other mer-folk vary in their appearances in myths and folk tales. Some are helpful, saving lives. At other times they are dangerous, luring humans to their deaths with siren songs. Mermaids appear in Fantasy too in a variety of media.

One of the most famous stories of a mermaid is the fairy tale of “The Little Mermaid” by Hans Christian Anderson. The mermaid falls in love with a human prince. She trades her voice to have legs on land, but can not tell the prince of her love. He marries another woman and she ends tragically like in many fairy tales. This story has inspired several retellings in different forms. Authors such as Charles de Lint use it to add a different twist to the story. Walt Disney Studios made it into a popular, animated musical movie a few years ago, though much of the power of the story is removed by this treatment.

Mermaid’s Song by Alida Van Gores is an Epic Fantasy of an undersea world. The Balance has been stable for years, guarded by the Seadragons. Now only two are left while evil is rising to destroy the sea world. A Between must be chosen to serve the dragons to help restore the Balance. Once the chosen were the Merra, but they are few in number due to an ancient betrayal. Elan is the young mermaid who must find her destiny and save the world. This book is a fascinating story of the ocean with magical creatures and a very different heroine.

Another book with mer-people is Poul Anderson’s The Merman’s Children. In this book the world of Fairy and humans interact closely. Four children of a merman seek their destiny by searching for their father to get some answers from him. It is a story about their lives and the destruction of Fairy at the end of the Middle Ages in Europe. They are persecuted by humanity as magic vanishes from the world. The author writes a strong tale of love and sorrow in a plain, but vivid prose. There is a powerful sense of poignancy in the book.

Mermaids have been the subjects of some popular movies too. Like Disney’s “The Little Mermaid,” “Splash” was a funny romantic comedy some years ago. The mermaid fell in love with the character played by Tom Hanks. She follows on to land with some amusing scenes throughtout the movie. There is an old black and white movie about a mermaid also. “Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid” tells the story of a middle-aged man that finds a mermaid. He keeps trying to hide her from his wife and friends with many funny results.

Mermaids and their brethren are found in the mythology and folklore all over the world. Fantasy authors have used them to tell interesting stories of magical undersea worlds. Whether helpful or drawing people to their deaths, they express the human fear and awe of the mystery of the ocean. There are web sites where you can find more information and stories of mermaids. Go explore the undersea worlds.

Web sites:

http://www.seatails.com

http://users.javanet.com/~frodo/mermaids.html

http://mermaids.net

http://rubens.anu.edu.au/student.projects/mermaids/homepage.html

Poul Anderson

2010-09-17T18:45:00.000-07:00

Many years ago I attended a Science Fiction convention and was touring the art show. There were few people around as I stopped in front of a particular painting that caught my eye. Moments later, a man stood next to me telling me his opinion of the art work. I turned to give him my opinion and saw the name on his badge. It was the author Poul Anderson. We chatted a few minutes, then moved on our separate ways. Sadly, Mr. Anderson passed away last week, leaving two literary genres bereft of a talented, imaginative author. Though primarily a Science Fiction writer, Poul Anderson made several contributions to the Fantasy genre too. He created many vivid Fantasy worlds with memorable characters and themes.

Mr. Anderson used Norse mythology for some of his Fantasy books. It is prevalent in The Broken Sword. A human is taken by the elves and replaced by a changeling of half elven and half troll heritage. The human is brought up to handle iron which the elves can’t handle. His changeling counterpart longs to be human. Both are betrayed by their respective worlds that sets a battle in motion which will destroy worlds and the gods. Into this mix comes Scafloc, the hero with a sword that demands blood. This is a bloody story that reads like the old sagas. It is a classic, but reads fast and does have some minor flaws since this is one of the author’s earlier books.

Three Heart and Three Lions is another of Mr. Anderson’s stories with Norse elements. Holger Carlson is an engineer from our world. After a bullet grazes his skull, he wakes up in a Fantasy world where he is expected to be a hero of prophecy to stop the forces of Chaos. Holger is helped by a swan maiden and Hugi the dwarf. Holger must figure out what his part is in this this world of Charlemagne’s paladins. It is a light Fantasy with likable characters and the usual themes of honor that appear in many of this author’s works.

In A Midsummer’s Tempest, Mr. Anderson used Shakespearean and Arthurian elements. Shakespeare’s plays a re historical chronicles of fact in this Fantasy world. Railroads have been built two hundred years earlier than in our reality. Oberon and Titania of Fairy become involved in the war between the Royals and Roundheads to help the King. Along with the Fairy folk, denizens from Arthurian legend get involved too. This book is full of a lot of action and humor that readers can enjoy.

The Merman’s Children is a serious tale about the Merfolk and humanity. It revolves around the themes of Paganism, Christi anity, having a soul and the conflicts of these issues. Four children, half human and half Merfolk, must grapple with their heritage while searching for their Merman father. This is one of Mr. Anderson’s most poignant books. It is filled with descriptive images of life in the sea. Characters must answer the question: Is it worth giving up the sea in order to gain an immortal soul?

Poul Anderson is gone, but he left many entertaining good books for readers to enjoy. He wrote many adventure Fantasy stories with a strong sense of honor and compassion. His characters have many touches that make them human, memorable and likable. Readers have a lot to mourn in the loss of this talented author that wrote in two genres. For me, I will always remember a quiet gentleman that shared his opinions and conversation with me one afternoon at an SF convention art show.

NOTE: Many of these books are out of print, but should be available at used bookstores.

Meditations on Middle-Earth

2010-09-03T18:13:00.000-07:00

J.R.R. Tolkien influenced many fantasy authors with his works. One book that explores this influence among writers is Meditations on Middle-Earth edited by Karen Haber. It contains essays written by various Fantasy authors about how Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings affected and inspired them. The book is interesting not so much because it is about Tolkien, but that it provides insights on the various Fantasy authors and how their careers were shaped by Tolkien. Readers will discover several interesting essays in this book.

Fantasy author Raymond Feist would like to consider Tolkien the grandfather of the Fantasy genre. He feels that Tolkien helped create the publishing of Fantasy books with Lord of the Rings. The book influenced Feist as a reader and a writer. As a reader, he felt Tolkien appealed to him with its sense of adventure and a complex world. As a writer, Tolkien gave Mr. Feist a start with idea s that led to the creation of his Fantasy world of Midkemia. He feels Fantasy authors owe a debt of thanks to Tolkien for his grand creation.

Another author inspired by Middle-Earth is Charles de Lint. This author feels that Tolkien woke up his sense of wonder. What impressed him was the Story, with fleshed out characters and good themes. He believes few Fantasy books do that today. There needs to be a balance between imagination and reason as Tolkien believed. A Fantasy book needs a strong story and interesting characters to touch the hearts of readers. Mr. de Lint practices this in his writing.

Tolkien’s influence stretches to women authors too. Robin Hobb’s essay talks about growing up in Alaska and Lord of the Rings making a strong impression on her. As a writer, he raised the bar for her to make writing Fantasy a challenge for her. She learned that a Fantasy story can have depth. Ms. Hobb’s essay is interesting and thoughtful. It has wonderful insights on how Tolkien’s work sent a generation of writers on a quest.

One of the most interesting essays is by Orson Scott Card. In “How Tolkien Means,” he talks about how literary critics and scholars miss what most readers understand in Tolkien’s books. Tolkien felt that stories need to be experienced, not decoded. He wants readers to enjoy the story and not worry about symbols. Mr. Card goes on to elaborate on this point for the rest of the essay. This is a very interesting, thoughtful essay that Fantasy readers will enjoy.

In “The Myth-Maker,” Fantasy author Lisa Goldstein discusses why Lord of the Ringsis so powerful a work. She thinks it is because people have a need for myth. Tolkien fed that need with his poetic language and mythic rhythms. He provided an epic experience for readers at a time it was needed. Ms. Goldstein gives a clear, concise viewpoint on Tolkien’s works.

Meditations on Middle-Earth edited by Karen Haber is an interesting book of essays. Various Fantasy authors write about how Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings changed their lives and influenced their writing. Fantasy grew as a genre thanks to Tolkien’s book. He speaks to something in every reader through story, language and mythic patterns. This is an informative companion piece that will enhance a reader’s understanding and enjoyment of Tolkien. Try it out.

Liz Williams Interview

2010-08-20T12:03:00.000-07:00

Liz Williams is a science fiction author of several well received books. She writes books that mixes science with some fantasy elements, but takes interesting looks at different societies. Ghostsister takes place on a colonized world where the humans have a psychic link to the life on the planet. One woman doesn’t have this ability, so is treated as an outcast and protected by her brother. Empire of Bones takes place on Earth in a future India. A dying woman is offered to be saved by a visiting alien, but at what price? The Poison Master is the story of a woman who is a master of poison making and alchemy trying to get her sister back from strange aliens. This author’s books are very different to the science fiction genre, but very interesting.

Debbie Ledesma: How did you get started as a writer?

Liz Williams: I wrote on and off for years in a kind of desultory way - my mother was a writer, so in our family it always seemed to be a perfectly acceptable thing to do. However, most of my twenties were taken up with academic work and I did not really begin writing in any kind of committed way until I was in my thirties. I began by sending short fiction off to magazines and was lucky in that I broke into the professional market fairly swiftly, with a sale to InterZone. After completing my first novel, The Ghost Sister, I secured an agent and the book was sold about a year later.

DL: What authors, SF or otherwise, influence your writing?

LW: Le Guin, Vance, Tanith Lee, Bradbury - hey, steal from the best! I also have a great affection (combined with no small degree of irritation) for the Beat writers and people like Lawrence Durrell.

DL: Why did you choose the Science Fiction genre to write in?

LW: I think it chose me. Whatever I try and write has weird elements in it - it's just the things that have influenced me and the way that my imagination
works.

DL: Your book Poison Master mixes some fantasy elements with your story. Was it difficult to mix these elements in the science fiction story?

LW: No, because I always describe myself as a science fantasy writer. I don't use many hard SF tropes - I tend to concentrate on sociological and cultural elements - and there is more leeway in crossing genres. I think that this is somethi ång we are seeing more and more of these days - Alaistair Reynolds, for instance, employs a number of Gothic elements in his SF; China Mieville uses technological aspects in his fantasy writing. Authors like Chris Priest and Graham Joyce have always had a very cross-genre appeal and I have a lot of regard for that. Besides, I don't like being put in a box.

DL: Do you do a lot of research in science for your books?

LW: I try to keep up with developments in science, but because they're science fantasy rather than hard SF I make a lot of stuff up. I think I get away with it!

DL: Do you have a favorite character in your books? Which one?

LW: Eleres in The Ghost Sister, because he's basically a younger, male version of me, and Ari in The Poison Master. I love creating devious men.

DL: Are you planning to branch out into other genres?

Not at the moment but these things often t çend to happen organically, rather
than being planned.

DL: How do you view SF as a vehicle for social commentary?

DL: It can be an immensely powerful vehicle for social comment (Orwell is an obvious case in point), but I don't think it should hit people over the head with it. Fiction with a Message (TM) is always annoying.

DL: I agree fiction with a message is annoying. How do you incorporate social commentary into your works?

LW: I try to slide it in under the radar. But my own view of politics and
society is constantly changing - I'm definitely left of center politically,
but there's so much that is problematic with fixed positions that I prefer
to remain ambivalent. I'd rather ask questions than try to answer them.

DL: Do you attempt to influence the way people view society through your writing, and if so do you believe SF can have an impact?

LW: Not really - obviously I have values Ë and views, but I'd rather present these as an emergent property of my fiction rather than using what I write as a means of preaching to people. I'm more interested in exploring ideas through my work and perhaps not coming to any very solid conclusions. I am still figuring out where I stand in a lot of areas and that's a lifelong process.

DL: Some recent criticism of SF states the genre is dying or has become stagnant, thus losing readers. What do you think about the current state of the genre?

LW: I think it's actually pretty vibrant at the moment. There are a lot of new
and interesting people coming onto the scene, a lot of mixing and matching with genres. I find media SF pretty stagnant (as opposed to media fantasy), but that' Ês been the case for a long time.

DL: Do you think SF movies and tv series helps the genre or gives the public the wrong idea about what the literature can be?

LW: The tropes of SF are now familiar to the mainstream, but the mainstream remains very sniffy about SF - it does the classic double-bind of marginalizing it and at the same time acknowledging it as populist. There is an awful lot of really bad media SF, but then there's a fair amount of poor media detective genre, for instance. If people take the trouble to look for the good stuff, they'll find it, but I'd say that a lot of the things you see are off-putting.

DL: Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?

LW: Work, work, work. Read lots. Don't give up (never surre nder!). Keep sending work out even when you think it's going to kill you. Research markets and above all, be as professional as you can.

DL: What books are you writing for the future?

LW: I have another novel coming out with Bantam in the US in the fall, titled Nine Layers of Sky, which is a contemporary SF novel (again with fantasy elements) set in Central Asia. It's due to come out in the UK with Tor Macmillan. At the moment, I am writing a novel that is provisionally entitled Banner of Souls, which is about a far future solar system and a girl who can travel through time. Lots of Oriental elements and much of the book is set on Mars.

I have a sixth novel on the backburner, which will be set in the same world
as The Ghost Sister, and this will be - cheerily - all about death and loss. I have recently lost my partner and this will inevitably emerge in my fiction. After that, I am hoping to do a sequel to Nine Layers of Sky. )

DL: Thank you very much Ms. Williams.

Barbara Hambly

2010-08-07T18:20:00.001-07:00

A long time ago male authors dominated many genres of books including Fantasy. Some women authors had to use male pseudonyms to get published such as James Triptree who was really Alice Sheldon. Today, women authors hold their own with the men. There are many talented women Fantasy authors. Barbara Hambly is one of them. She has written many memorable books set in imaginative worlds of her own creation. Her characters remain with readers for a long time. All of the books span a range from Epic to Historical Fantasy.

The first series started with Time of the Dark, which became the Darwath trilogy. Ingold Inglorion, a wizard from Darwath, draws two young people from our world to his world to fight a menacing force of Darkness. Gil is a woman from our world who becomes a warrior and Rudy, an artist, becomes a mage. They explore the great fortress of the Keep of Dare in order to discover the secrets to defeat the Dark. The other two books in the trilogy are: The Walls of Air and The Armies of D aylight. Ms. Hambly wrote two other sequels that take place five years after the trilogy. Mother of Winter has the characters face new problems after the defeat of the Dark. They are threatened by a disease that destroys crops as the ice slowly moves south. The plot is resolved by a quest to a giant mountain known as Mother of Winter. The next book, Icefalcon’s Quest, takes place two years later. Ingold is away on a trip and dangers affect everyone else. This leaves Icefalcon to follow a dangerous mage and save a young boy. Ms. Hambly adds two stunning books to this fantasy world.

Another series is The Windrose Chronicles featuring the mage Antryg Windrose and Joanna, who is from our world. These books are set in a time approximate to the Industrial Revolution. The Silent Tower introduces us to Joanna as she is kidnapped across the Void the the empire of Ferryth. There she meets Antryg and along with another wizard, Caris, helps to defeat the evil intentions of the wizard Surkalin. I ˇn the next book, The Silicon Mage, Joanna travels back to the empire of Ferryth to help her friends defeat Surkalin once and for all. Finally, Joanna and Antryg live in California, but are dragged back across the void in the book Dog Wizard. These books have realistic characters involved in intriguing stories. Stranger at the Wedding takes place in the same world but tells the tale of Kyra. She is a young woman with strong magic talent. When she goes home for her sister’s wedding, she finds great danger and threats to her family. This is a nice addition to the other books set in a fascinating world.

Two of her Historical Fantasy novels are set during World War II and known as the Sun Cross. The Rainbow Abyss tells the story of the wizard Jaldis and his apprentice Rhion as they try to get to our world to answer a cry for help. Their world fears wizards and want to destroy them. The Magicians of Night tells a powerful story of the Holocaust. Rhion is trapped in Nazi Germany. He wants to get back to his world to find out what happened to his fellow wizards. Some Jewish prisoners help him to get back to his world. The characters are very realistic. Ms. Hambly does an excellent job of bringing a tragic part of world history to life.

Barbara Hambly has written Fantasy books with dragons too. Set in her world of the Winterlands, Dragonsbane is a classic of the genre. John Aversin the Dragonsbane and his wife Jenny Waynest receive a summons to a kingdom to slay the black dragon Morkeleb. Fearing for her husband’s life, Jenny makes a deal with the dragon. The author creates a remarkable character in Morkeleb that makes him seem what a real dragon would be like. The story and characters of this book appear in three sequels. Jenny Waynest and John return again in ¨ the next book Dragonshadow. This time they face demons who control other mages and dragons through their trapped souls. Ms. Hambly explores the theme of how power is a strong temptation to people in this book. Knight of the Demon Queen begins with a threat to Jenny and John’s son Ian. John owes a debt to the demon queen and must do it to save his son. Finally, Dragonstar completes the story of John and Jenny as John awaits execution. Jenny wants to save him as they find out who their allies and enemies truly are in this riveting conclusion.

This author explores other other cultures with her deft story telling. Bride of the Rat God is set in turn-of-the-century Los Angeles and has a lot about Chinese culture of the time. Christine is a movie star. She sets off supernatural events by wearing a necklace. This declares her a bride to the rat god. The problem is she does not want to be married to this Åancient Chinese demon god. This book is an interesting addition to the author’s various works.

Dark Fantasy is represented by two books about vampires. Those Who Hunt the Night is the story of Dr. James Asher who is hired by Don Simon Ysidro, the leader of the vampires of London, to find the murderer killing the vampires of the city. He must do this to save his wife Lydia. In Traveling With the Dead, Lydia asks for help from Don Ysidro to save her husband. They follow James Asher throughout Europe discovering trouble to everyone involved. These books add interesting views from this talented author.

Sun Wolf and Starhawk are two of Ms. Hambly’s interesting characters. Sun Wolf is the leader of a mercenary company and Starhawk is his partner. The Ladies of Mandrigyn introduces Sun Wolf trapped by women who want him to train them in warfare. He refuses so they hold him prisoner. His second in command, Starhawk, comes to rescue him. In the ensuing plot, Sun Wolf discovers he has magic power. Their next adventure is The Witches of Wenshar where they travel to a desert city to find someone to teach Sun Wolf how to use his powers. They find a lot of intrigue in the city and must resolve things before moving on. The Dark Hand of Magic finds Sun Wolf and Starhawk reunited with their company. Unfortunately, something is killing members of their company and they must find out what is going on. These characters are very interesting in their relationship and Ms. Hambly tells intriguing tales about them.

One of her most recent books is Sisters of the Raven. The book takes place in a city where magic is deser gting men, but women are gaining the magic power. Raeshaldis is the main character with the strongest talent among the women. They must band together to save the Yellow City from a plot that would plunge it into civil war. Danger lurks throughout the city, destroying the Raven sisters who are the only ones left to summon rain and bring precious water to the desert city. Part Fantasy, part mystery, this is a strong addition to the many of works of the author.

Barbara Hambly is a highly talented Fantasy author. She is the creator of memorable characters and Fantasy worlds. Her books span the range of Epic to Historical Fantasy. Dragons, vampires and many other characters are described in detail, bringing them to life. Ms. Hambly uses vivid images in her books to keep the intriguing plots moving along. Readers will find her books entertaining and worth reading.

Fantasy Books I'd Like to See on TV or at the Movies

2010-07-23T18:51:00.000-07:00

The entertainment industry has taken an interest in recent years in the Fantasy genre. More films are being made from Fantasy books that are popular with the public. Many of these movies are based on young adult books like “Harry Potter,” “Narnia” and the “Twilight” series. These films are entertaining and okay, but there are other more interesting and adult fantasy books films could be based on. We have seen this with the recently defunct “Legend of the Seeker” TV series based on Terry Goodkind’s “Sword of Truth” books. The HBO cable network is currently in production with a series based on George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones. This article will deal with Fantasy books that I would like to see made into a TV show, miniseries or movie. So here is my wish list.

First of all, I would like to see a "Wheel of Time" series or movies. I admit it's a long book series, but it has much to offer. Such a complex story would be difficult to do as a movie or miniseries. It would be better as a long term TV series over several years like the "Babylon 5" science fiction series. This series would have something to attract viewers of all kinds such as adventure, romance, intrigue and many other things.

Patricia McKillip's books would make wonderful movies for viewers. Her lyrical, , vivid, image filled works would translate wonderfully to the screen. We could follow Morgon from the Riddle Master trilogy on his quest through many strange lands. The Forgotten Beasts of Eld would expose general viewers to a wonderful story with powerful themes. Any of her books would make good movies.

Another writer's books I would like to see made into movies are those of Robert Holdstock. His Mythago Wood books would be powerful movies with a dark edge. Viewers would be treated to mythic tales of a primal forest and its effects on the troubled characters that venture in there. These works portray psychological themes in a deeply imagined Fantasy world.

For Urban Fantasy lovers, Charles de Lint's books would be good as films. We would see denizens of Fairy interacting with humans in cities whether American or Canadian. These interactions could be interesting and/or dangerous. It would add a touch of magic to our reality by making the world seem more than our perceptions can conceive. Or a series based on the Mercy Thompson books by Patricia Briggs or Kate Daniels books by Ilona Andrews would have plenty of action, romance and interesting characters for people.

Returning to Epic Fantasy, other books I would like to see as films would be by authors Melanie Rawn, Mercedes Lackey, David Eddings, Andre Norton and C.J. Cherryh. All of these authors works would make great entertainment. They would be full of action, adventure and great characters.

These are just a few of the books on my wish list I would like to see. If I went on, this article would become very bulky. It is good to see the entertainment industry taking an interest in the Fantasy genre. With new strides made in special effects, making such films is no longer in the realm of impossibility. We should all look forward in the years ahead to some fantastic entertainment.

What books would you like to see made into a movie, TV series or miniseries? Start a discussion. I would be very interested in your responses.

The Finnbranch Trilogy by Paul Hazel

2010-07-07T18:30:00.000-07:00

I'm going on a trip, so the post is early. Enjoy.

In the 1980's a new Epic Fantasy trilogy was published. "The Finnbranch" by Paul Hazel is a rich Fantasy of deep thoughts. Blending Celtic and Nordic mythology, readers have a dark story of tragic characters, imaginative settings, descriptive language and mythic themes. The books follow the story of Finn through his quest to reclaim his birthright.

The first book, Yearwood, starts in a mountain fortress with a boy who knows nothing abut his father or his own name. Since his mother won't tell him anything but his name, he goes on a search for his father. His journey takes him through a twisted path of talking crows, living stones, witches and selkies. Honorable men follow him on his quest. Dark and disturbing, there is incest and a terrible conclusion, but the story continues in the next book.

Undersea continues Finn's story through many further episodes. In this book he travels to the past and meets his mother as a girl. After suffering attacks, Finn flees in a boat. He suffers death and is reborn as his son Lugh. On his next part of the journey he meets two companions and travels through the undersea kingdom of the dead. Interspersed are episodes from the future when he is king of his land. This book deepens the themes. There are wonderful descriptive passages of incredible images. At times, the story is convoluted and can be confusing. It is worth reading at a slow pace. The book leaves readers ready for the final book.

The last book is Winterking, continuing Finn's story in a strange modern world. A man named Wykeham is the main character who is very mysterious. He moves through this world hiding the truth about his life. Other characters are drawn to him that sets off a fantastic series of events that concludes Finn's journey of birth and rebirth. The blend of Native American and Celtic myth in a strange alternate America gives this book a vivid impact and conclusion to the trilogy.

Paul Hazel is a Fantasy writer of wild fantastic images and evocative language. With the "Finnbranch" trilogy he contributed an outstanding addition to Epic Fantasy. His use of different mythologies and a capable knowledge of writing technique gives Fantasy readers an incredible experience. Though his books are out of print and he hasn't written anything new since Wealdwive's Tale, his works are worth seeking out for a powerful reading experience.

Diana Paxson

2010-06-24T18:17:00.000-07:00

Creating Fantasy worlds that are realistic and stimulate a reader's sense of wonder requires special talent. Fantasy authors possess this ability to a large degree. Diana Paxson is such an author. She writes many books and stories of Fantasy including the subgenres of Historical and Arthurian Fantasy. Her works possess rich detail, realistic characters and intriguing themes that gives readers memorable voyages in unique Fantasy worlds.

One of Ms. Paxson's longest works is a series of books set in her Fantasy world of Westria. It is a future California after nature and magic rose to destroy our technological world. The books follow several characters as they strive to bring balance to the new world's problems. The books in the series are: Mistress of Jewels (a combined Lady of Light & Lady of Darkness), Silverhair the Wanderer, The Earthstone, The Sea Star, The Wind Crystal and The Jewel of Fire.

She collaborated with fellow author Adrienne Martine-Barnes on the "Chronicles of Fionn Mac Cumhal" books. These are Celtic Fantasies based on the Irish mythic hero. The series consists of Master of Earth and Water, The Shield Between the Worlds and Sword of Fire and Shadow.

Delving into Historical Fantasy, she has produced works of rich detail and fantastic elements. The White Raven uses Celtic material to tell the tragic story of Tristan and Isolde. Told by the character Branwen, Ms. Paxson gives readers a sad tale of love and triumph in rich vivid details.

She writes stories from other sources too. The Serpent's Tooth is based on Shakespeare's "King Lear." The story takes place in fifth century Britain when Leir conquers the tribes of Britain and fathers three daughters from three different queens. Cridilla, Leir’s youngest daughter, is exiled. When her father’s kingdom starts falling apart, Cridilla returns to help her father. Ms. Paxson adds another interesting book to her body of work.

Another group of books by Ms. Paxson uses Norse mythology. Her “Wodan’s Children” series follow several characters from Norse and other materials through several stories of magic and battle. These books are intriguing Historical Fantasies that present an interesting world. The first two books are The Lord of Horses and The Dragons of the Rhine.

She stated once in a panel at an SF convention I attended that every Fantasy author must attempt to write an Arthurian Fantasy. Her latest books are her contribution to the Arthurian mythos. The Hallowed Isle is split into four books: The Book of the Sword, The Book of the Spear, The Book of the Cauldron and the forthcoming The Book of the Stone. They tell the story of King Arthur using historical periods and what is know about cultures of that time.

She collaborated with the late Marion Zimmer Bradley on several novels set in the world of the book Mists of Avalon. Many of the books are prequels or sequels to this book following the changes of Britain before and after the time of King Arthur. The books in the sequence are: The Forest House, The Sword of Avalon, The Ravens of Avalon, The Lady of Avalon, Priestess of Avalon and Ancestors of Avalon.

Recently she has returned to her world of Westria with The Golden Hills of Westria. This books takes up years after the last series to follow characters that have aged or their children in a new tale of magic and adventure. The book contains the author’s usual powerful storytelling and interesting characters.

Whether it's a future world of magic or a historical period with fantastic elements, Diana Paxson provides readers with thoughtful adventures. She brings her fantastic worlds to life with vivid descriptions and sympathetic characters. She is a writer worth checking out for a new experience. Readers won't be disappointed.

On Writing Fantasy: Online Writing Classes

2010-06-13T12:08:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay of the article this week. Here’s my article for online classes on writing.

Summer is a time of year that can give people some free time to pursue other things. Writing is a profession that takes time, perseverance and knowledge. A writer must constantly pursue research and learning of new subjects to help generate new ideas and feed their imaginations. This is even truer for Fantasy authors that create whole new worlds for their books. Online classes are a good way to learn new knowledge for research and increase a writer’s creativity. Classes come in a variety of subjects, are reasonably priced, and self paced for a writer to gain new knowledge without a lot of time consumption. There are several places on the expanding Internet to take these classes.

A free site for online classes is Suite University (http://www.suite101.com/suiteu/). Divided into several schools, classes can be found in topics under religion, writing, literature, etc. These classes are taught by knowledgeable people who know their subjects. The classes can be taken as an individualized self paced version. A wide variety of subjects helps writers find information they can use in their writing. For instance my class on Fantasy Literature can help Fantasy writers learn about the different subgenres. My class is found at: http://www.suite101.com/course.cfm/17284/seminar

Virtual University is an online class company (http://www.ksurf.net) that has been around for a long time. They have classes in the areas of computers, self help, general interest and others. They have been expanding their subjects recently. One new class is on Screen Writing. The classes are taught by knowledgeable people, some with Masters degrees. A lot of information can be learned in a short time. The courses on forensics and serial killers are informative. This is a good site to learn new things.

Another good site for online classes is Course Bridge. Designed for adult learners, they have classes of general interest, spirituality and useful ones on writing. Fantasy writers would especially find the class on Medieval castles helpful to their writing. New courses are added all the time. Their courses provide a lot of information for a fair price. This site is found at: http://www.coursebridge.com I teach a class on Fantasy Writing here too at: http://coursebridge.com/html/courses/writing/CBWFF01.asp

Some writers have their own classes that they develop and teach. Holly Lisle is a Fantasy author with several published books and years of experience in writing. At her web site can be found several classes and resources to help aspiring writers learn the craft. Her Thinking Sideways course is popular and helpful. Many of her writing E-books are informative too. Her site can be found at: http://www.hollylisle.com

A site of interest for writers is Fathom. This is a site run by several colleges like Columbia University that used to have online classes. The site (http://www.fathom.com) is now an archive, which contains information in several different subjects. There is a lot of good information to learn for ideas.

Writers must seek new knowledge to help their creativity and bring their stories to life. Time is important to writers, which is devoted to writing. They do not have time to travel for classes. Distance learning through online classes is a boon for authors. Classes can be taken from home or anywhere an Internet connection is available. Learning new things helps in the writing process by providing more knowledge and ideas for writers. Online classes will continue to help writers expand their experience for powerful new stories.

Fairytales in Fantasy

2010-05-29T18:17:00.000-07:00

Fairy tales have been a part of most people’s lives during their childhood. These type of tales are a part of every culture. Writers began collecting and publishing fairy tales as early as the 16th century. Familiar names associated with fairy tales are Charles Perrault, the Grimm brothers and Hans Christian Anderson. These men made fairy tales available to everyone. In recent times, fairy tale retellings have become a vital part of the Fantasy genre, recreated by authors of many talents.

A different take on the tooth fairy is told by Graham Joyce in The Tooth Fairy. Set in England, this is the story of a young boy named Sam and some of his friends. He wakes up one night, encountering the tooth fairy. This begins a long, convoluted relationship between the boy and a dangerous, violent creature over many years. Mr. Joyce creates a dark fairy tale in a complex coming-of-age story of three young people and a creature from our darker side.

Beauty by Robin McKinley is an excellent retelling of the “Beauty and the Beast” story. Ms. McKinley brings the characters to life with vivid descriptions. Beauty is a strong young woman that goes to live in the castle of the Beast in place of her father. She finds a magical place full of wonder and a troubled Beast. Dealing with things changes both characters by the end of the book. The author is a master of bringing fairy tales to life.

Charles de Lint is a master of Urban Fantasy, infusing magic into modern day city settings. Jack of Kinrowan is a fairy tale set in the Canadian city of Ottawa. Jacky Rowan develops the Sight which draws her into a battle between two factions of Fairy. Made up of two earlier books, this one is highly descriptive with likable characters and entertaining plots. Mr. de Lint uses the elements of fairy tales to bring a created city to magical life.

A Scottish ballad fairy tale is the basis for Ellen Kushner’s Thomas the Rhymer. Thomas is a wandering harper who meets Elspeth when he stops for an evening. Later he is captured by the Queen of Elfland. Returning to Elspeth after seven years, Thomas can only tell the truth. This creates a difficult situation for their relationship along with the separation of years. Ellen Kushner is a masterful storyteller, using vivid prose to give a magical story a powerful depth.

Orson Scott Card provides a retelling of “Sleeping Beauty” in Enchantment. The author mixes the fairy tale with Russian mythology to tell a different story. An American college student is pulled into the ninth century to live out a Russian Fairy tale. He and the princess must battle with the witch Baba Yaga to find happiness. Mr. Card is an excellent story teller, bringing a wonderful fairy tale to life.

Winter Rose is by author Patricia McKillip, a highly talented author of the genre. Two sisters have their lives get entangled with Corbet Lynn when he returns to rebuild Lynn Hall. His family is under a curse from a past indiscretion. The practical sister Laurel falls in love with him. Rois Melior is wild with a touch of magic. Drawn to Corbet too, she tries to unravel his past in order to save her sister. Ms. McKillip creates an entertaining fairy tale with her imaginative talent, adding another classic to her works.

The Porcelain Dove by Delia Sherman is a mixture of Historical Fantasy and French fairy tales. Told through the eyes of a chamber maid, Ms. Sherman creates a strange, magical chateau existing in the pre-revolutionary era of France. The chateau is called Beauxpres and located in the Jura mountains. At this place, no one ages and the servants are nearly invisible. There is a curse on the family, which sets off a quest to find a porcelain dove in order to destroy the curse. Readers will find an entertaining book, rich in detail, from a highly talented author.

Fairy tales have been a popular entertainment throughout human history. Fantasy authors are taking fairy and folk tales from around the world, and retelling them in new ways for modern readers. The books mentioned here are just a few in this category. There are many entertaining books for adult readers and young adults too. Other possibilities includes an anthology series edited by Terri Windling. For more books check out the list at: http://www.endicott-studio.com/list-fairyTale.html

Anne Bishop

2010-05-14T18:27:00.000-07:00

Epic Fantasy books tend to be the largest number of books published in the genre each year. Some critics say that most of the books are derivative with not much difference from previous books. Newer authors to the genre try different things to give a fresh view to Fantasy. Anne Bishop is one of those fairly new authors. She writes Epic Fantasy with elements different from the standard and not what readers would expect. Her books have intriguing characters, different settings and unexpected plots.

Ms. Bishop sur prises readers’ expectations with her first trilogy The Black Jewels. Not the usual Fantasy, these books tell the stories of demons and humans that are part of the dark realm of their world. Daughter of the Blood tells the story of Jaenelle, a young woman with power. She is prophesied to become the next great Queen. Jaenelle is taught by Saitan who rules Hell, but must avoid the machinations and attempts on her life by a high priestess and others. In the next book, Heir to the Shadows, Jaenelle must recover her memory after a traumatic event that nearly destroys her. Finally, Queen of Darkness has Jaenelle in charge of her realm, but still facing a final conflict to rule in peace. The three books are now available in one volume.

The Invisible Ring is a stand alone novel set in the same world as the previously mentioned trilogy. In this book, Jared is the pleasure slave of a vicious queen. He murders his mistress out of desperation and flees. Eventually he ends up with a mysterious queen known as the Gray Lady. His new life proves dangerous as he goes against the enemies of his new queen in order to help her. Ms. Bishop provides another exciting look into her vivid world of dark magic.

Ms. Bishop’s next trilogy, Tir Alainn, takes place in a new Fantasy world. This world has witches who guard the roads into the fairy realm. These roads are fading out of existence due to a vicious Inquisition destroying magic. The Pillars of the World begins the trilogy with the story of Ari . She has a fairy lover and is unaware of his background. Her magic has her caught between two worlds as the Inquistion closes in on her. The story shifts to two new characters in Shadows and Light. A bard and a muse, Aidan and Lyra, try to thwart the evil Aldolfo from further destroying magic. They must find a Fae that will listen to them and help them. In the last book, The House of Gaian, Adolfo tries to destroy all the magic in the land one last time. He wants to do this by destroying the wellspring of magic. Witches, humans and Fae must band together to stop him from this folly. The author gives readers an entertaining series with strong women characters, adventure and romance.

A new book set in the first world the author created will be coming out soon P. Dreams Made Flesh Is a collection of four stories that explore some of the characters from the first trilogy in greater depth. Jaenelle returns with her lover Daemon in a story where another blood witch tries to break them apart. There is a character study of Saetan as he deals with his pregnant wife’s family. Two other stories round out this new book done with the author’s vivid style and dynamic storytelling.

Anne Bishop is a powerful recent author in the Fantasy genre. She brings to life her various Fantasy worlds with vivid words and a dark edge. Her books are full of adventure, romance, strong women characters and some intense themes. Readers will find her many books interesting and entertaining. Some of her books are not for young readers. They contain violent and explicit sex scenes, so parents should be aware of this.

Midori Snyder

2010-04-30T18:32:00.000-07:00

The Fantasy genre has many writers with different voices that bring unique perspectives to the genre. Every author contributes to the advancement of and expansion of Fantasy. Midori Snyder is an author that combines myth, folklore and fairy tales into her works for stories with strong characters and interesting worlds. She has lived and worked all over the world, which brings a multicultural flavor to her many books.

Her first book was an adult fairy tale Fantasy called Soulstring. It is a story of an evil mage with a beautiful daughter. Suitors must pass tests to win her or are killed if they fail. Magda, the daughter, wants to stop her father. She has great power, but must learn how to use it. This is a book with a tightly woven plot that entertains readers with its many wonders. Ms. Snyder had a good start with this book.

The Flight of Michael McBride is a combination Western and Fantasy. Ms. Snyder mixes Irish and Spanish myths with Western legends, setting the story in the American West. Michael McBride, a half human, half fairy man, flees the fairy court of the East coast to Texas. He discovers he can’t outrun the magic, drawn into the magical struggles of the old West. This is a different story full of interesting characters and an intriguing setting. Ms. Snyder provides a memorably unique story to the genre.

Next, the author followed this book with the Oran trilogy consisting of New Moon, Sadar’s Keep and Beldane’s Fire. This trilogy tells the tale of four women that represented the elements of earth, air, fire and water. One steals the powers of the others to become the Fire Queen and begins an oppressive rule of Oran. Four new women rise up to unite the people against the Fire Queen. Interesting characters and a strong plot makes this an entertaining trilogy.

The Innamorati won a Mythopoeic award for best novel. It takes place in a magical Renaissance Italy, blending Italian and Roman legends with mask making. Cursed people travel to the city of Labirinto to try and enter The Maze to lift these curses. Characters vary such as a poet, priest, actor and mask maker. All the characters seek redemption while they encounter satyrs, sea nymphs, talking masks and other fantastical creatures. Ms. Snyder creates a vibrant world for this story that remains in a reader’s memory for a long time.

Midori Snyder is an entertaining Fantasy author of several books. Many of her books take lace in imaginative worlds and have won awards. The author combines her experiences of living all over the world with myth to provide memorable stories of interesting characters. She is an author worth reading.

Graham Edwards Interview

2010-04-16T18:47:00.000-07:00

This is an interview I did with this author a few years ago.

There are many unique voices in the Fantasy genre. Graham Edwards is one of these voices. He has written two Fantasy trilogies with interesting themes and characters. The first trilogy consists of Dragoncharm, Dragonstorm, and Dragonflame. The trilogy tells the story of a changing world through the eyes of dragons. His second trilogy involves a mythic journey along a wall of history. Stone & Sky, Stone and Sea, and Stone & Sun are the books in this series.

DL: What led you to become a writer? Was it hard getting published?

I've always written, from an early age. Eventually I kind of rolled up my sleeves and decided to 'do it properly', which for me meant actually finishing a novel. That was Dragoncharm and it took two and a half years to write, longhand. I sent it out unsolicited and after a handful of rejections it was taken up by Jane Johnson at Voyager. These days it's really tough for a first-time author to get published without an agent. In other respects nothing much has changed - as well as being able to string
words together you have to land them on the right desk at the right time.

DL: Why did you choose the Fantasy genre to write in?

GE: I think it chose me really . It might sound odd but I never really thought of Dragoncharm as fantasy. For me, the story was driven by the characters, who just happened to be dragons. All the trappings of fantasy (and I would say the Dragoncharm books take place in a mythical prehistory rather than a traditional high fantasy realm) were just the life support system I needed to make them breathe. That said, I love the way fantasy can reflect and inform what we naively call the 'real world'.

DL: What authors, Fantasy or otherwise, influence your writing?

GE: I grew up on a diet of science fiction. More recently I've enjoyed reading Robert Holdstock, John Irving, Kim Stanley Robinson and John Steinbeck.

DL: What do you think about the current state of the Fantasy genre. Do you think that many books are too derivative?

GE: I've tried a few of the big doorstop epics but they don't do a lot for me. There is a lot of derivative stuff out there - what I used to know as sword & sorcery - but there's also a lot that, to me at least
, is far more interesting. I've mentioned Mr. Holdstock but there's a host of others like Graham Joyce and John Crowley who are exploring some fascinating territories.

DL: Your first trilogy has dragons as the main characters. Why dragons?

GE: The Dragoncharm series has its roots in Watership Down, which I read at a young age. I thought it might be fun to try something similar using mythological creatures. Somehow it didn't seem a tremendous leap from rabbits to dragons. I think I was probably influenced by the 80's movie “Dragonslayer” too. It was the first time I'd seen a dragon that looked like a real animal rather than a gold-hoarding flight of fancy - okay, she ate the odd princess but she was REAL. I loved the way she lurched around ‹like a grounded bat.

DL: The second trilogy is different. What is it about and where did you get the idea for it?

GE: In the dragon books I touch on some of the differences between history and myth. I wanted a way to explore these ideas more fully; the Stone books are the result. Stone is a world-sized wall in which all the memories of our world are stored - memories of past and future, history and myth. Travelling along the wall of Stone is a little like travelling through time.

The Stone books are an assemblage of many influences - all those SF Big Dumb Object books I read as a kid (Rendezvous with Rama, Ringworld etc); a fascination with time travel and the paradoxes it generates; the fluidity of history. I also began to wonder if altering Stone's database of memories meant you were actually changing history ...
And, once I'd thought of it, the world-sized wall seemed like the best adventure playground ever for getting my characters into all sorts of s àcrapes. Interestingly, Adam Roberts has just used the giant wall concept in his novel On, though in an entirely different way - I'm obviously not the only one fascinated by the idea.

DL: I’m always fascinated with Fantasy that has mythic themes. Do you use themes from mythology in your books?

GE: Actually I plunder mythology in a pretty shameless way. I tend to cherry-pick the things I like and ignore the things I don't. So in the dragon books I have faeries and giants and basilisks (which kill by a glance but bear no physical resemblance to the mythological cockatrice). And in the Stone books I have everything from Russian tree spirits to part-evolved Viking gods.

Myths speak to us in such powerful ways. These are the oldest stories of all. They inform us about human evolution in a way 'real history' can't - in truth the two can't be separated. I once worked on a heritage projec Qt where I was trying to weave together Scottish history and myth. One of the trustees was adamant we should dispense with the mythology altogether and include only what she called 'the real stories'. I nearly resorted to physical violence.

DL: A writer friend of mine said that all Fantasy authors eventually attempt an Authurian novel. Since you live in the country where the King Arthur legend was born, do you have any plans for an Arthurian story? Does the legend influence any of your writing?

GE: The Arthur legend does speak strongly to an Englishman born within spitting distance o ıf Glastonbury Tor. There are echoes of Tristan and Isolde in 'Stone and Sea'. As for an Arthur book per se, I think I'll leave that to the people who do it far better than I ever would. Although I do have this idea about what the Green Knight got up to before he bumped into Sir Gawain ...

DL: What themes or modern day issues do you include in your works that you want to share with readers?

GE: I don't really think in terms of 'themes', just stories. The former must grow out of the latter. Some people have commented that Dragoncharm is 'about' racial prejudice, with its war between charmed and natural dragons and the redeeming message that 'we are all just dragons'. Sure, the issues are there, but they just came along as I wrote the book Û. I'm happy when these things find their way in, because fantasy - in fact all fiction - is at its strongest when it's throwing a new light on the world we live in. But I never set out to make a point - I'm just here to tell stories.

But I do love to make connections with the modern day, or at least with the world we know. Stone and Sun, as well as dragons and magic, has stuff about the 1950's US A-bomb test programme (oh all right, it's not that modern ...). And the dragon books are consciously set in a world that is recognisably ours, even down to specific locations like Meteor Crater and Iceland. I like to have a perceptible thread connecting our world to the fantasy worlds I concoct. Anything else is cheating.

DL: What books or sto ries are in your future?

GE: I took a long deep breath after completing the Stone trilogy. I've got a couple of half-finished novels knocking about, which may eventually see the light of day. But right now I'm working hard to get a new manuscript completed by the end of the year. I hate categories but I guess it might be called a dark fantasy. And there aren't any dragons in it. I'll be posting more details on the website when it's ready to roll.

DL: Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?

GE: The art of writing is the art of applying the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair. (I can't claim that as my own and I can't remember who said it. But it's the truest thing I know).

DL: Thank you very much for your time.

For more information visit the Graham Edwards Website at http://members.lycos.co.uk/amara

Elves in Fantasy

2010-04-02T18:20:00.000-07:00

We imagine sylvan forests of beauty and gleaming cities of delicate architecture. Humans don’t live in these places. They are too beautiful and perfect for us. These glorious places are inhabited by an immortal race of magical beings that hold a fascination in our imaginations. Elves have been a part of our mythology and legends since ancient times. They have become a fixture in Fantasy to the point of redundancy. Their continued existence is assured by many Fantasy authors who find new ways to include them in stories.

Elves come in many shapes and sizes. Some are tall, beautiful creatures beyond description. These beings are warriors and builders of fantastic civilizations. They are aloof, sometimes amoral creatures with different motivations than humans. Some are small statured creatures. These tend to be tricksters or helpers to humans. The common threads among Elven-kind are that they are magical and immortal.

One Fantasy author that writes about elves is Mercedes Lackey. She has brought them into our modern day world in her book with Ellen Guon of Bedlam’s Bard. Elves interact with humans in Los Angeles and San Francisco. They provide the creative inspiration for humans. Two humans, Eric and Elizabeth, help one of the elves to keep another one from enslaving humanity. The authors give us interesting twists on the lives of elves like getting addicted to caffeine.

Another author that uses elves in her books is Rosemary Edghill. She brings them to our world and has a woman from here travel into his world. The Sword of Maiden’s Tears has an elf mugged in a city. A woman helps him to recover his stolen sword, combating monsters in the process. The other books, The Cup of Morning Shadows and The Clo ak of Night and Daggers, move the story into the elf’s world. Ms. Edghill is a very descriptive author and gives her story a strong sense of romance and adventure.

Elves take on more roles in the sub-genre of Epic Fantasy. J.R.R. Tolkien presented readers with a noble, immortal race of elegant beings. He created whole stories and a language for his elves. There are Elrond, Galadriel, Legolas and many other interesting characters in Lord of the Rings. Other authors used his creations to inspire their own elven inhabitants.

Andre Norton and Mercedes Lackey have different elves in their collaborations of The Elvenbane and Elvenblood. In these books, humans are the slaves of the elves. Dragons help the humans by providing a rebel leader. Shana, a young half-elven, half-human girl, is raised secretly by dragons to fulfill a prophecy against the elves. These are entertaining books by two good Fantasy authors.

Tom Dietz uses the Celtic stories of the Sidhe in his David Sullivan books. His human characters keep dealing with the powerful elves of Samnildinach and other Sidhe through several books. It starts in Windmaster’s Bane. David Sullivan has the Sight and sees the elves on one of their marches. He eventually becomes a reluctant friend and ally to these beings.

Elves are part of many other Fantasy books. Terry Brooks has them in important roles in his Shannara series. Guy Gavriel Kay has the Lios Alfar in his Fionavar Tapestry. Katherine Kerr has an intere psting elven culture in many of her Deverry books. Tad Williams included an intriguing group of elves in his series Memory, Sorrow and Thorn. The list can go on for a long time. For those that like short stories, there is the anthology Elf Fantastic too.

Readers are attracted to the magical and immortal elves. They haunt our imaginations with dreams of strange beings capable of wonderful creations. Fantasy authors bring bring these aloof, capricious creatures to life in powerful, entertaining stories. You will encounter them in many books and stories by the best authors in the genre. Enjoy them.

Glen Cook

2010-03-19T18:54:00.000-07:00

Hired mercenaries fight a vicious war of weapons and magic against an empire. Another group of mercenaries fight against evil in a different world. A private detective deals with the supernatural in our modern day world. These are the Fantasy worlds of author Glen Cook. They are works of military bleakness and full of cynicism, but with understandable solutions to combating evil. Few of his characters are the black and white heroes of many other Fantasy novels. His books are full of action, violence and adventure, but make powerful statements about war.

The first of his book series are the Dread Empire books. In these books, a group of mercenaries fight for a quasi European and Indian group of countries against a dark empire much like ancient China. The mercenaries are led by a military genius named Bragi. Each book deepens the story of Bragi in his battle against the empire. A Shadow of All Night Falling, October’s Baby and All Darkness Met are the first books in the se ries. Two prequels of Bragi’s earlier life are The Fire in His Hands and With Mercy Toward None. Sequels to the first three books continue Bragi’s story with Reap the East Wind and An Ill Fate Marshaling.

Mr. Cook ventures again into war themes in his Black Company books. This is a group of mercenaries that fight ruthlessly with their enemies with magic and weapons. They serve an evil lady but eventually find a way to fight for good. The books are The Black Company, Shadows Linger and The White Rose. Another part of the series is known as the Books of the South. These are Shadow Games, Dreams of Steel and the recent Soldiers Live!. A side story of the Black Company is found in The Silver Spike. All of these books are very violent and bloody, and not for young children.

Next, Mr. Cook turned to Contemporary Fantasy with his other series of books. The Garrett books are private eye novels with Fantasy el ements. Garrett is a private detective who deals with the occult. In the first book, Sweet Silver Blues, he fights vampires and other fantastic creatures while solving a mystery. These books pay homage to writers like Chandler, Hammett and Spillane. Garrett is like Sherlock Holmes with a half elf Watson. The books have a strong sense of cynicism. Other books in the long series are:

Bitter Gold Hearts

Cold Copper Tears

Old Tin Sorrows

Dread Brass Shadows

Red Iron Nights

Deadly Quicksilver Lies

Petty Pewter Gods

He has written a stand alone novel also with The Swordbearer. This is an Epic Fantasy novel. A boy finds a sword that drinks souls and his destiny. He must deal with being a pawn in a war between interfering gods. Mr. Cook uses similar ideas like Michael Moorcock’s Eternal Champion books for this one.

Glen Cook is a Fantasy author of many books with a military theme or Contemporary Fantasy. He uses a lot of action and battles to make statements against war. His characters find ways of dealing with problems and are very human. Mr. Cook is a different voice in the genre. Readers will find his books very different from the usual fare.

Interview with Victoria Strauss

2010-03-05T18:21:00.000-08:00

Victoria Strauss is the author of six fantasy novels, including The Arm of the Stone, The Garden of the Stone and The Burning Land. She’s a regular book reviewer for the online journal SF Site, and her articles on writing have appeared in Writer’s Digest and elsewhere. She’s an active member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, where she serves as vice-Chair of the Writing Scams Committee and maintains the Writer Beware literary scams warning website (http://www.writerbeware.com). She welcomes visitors to her own website: http://www.victoriastrauss.com.

Debbie Ledesma: First of all, what led you to become a writer? Was it hard getting published?

Victoria Strauss: I wasn’t one of those people who always knew they’d be a writer. As a child and a teenager, I did do some writing, but not seriouslìy, and certainly not with an eye to a career, even though my mother is a published novelist.

My first novel happened more or less by accident. I wanted to take a
year off between high school and college to live abroad with my family; my
parents were willing to let me do it, but told me I’d have to come up with some sort of educational or creative project to keep me busy for the year.
I’d just taken an English class that required me to write several short stories, and I’d enjoyed it, so I thought: "Hey, why not try and write a
novel?" I wasn’t serious, or at least I didn’t think I was--I was mostly trying to placate my parents. I didn’t actually expect to finish it. But a few chapters in I was hooked, and by the time I was halfway through I’d decided that writing was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

I began submitting the book to publishers (this was back in the 1970’s, when publishers were still willing to look at unagented manuscripts), and
then, totally by accident, got an offer of representation from a brand-new
agent. She diligently sent the manuscript around, but got no takers, and after a while stopped actively submitting. She never forgot about my book,
though, and whenever she thought there was someone who might be interested she sent it out. Eventually, she did get me an offer. I had to completely rewrite the book to make it publishable, which was an interesting lesson in swallowing my authorial pride. But I learned a huge amount from doing it. To this day, I’m grateful to the editor who bought it for taking a chance on a very unready writer, and for being so generous with her guidance and support.

DL: Why did you choose the Fantasy genre to write in?

VS: My favorite reading as a child was fantasy ‘ (especially Arthurian
fantasy--one of my all-time favorites is T. H. White’s The Sword in the
Stone), fairy tales, and historical novels. Perhaps not surprisingly, my
first novel was a historical with fantastic elements. After that, I gravitated toward fantasy--always with a historical bent (people tell me that my books read like historical novels about places that never were). Apart from the ability that fantasy gives me to explore interesting themes, I love the sense of wonder that rises from magic and adventure in imaginary worlds. It’s my goal to share that with readers--really, to write the kinds of books that I myself would like to read.

DL: What authors, Fantasy or otherwise, influence your writ óing?

VS: I’m a pretty eclectic reader. One of my favorite classic writers is Thomas Hardy, for his matchless ability with character and setting. I’m also a big mystery fan--favorites include Reginald Hill and Barbara Vine (a pen
name of Ruth Rendell, whose books under her own name I don’t like nearly as much, for some reason). Mainstream writers who’ve impressed me recently include Matthew Kneale and Ann Patchett; and I recommend Jeff Long’s The Descent to anyone who likes incredibly dark, atmospheric SF-themed thrillers.

Classic fantasy and SF favorites include Ann McCaffrey, Patricia McKillip,
Philip K. Dick, John Brunner, and Andre Norton ï. I admire John Crowley’s literary fantasy, and Tad Williams is one of the best pure storytellers around. There’s also a really exciting crop of up-and-coming writers who are re-thinking and energizing various subgenres of fantasy and SF: Jacqueline Carey, R. Scott Bakker, Ricardo Pinto, Roger Levy (a UK writer who deserves a much wider audience), Scott Westerfeld, and many others. One of the perks of being a book reviewer is that I get to see a lot of terrific new authors.

DL: Do you find it easier writing for adults or young adults?

VS: Both kinds of writing are equally challenging, in different ways.
You’re catering to different audiences, but ê the level of imagination and
commitment you bring to each kind of book is exactly the same.

My YA books are less complex, plotwise, than my adult books, though
that’s mostly a result of the length restrictions that applied to YA fiction
when I was writing it. Nowadays, post-Harry Potter, it’s okay for YA books to be pretty hefty, but that wasn’t always true. My YA books also are less
dark. This also has to do with the needs of the market when I was writing YA; in fact, one of the main reasons I switched to adult fiction was that I
wanted to be able to delve deeper into darker themes. Again, though, the YA market has changed quite a bit in the past decade or so, and books that deal with dark themes and disturbing subjects are far more acceptable than they once were.

DL: How is your new novel The Burning Land different from your previous books?

VS: My two previous adult novels (The Arm of the Stone and The Garden of the Stone) had an alternate-world setting--a world that split off from our own somewhere around the early medieval period--and a lot of the world building was based on a European medieval template. I wanted to do something different with my next book, so The Burning Land has a setting that’s more reminiscent of Asia or the Middle East.

I also did more extensive world building for this novel than I’ve done
for others, in part because I’d like to set a number of books in this world
(right now, the only one scheduled is a sequel). I research all my
books, but I did much more reading for The Burning Land, and spent more time building the setting (I do a lot of world building on the fly, as I’m writing, rather than in advance--but for this novel, with its complicated background of history and culture and religion, I knew from the start that I’d have to invest more time up front). There’s a feature on my website (http://www.victoriastrauss.com) that discusses the research process, and gives a glimpse of the kind of preparation I did.

The Burning Land also has a very different magic system. The Stone books featured a wide range of magical gifts, but in the world of The Burning Land there are only two: Dreaming, a kind of astral projection that allows the Dreamer’s mind to fly out across the world in sleep, and Shaping, the ability to manipulate and transmute matter. Shaping is a limited gift--a Shaper can’t, for instance, create anything living--and it’s also greatly feared, because of abuses in the ancient past. As a result, Shapers are required to vow themselves to the god Arata (who originally granted the gift of shaping to humankind) and to cripple their power with drugs.

The hero of The Burning Land is a Shaper priest, Gyalo, who’s sent into an unexplored desert (The Burning Land of the title) sacred to the sleeping god Arata, in search of a group of Ürefugees from a recently-ended cycle of religious persecution. It’s feared that some of these refugees may be Shapers, free of vows and drugs and therefore extremely dangerous. After many trials, Gyalo finds the refugees, some of whom are indeed free Shapers--but far more amazing is the secret they’ve discovered, which seems to indicate that the central prophecy of Gyalo’s faith has been fulfilled, an event that heralds the destruction and rebirth of the world. Gyalo’s appearance out of nowhere, which at first seems to fit the refugees’ heretical beliefs, later begins to contradict them, and he’s forced to flee, along with a Dreamer named Axane who has also defied her people’s faith. But the church leaders to whom Gyalo returns are as threatened by his discoveries as the refugees were by his arrival. In the crisis that follows, all beliefs come into question, and both Gyalo’s courage and h Ñis deepest-held convictions are tested to their limits.

DL: I’m always fascinated with Fantasy that has mythic themes. Do you use themes from mythology in your books?

VS: Yes, always--though they’re probably not immediately recognizable as real-world myths. My Stone duology is centered around a mysterious magical object called the Stone, which is based in part on legends of the Holy Grail (which in their original form were quite different from the Grail of the Arthurian story). The Burning Land features Arata, the sleeping god whose dreams continually shape and change the earth, and whose rising will restore the world to its original perfection--a theme embodied in a lot of different myths and legends from many different cultures and religious traditions. I also enjoy making up my own myths--there’s one at the very beginning of The Burning Land.

DL: How do you view Fantasy as a vehicle for social commentary?

VS: Fantasy is a terrific medium for a theme-driven writer like me (when
I’m planning a book, theme comes first; plot and character grow out of it).
Because you’re working with an imaginary world whose nature and
principles you control, you can build a setting that embodies the themes you want to explore, without any of the constraints or baggage of real-world history (though in order to resonate with readers, the setting does need to reflect the real world in some way). Or you can use mythic archetypes to address universal issues; or your imaginary world can skew or satirize some aspect of the real world or work as an allegory of it. On the other hand, if you aren’t interested in anything so abstract, you can simply go for pure entertainment, pure adventure. That’s one of the things I love most about fantasy, both as a reader and a writer: it’s infinitely flexible.

The Burning Land does address serious themes, including the corruption of power and the dangers of religious fundamentalism. These are themes that have always interested me--and, as it happens, are reflected by recent real-world events, both in this country and abroad, in ways I didn’t anticipate as I was writing the book.

DL: Movies are a different medium, but do you think any of your books
would make a good movie?

VS: Maybe I’m biased, but I think any of them would! I’m a very visual
writer--I see the scenes and settings in my books like a movie in my head as I’m writing, and though my books are mostly character-driven, they also
feature strong dramatic story arcs. If I had to choose one novel to turn into
film, I think it might be my YA novel Guardian of the Hills. It’s a coming of age story set during the Depression, in which the excavation of a series of mysterious hill-tombs wakes a powerful, malign spirit.

The current interest in films based on fantasy novels is interesting. A few
years ago, fantasy novels stood little chance of ever being optioned. But
fantasy is now perceived as a moneymaker, and with all the advances in
CGI and special effects it’s possible to bring imaginary worlds and powerful magics to life in a way it never was before. Hopefully the “Lord of the Rings” movies have raised the bar for filmed fantasy, and will make film sales more feasible for writers like me.

DL: Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?

VS: Read as widely as possible, and think critically about what you read.
Apart from actually writing, it’s the best way to learn your craft.

Educate yourself! This is tremendously important. There are a lot of scams
and pitfalls waiting for new writers (in my other life, I’m a member of the
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America’s Writing Scams Committee, and run a website called Writer Beware, which warns about various kinds of literary scams) and your best defense is to know how the publishing industry wo ≥rks before you start submitting manuscripts. You also have a much better chance of success if you carefully research agents and publishers ahead of time to be sure they are legitimate and that your work is appropriate for them. Many writers seem to want to skip the research step--and I agree, it’s tedious. But apart from writing a good book or story, a firm understanding of the industry and solid research are the two things that will best serve your quest for publication.

Don’t believe the prevalent new writers’ myths: that established publishers
won’t take a risk on new talent, that established agents won’t work with new authors, that original voices have no chance because publishers are
only interested in cookie-cutter clones of successful books. There’s some
truth in these maxims, which makes them very convincing--but they are greatly exaggerated. If your work is marketable and you are smart about
submitting, your odds of pu blication are better than not.

Be persistent. This doesn’t just mean about submitting your work. Keep
writing--if your current book or story won’t sell, the next one might. Keep
researching--the market is always changing, and if you keep on top of
it you’ll improve your chances.

Finally...be realistic. Publications aimed at new writers encourage them to
believe that everyone has an equal chance, and it’s just a matter of trying
hard enough or mastering a few tricks of the trade. But this is misleading,
because every writer is not equal. Some are talented--but more are not.
Consistent rejection by the commercial market may be shortsighted and
unfair...or it may be justified. It’s important to have confidence in your
ability, but at some point, you may need to reassess.

DL: What books or stories are in your future?

VS: I’m currently working on a sequel to The Burning Land. As I mentioned, I’d like to do other books set in the same world--I have an idea for a prequel to The Burning Land, based on a historical incident that’s mentioned in the book, but it all depends on whether my publisher is interested. I’m also working on ideas for another young adult fantasy, or possibly a series.

Humorous Fantasy

2010-02-19T18:33:00.000-08:00

Humor is an important aspect of human existence. We all enjoy humor whether it is subtle, bringing a smile to our lips or makes us laugh hard. For authors, humor can be a tricky thing to write but some can master it. Several Fantasy authors write humorous books using the Fantasy genre as their playground. They bring us works that give us laughs through many books.

One of the masters of Humorous Fantasy is British author Terry Pratchett. ]He created the Fantasy world of “Discworld.” He uses satire to poke fun at all of the cliches in Fantasy as well as at our modern world. His characters of the wizard Rincewind, the witch Granny Weatherwax and many others bring Discworld to life and gives us many laughs. Mr. Pratchett has a keen talent for humor that extends over several books. The Color of Magic is the first of the series.

Another humorous author is Piers Anthony and his “Xanth” books. Xanth is a land of magic bordering on our world of Mundania. Everyone in Xanth is born with a magic talent. Those that aren’t get exiled to Mundania forever. A Spell for Chameleonis the first book in this long series. It tells the story of Bink and his quest to find a magic talent before he is exiled.These books are pun driven. The series is now over twenty-five books.

Humor is not limited to men writers. Esther Freisner writes some books and stories that are very funny. She has a subtle but wicked sense of humor. Her books range from in your face comedy to a mild undercurrent in some books. They cover a vast array of Fantasy sub-genres. Harlot’s Ruse and Elf Defense are just two books from her considerable talent and imagination.

Following in Pratchett’s footsteps, Tom Holt added his contribution to humorous Fantasy with several books. Expecting Someone Taller tells the story about a character named Malcolm. While driving his car one day, Malcolm hits a badger. The badger granted him two powers, making Malcolm king of the world. A lot of satirical humor ensues. Mr. Holt uses various mythologies to write Fantasies poking fun at society. His books are entertaining.

For slapstick humor, puns and a lot of fun, Fantasy author Robert Asprin fits the bill. He has written several humorous books, especially his “Myth” series. These books tell about Skeeve the magician’s apprentice and the demon Aahz as they stumble through many adventures. Another Fine Myth is the first of the series.

Humorous Fantasy has many books from talented authors to tickle our funny bones. The stories can be subtle, pun driven, slapstick, satire or many other styles of humor. These books are entertaining and can be a change from the usual serious Fantasy. Everyone can benefit from a good laugh. So, find a book and enjoy the laughter.

Interview with Vera Nazarian

2010-02-06T18:24:00.000-08:00

This interview appeared a few years ago, but still has a lot of information.

Vera Nazarian is a rising star of the Fantasy genre. Originally from Russia, she brings vivid new stories to Fantasy that readers can enjoy. A writer and artist among other other areas, she is a multi-talented woman. She creates intriguing worlds filled with interesting characters in both short stories and novels. Her two books are Dreams of the Compass Rose and Lords of Rainbow. She is also owner of her own publishing company Norilana Books (http://www.norilanabooks.com). More information can be found at her web site at: http://www.veranazarian.com . Ms. Nazarian tells more about herself in the interview:

Debbie Ledesma: What led you to become a writer? Was it hard getting published?

Vera Nazarian: Good question. I think I became one despite myself -- tricking myself into it, really.

When I was a little kid back in Moscow, Russia, I've always thought I would
become an artist or a folk dancer or an astronomer. In fact, if you'd asked me then about a life of solitary writing I would have said, "Oh how boring! Imagine, to sit at a desk all day and just write." I was forgetting that an artist also just stares at a piece of paper or canvas all day. It somehow never occurred to me to connect these two diverse creative modes.

However I've always been creative verbally, had a flair, my teachers said -- wrote great expository essays in elementary school, scribbled little poems, embraced all writing assignments. And all along I read voraciously -- first in Russian and then, after we left the USSR, in English, and even Spanish. At some point in the US, in junior high, seventh grade, inspired by our recent reading of Tolkien, Piers Anthony's Xanth and Terry Brooks’ The Sword of Shannara, a good friend started to write a fantasy novel. And I said to myself, "Hey, why don't I do that too?"

And so I started to write. And I wrote and wrote all through high school. At some point, sitting in the school library, during reading period, I looked up from my leopard print hardcover composition notebook where I was scribbling a derivative Tolkien epic full of purple prose in tiny handwriting and thought to myself, "Damn! I am a writer! How did that happen?"

In those days, I relished the sweet sense of keeping a unique secret in my
mind -- a wonderful magical universe that I could go to any time, any place, and no one had to know. It was my personal place, better than any I've read about in any other book. And when I wrote, I was in the process of pulling that personal universe out of nothing and into the cold reality of the greater world. The act of sharing with readers was at first too much of an intimate thing. But it evolved into an intense necessity to share.

As far as publication, I was supremely lucky that in my senior high school
year I came upon an issue of _Writers Digest_ with a market listing for Sword and Sorceress #2, edited by Marion Zimmer Bradley. Before, probably around 1982, I had sent out some occasional poems to vanity contests (knowing nothing about the facts of vanity publishing and actually paying one of such poetry anthologies to "feature" my poem). I also sent out humongous and terribly overwritten stories to places such as _IASFM_ and _F&SF_ and _Fantasy Book_, and started acquiring rejections, with my very first one being a personal and very kind scribbled note from Shawna McCarthy. But here, Marion Zimmer Bradley took apart my first submission to her, covered the manuscript in red ink revisions, and told me to try her again. I had never been so reeling with authorial joy as I had been that day, holding Marion's letter and seeing that ravaged manuscript -- finally, it meant that someone cared!

And so I sat down and wrote a short story in two weeks and submitted it to her. And Marion bought "Wound On The Moon" for S&S #2. My first sale and my first pro sale rolled into one.

(See it reprinted here: http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/eBook5882.htm)

Since then I've sold about fifteen more stories to MZB's various anthologies, and many other short pieces to other markets, not to mention
the two novels to the wonderful small press owned by John Gregory Betancourt, called Wildside Press. However I will never forget what Marion did for me by accepting that first story from a stupid enthusiastic kid.

Of course at that point I had no idea that the adventure was only beginning and that the struggle and the rejections were to pile before me, a typical young writer, in an implacable mountain. But I was on my way.

DL: What authors, Fantasy or otherwise, influence your writing?

VN: At first, I would say it was all the Greeks and the Russian classics like
Tolstoy, Goncharov, Dostoyevsky, Pushkin, and the international classics in Russian translation like Victor Hugo, George Sand, Charlotte Bronte, Sir Walter Scott, Mark Twain. Then came fluency in the English language and with it modern fantasists like Tanith Lee and genre icons like Marion
Zimmer Bradley, CJ Cherryh, Andre Norton, Gene Wolfe, Charles de Lint,
Michael Moorcock, Roger Zelazny.

If you ask me now, I think every single writer whose work I've read has had some influence upon me, and I continue to be influenced, subtly, by
everything I read, like a sponge. But then, what writers aren't? Being a
literary sponge is one of the prerequisites for this insanity.

DL: You've written short stories before your novels. Which length do you
prefer?

VN: I am a novelist at heart. Short stories are like individual jewel stones
on a necklace, wonderful in themselves like standalone gleaming entities of semantic intensity. And yes, they often burst to come out, and I certainly
enjoy it when they do. But the satisfaction of short fiction does not come
close to the rich pleasure I get as a writer in the long deep immersion in
the same long work and its growing complexity. I suppose you might say I love to wallow in my characters and imaginary worlds. I love to play with
the whole necklace, not just one glittering stone.

DL: Your book Dreams of the Compass Rose is set in a desert. What do you find fascinating about a desert setting?

VN: Well, right now I technically live in the desert -- Los Angeles being an
artificial oasis -- but my interest stems even farther to my own ethnic roots and to my love of antiquity, of the Old World and of the east.

I also find the desert a wonderful metaphor for desolation and yet the exact counterpart of the ocean with its hidden depths. Both are vast, harsh, implacable, homogenous to the untrained eye, and beautiful. Both
allow the wind to roam on the surface. And both serve as wonderful
vehicles for human survival stories.

A made-up proverb from Dreams of the Compass Rose says, "In the desert, the only god is a well." I love exploring the intensity of such juxtaposition, the dangerous edge. In the desert, water gives life, while in the ocean an island stands to give anchor. Opposites are desirable and necessary. Once again, you see the theme of taking away a precious element of the world or making it rare and precarious.

Also, the desert is an ideal illusion of a blank slate -- so much mystery in endless layers is hidden underneath its bright, pseudo-sterile surface.

What more can you ask from a fantasy setting?

DL: Who is your favorite character in your books?

VN: The answer to this question tends to change, depending on what book or story I am working on at the moment. I usually focus on the whole group of characters in any given work-in-progress, and as a result they become particularly dear to me as I delve into their innermost motivations and live out their lives.

However I must admit that I do have a particular soft spot for the character of the chameleon-trickster goddess Ris in Dreams of the Compass Rose. Ris has gone through the whole spectrum of personal change and has had the longest road of all. And in the end she chooses to come back to the world, to guide, and to help, and to open the eyes of those who are suffering. In that is her true strength and humorous wisdom. I really do like her a whole lot.

DL: What themes do you find most compelling to include in your writing?

VN: One of the things that I've noticed over the years is that I seem to be
fascinated as a writer with the notion that we already have all that we need.

It is right here, all of it, here for the taking, right before our eyes -- happiness, fulfillment, hope, peace, justice. And most of all, there is truth, ordinary and simple, just sitting there to be plucked, if only we get our lazy rear ends off the pillow of complacency. But first, we need to open our eyes to this banal fact. And for that we need a periodic bit of shakeup in the form of an infusion of wonder -- fantastic literature.

And a related recurring theme is the exploration of how we take for granted the things in our immediate environment that are common and ordinary. Existential blindness, of sorts.

Our world is so bursting-full of natural wonder that we are all experiencing a sensory overload. We are no longer perceiving all of Ú the details, just the ones that immediately interest us. Indeed we often engage the defense mechanism of tunnel vision, just to keep ourselves focused on our daily lives. This makes us terribly jaded in our perception of what is really around us.

And here is where I like to burst in as a writer, to take one strong sensory detail or image and instead of enhancing it or directing attention to it by shouting about it, I simply take it away.

For example, in Lords of Rainbow I start out by taking away color from the world, and in the process show color's vital place in our lives. At least I hope that by the end of the book it's a portion of what the reader comes away with -- a sense of how much color perception enriches our lives and how its lack can make our sensory experience incomplete. Even for the people who are color-blind to any degree, I believe their experience would also be affected if everyone else too only perceived the world in colorless monochrome.

In Dreams of the Compass Rose, there is the running theme of the loss of water in the desert, and its ultimate reclaiming.

In some of my other works I take away other elements of the world --
normalcy, sex drive, sense of time, memory, a loved one. Without some of
these basics, characters have no choice but to do something to reclaim
their lives.

Seems to me that there is no better way to experience the depth of loss
than after the fact. No more powerful instrument of imbuing value in an
object than parting with it.

And it is a quiet terrible thing, too, to discover the value of love this
way -- when the object of love is no longer there, when love dies or goes
away or changes. When it is too late.

My characters often start out with a loss of some sort, usually a loss of
emotion or purpose or hope. What I do in the course of my writing is weave a thematic arc of fulfillment. It is my constant theme as a creator. It
also hinges on expectations met and not met, and the act of genuine surprise. I love to fool my readers, but in a good way. If you've read any
of my work, there's a good chance that at some point I surprised you.

DL: Do you use any mythology sources for you writing?

VN: So glad you asked -- I was nurtured on Greek Mythology and the classical epics. I lived and breathed Homer. Other mythologies -- the Russian, the Norse, the Persian, the Indian, Egyptian, etc. -- all came later. First and foremost were the Greeks, and they were all living in my head as though I were Zeus and they were a clamoring Chorus of Athenas.

Everything I write now might have roots in such myths, often disguised,
often dissolved into new multi-ethnic myths of my own making. For example, when reviewing my novel Dreams of the Compass Rose for the _Magazine of F&SF_, master fantasist Charles de Lint called it "engaging and resonant, creating a new mythology that feels so right one might be forgiven for thinking that it's the cultural heritage of some forgotten country or people that have been lost to history." This of course I take as the highest compliment, since it was indeed my sincere intent.

DL: Your latest book, Lords of the Rainbow, is receiving some good reviews. Please tell me a little about the book. Where did you get the idea?

If you knew, you would laugh. The idea came to me about 18 years ago, the summer after my graduation from high school -- yes, this is how long it
took me to write this book. And yes, Lords of Rainbow was the first novel I actually completed.

I was watching TV, possibly Saturday morning cartoons, and saw, stuck
between cereal commercials, a silly commercial for a little kid's doll. There was something to do with the rainbow, some sugary sweet jingle, and the doll was so cutesy that she annoyed me immediately.

And in a weird moment it occurred to me -- what if someone took the
phenomenon of the rainbow and treated it not in this treacle-sweet, cutesy,
little-kid manner but with deadly seriousness? With high tragedy, even? What if I made the rainbow sad, beautiful, ideal, and what if I took it so
far that there was even a philosophy based on it?

And the book was born.

LORDS OF RAINBOW is subtitled the Book of Fulfillment. I admit there were residual influences of all the epic fantasy that has gone before -- but primarily Tolkien and Brooks -- in my kid imagination. I remember reading and liking and yet being dissatisfied on some level, and wanting to write an epic where women and love and emotional relationships were just as important as the world-scope element of wonder (in this case the colorless world). I also wanted to portray a warrior woman whose main personal strength was not brashness or pride or military prowess or even nobility of character -- but humility and simple quiet loyalty.

The book became very complex. In addition to all the character layers
there was also the mechanism of Rainbow, what it stood for, what it meant.
The colorless world itself became a character with personal trait Òs -- the
impotent gray sun, the surfaces that were distinguished only by textures
such as matte or metallic, the fall of night like an instant blackout upon
a gray environment. And superimposed upon this monochrome fabric was color -- an alien, pasted-on thing that could never blend.

In this world, the avatars that were the ancient demigods of each major
color also represented human qualities, almost like a bizarre Tarot system
of personality. I've even come up with a personality test to determine
which of the Tilirr, or Lords of Rainbow each one of us "serves."

(Take the Tilirr Quiz here: http://www.veranazarian.com/lorquiz.htm)

I have been accused by some of mixing fantasy and allegory, of making
something out of nothing when assigning personality traits to the colors
and to the avatar Lords of Rainbow. But my response to that is, not at
all. Having thought long and hard and listened to my instinct as to what
each color represents, on some organic primeval level I honestly believe i Òn the association of red (Werail) with passion and aggression, of orange
(Melixevven) with joy, of yellow (Dersenne) with inspiration and
enlightenment, of green (Fiadolmle) with growth and creativity, of blue (Koerdis) with intellect, and of violet (Laelith ) with love and the higher
senses and the final mystery. What remains is Andelas who represents white as the union of all colors, and Feale who represents black, the absence of all colors.

There is no notion of good and evil, only completion and lack, need and
fulfillment. I would like to underline that I have no intention of associating white with good and black with evil -- that is complete nonsense, as anyone would see if they read the book. My villains are simply alien to the rest of us. They intend no evil, only the perpetuation of their own existence. Without giving any more of the plot away, I'd like to say that my "Dark Lord" is not the typical epic fantasy villain at all but is an integral part of the whole thing.

In short, there is no allegory here, only an alien -- and yes, fantastic -- way of perceiving the elements of our world.

Also, my brand of fantasy is completely devoid of the traditional notions
of magic as ritual. Instead I see the fantastic as a meta-layer of existence beyond the real world.

No waving of enchanted wands but heightened perception. No magic objects, but a transformed and enhanced reality. No spells or chants, but the raw power of the human will to enact supernatural change upon the universal fabric. This is the kind of "magic" that fills Lords of Rainbow - elemental, organic, humanistic -- an extension of reality.

DL: What do you think is the important function of Fantasy literature?

VN: I think fantasy literature is the one true literature of hope and
imagination.

Now, some writers whom I respect very much, like China Miéville and some others of the New Weird, consider the true role of fantasy to be not
Tolkienesque consolation but subversion -- a kind of rebe Ûllion from
complacency. Yes, I can see what is meant here. And I also see the need
to change, to fix, to drastically improve the human lot.

However, I see no profound progress taking place when there is no hope, no inspiration, only drastic overthrow and rebellion. Before having a
revolution of thought there must be real ideals to aspire to, and they are
only to be found within.

These ideals are not new, bright, shiny things but old, hoary, deeply
ancient things. This goes back to my pet notion that we already have all
that we need, merely are oblivious to it. Fantasy plunders the well of our
deepest selves for existent truth instead of creating new truths out of the
illusory fabric of recent events or the flow of society.

Fantasy is not the literature of subversion of the status quo but of
_awakening to_ the status quo.

The difference is in the attitude, in the subtle delicacy of approach.

And consolation has been wrongly reviled. Consolation is not apathy or
inaction. It is not closing one's eyes to the evils of the world. Rather,
consolation is the first step in regaining personal equilibrium and
strength, which necessarily precedes the ability to act.

Thus, true long-term change is brought about not by destructive passion of
the moment but by well-reasoned constructive action. Violent shock of
Armageddon that leaves nothing in its wake but a blank slate is not a
solution, only a postponement of progress. We don't need fantasy to mess with our minds to the point of rendering us insane -- real life horrors do that already.

What we need in fantasy is the sudden balm of clarity -- a temporary
reprieve from life's white noise and clamor of pain, a kind of time-out.
Such clarity, a new perspective, is made possible by fantastic metaphor.
Clad in metaphor, the world becomes newborn to our senses, like a phoenix. It is the most effective fresh presentation of the elements of our life for our jaded, numbed, even ailing sense of imagination.

Why? Because without such a reprieve we cannot pause and regroup and with the newfound strength go on to initiate that very change which is sorely needed by all.

Fantasy, at its best, is balm for the soul. But it is faulty logic to assume that balm is necessarily mind-numbing anesthesia. True balm takes away the painful irritation of life and simply heals, allowing one to begin anew. And that is what fantasy can do for us.

DL: What are you working on for the future?

A number of projects, actually, mostly novel-length. I have just completed
and turned in a far future SF or science fantasy novella titled "The Clock
King And The Queen Of The Hourglass" to the British specialty publisher PS Publishing, to appear in a signed limited edition of 700-800 copies in late 2004 or early 2005.

And now I am at work on a dark fantasy alternate-historical novel riffing
off the Persephone myth. It is called Cobweb Bride and the premise is that death, in the corporeal form of a grim 17th century Spaniard, comes to the world demanding a bride. Until a willing bride comes to him, says death, there will be no more relief and all acts of dying will cease in the world. As a result, the ill and the old and the mortally wounded are fixed in the same moment of agony without merciful release of oblivion. They are not able to pass on and therefore mount a search for the Cobweb Bride. Meanwhile, others who do not want to die ever see this as a selfish opportunity, and struggle to prevent the first group and make sure that no Cobweb Bride ever reaches death. This is very much an novel of ethical choices and sacrifice, and the protagonist, Percy (Persephone), an ordinary plain village peasant girl whose grandmother lies on her deathbed without release, ends up in the middle of this struggle.

This book is yet unsold, and will be marketed traditionally to the usual
publishers.

I also have a trio of other novel projects, but they are next in the pipeline after this one. One is a "kickass romance" aimed at a category fantasy-romance line, called Margot Phoenix Rising, about a female
superhero. Another project concerns the adventures of my character Ruricca NoOnesDaughter, and will likely be a medieval fantasy trilogy. The other, called Pantheon, will probably be an SF trilogy. Goodness knows, this should occupy me for the next 5 years at least. Beyond that, I am sure that inspiration will strike multiple times -- it always does.

DL: Do you have advice for aspiring writers?

VN: My advice for aspiring writers is threefold.

First, read as much as possible, both within and outside the genre you are
working in. By reading you hone your internal ear for style.

Second, write. Everything comes down to it; unless you write, you are not
a writer. This is the necessary applied practice of your skill, just as you would practice to perfect your skills in any other field such as sports or music or baking cookies or scrubbing the bathtub.

Third, submit your work. But -- stop chasing every seductive new market
out there, and stop trying to write for the tastes of specific established professional markets and editors. That way lies mediocrity and eventual
dissolution of your true voice, no matter how embryonic or pronounced it
may be now. The only way to help your unique literary voice grow and
eventually sing like a glorious creature of wonder is to write what you
excites you into a creative passion and brings you pure unadulterated joy.
All else is ephemeral nonsense (of course there are exceptions such as
being pressed for money here and now, but they are not long-term). Don't
believe me? Just try it and see.

Oh yeah, there is one more piece of advice. If you really believe in your
writing, then never give up. Good luck on your journey, friend.

DL: Thank you very much for your time Ms. Nazarian.

Magic Realism

2010-01-24T18:35:00.000-08:00

An angel walks into your local grocery story with shiny wings and a glowing halo. Everyone accepts this as a natural occurrence and doesn’t bat an eye. This is a simplistic example of the Fantasy sub-genre of Magic Realism. It is a growing part of Fantasy that hovers on the edge of classic literary works and mainstream fiction. Books in this sub-genre can be difficult reading, but are rich in description and can be very rewarding.

Magical Realism is a Latin-American influenced sub-genre. It consists of stories where the lines of reality and fantasy are blurred. Fantasy elements are matter-of-fact in the real world. The books usually include an examination of the character of human existence and some kind of criticism of society. The Latin-American contribution is felt by some experts to be a way for authors to deal with two separate realities. Many fine authors have been a part of this sub-genre, contributing intriguing books that provoke a lot of thinking.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez is one of th ˇe prominent authors of Magic Realism. His book, One Hundred Years of Solitude, tells the story of the Buendia family in the village of Macondo. It is a vivid story with memorable characters in a realistic setting. Fantasy elements are subtle and give a powerful addition to the story. The poignant scene of a ghost searching the house for water to wash the wound he died from is powerful, especially when the wife puts containers of water all over the house. This is one of many moving scenes in this great book.

Isabel Allende is a writer of powerful Magical Realism too. Her books are full of astonishing images and interesting characters. For example, House of Spirits is the story of three generations of the Trueba family in a fictional Chile. One of the characters has supernatural abilities. The powerful themes and fantastic elements blend with realistic characters to become an excellent book to read.

Ben Okri is an author from Africa and has contributed to Magic Realism. The Famished Road is the story of * the spirit child. He breaks his promise to return to the spirit world after being born as a human, becoming fascinated by his family and refusing to return to the spirit world. His fellow spirits torment him as he lives through an impoverished life in Africa. Mr. Okri brings Africa to life with complex characters and vivid images. His works depict the struggle for Africans to overcome the chaos in their countries.

For those interested in the topic of Magic Realism in more detail, there is Magic Realism: Theory, History, Community edited by Lois Parkinson Zamora and Wendy B. Faris. It contains in depth essays on the history of the sub-genre. The essays talk about how Magic Realism has become a part of world literature instead of w just a Latin American phenomenon.

“Chocolat” is a movie based on the book by Joanne Harris of the same name. It’s the story of a woman and her daughter that come to a French town. She opens a chocolate shop to sell her special chocolate candies that help people. A group of the more conservative town’s people want to get rid of her because they think she is a witch. This magical movie was nominated and won several Academy Awards.

Magic Realism is a sub-genre of Fantasy increasingly being explored by many authors. Once primarily a part of Latin American literature, it has found its way into the literature of many other cultures around the world. Works in this sub-genre are powerful literary stories with realistic characters and fantastic elements. Other writers in this sub-genre are: Alejo Carpentier, Jorge Amado, Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortazar, Maria Luisa Bombal,

On Writing Fantasy: Maintaining Professionalism

2010-01-09T18:28:00.000-08:00

The economy is in a downturn right now. Many Internet companies have gone out of business or are in trouble. What, you may ask, does this have to do with writing? It serves as a reminder to writers to maintain a level of professionalism in their writing endeavors.

An expanding Internet provides many opportunities for authors to publish their work on the Internet. E-zines, E-publishers and web sites have appeared, opening new venues for writers to explore.

It demonstrates that an author shouldn’t go for the easy thing. Writing is a hard career and getting published even harder. There is a lot of competition confronting you. Along with that, there are other pitfalls too. A writer can’t allow desperation or desire to get published by any means blind them to these things. It can lead to disappointment in the end. A writer must decide on what level they want to be, whether amateur or professional.

Amateur writers don’t need to worry too much. They usually don’t care if they get money or not for their writing. One established author describes a professional writer as someone who gets paid at a professional rate for their work. He maintains that professional writers should get paid for their work, and settling for anything less makes a person an amateur. In a way his is right; a writer should get paid for their work. When you put a lot of effort into your writing, you should receive some compensation. It is never good to settle for anything less because then it turns your hard work into little more than a hobby and leads Å to other pitfalls. Are there times when you should settle for less?

Another established author thinks that a writer should use any means possible, including self publishing to get exposure for their work. Part of this is true and part is false. It is true that you can get exposure, but writers should do this with care. Placing a few samples of your writing on a web site to promote yourself is okay. Maybe let a couple of pieces get published for free. A writer should not resort to self publishing. It is expensive and leads to the perception with editors that your writing is not good enough for them to publish. It also leads to some other serious pitfalls.

Vanity publishers require you to give them a lot of your own money to print books for you. They don’t edit it or help you promote it. Invariably, the author ends up with a bunch of books they can’t sell. Another pitfall is falling äprey to unscrupulous agents. These agents talk unsuspecting writers into spending their money to get a book edited and usually disappear with the money. So beware. With the new growth in E-publishing and Print On Demand technology, writers are facing another new pitfall. One of the new E-publishers has been criticized for the horrendous contract they offer unsuspecting new authors. They grab up a lot of rights and pay the author very little for their books. It is not worth it.

Writers must maintain a level of professionalism. Professionals should get paid for their work. It is all right to put some things on a personal web site, but be careful of the pitfalls of unscrupulous agents, vanity publishers and tricky contracts. Don’t let a desire to be published overwhelm your common sense. I know it is hard because I gave in to it once, but I’m very careful now. Write. Be professional. Good luck.

Laura Resnick Interview

2009-12-25T18:24:00.000-08:00

Laura Resnick is a relatively new author to the Fantasy genre though she has published in other genres. She became part of the genre with her first Epic Fantasy book In Legend Born. Daughter of science fiction author Mike Resnick, she has written many books in the romance genre under the pen name Laura Leone. Ms. Resnick has traveled all over the world, including a recent trip to Africa, and this experience she brings to her books. Many of her short stories have appeared in various anthologies. The second book of her Fantasy series will be split into two books: In Fire Forged: The White Dragon, which will be published May 2003, and In Fire Forged: The Destroyer Goddess. She has a new book called Dopplegangster coming out in Jan. 2010.

Debbie Ledesma: I read your biography on the Internet. What inspired you to start a writing career?

Laura Resnick: I was living and working in Sicily, and my salary wouldn’t stretch to pay off a bank loan I had in England. So I was searching for a second source of income, something that would fit into my schedule. A friend suggested I read Kathryn Falk’s How To Write A Romance and Get It Published. At my request, my parents sent me a copy of the book from the U.S. I read the book, and I thought this seemed like something I could do at my own pace and without spending money which I didn’t have. So I sat down and started writing books, and then started sending out queries. The following year, I made my first sale--to Silhouette Books.

At the time (15 years ago), Silhouette still had a publishing program which was growing faster than its stable of reliable writers. So when they found someone whose writing they liked, and who seemed capable of delivering 2-4 books per year to them, they worked on helping that writer develop. I sold them a dozen books in five years. Throughout those years, I got detailed editorial commentary from Silhouette on everything I wrote, including all the material they rejected. So, from my perspective, Silhouette spent five years paying me to learn my craft. That’s a rare opportunity for a young writer and was a huge asset in my development as a novelist.

DL: Did being the daughter of a SF author influence your writing?

LR: As a kid, I often heard my father say things about writing which I now know stuck with me--craft Äprinciples such eschewing self-indulgence and fulfilling your responsibility to engage and absorb the reader. When I was a teenager, my father paid me by-the-page to type the final drafts of his manuscripts. That’s how I learned to type, and also how I learned MS formatting. I probably unconsciously learned about the revision process, since I was typing from his line edits of his own work and thereby seeing the changes he made as he went along, and seeing how many changes a writer might make from initial draft to final version. I also developed an understanding of how polished a writer’s prose and how well-crafted his story should be before shipping a MS. Perhaps because of that, many editors have commented to me how clean and polished my work is upon delivery.

Growing up in my father’s house also influenced my approach to the
profession. For example, I knew from an early age that persistence and
endurance are essential qualities just for breaking into this profession, let
alone surviving or succeeding in it. So, when trying to break into publishing, it never even occurred to me to write just one book; when I sold my first book, I was already working on my fourth.

DL: What authors have inspired or influenced your writing besides your father?

LR: Pretty much everyone I’ve ever read. Whenever I read a book I don’t like, I analyze why it doesn’t work and what would work instead; this practice has formed a private mental university of self-education which has been an enormous influence on my work. I try to engage in a similar analysis of books which I love, figuring out why they work so well. This has been influential, too, though a much tougher exercise: A wel l-crafted novel often appears deceptively effortless and hides the seams of the writer’s painstaking work, making it difficult even for another writer to discover exactly what makes it so good.

DL: After writing many Romance novels under the pen name Laura Leone, why did you choose Fantasy to write your next novel?

LR: After I’d sold eight romance novels, Marty Greenberg and my father invited me to write a short story for an sf/f anthology they were doing. That went well, so they each invited me into more anthologies. (So I blame my entry into sf/f on Marty and Pop.) Then other sf/f pros started inviting me into their anthologies. I was just doing this for fun, as a relaxing change-of-pace from my full-time career as a romance novelist. Eventually, though, I’d sold over twenty sf/f ⁄ short stories, I’d won the John W. Campbell Award (best new sf/f writer), and sf/f types kept asking me, "When are you going to write a novel?" (I’d reply that I’d written thirteen novels for three publishers, but I’d done it under another name in another genre. I think some people thought I was just making a strange joke.)

Eventually, through a series of coincidences too complicated to explain
(though I blame Jennifer Roberson), I wound up with an agent who specialized in sf/f. After a while, it dawned on me that, considering all these combined circumstances, I should probably try writing an sf/f novel. And that was how it wound up happening.

DL: How is writing Fantasy fiction different than Romance fiction?

LR: Wow! There are so many ways, I can’t even begin to address them here--but here’s a basic summary:

Bottom line, for me, fantasy is about the struggle between good-and-evil,
with the epic external struggle leading us to the internal, personal struggle
whi Óch exists in each one of us. Whereas the romance genre is about two people pair-bonding. I’m always amazed at how often people from each genre seem to wholly misunderstand the other genre and define it by its window-dressing: "Fantasy is about magic and world-building," or "Romance is about sex." Understanding the heart of each genre shapes the whole approach to developing a novel there.

Also, for whatever reason, my story ideas and my personal sensibility tend to be much more marketable in fantasy than they are in romance. That makes a big difference in my artistic experiences (and commercial potential) in each genre. As a writer, I personally find the romance genre artistically restrictive, which in turn affects the quality of my work there. By contrast, I’ve found the fantasy genre artistically UNrestrictive, so I’ve grown by leaps and bounds as a writer during my sojourn here, and I also experience better career growth in fantasy.

DL: Where did you get your idea for In Legend Born?

I used to live in Sicily, and the original idea for In Legend Born arose out of Sicilian history. Anyone familiar with a famous 20th-century Sicilian peasant-turned-outlaw-turned-Separatist, Salvatore Giuliano (active 1943-1950), will recognize numerous similarities between his history and the story which occurs in this fantasy novel.

DL: Your Fantasy books are getting longer, how many books do you think it will be?

LR: My second fantasy novel is almost double the length of my first (which was a huge book), and so I’ve had to split into two volumes for publication: The White Dragon: In Fire Forged, Part One (May 2003) and The Destroyer Goddess: In Fire Forged, Part Two (December 2003). However, far from my "fantasy books getting longer," my next two--Arena and The Palace of Heaven, both
stand-alone novels--will be no longer than the first one was, and perhaps
even shorter.

DL: Do you have a favorite character in your books? Which one and why?

LR: It changes from year to year, as new characters torment me and old characters slide off my radar. My personal favorites today are a couple of characters in my upcoming two-part fantasy novel (The White Dragon: In Fire Forged, Part One and The Destroyer Goddess: In Fire Forged, Part Two). Baran is an amoral, witty, and emotionally unstable sorcerer whose company makes everyone else jittery and bad-tempered. Ronall is a drunken, whoring, cowardly aristocrat who’s horribly out of Ò place and trying to find his place in a world of towering heroes and villains.

What draws me to these characters is their iconoclastic charm, the fresh
perspective they bring to the story by being so out of place in it, and the
mass of contradictions in their behavior which ensures that other characters (and, I hope, readers) are torn between affection and loathing, between empathy and revulsion when encountering them. I’m fascinated by the struggle of inconsistencies, contradictions, and extremes in people, and therefore I like to explore this in characters. Additionally, I love irreverence and have a huge fondness for characters who say what no one else will say.

DL: I’ve read some of your short stories, which form do you prefer, novels or short stories?

LR: I enjoy both. A 1,000-page manuscript (or, indeed, a 300-page manuscript) involves a lot more commitment, sustained effort, and passion than does a 16-page manuscript, so I am much more involved in my novels, they require far more of my focus and effort, and I care about them much more. However, although short fiction is not my primary passion as a writer, it’s been extremely important in my development because it’s afforded me so many opportunities to experiment with things which are uncommercial, odd, or which I’ve yet to learn to sustain over the course of 500 pages, in terms of structure, style, tone, format, voice, point-of-view, pace, etc.

DL: Do you draw from mythology for your themes and ideas?

I would say I draw from life for my themes and ideas. Although mythology is one of the many subjects that I include in my background reading for my work, it’s not a starting place for me, nor is it more important for me than other aspects of my research.

DL: Did your experience of the African trip find its way into your stories?

LR: Yes. I wrote a non-fiction book about the trip, A Blonde In Africa, as well as some articles. My experiences in Africa have worked their way into my fiction in any number of ways, most noticeably a romance novel called Fever Dreams (w/a Laura Leone), as well as several short stories, including, "Amandla!" I’ve written proposals for novels set in Africa but, unfortunately, no one’s wanted them so far. Above all, I’d say that my experiences in Africa changed my writing because they changed me as a person, in the way that all major life experiences change us and our work.

DL: Have current events such as 9/11 and the talk of war with Iraq found their way into your writing or influenced it?

LR: In terms of my plot choices, not yet. Thematically--yes, in the sense that
everything that affects me affects my work. I felt a kind of terrible innocence on 9/11. I watched those planes flying deliberately into the Twin Towers to murder thousands of civilians, and I realized that I have to start all over as a fantasy writer, because I don’t really know anything about evil yet.

DL: What do you think is the important function of Fantasy?

LR: What a loaded question! I was just saying to another writer the other day, "NEVER attempt to define your genre in interviews, because as soon as it’s published or aired, other writers in your genre will jump all over you to tell you you’re not just WRONG, you’re also insulting, simplifying, or
overlooking -their- work."

So let’s be clear about this: I only speak for MY work. With that understood: I think fantasy’s function is to explore individual and societal moral struggles in a complex, dangerous, and ambivalent world; to explore the challenges of sacrifice in a naturally selfish world; and to do so in a format which respects and evinces the classic traditions of good storytelling--high adventure, high romance, fascinating characters, and
compelling plots.

DL: What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

LR: The same advice I always give:

Persistence is the most important quality you’ll need, and probably the one
which you currently underestimate the most.

I’m always amazed at how many aspiring writers who complete one book don’t start writing another. As if (a) their first-ever attempt at a novel will
necessarily be publishable and (b) they have no idea that a writing career
entails writing book after book after book after book. I’m also always amazed at how many aspiring writers, after receiving a rejection or two, simply give up. The first dozen agents I ever queried all told me not only that they didn’t want to represent me, but also that (a) I had no talent and couldn’t write, and/or (b) I was writing the wrong thing and should stop. That was eighteen book sales ago.

DL: What books are you planning to write after this series?

LR: I never talk about any work in public except that which is already sold! This is not "someone will steal my idea" paranoia. This is "if I talk about it before selling it, I will be unable to sell it, and everyone I meet for the next five years will keep asking me about it."

DL: Thank you very much for your time.

Animal Fantasy

2009-12-12T18:17:00.000-08:00

Many humans believe that animals have feelings and some intelligence like humans. We anthropomorphize them almost daily in TV commercials, movies, cartoons, etc. Fantasy authors contribute stories in the category of Animal Fantasy. These are stories of animals that can talk, possess human intelligence and are told from the animals’ point of view. Whether cats, rabbits, horses or many others, there are many entertaining books in this area.

One of the most detailed books is Watership Down by Richard Adams. This is the story of a group of rabbits seeking a new home to live in after their old one is destroyed. They survive through several trials that a rabbit might experience. Mr. Adams provides readers with a vivid story of rabbit lives along with their myths and beliefs. He shines a bright light on the rabbit world. The book is a classic of Fantasy and literature.

Cats are popular animals, appearing in many Fantasy books. Author Gabriel King contributes two Animal Fantasies about cats to the genre: The Wild Road and The Golden Cat. These books tell epic stories about cats, their lives, interactions with other animals and the secret wild roads they use. Some of these cats possess magic. Another book about cats is Tailchaser’s Song by Tad Williams that is very entertaining.

Rudyard Kipling created some very imaginative Animal Fantasies in his Jungle Books. The books contain short stories of talking animals and jungle life in India. Most of the stories revolve around Mowgli, a boy raised by wolves. With help from animal teachers, he learns the way of the jungle, but is constantly torn between the jungle and the world of man. There are other stories too. “Rikki Tikki Tavi” is the story of a mongoose and his fight against nasty cobras. “The White Seal” tells the story of a seal who leads his people to a safe haven from man. All of the stories are vivid and enjoyable.

Another popular animal is the horse. They appear in many books. A well done Fantasy about horses is The Heavenly Horse from the Outermost West by Mary Stanton. In this story, the last Appaloosa mare must go on a quest to save her breed. She undergoes several trials to attain her place in the horse heaven. The sequel, Piper at the Gate, tells the story of the mares’s son.

Recently a new animal Fantasy book has expanded into a large series. Redwall by Brian Jacques takes place in the fantastical place of Redwall Abbey. There are several different animals that live in and around its environs. In this first book, a young mouse dreams of being a warrior. The evil rat warlord is the villain of the book. The mouse must accomplish a quest in order to face the rat. Mr. Jacques combines epic Fantasy elements, an imaginative setting and wonderful characters in all of his books. Readers of any age would enjoy his works.

Animal Fantasy is a vital subgenre of Fantasy. The works in this category allow us to see the world through the eyes of animals. It provides a different perspective to our human lives. Whatever kind of animal is depicted, readers will find entertaining works to enjoy.

Fay Sampson

2009-11-27T18:23:00.000-08:00

History is an important subject. Reading textbooks about it can be dull and dry for some readers even though they have an interest in the subject. Some authors take events in history and create fiction about them. A few Fantasy authors go a step further, adding a twist by including fantasy elements. Fay Sampson is a Fantasy author of young adult and Historical Fantasy.

Star Dancer takes place in ancient Mesopotamia. Ms. Sampson uses the mythology of this culture to tell the story of Inanna. The books follows her all the way through to the descent of the under world to confront Queen Ereshkigal. Mesopotamia is brought to life by the author’s realistic descriptions of a timeless mythologica l tale.

Another book explores the clash between pagans and Christians in A Casket of Earth. This is a story of murder and intrigue that a Christian princess finds herself thrust into after marrying a pagan prince. War looms between the two kingdoms until the appearance of a Celtic saint who intervenes. Many complex themes are explored in this book.

Next, Ms. Sampson explores Britain in the Dark Ages through Edwin in The Flight of the Sparrow. Edwin returns from exile to become a king. He is in conflict with his Celtic foster brother. The story is very entertaining due to the author’s in depth portrayal of the time.

Arthurian Fantasy is represented by the Daughter of Tintagel books. Morgan le Fay’s story is told through the eyes of five people. Wise Woman’s Telling is Morgan’s early life through the eyes of a pagan nurse. White Nun’s Telling is the viewpoint of a nun during Morgan’s adolescence and learning of magic. Blacksmith’s Telling switches to a man’s viewpoi nt, speaking of her married years to King Urien. Taliesin’s Telling is another man’s viewpoint of Morgan raising Mordred. Finally, Morgan gives the reader her viewpoint in Herself at the end of Arthur’s life.

The historic period when the Romans were invading Britain and fighting the Celtic tribes is told in the recent book The Silent Fort. In this book, a brother and sister fight against druids trying to take control of the tribe while dealing with the Romans. Though still young, Melwa os wants to be a warrior. His sister Cairenn is about to be married. Both must overcome many dangers to save their people.

Ms. Sampson has written several books for young adults and children with fantasy elements. One group of her young adult novels are Celtic Fantasies. The stories revolve around the character of Pangur Ban, a magical white cat and his friends. Pangur Ban: The White Cat is one of many of these adventure filled tales. A recent book is THEM, which tells the story of rebels trying to overthrow an oppressive regime.

Fay Sampson is a talented author of Historical Fantasy and young adult books. She takes various historical periods, adds some fantasy elements and creates memorable stories of the distant past. Her books contain realistic characters in interesting situations. Readers of all ages will find entertaining tales from this author.

Fiona McIntosh Interview

2009-11-14T18:34:00.000-08:00

Sorry. A day late, but finally got it here.

New authors are adding their unique takes on Fantasy to the genre all of the time. Fiona McIntosh is a bestselling Fantasy author from Australia. Many of her excellent books have been published in the U.S. since 2005. I thought I would share this interview I did with her a few years ago with readers again.

Debbie Ledesma: First, for readers that might not be familiar with your books, could you tell us about your books?

Fiona McIntosh: I write "great, big, fat fantasies". I'm about to commence my third series and my second series, The Quickening, will launch in the U.S. in early 2005.

My first trilogy is Trinity - an epic good vs bad tale where the lines get blurred at the close of the story with its bittersweet ending. It's the tale of a man's journey to discover his true identity and the reason for his strange, undetectable powers in a time when Inquisitors are roaming the land to stamp out all sentients. This series has many layers - it's about friendship, loyalty, betrayal and redemption. Its brutal and filled with magic. There's a wonderful villain to loathe passionately of course and at its core is a touching love story but the breakneck pace of the prose means readers agree that it is a "rattling good adventure which fulfills all the requirements of fantasy" as one reviewer put it. "Wow! Fiona McIntosh wastes neither time nor words in Betrayal. Not for the reader who wants a sedate, bed-time read - once they open this one up, they'll be hanging onto their hats!" The books comprise: Betrayal, Revenge and Destiny.

The next series is The Quickening, a darker tale with a disturbing magical backdrop. General Wyl Thirsk's life takes a frightening turn following an encounter with a witch at her trial and subsequent burning. Again the pace is relentless as Wyl's woes intensify with the sinister nature of Myrren's Gift. The books comprise: Myrren's Gift, Blood and Memory, Bridge of Souls.

DL: How did you decide to become a writer?

FM: I had no conscious plans to be a writer and yet I learned from my mother just recently that at five years I announced I would write books one day - destiny maybe? Perhaps although I believe I've fallen into thi ¥s new line of work, it's more likely that this has been a lifetime's journey and that I've always been headed towards this goal. This is especially so if I look back over my career because everything I've done has always involved the written word from being PR manager for an international airline to publishing a travel magazine with my husband.

DL: Does writing a travel magazine help inspire your writing or change it in any way?

FM: Yes. I've been trained over 20 years to write short, punchy sentences and I notice that I often fall into this same style in my creative writing. Just habit probably and quite a good one to have. It makes the pace of the tale rattle along and prevents long, rambling prose. Also when you write for any publication which is going to be read by the public, you have to produce work which is not embellished with elaborate, florid language. It needs to be simple and convey quickly the gist of your story Æ, be it a cruise on the Mediterranean or exploring the Pyramids, walking down an avenue in Paris or taking tapas in Barcelona. Sights, sounds, smells, all come into it but user friendly language that everyone from a teenage travel consultant to an old experienced pro of 40 years in the business will understand and enjoy. The same goes for my books. I have readers who are 13 and I have readers who are 83 and they come from all walks of life and all levels of education. I approach my work as a journalist approaches their article in the daily newspaper - everyone must be able to understand it and read it with ease. It is important to me that language never gets in the way of the story. One other point I think which is not connected with the writing itself but the production of the novel. When you work for any periodical, you have been trained to having your work edited from very young editors. I've never been shocked by scr ¨awls in the margin or requests to shift around chapters or delete great chunks from the ms. And deadlines. I'm so used to working to a deadline in magazine publishing that I'm not daunted by the notion of having to create a first draft of a novel in 10 weeks or so. I prefer the pressure of a deadline or nothing gets written!

DL: What authors, Fantasy or otherwise, influence your writing?

FM: Guy Gavriel Kay is my great benchmark. His work can actually derail me as much as inspire. I read his work sometimes and wonder why I'm bothering to even try and follow this path and on other occasions I just flip through Tigana - my favourite book of all time - and it gives me this adrenalin rush and that I can produce books to charm a wide audience. His is great writing and I just want to keep reaching for a similar richness of world, language, characters and above all, storytelling. The other author who constantly inspires and influences me is Robin Hobb. I adore her work and her characters have kept me company for many years now in stories I've never wanted to end. She wrings out my emotions and the power in her stories just carry me away. Fitz and the Fool have to be two of the best characters in fantasy and I'd be lying if I didn't admit to getting a bigger kick out of seeing her name on my than my own. I should mention the work of Sharon Penman (historical fiction) who has brought medieval history alive for so many readers. She's a great writer and storyteller so I just give myself over to her and she transports me back in time and I can learn plenty from her work.

DL: Why did you choose the Fantasy genre?

I was a fantasy lover anyway. I had read a lot of the other popular fantasy series available and with nothing grabbing my attention I decided that instead of looking for something worthy to read, I would write something I wante ≠d to read. Betrayal was the result. Even after six novels I still feel I have a long way to go to be anywhere near as good as my favourite books and writers but that's what drives me to keep striving. To be honest though, I never really climbed back through the wardrobe in childhood - one I'd crossed into Narnia, I didn't want to return. Fantasy is where I feel most comfortable and I thrive on the fact that I can just let loose with my imagination and make things up as I go along. I'm not constrained by real life. Plus, I can't help but love the traditional European medieval setting and fantasy works so well in this structure.

FM: Are you planning to branch out into other genres?

Yes, but not yet. What would I write? I would love to write a psycho thriller or some crime but I just don't think I'm wired correctly for these genres. I love to read them, of course and because I tend to write without a plan I think I'd be a woeful crime or thriller author. I'm sure you'd have to know the end and be able to work backwards. Most likely I'd tackle a saga of sorts - a bit like a huge family story.

DL: Do you use any mythology sources for your writing?

FM: Not deliberately although in The Quickening I have borrowed from a medieval Bestiary to capture the idea of creatures of myth. I've used them in a similar way to the signs of the zodiac or Chinese calendar. Everyone belongs to one of these creatures depending on when they are born. It's a very small piece in book one but it certainly gives a wonderful insight into the culture of the region of Morgravia. I also definitely draw heavily on the good v evil concept which always form my favourite stories anyway but I'm teaching myself to blur the lines. Guy Gavriel Kay did it brilliantly in Tigana. Until you knew Brandin the wizard, he was a totally evil guy. Then when you met him he was charming and charismatic, he loved the heroine passionately and you felt his keen sorrow at the loss of his son. The magical element of mythology is also something most of us fantasy writers will lean on at some stage, as well as drawing on the stories of gods and mortals. Wonderful stuff.

DL: What do you think is the important function of Fantasy?

FM: Pure escape Ä would be my first thought. The world today often feels as though it's falling apart - so much doom and gloom and now we live in an age of such terrorism, it's even more frightening. I often want to hide from reality and I'm sure others agree. Where better to lose ourselves than in make believe lands where the violence might be there but we know it's not real ... and some hero, reluctant or otherwise, is going to find a solution and deal with the baddies. Why do we love Frodo, Aragorn, Indiana Jones, Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, even Arnie? The same reason a lot of us love fantasy - particularly the more traditional ones where the good guys, against extraordinary odds, win out in the end. From childhood we've all listened to fairy stories and this goes back to primitive times when people sat around a campfire and told old stories to keep the culture, language, etc alive. Our he Øarts respond to these tales of great adventure and magic.

DL: Which characters are harder to write, the heroes or the villains? Which of your characters is your favorite and why?

FM: I love villains. They're always interesting and tend to be much easier to craft. You can let your imagintion run riot as to how far you're prepared to let them go. It's obviously important to build a picture for your reader as to what makes this villain tick. He or she can't just be bad for cruelty's sake or for a plot device. Readers like to know what motivates them.

Now it's the heroes who are tricky because they need to be a bit larger than life anyway and they always seem to be doing "the right thing" even if they are a little flawed or dented. It's trying to create a 'real' person who is that driven and that decent that they put their life on the line for others and/or for a cause. You don't come across heroic people in everyday life (even though people like the Salvation Army, etc are!) so creating a hero takes a bit of a leap of faith for the writer and he/she needs to emerge slowly and build into this reliable person whom the reader is going to trust and really care about. Reluctant heroes are the most enjoyable for me to write. I like the fish out of water situation and having to discover what these people can achieve when they're up against extraordinary odds and crisis points.

Favourite character is a hard one. In my first series it was Cloot. I liked his pithy humour, his incredible loyalty and love for Tor and his selflessness. He was the true hero for the trilogy.

In The Quickening, it's very hard not to like Wyl. Of course he's so many people but the person who is Wyl beneath the guises is a courageous, strong-willed young man who is required to live on his wits through terrible circumstances. He has to sacrifice so much. The character I can't help but love a little is Romen Ko‘reldy - he's a man to win women's hearts. A laid back fellow with a sardonic manner. Very cool, quite fatalistic really. I hated him dying (oops that's a spoiler isn't it?).

DL: Do you attempt to influence the way people view society through
your writing, and if so do you believe Fantasy can have an impact?

FM: No, I definitely make no attempt to influence anyone. My books are just really good stories to get carried away on. No one could ever mistake them for driving a message. I do believe fantasy could be used to influence, though.

DL: Does living in Australia influence you in your writing?

FM: Not at all. I love Australia and being an Australian but I've got the colour green in my soul. I like muted, soft landscapes with drizzly weather and mist on lakes. I love meadows and alpine forests, rolling hills and peasanty villages and ale-swilling inns. I like Autumn and Winter, castles, sword fights, the clank of armour and medieval courts.

DL: Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?

FM: Stop talking about it and do it. There are no rules. Write instinctively.
Write everyday. Set an achievable daily word count which suits your lifestyle.You don't HAVE to know your characters, how your story ends or even where it's going. Just write - and see what happens. Read a lot-know your genre but also read widely outside of the genre you want to write in. You'll learn heaps. Join a writing group/reading group and tune in to what people have to say. You will learn so much from listening to readers and what turns them on about certain books. Mix with fellow writers - published or otherwise - they will inspire and motivate you.
Invest in a really good dictionary and a thesaurus. Pay attention to world around you - notice how a tree bends in the wind or what a cloud really looks like; listen to how people speak and their mannerisms; watch animals, watch documentaries, meet lots of people.

DL: What books or stories are in your future?

FM: Well, my third series has a working title of Percheron and this will have a far more exotic setting than my previous two which I don't doubt will be a challenge. Increasingly I find I want my fantasies to not be brimming with magic wielders (as in my first series) but to have a strong magical element and then rely on a good story of human struggle. Story ideas nag all the time. Percheron has come out the strongest but there's another idea at the back of my mind and all I see is a single scene of a man in a dungeon. That's it - that's all I have and yet it persists and I suspect it will blossom and flourish over the next year or so. G

DL: Thank you very much Ms. McIntosh for this thoughtful interview.

Andre Norton

2009-10-30T18:34:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share this article that appeared at Suite101.com a few years ago. This wonderful author died after this article appeared.

No article can do justice to an author like Andre Norton. She is a World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement winner and Nebula Grand Master as well as prolific author of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Her career has spanned close to fifty years. In that time she has given readers many contributions to the Fantasy genre for young adults and adults. Her works revolve around young people, animals and accomplishing a goal. Ms. Norton’s books have characters that undergo changes to become stronger. Her themes involve the decent treatment of animals,

Andre Norton is best known for her “Witchworld” series. Witchworld came out in 1963 and exploded into many books. Ms. Norton continued to write in this world to please her fans. The first book introduced a Fantasy world of conflict and witches. A man from our world, Simon Tregarth, travels to this world where he meets Jaelithe. In this world women have the magic and the men are warriors. Together these characters must fight to save their world. Furth ˝er books explore different aspects of this world.

Mirror of Destiny is a Fantasy about a conflict between the human world and Fairy world. A woman, Twilla, wins the king’s lottery and must get married. She must enter an enchanted forest with a warrior and his blind son. The addition of a magical mirror spurs this Fantasy into a remarkable conclusion.

In recent years, Ms. Norton has done many collaborations with other authors. Her talents combine with these writers to produce interesting works of adventure, likable characters, magic and strong themes. Some of the books are:

With Mercedes Lackey, she has written two books in the “Halfblood” series. Elvenbane and Elvenblood tells the story of a war between dragons and elves. In this world humans are slaves, but one rises to help the dragons against the elves.

Ms. Norton teamed with Marion Zimmer Bradley and Julian May for Black Tri ïllium. The books tells the story of three sisters and their quest to save their world. Each writer tells the story of one of the sisters.

Her most recent collaboration is with Sasha Miller. To the King, a Daughter is the first book of a new trilogy. It’s the story of Queen Ysa who fears a rival will take her power.

Andre Norton is a prominent author of the Fantasy genre. Her long career has contributed many entertaining and thoughtful books to the genre for both adults and children. She created one of the most popular Fantasy worlds in her “Witchworld” series. Whether for children or adults, all of her works have interesting characters, strong themes and memorable stories. This article can’t do justice to this prolific wise lady of Fantasy. Seek out her books and travel through her wonderful Fantasy worlds.

“Age of Misrule” Trilogy by Mark Chadbourn

2009-10-16T18:41:00.000-07:00

Two strangers witness a horrible murder under a bridge, leaving their concept of reality totally upside down. The world is changing rapidly. Supernatural beings and creatures from Celtic mythology return to the modern world. Society is collapsing under the onslaught. This is the story told in the “Age of Misrule” trilogy by Mark Chadbourn. This series follows five people as they try to save humanity from destruction by the supernatural in these suspenseful Dark Fantasy books, which are set in present day Great Britain.

World’s End begins the trilogy with Church and Ruth witnessing a murder under a bridge. Their search to discover what they saw makes them realize strange events are happening all over Britain and are increasing. On a trip out of town, they are attacked by monsters. A man called Tom saves them from the monsters and a dragon on the main highway. Tom tells them they and three other people have the Pendragon Spirit within them are the champions of the world. Ruth and Church must seek out the other people and four legendary items to foil the evil Fomori plans. All this occurs while they are pursued by the Wild Hunt in a relentless desperation to stop the destruction of their world. This book is gripping and suspenseful to the end.

Mr. Chadbourn does not allow things to slow down in the second book, Darkest Hour. The Fomori plan to bring their god Balor back from the dead. His return would bring around the end of the world for humanity, plunging it into chaos and darkness. Church and his companions struggle to find a way to stop Balor’s return. In addition, they are hunted by a mysterious creature who kidnaps Ruth and cuts her finger off, leaving it behind as a warning. This middle book continues the story of the five people meant to save the world at a break neck pace until the end.

In the final book, Always Forever, the suspense builds toward a final chance to save humanity. The Brothers and Sisters of the Dragon are scattered. Church and Ruth go on a journey into the Otherworld so Church can try to clear the Fomori taint from his blood. This is the only way to get the four sacred objects back to stop the final destruction. Twists and rapid action keep this final book suspenseful until the last confrontation with the god of evil.

The “Age of Misrule” trilogy by Mark Chadbourn is a fast paced Urban Dark Fantasy full of action and suspense. The story of how the world changes when the Celtic gods return creates an entertaining, thought provoking read. Mr. Chadbourn uses powerful themes and realistic characters that keeps readers immersed in the trilogy until the end.

Celtic Fantasy

2009-10-02T07:53:00.000-07:00

Hounds bay in the night, getting closer. Horns answer the calls of the hounds. You splash through a mud puddle and scramble up a bank of thorny brush. When you reach the top, you collapse from fatigue. Pain flashes throughout your body. Your lungs burn from lack of enough air. You cannot run no more. Soon you feel the vibrations of pounding hooves approaching. The Wild Hunt is closing in for the kill.

The ancient Celts hold a fascination for us. Very little is known about their true culture and history. We are left with fragments of their mythology and stories, but what is available tantalizes and inspires new ideas. Many Fantasy novels and stories possess elements of Celtic mythology. Writers mine the scant material to create new books or stories of stunning, gritty beauty, powerful themes, mystery and magic. Some of the elements of Celtic Fantasy are pagan religions, the Sidhe, matriarchal societies, druids, tragic endings, the Wild Hunt and many others. Several authors have contributed works to the Fantasy subgenre of Celtic Fantasy.

The Welsh Mabinogion is used by many writers for ideas. It consists of four main stories and several other tales linked to it. In 1970, Evangaline Walton wrote The Isle of the Mighty, a vivid retelling of the fourth branch of the Mabinogion. She followed the success of this book with retellings of the other three branches in The Song of Rhiannon, The Children of Llyr and Prince of Annwn. Other authors used it too. The success of these books encouraged other writers to use Celtic materials.

Lloyd Alexander took elements from the Mabinogion to create his world of Prydain for his young adult series of books. The series tells the coming of age stories of the characters Taran and Eilonwy as they fight against the Horned King to save Prydain. These books can be enjoyed by adults as well as children. They are: The Book of Three, The Black Cauldron, The Castle of Llyr, Taran Wanderer and The High King.

Parts of the Mabinogion appear in the some of the works of Alan Garner mixing with some Arthurian elements too. The Owl Service retells the story of Llew Law Gyffes and Bloedudd in a modern day Wales. A version of the Wild Hunt appears in The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and The Moon of Gomrath.

Guy Gavriel Kay used elements of Celtic myth in his trilogy The Fionavar Tapestry. The three books (The Summer Tree, The Wandering Fire and The Darkest Road) weave Welsh myth and Arthurian characters into an Epic Fantasy of memorable proportions. Even the Wild Hunt appears as a force of chaos. (For more information on this author see my previous article.)

Some writers take Celtic elements and create their own Fantasy worlds. Katherine Kerr does this with her Deverry books. Her characters go through several reincarnations to resolve their burdens. She includes elves, dwarves and dragons in her complex world of magic and honor. The first novels in the series are Daggerspell, Darkspell, The Bristling Wood and The Dragon Revenant.

Patricia Kennealy-Morrison moved her Celts into space for her Science Fantasies of the “Keltiad”. In her series, the Celts fled Earth to found a new empire in space. They encounter humans again and begin a new alliance. Her books are full of Celtic and Arthurian elements. The first book in the series is called The Copper Crown.

Other sources for writers have been Scottish and Irish myths and folklore. Deborah Turner Harris wrote a trilogy of a fantasy Scotland that never existed. In Caledon of the Mists, The Queen of Ashes and The City of Exile she weaves the dark tale of a Scotland trying to free itself from an oppressive England. Ireland is the home of a race of elven beings from another world.

Morgan Llywelyn uses Irish myths to tell some of her tales of Celtic Fantasy. Her books have a strong overlay of the supernatural in ancient Ireland. The Elementals is a collection of four stories of the founding of Ireland after the Flood. In The Horse Goddess, she takes readers to the beginning of Celtic history with its strong heroes and heroines. Later books tell of the mythic Irish heroes Finn MacCool and Cuchulain.

Have writers exhuasted the depths of available Celtic material for ideas? Certainly not. New writers like Kate Forsyth and Sarah Isidore are bringing us new books with Celtic elements. As William Butler Yeats said, "none can measure of how great importance it may be to coming times, for every new fountain of legends is a new intoxication for the imagination of the world. It comes at a time when the imagination of the world is as ready, as it was at the coming of the tales of Arthur and the Grail, for a new intoxication." (from "Celtic Myth and English-Language Fantasy Literature: Possible New Directions" by C.W. Sullivan III, Journal of the Fantastic, Winter 1998) As long as there are new visions coming from writers, there will be Celtic Fantasy.

Other Celtic Fantasy Books:

The Witches of Eilannen by Kate Forsyth

The Pool of Two Moons "

The Daughters of Bast by Sarah Isidore

A Time of Omens by Katherine Kerr

A Time of War by "

“The Age of Misrule” trilogy by Mark Chadbourn (see next article in two weeks)

George MacDonald

2009-09-18T18:29:00.000-07:00

The Victorian period in England was a strong influence on the Fantasy genre. Many authors contributed memorable works during this time period. George MacDonald was one of the authors of this time. Born in Scotland, he became a preacher, teacher and writer. He wrote over thirty novels, fairy tales and other things. His strongest contributions were in children’s and Christian Fantasy with strong dream images and fanciful in nature. A religious man, he imbued is books with some Christian symbolism that were allegorical in nature. On the other hand, he wrote light stories for children too. C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton and Lewis Carroll were influenced by this author.

Phantastes is one of his adult Fantasy novels considered a classic. It is the story of a man called Anodos. He finds himself drawn into the land of Fairy when his bedroom turns into a forest. What follows is a series of episodic adventures where he gains a Shadow and fights evil. The book is full of vivid dream-like images that are very descriptive and evocative. Anodos’s varied adventures leads to a wonderful book with many symbols that make a reader think about the book.

The first of Mr. MacDonald’s popular children’s books is At the Back of the North Wind. Diamond is a boy befriended by the North Wind. She appears as a woman to him, but can not enter the country always at her back, living at the edge of the world in the far North. He travels through her to the “land of love.” After seven days, Diamond returns to our world to help Victorian London’s poor people. It is a strange adventure with many strong themes.

The Princess and the Goblin followed the previous book. Goblins plot to steal the young Princess Irene for their leader. Curdie is a worker in the goblin mines. He 5learns of the goblins’ plans and how to stop them. Irene uses a magical spider silk thread to rescue the captured Curdie. A fun story of adventure and thwarted plans ensues. This book has many uplifting themes attached to it.

Mr. MacDonald wrote a sequel with The Princess and Curdie. The characters of Princess Irene and Curdie are older. Curdie has grown lazy and complacent. He kills a pigeon belonging to a wise woman. She sends him on trials to get forgiveness after which he becomes her agent. Princess Irene and Curdie then journey to the capitol to save the king. They are helped by pigeons sent by the wise woman. This sequel has some misanthropy and is darker than the first book.

The second adult Fantasy novel of Mr. MacDonald is Lilith. In this book the main character, Mr. Vane, R passes through a mirror into another world. There he finds Adam and Eve guarding the sleeping dead. He turns down their offer and explores the strange world. Lilith appears throughout the story in various forms to tempt him. Mr. Vane must overcome several problems before returning to his world. This book is very complex and full of potent, disturbing images. It is Mr. MacDonald’s masterpiece of Fantasy.

George MacDonald is a classic Fantasy author of Victorian England. He wrote many stories and books that are memorable today. His vivid imagination provided intense dream images to his works. Christian and children’s Fantasy are richer for his contributions. Authors like C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and Lewis Carroll were influenced by his writing. Seek out his works online or in book form if you get a chance. You will not be disappointed.

On Writing Fantasy: Archetype Cards as a Tool

2009-09-05T18:54:00.000-07:00

Half way through writing a story you stop. Inspiration seems to dry up and the story goes no where. A blank page or screen stares at you while you strive to think about something to write. Writer’s block? No. It is just a temporary lack of focus. How to start getting the creativity going? Another aspect for writers is finding something useful for writing exercises. I find Archetypes Storytelling cards a useful tool for Fantasy writing. They are useful for inspiration, writing exercises and combating writer’s block.

Inspiration for writing is difficult to find at times. writers need to find new sources for help. These cards are useful as a source. Drawing different sets of cards for plots, characters and objects sparks my mind to think of new ideas for my writing. The cards are generalized enough to provide something for your mind to focus on and spur creativity.

Another way the cards are useful is for creating writing exercises. Writers, whether beginning or veterans, always need to practice their craft. I use the cards as a means of practicing. I will draw some cards and write a character description or short scene from the ones I draw. Sometimes this leads to a longer piece. They are useful for trying experiments too. The different card combinations lead to some interesting prospects.

Lastly, the cards are useful in combating writer’s block. Keeping your creativity fluid is important as a writer. For those times when you can’t seem to write, playing around with these cards jogs your thoughts. Interesting combinations create intriguing possibilities that spur the mind to life. This can help to break the writer’s block you might be suffering from once and a while.

Archetypes Storytelling cards are a useful writing tool for Fantasy writers. They help with inspiration and ideas, provide writing exercises for practice and help combat writer’s block. The art work on the cards is colorful and good. They are available from the Internet at http://www.thecards.com The site also provides some basic stuff like using the cards online as a tarot and for basic character or objects to write about.

Katherine Kerr

2009-08-21T09:29:00.000-07:00

It is a world of magic where characters are reincarnated to live life over for chances at redemption. Deverry is like an alternate Britain of the past with magic, an elven race and warriors. This Fantasy world is a creation of author Katherine Kerr. Each of her books is set in this complex world, telling the stories of realistic characters as they try to free themselves the the wheel of reincarnation for crimes in past lives.

Deverry is a vivid world of a Britain that never existed with a Celtic flavor. There are various lords that live in duns or castles, protecting their lands with warrior bands. Elves inhabit the Western part of the island while dwarves move among the human cities as blacksmiths and in other jobs. The magic is called dweomar, wielded by practitioners of wisdom.

Daggerspell is the first book of Deverry. It begins the story of several characters with intertwined fates throughout the centuries and many rebirths. Nevyn is a magic user cursed with immortality for causing the tragic deaths of two young lovers. He discovers the cycle about to begin again. His quest is to get everyone to find their true destinies in order to break the curse. The book begins when the outcast warrior Cullyn must take charge of his daughter Jill after her mother dies. In their travels, they become part of the household of a noble family where Jill meets Rhodry the young lord. Jill has a strong magical talent but prefers to become a warrior. These characters continue to work out their destinies in three more books: Darkspell, The Bristling Wood, and The Dragon Revenant, which completes the first part of the story.

Rhodry’s story is the next cycle of books in the series as he tries to reconcile his parentage and find the true path of his life. He travels the land as a warrior for hire on his way to visit his father’s people. A Time of Exile begins with Rhodry’s son wanting to rule his own lands but cannot because of his slow aging father. Jill, his former lover, arrives to ask him for help, so he sets out on a journey that will last through A Time of Omens, Days of Blood and Fire, and Days of Air and Darkness.

The next part of the series begins with The Red Wyvern, telling the story of Lillobriga. She inherited her mother’s powers but not her taste for power. Caught up in the court intrigue, she struggles to master her powers without letting her mother find out about them. The Black Raven continues Lilli’s story as she learns about her magic with Nevyn and tries to save the rightful king of Deverry. A concluding volume, The Fire Dragon, takes place during Rhodry’s time, leading to a final confrontation with an evil sorceress.

Ms. Kerr is finishing up the story of Deverry with some new novels. The Gold Falcon opens another chapter of history with the story of Neb and Branna. This time the kingdom is being threatened by the savage Horsekin tribes and a new war begins. In the next book, The Spirit Stone, the Elven Westlands are threatened by the Horsekin and Prince Dar must seek help from allies to save his land. The Horsekin are wrecking havoc on all people and creatures of Deverry. Neb must find a way to save the kingdom as a mysterious island reappears in the third book, The Shadow Isle. The final book in the Deverry series and this story line will be called The Silver Mage. This book should be published in the next few months.

Katherine Kerr created a complex Fantasy world with the Deverry books. Deverry is a world with a Celtic-like culture, elven race and intriguing magic. Ms. Kerr uses the Celtic belief of reincarnation to create memorable characters that must work out intertwined destinies. Each book has an entertaining plot full of impressive descriptions and suspenseful events. Readers will find the books of Deverry very entertaining. More information can be found at the author’s web site at: http://www.deverry.com

Peter Beagle

2009-08-07T18:25:00.000-07:00

*The Katherine Kerr article will be posted the next time.

“The unicorn lived in a lilac wood, and she lived all alone. She was very old, though she did not know it, and she was no longer the careless color of sea foam but rather the color of snow falling on a moonlit night. But her eyes were still clear and unwearied, and she still moved like a shadow on the sea.” (from The Last Unicorn) Thus opens one of the many novels of Fantasy author Peter Beagle. He is a classic author that has been quietly contributing many descriptive, powerful works to the genre for many years. Every one of his books are different, but gives readers memorable characters and stories that stay with you for a long time. He writes in an easy style that conveys many ideas in few words. His books and stories span a vast range of Fantasy worlds in the genre.

The Last Unicorn is a lyrical tale of a unicorn. All the unicorns in the world disappear, leaving one ©female behind. She goes on a quest to find them. Along the way she meets some companions who help her. Schmendrick is a magician. He is not very good with magic and when it works, does not work in the way he intends. Molly Grue is a practical woman with common sense, but believes in legends. Together, they confront King Haggard and his Red Bull. This is a classic book with strong themes and is told in a descriptive prose.

Another book of Mr. Beagle’s has ghosts and ravens in it. A Fine and Private Place is a story of love beyond death. Michael Morgan is a ghost trapped in a cemetary. He fights to maintain his identiy because ghosts forget with time. He meets Laura, they fall in love and struggle to maintain it throughout the book. Mr. Beagle wrote this book at nineteen years of age. It is a moving story of love with a touch of humor. The characters are unforgettable.

A more recent book that demonstrates the author's growth over the years is The Innkeeper's Song. It takes place in a stark Fantasy world where Tikat sees his lover Lukassa die. She is resurected and stolen by a mysterious woman. Tikat goes on a quest to find her. His fate becomes tied up with three cloaked women. The chapters alternate with a different viewpoint character. There is a clever fox too. This book is full of arresting images and interesting characters. It is a memorable story.

Tamsin is a ghost story and coming-of-age tale. Thirteen year old Jenny grows up in New York, but finds herself moved to the English countryside when her mother remarries. Jenny finds herself drawn into a tragic ghost story when she meets Tamsin. She tr êies to help Tamsin and gets involved with ghosts, boggarts, pookas and the Wild Hunt. It is a beautifully written tale with a lot of magic and adventure. Mr. Beagle uses many of the tropes of Fantasy to give readers an enjoyable story with powerful themes.

Mr. Beagle delves into Contemporary Fantasy with his book The Unicorn Sonata. Joey Rivera helps out in a music store in Los Angeles. One day a strange boy named Indigo comes into the shop. He plays haunting music on a strange horn. The music stays with Joey and eventually leads her over the fairy border into the world of Shei'rah. Joey and her grandmother help the Elders or un êicorns against a mysterious blindess affecting the unicorns. This is a good story for young adults. Mature readers can enjoy this story of music and healing too. It is another entertaining book with a wonderful setting and is illustrated.

These are just a few of the many books of this talented author. Peter Beagle writes entertaining, powerful Fantasy books for all ages. He has a vivid imagination coupled with a subtle storytelling style. His books contain memorable characters that explore such themes as love, death, music and many others. Readers will not be disappointed with this author's works. There is enjoyment to be had in any of his books. Many of his books in recent years have been collections of short stories. They are worth checking out.

Interview with David Coe

2009-07-27T11:18:00.000-07:00

I did this interview with David B. Coe several years ago. Since then he has written several Fantasy novels over the years. His first books consist of the Lon Tobyn Chronicle trilogy that mixes magic with technology. These books are: The Children of Amarid, The Outlanders and Eagle-Sage. Next he did an Epic Fantasy series called “The Winds of the Forelands” of which Rules of Ascension is the first. followed by Seeds of Betrayal, Bonds of Vengeance, Shapers of Darkness and Weavers of War. The new series he is working on now consists of The Sorcerers’ Plague, The Horseman’s Gambit and the forthcoming The Dark-Eyes’ War, which makes up the “Blood of the Southlands” series. He blogs about writing at .

Debbie Ledesma: How did you become a writer?

David B. Coe: I actually knew that I wanted to be a writer from a very early age -- really as long as I can remember. In fact, several years ago, after my father died, I spent some time going through his old papers and found among them a "book" I had written in first grade, about eagles no less. I pursued this interest in writing through high school and went to college thinking that I would be a creative writing major. During these years I even began work on the skeleton of a fantasy novel that would later become Children of Amarid, my first published book.

Somewhere along the way, however, my parents convinced me that a career in writing was too uncertain and that I needed to pursue a more stable career. I switched majors and ended up going to graduate school in history, getting my Ph.D. Still, what drew me to academics was not so much the research and the teaching as the prospect of spending my life writing history.

As it turns out, writing history doesn't have nearly the allure for me that writing fiction does. After completing my degree, as I began to send out job applications, I also began to write fantasy again. So for a while I was pursuing these two career paths, wondering which one would bear fruit first. I received my first academic job offer and my first indications from Jim Frenkel at Tor that he was interested in Children of Amarid, within twenty-four hours of each other. Faced the choice between a career that didn't really thrill me, and a chance to follow my childhood dream of writing novels, I chose the latter. I've never looked back.

DL: What authors influence your writing?

DC: In a sense, I've been influenced to one extent or another by just about every author I've read. I don't think a person can read something that moves them, either emotionally or intellectually, and not be influenced by it. Certainly many of the fine historians I read during my years in academics have influenced me in many ways, most notably in my world-building.

That said, it's only natural that my main influences would be in the fields of fantasy and science fiction. I've learned a good deal from the wonderful storytellers I've encountered as a reader, not only the authors I mentioned earlier -- Tolkien, Kurtz, McCaffrey, LeGuin, Donaldson -- but also others, like Frank Herbert, Orson Scott Card, Katharine Kerr, Nicola Griffith, to name just a few. Part of becoming a writer is finding your own voice, your own style, and so in that sense I think I'm less influenced by writers now than I used to be. But the two authors whose work I most admire, are George R. R. Martin and Guy Gavriel Kay. They are among the finest fantasy writers in the world today, creating worlds that are incredibly rich and textured, and characters who are interesting and memorable. When I pick up one of their books, I feel that I'm being transported to a different time and place, one that becomes as real and immediate as the world in which we live. As a fantasy reader, I can't ask for any more than that, and as a fantasy writer, I strive constantly to do the same for my readers.

DL: Why did you choose the Fantasy genre?

I came to fantasy the way most writers in the field do, through Tolkien. I read The Hobbit when I was thirteen or fourteen and loved it. A few years later, I read Lord of the Rings and was utterly enthralled. Fantasy became the only thing I wanted to read. I ripped through (among other things) Katherine Kurtz's Deryni books, the first Pern series (Anne McCaffrey), the Earthsea Trilogy (Ursula K. LeGuin), and both Thomas
Covenant trilogies (Stephen Donaldson). It was during the second of Donaldson's trilogies that I realized that I wanted to write this stuff as well as read it. Covenant is a terribly dark character and I know that some people found these books difficult to read. But I found the use of a dark hero so compelling, so new, so different from anything else I'd ever read, and I found the world he had created so fascinating, that I knew I wanted to spend my life creating characters and worlds of my own.

DL: Are you planning to branch out into other genres?

DC: For the moment, I'm very happy writing fantasy. I enjoy the act of building worlds and cultures, imagining histories, coming up with magic systems. So I would guess that for the foreseeable future, I'll stick with this genre. Down the road, however, I'd like to try my hand at some other things -- mystery perhaps, or thrillers. And I have a number of ideas for mainstream fiction stories and novels that I do hope to get to at some point.

DL: I like the use of the hawks and owls in your books. Where did you come up with the idea to use birds for your mages?

DC: My brothers, both of whom are a good deal older than I am, Ùgot me interested in birdwatching when I was just a kid -- six or seven years old. And I've been a birder ever since, some thirty-plus years now. Throughout that time, I've always been drawn to birds of prey -- owls, hawks, eagles. Mostly, I guess because they're just so cool. There's an elegance to them, and a native intelligence, that I've always found very attractive. When I started developing a magic system for my first series, it seemed natural to include these birds in it in some way.
j
DL: You have a new series called Winds of the Forelands. Tell me a little about the new series and how d âoes is differ from the LonTobyn Chronicle?

DC: Winds of the Forelands is my new four-book fantasy project, and I'm very excited about it. It tells the story of a young noble who is falsely accused of a murder and thus denied his rightful place in the ascension of kings. In trying to prove his own innocence and reclaim his birthright, he discovers a plot to destroy not only his own kingdom, but the neighboring ones as well. The four books revolve around his effort to establish his innocence and his fight against the conspiracy.

I’m having a tremendous amount of fun with this series right now, for a number of reasons. It's straight fantasy, without any of the science fiction crossover elements found in my first series, but it's actually a far more complex story set, I feel, in a far more deeply realized world. Each of the kingdoms I deal with (and there are seven of them in all) has its ´ own unique political traditions and conflicts, so as the scene shifts from kingdom to kingdom throughout the books, the reader finds her/himself in a new place with different rules and different concerns. Also, the magic system is different. Rather than the magic coming from birds of prey as it did in the first series, this magic system is racially based. Either you're Qirsi (the sorcerer race) or you're Eandi (a race very much like us). And so magic becomes linked inextricably with the racial tensions and conflicts that lie at the root of the conspiracy. Finally, the characters in this series are more challenging, both for me as a writer and for my readers. In my first series, there were many characters who could be labeled either "good" or "evil" without too much trouble. The characters in Winds of the Forelands tend to be in that grey area. Good people are forced by circumstance or tragedy to do bad things, and "ba Kd" characters have admirable qualities. It makes for an interesting story.

The first book of the series, Rules of Ascension, came out in March from Tor. The second book, Seeds of Betrayal, is already in production and will be published in May 2003. I'm currently working on Bonds of Vengeance, book three.

DL: Do you use any mythology sources for your writing?

DC: Yes, I do. Part of creating a world that will serve as a setting for a book or series of books, is coming up with history for the world, a religion or set of religions, and a culture and sustainable society. It would be impossible to do these things without founding them on a series of myths and legends, just as the history, religious traditions, and cultures in our own world are based on mythologies and legends. So in creating these myths, I first have to be familiar with the ones in our own world. Prior to beginning the first book, I spent a good deal of time rereading the Greek myths, reading Celtic and Nordic mythology and even looking at some more esoteric sources, like Native American legends and Basque mythology. I learned a tremendous amount and had a good deal of fun in the process.

DL: What do you think is the important function of Fantasy?

I believe that fantasy -- and science fiction as well -- offers us an opportunity to look at important issues in our own world through a lens that grants us the freedom to look at things in a new light. For instance, as I mentioned before, my new series has a magic system that is racially based. Hence it deals with racial conflict. Well, writing about racial conflict (or cultural conflict or religious conflict, etc.) in mainstream literature is hard to do without offending one group or another. But by creating new worlds and thus changing the lexicon of the discussion, fantasy gives us
the freedom to look at these issues without all the baggage we carry. There are no Eandi or Qirsi in our world -- the issues might be similar to racial issues in our world, but I ‘m not going to anger anyone as I point out injustices.

That, I believe, is one of the great values of all speculative fiction. Remember the so-called "Gay Episode" that was on "Star Trek: The Next Generation" several years ago. It dealt with homophobia in a direct, compelling way, but did so with a new vocabulary that perhaps allowed people to see the issue in ways they never had before.
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DL: What themes do you find most compelling to include in your writing?

DC: Different books usually call to mind different themes, but there are certain themes that seem to come up in my writing a good deal. The narrative in The Outlanders, the second book of my first series, centered on the idea of sacrifice, of taking burdens unto oneself in the interest of the greater good. The three main characters in that book -- Orris, Melyor, and Gwilym, all made extreme sacrifices, in very different ways, toward one common aim. This is a theme that also comes up again and again in my new series.

I also like to explore the balance between choice and responsibility, the idea that each time we choose a path in life we must accept that we are responsible for the consequences of that choice. I see this as being tied to the notion cof fate, and how we accept or struggle against the circumstances life throws at us. Writing in fantasy, I have the added fun of giving characters a glimpse of their fate (I do this in all my books really), which complicates the choices they must make and the responsibility they
bear for those choices.

Finally, a recurring theme in my books, one that I find fascinating as an author, is the interplay between loyalty and betrayal, specifically how one deals with divided loyalties. Many of my characters find themselves wedded to a cause (or a person) only to discover that their emotions and needs are at odds with those to whom they've pledged themselves. I think of myself as a very loyal person, and I'm really not certain where my fascination with treachery comes from, but it's real, and it's out there in my books for the whole world to see.

DL: Movies are a different medium. Do you think any of your books would make a good movie? Which ones?

DC: I'd be lying if I told you that I wasn't eager to see all of my books turned into movies -- I think that many authors feel the same way, not only because it can be a wonderful source of income, but also because it would be great fun to see these characters and worlds brought to life visually. This may be even more true now, particularly in the wake of Peter Jackson's magnificent interpretation of the Fellowship of the Ring.

Of the three books in my first series, I actually think The Outlanders would make the best movie. Though it's the middle book of the trilogy, it holds together pretty well on its own, and it could be visually stunning. I also like the idea of having a mage from a pastoral society forced to make his way through this industrial nightmare in order to save his land. I believe it would work well on the screen.

Rules of Ascension would also work well as a movie. It's got many of the elements Hollywood looks for -- romance, mystery, some good battle scenes, and a measure of redemption as it ends. I'd love to see it adapted to the screen.

Finally, I have a short story coming out later this summer -- "Night of Two
Moons" in the Summer 2002 issue of BLACK GATE -- that I think would be a fabulous movie. Quite often, short fiction lends itself to a movie better than a novel, simply because with shorter material a director has more time to bring out the complexities of character and relationships. Too often these elements of a story get glossed over in the rush to make a coherent movie out of a full-length novel. "Night of Two Moons" is about a traitor during a war and his attempts to rationalize his choice as he watches
the people around him being killed. Like my books, it has many of the elements Hollywood wants in a movie, but it's short enough to be translated to the screen without sacrificing too much in the interests of time.

DL: Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?

DC: Giving advice, particularly on an endeavor as personal and idiosyncratic as writing can be tricky. That said, I do have a few suggestions that are worth what you're paying for them. First off, all the writers I know began as readers, and so for younger writers out there I would say read as much as you can. That's how we begin to learn our trade. We read the work of other men and women and learn what works and what doesn't, what makes a compelling character as opposed to an uninteresting one, what makes a narrative flow and what makes it stall, what elements make a world believable and fun to visit. As we experience other people's stories, we begin to get a sense of how we might write our own, not by imitating, certainly not by stealing ideas, but rather by applying storytelling techn µiques that we see to our own ideas.

I would then say that a writer writes. That may seem laughably basic, but how many times do we see in media the stereotype of the frustrated writer awaiting inspiration. I find that image offensive. It implies that most of the time writers aren't working. They're just waiting for that one magical moment to strike and then--POOF-- out pops a bestseller. By my experience, that's not at all how it works. A writer writes, every day. Some days go better than others, and occasionally you have a day where nothing comes or what does come is worthless. But the important thing is to write. I don't believe in writers' block -- for me (and all writers are different, so I'm not casting aspersions on others) if I'm "blocked" it usually means that I've taken my narrative or one of my characters in the wrong direction. But if I make myself write every day, I never have to wait around for inspiration. Which is a good thing, because that kind of bolt-of-lightning-inspiration doesn't come often enough to pay many bills.

DL: What books or stories are in your future?

I have a feeling that even after I finish the Winds of the Forelands tetralogy,
I'll remain in the world I created for the series to write some more books -- either a few stand-alone books or a new series. It will follow a different story arc. It might even take place at a different time in the Forelands' history. But the world is rich enough to sustain many more books.

I have a few short story ideas as well, and, in fact, my first short story will be published this summer in the Summer 2002 issue of Blackgate. The story is called "Night of Two Moons" and I wrote it as I was developing the history of the Forelands. The events in this story take place nearly 900 years before the first book in the series, but they offer some insight into issues brought up in the books.

DL: Than you very much for the time you spent on this interview.

Arthurian Fantasy

2009-07-10T18:25:00.000-07:00

The story of King Arthur, Merlin, his knights and every other aspect of the legend has fascinated and resonated with people for centuries. After Epic Fantasy, Arthurian Fantasy is a large subgenre of Fantasy fiction. Books and stories in this area have some aspect of the legend of King Arthur in them. These books and stories can be retellings of the legend, focused on different characters or elements that appear in the modern day. Many authors have mined the King Arthur myth for stories. Some with great success and some have failed. Arthurian literature stretches back to the time of the Medieval romance. There have been many books in the last fifty years using this material. It seems almost every modern Fantasy author must write an Arthurian novel or story. (I'm no exception, working on a novel now.)

Some of the books tell the story from the viewpoints of different characters or are about different characters. Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley tells the story from the point of view of the women. In this story we get the story from Morgaine and Guinivere with a pagan versus Christian clash of beliefs. This is a complex novel that remains with readers for a long time. Mary Stewart's The Wicked Day gives us Mordred's story through his eyes. The book follows him through his life until the final battle portraying a sympathetic character that had little choice with his life.

We have other books where Arthurian elements and charactrers appear in contemporary times. Excalibur by Sanders Anne Laubenthal takes place in Mobile, Alabama with the quest for Excalibur. Arthur and Gawain are reborn in our world to fight for the possession of the Grail in The Forever Knight by Molly Cochran and Warren Murphy. Tim Powers wrote a book, The Drawing of the Dark, which brings humor to a fantasy with Arthurian elements.

One of the most prevalent characters in Arthurian Fantasy is Merlin. The mysterious, powerful magician, prophet and mentor of King Arthur has permeated many books; there is even a TV miniseries about him titled "Merlin” that was made several years ago. Merlin's story is told well in the trilogy: The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills and The Last Enchantment by Mary Stewart. He appears in many other works such as Kingdom of the Grail by Judith Tarr that includes his as part of the story of Roland.

Arthurian Fantasy also appears in other works. There are collections of short stories in anthhologies like Excalibur and Camelot Fantastic. Young Adult novels also use the King Arthur story. T.A. Barron writes about the teenage years of Merlin in a series of books beginning with The Lost Years of Merlin. A new British TV series called “Merlin” has the characters meeting in their teen years and provides a different story of the legend.

As can be seen, there are many books using the story of King Arthur. An exhaustive list would take pages to talk about so here is a list of a few other book to check out:

The Forest House by Marion Zimmer Bradley

The Broken Sword by Molly Cochran and Warren Murphy

Merlin's Bones by Fred Saberhagen

King Arthur by Mike Ashley: This is a very good source book with almost everything about King Arthur.

The Dragon Queen by Alice Borchardt

Hawk of May by Gillian Bradshaw
Kingdom of Summer by “
In Winter’s Shadow by “

The Green Knight by Vera Chapman
The King’s Damosel by “
King Arthur’s Daughter by “

Arthurian Fantasy is large subgenre of Fantasy that continues to grow every year with new books, movies and TV series. King Arthur and the Matter of Britain will continue to live on as long as Fantasy exists as a genre, enriching the story with new views from talented authors. Readers will continue to explore the legend of King Arthur and be entertained by the story for ages to come.

David Eddings

2009-06-23T18:28:00.000-07:00

I’m posting the blog entry early this week.

David Eddings died recently. I was sad to hear of his passing. His loss is a blow to the Fantasy genre. This is an updated article I wrote on him a few years ago.

Few writers of Fantasy have made the New York Times Bestseller list. David Eddings has done it several times. What makes this author so popular? It is his storytelling ability. He writes books full of adventure, realistic characters, action and intricate magic systems with a subtle sense of humor running through his books. His many books are entertaining contributions to the worlds of Fantasy.

Mr. Edding's books are under an overall title for his various series. The first of these was the "Belgariad." It contains five books: Pawn of Prophecy, Queen of Sorcery, Magician's Gambit, Castle of Wizardry and Enchanter's Endgame. This series tells the story of Belgarion, a young boy living with a formidable woman named Polgara. Fantastic circumstances put him and several companions on a quest to stop a fallen god. Belgarion learns to use his magic talents and grows with every new book of increasing complexity.

In his next series, the "Elenium," Eddings introduces us to his character of Sparhawk the Pandion knight. The Diamond Throne finds Sparhawk returning from exile to discover the young queen of Elenia trapped in a crystal. The story continues in The Ruby Knight and The Sapphire Rose in the battle against an old god. These books have a Medieval structure of feudal kingdoms, orders of knights and a young goddess that appears to her followers frequently. There is a subtle streak of humor running thoughout the books that will sneak up on the unsuspecting reader.

Next, Eddings returned to the world of Belgarion for the "Mallorean." This time, the characters are older. Belgarion, his wife and companions pursue the kidnappers of their child through new realms of magic and strange cultures. The five books in this series are: The Guardians of the West, King of the Murgos, Demon Lord of Karanda, Sorceress of Darshiva and The Seeress of Kell.

The "Tamuli" returns to the world of Sparhawk and his friends. They embark on a trip to a distant, foreign empire to battle a dangerous god. Domes of Fire, The Shining Ones and The Hidden City are full of the action, well-developed plots and humor like the previous novels in this world. By the last book, Sparhawk knows and faces his true destiny.

Eddings returns to the world of the "Belgariad's" past in his next two novels. Belgarath the Sorcerer tells the story of Belgarath's life with his wife. His daughter's story is told in Polgara the Sorceress and how she comes to be the guardian of young Garion, future inheritor of the Rivan throne. These two novels fill in an important aspect of this world's history and completes the stories of two popular characters.

Another different book is the Rivan Codex. This one is not a fiction book. It is Mr. Edding's notes and outlines on how he developed the world of the "Belgariad" and "Mallorean." Readers will find in depth material to add deeper appreciation of the novels. Aspiring Fantasy writers will get a good idea of the work that goes into writing a complex Fantasy novel. They will find some good advice for writing Fantasy.

Regina’s Song is a stand alone book not part of any series. This book is different because it is set in the modern day world with supernatural elements. In this story of twin girls, Regina and Renata, one is brutally murdered. Mark the family friend tries to help the survivor cope with her loss. Interwoven through their story are a series of vicious murders occurring in Seattle. Mr. Eddings provides a different book for readers with this story.

A stand alone Epic Fantasy novel can be found in The Redemption of Althalus. The story is set is a world where three sibling gods vie for control. Althalus is a thief hired by someone to steal a magical book. He meets the feline goddess Dweia who keeps him for over two thousand years to lear magic. He must recruit several other people to aid in the quest to find a knife and fight in the coming battle between the god brothers Dewois and Daeva. Mr. Eddings delivers an entertaining story of adventure, action and humor.

“The Dreamers” series consists of four books: The Elder Gods, The Treasured One, Crystal Gorge, and The Younger Gods. This series tells the story of younger gods that come into power to replace the Elder Gods of their world as they wane. Into this mix is added another force of the Vlagh which begins a war of the gods. An exciting and fitting series written by Mr. Eddings that adds to his body of works.

David Eddings collaborated on many of his books with his wife, the late Leigh Eddings. Their deaths silence two great contributors to the genre. Still, readers will continue to enjoy the unforgettable characters, intricate magic systems, complex cultures and adventure of their works for many years to come.

Interview with Steve Erikson

2009-06-12T19:23:00.000-07:00

I recently started reading Gardens of the Moon by Steve Erikson, so I thought I’d share this interview I did with him a few years ago.

Steve Erikson is the author of the long Fantasy series Malazan Book of the Fallen. The first books of the series have been published in Britain. Recently the first book, Gardens of the Moon, was published in the U.S. Mr. Erikson uses his training as an archeologist and anthropologist to give his books a realistic feel and depth. The other books in the series are: Deadhouse Gates, Memories of Ice, House of Chains, Midnight Tides and several others.

Debbie Ledesma: What led you to become a writer? Was it hard getting published?

Steven Erikson: I began with illustrating, thought about comics since narrative seemed to be implicit in my artwork, then finally left the drawing behind and settled for the narrative itself. It was easy getting published with my so-called literary stuff, and very, very difficult getting the fantasy novels landed with a publisher. In retrospect, I have concluded that the literary market (at least in Canada) is far less competitive than genre markets, simply because it is not as tightly bound to sales.

DL: Do you miss working in archaeology and anthropology? Do you plan to work a little in your fields of specialty to keep your hand in so to speak and help with your writing?

SE: I don't think I realised how much I missed field work until this summer, when my wife, son and I volunteered on a dig in Wyoming for a couple weeks; and I suspect we will be doing similar ventures each summer from now on. The dig was sponsored by the US Forestry Service and in conjunction with the University of Wyoming and the site was in the Black Hills, a lithic occupation that had seen use from about nine thousand years ago until just before European contact. The real gift such projects offers is the opportunity to meet people, and I was lucky in this instance to find not one but four serious readers of fantasy (one of them a project director), so we had plenty to talk about. Tack on another project director who was a collector of science fiction books and, as you can imagine, the campfire conversations were enlivening. In terms of inspiring my fiction, most certainly, but then again, I get inspiration from a multitude of sources so it's hardly surprising. Much of one of the themes in Midnight Tides came from a terrific vacation in South Dakota. My son's acquired an interest in paleontology so next summer we'll probably try that.

DL: Do you attempt to influence the way people view society through your writing, and if so do you believe Fantasy can have an impact?

SE: I'm not sure if influence is possible; nor am I sure I want to influence people about much of anything, since that presumes my vision of the world is somehow superior or more complete -- and such conceits affect one's writing in unwelcome ways. There are certain elements that drive my work, however, and they seem to derive from my notions of what it means to be a writer of fiction. In learning to get inside the heads of characters, no matter who they are or what they do, one ends up walking in a lot of shoes, some of them decidedly uncomfortable, and yet, with enough diligence and ruthlessness at work, the most powerful message that hits me as a writer (and, one hopes, the reader, too) is that there is more than one side to things -- to anything, in fact -- and moral judgement can only be reached (if one chooses to do so) once some kind of understanding is achieved of as many sides as possible. Now, that being said, I am no fan of 'moral relativity' wherein one shrugs off, say, female circumcision, simply because it's some culture's tradition to conduct such butchery. Screw that. But the mindset behind such an activity (to extend the example) is always contextual, and it's that context that I find intrinsically interesting. (Which is why I explored it in the fourth novel in the series.)

It's often commented that my stuff is all shades of grey rather than black and white, and I guess that sense comes from what I said above; but that's not the same as saying every character is similarly grey -- the effect is an overall one, rather than a specific one. Most of the characters I come up with have pretty fixed notions of right and wrong, they have a moral centre, in other words, whether consciously recognised or not. But in coming at something from more than one side, the reader is left free to choose which one they'll favour. The thing is, story-telling is, at its root, a form of communication intended to entertain. The subtext stuff, if there is any, generally reflect the story-teller's own obsessions. That probably can't be helped, but it's not the same as saying it's all secret code intended to brainwash the reader.

Is there any way to determine if fiction -- any fiction -- has an impact on the way people view anything? I'm not so sure. Non-fiction, certainly. But fiction is by far much more complicated a thing -- the thesis, whether the author is aware of it or not -- is always buried deep, and may often be contradictory, especially when the writer hasn't bothered thinking hard enough about 'what it all means.' How can any effect be measured? Did the underlying quasi romantic anti-industrial subtext of Lord of the Rings create a generation of Luddites? I don't think so. Yet people like the notion of going back to the land, to simpler, rural times -- at least in the abstract (if it means dumping the SUV and swearing off fossil fuels, forget it) -- and so they conform, in a sense, with the trilogy's moral centre. But LOTR didn't create that sensibility, it simply reflected it, and in a rather simplistic way at that.

DL: What do you think is the important function of Fantasy as a genre?

SE: Hmm. Well, the fantasy genre lets a writer take a metaphor and make it real, and barring magic realist or absurdist fiction (which are, arguably, forms of fantasy anyway), it's unique in that. I am aware of myself doing that all the time, sometimes in an ironic sense, but other times in a far more visceral way. I'm not sure if anybody notices, but that's okay too. Now, is that function important? Who knows -- see my reply to your first question....

DL: I'm always fascinated with Fantasy that has mythic themes. Do you use themes from mythology in your books?

SE: Not directly, although no doubt some archetypal stuff seeps in. I love the language of myth, and the dialogue it creates (or created) with its audience, particularly the way it can seem entirely alien to our modern sensibilities (as in Beowulf or Gilgamesh), and the way in which we can at times re-interpret a myth and so embrace it under our own terms (as with Homer, for example). For so long the fantasy genre was trapped in the inherent antiquity of myth -- by that I mean it clung to the trappings that, to my eye, seemed of least importance -- feudal hierarchies and archaic diction come to mind as examples -- which quickly became pastiche. In other words, the outward form and cultural source of mythology took on absurd importance, as if to mime the style was to celebrate the meaning. Which is rubbish. It misses the point. So when I say I love the 'language' of myth I don't mean that stuff, I mean everything that's underneath and behind it -- because style, diction and social structure (and the sensibilities it entails) are all context-based and, while interesting in the abstract, not as important as the way in which a myth or legend explores and celebrates the human condition.

Yikes, I'm in real academic mode this morning. Sorry!

DL: Have current events such as 9/11 and such found their way into your writing or influenced it?

SE: I don't think there is a way wherein current events do not reflect upon what someone writes; with some writers it's more direct than with others, but we're all thinking creatures and it'd be pretty difficult to will oneself blind or indifferent to the world. Having lived in England, where security issues were always present regards the IRA, I was to some extent used to the idea of persistent risk. And any reader of history and anthropology can get a sense of social/cultural/religious upheaval and the desperate acts that result. The human mind seems capable of virtually anything, and in a very senseless and tragic way that was made all too clear on 9/11, and yet in the aftermath we saw the other extreme, in the instances of profound courage following the attack.

The human condition is central to all fiction, and for myself, writing military fantasy wherein tragedy plays such a fundamental role, I've spent a long time considering how one gives answer to the most terrible acts undertaken or witnessed, and for me it keeps coming back to the realisation that one rarely has the chance to match the magnitude of the bad with grand gestures of good. Instead, those gestures, of humanity, are always small, subtle, and all the more powerful and, ultimately, more meaningful than what went before. Sometimes a single life saved can in some way give answer to a thousand lives lost. I don't know how or why that is, but thank God it can, or we would all be in deep trouble. Compassion is always personal, and a focus for grief seems essential to healing.

I've not considered whether there's been any direct influence on my writing. Each work of fiction has some sort of emotional context, but that's never clear cut or simple, and often the whole process of identifying and interpreting it belongs solely to the reader. Which is, I think, as it should be.

DL: Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?

SE: 1. Finish what you start
2. Keep writing
3. Read books on writing fiction that discuss the gritty details of narrative structure and craft. If you don't see words like dialogue, point of view, exposition, theme, plot, psychic distance, diction level, setting, etc. and examples of the like -- find another book. If you see stuff like 'the bliss of talent' and the 'wonders of writing' stay away. Try John Gardner, Jack Hodgins and Stephen King -- all three have written excellent books on writing.

DL: Thank you very much Mr. Erikson.

Dragons in Fantasy

2009-05-29T18:31:00.000-07:00

Dragons are one of the most popular mythical creatures of the Fantasy genre. They grace the covers of many books and play important roles in them. Fantasy authors use dragons in their works in various ways as villains, heroes or in other roles. They are one of the most important aspects of the Fantasy genre, adding a formidable symbol to the books.

Author Gordon R. Dickson created an interesting, sometimes humorous series of books with dragons. In A Dragon and His George, a man from our world travels to a fantasy world where he ends up in the body of a dragon. In this world, dragons call humans Georges. Jim Eckert becomes Gorbash and must learn ho to use his dragon body. He gets help from other characters as he tries to save his love interest. The story continues next in The Dragon Knight and through several other books.

Tea With the Black Dragon by R.A. MacAvoy is a combination Mystery and Fantasy. The main character is an imperial Chines e dragon living as a human in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is a private detective. A woman hires him to solve a mystery and becomes a love interest for him. This book was followed by a sequel, Twisting the Rope.

Author Joel Rosenburg created an interesting dragon character for his “Guardians of the Flame” books. Fantasy role players from our world end up in a Fantasy world of many dangers. During part of their adventure, they free the dragon from being used an incinerator in the city garbage dump. The dragon helps his liberators during the rest of the books.

Some authors create their worlds to revolve around dragons. This creates clashes between the dragons and humans. Richard Knaak does this in his “Dragonrealm” books. Dragons of different colors rule different parts of the realm. Humans have increased their population and want to be free of the more evil dragons. The many books of this series are full of adventure. Fire Drake is the first book in the series, which is very long.

Barbara Hambly invokes the powerful nature of the creature in her books. Dragonsbane introduces a complex story of humans and dragons. Morkeleb has all the characteristics of a dragon from mythology. He is powerful, enigmatic, intelligent and dangerous. She has continued the sometimes tragic stories with other books.

Recently, newer authors have done different things with dragons, adding new dimensions to the creature. Song in the Silence by Elizabeth Kerner tells of a romantic relationship between a human girl and a dragon. Joanne Bertin created a rich world of humans that are dragon shape shifters dealing with unique problems. Dragonlord and Dragon and the Phoenix are the first two books of this series with more to follow.

Many other books have dragons in them as some part of the story, whether as a main character, villain or victim. Dragons are a vital aspect of the Fantasy genre. These powerful mythic symbols will continue to fascinate readers for generations to come.

Robert Newcomb Interview

2009-05-15T18:26:00.001-07:00

This interview appeared before at my old Suite101 site. Robert Newcomb writes interesting Epic Fantasy books with intiguing characters and plenty of action. I enjoy his books immensely and highly recommend them. That’s why I’m sharing this interview again. Information on Robert Newcomb’s books can be found at his web site at: http://www.robertnewcomb.com

Debbie Ledesma: What led you into a writing career?

Robert Newcomb: My path to a writing career was fairly circuitous one. Had you asked me earlier in life, writing fantasy novels would have been the farthest thing from my mind. I was a businessman in upstate New York. As a result of a fairly unique offer, I sold my businesses and moved to Florida. My wife had just read her first fantasy novel, and she liked it. She said that I should read it, and I must admit that at first I was hesitant. But to my surprise, I liked it too. My wife then challenged me to sit down and try to write one of my own, and I took the bait. At first I would write a bit here and there—mostly as the mood struck me, and the various ideas came along. Before too long, The Fifth Sorceress was finished. Frankly, I was surprised at how much I had enjoyed the process.

DL: How long did it take you to write the first book and how long did it take to get that book published?

RN: How long did it take to write The Fifth Sorceress? I always find it interesting that people ask this question—it is without doubt the one that is most frequently asked. When I was writing the book, my work habits were very erratic. Some days I would turn out one page, some days ten, and some days none at all. Overall, I suppose it took me about twelve months.

Finding an agent, selling the work, and seeing the first book on the shelves took longer. Including the editing, that process lasted about sixteen months, I’d say. But the time went by fast, because during that period we finalized the deal for the first three books and I had to begin writing the second volume, entitled The Gates of Dawn. I have been inordinately lucky, I know. This has been a magical time for me—a whirlwind—and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

DL: With three books published, you’re relatively a new author to the genre. Why did you choose the Fantasy genre to write in?

RN: I chose the fantasy genre because the creative p ˛ossibilities seemed so endless. To my mind, even sci-fi and horror don’t allow for the great range of self-expression that fantasy does. I also feel that the use of magic has a far more intriguing quality about it than aligning warp coils or calculating the distance in light years to Ceti-Alpha Five, for example. But don’t make the mistake of believing that I think less of sci-fi. It’s just that for me, fantasy is so much more intriguing. The questions worthy of exploration are infinite. Who can learn magic? What makes some persons better at practicing it than others? What is the mythology of it, and how do the people in the story make use of it—for good or for evil? These are the kinds of things I choose to pursue in the world I have created. Some say that the final frontier is outer space. In a strictly realistic sense, I suppose they’re quite right. But in an artistic sense, for me the real frontier is how my characters learn and employ the magic, and how their lives come to be affected by it.

DL: How many books is your current series going to be?

RN: How many books will the series be? That depends. I’m asked that one a lot. My standard, joking answer is that I’ll write as many as my publisher wishes to buy! But seriously, I think I would like to see the series go to ten books. The trick is to continue expanding on the story, and still keep it interesting. I don’t want to wear out my welcome, so to speak. I like to think of as each book as one chapter in an ongoing tale. I would also like to write a series of prequels to the current story, if there is sufficient interest.

DL: Do you have ideas for any other books besides your current series?

RN: I would love to write a series of prequels to "The Chronicles of Blood and Stone". And I am currently working on something else in my spare time. It’s a modern day thriller, with fantasy overtones. But given my current time constraints, it will have to wait for a while.

DL: What authors do you enjoy reading?

RN: I don’t really have ı any fiction authors that I am following just now. In recent years I have turned away from reading novels and toward reading biographies. In my youth I read Ian Fleming, Ernest Hemingway, Frederick Forsyth, and Lawrence Durrell, (the "Alexandria Quartet"), among others. Durrell’s work is sheer poetry, and I reread the Quartet from time to time, just to revisit his amazing style.

DL: Do you attempt to influence the way people view society through
your writing, and if so do you believe Fantasy can have an impact?

RN: I don’t try to preach any brand of morality in my books, or project my personal political philosophies onto my readers. Frankly, I’m not sure that I have the right do that. My primary goal is to tell a great story, to captivate the reader during my time with them, and to entertain him or her in the best way I know how. For me, that is what good fantasy is really about. When someone picks up one of my books, I want them to know that they’re about to go on an adventure—one —that they will hopefully sweep them away. Personally, I think lectures should be left to the college professors, rather than to the fantasy authors. But others disagree, and that’s fine. It’s all a matter of taste and style. But do I think that fantasy novels can have such an impact if written that way? Yes, of course.

DL: I’m always fascinated with Fantasy that has mythic themes. Do you use themes from mythology in your books?

RN: As far as mythology is concerned, I don’t use any of the traditional mythological references in my work. The mythology of "The Chronicles of Blood and Stone" is all home-grown, so to speak. The adepts who originally refined the "good" side of the craft are called the Ones Who Came Before. The first masters of the "dark" side of the craft are called the Heretics of the Guild. These opposing groups supposedly exterminated themselves in a cataclysmic war eons ago. But their differing brands of magic live on, and continue – to struggle for dominance. These beings presumably reside as spirits in the heavens, but much of their true nature has yet to be revealed. Just as it is my plan to reveal a little bit more about the magic as the books go forth, so too shall it be with the history and mythology of these two groups.

DL: What themes or modern day issues do you include in your works that you want to share with readers?

RN: The primary theme of my books is the good old "good vs. evil" question. But my villains don’t see themselves as evil. Due their biological makeup, they are more prone to want to practice the darker side of magic as a force of nature, and they can’t fathom why anyone would wish to do otherwise. They believe themselves to be as right and as vindicated as do the forces for good. This leads to some very interesting dynamics between friends, relatives, villains, heroes, etc. Good should win, of course, and it does. But I always try to leave behind the seed ≠ of some future darkness that is about to follow in the next book. At that point I want another domino just about to fall, and start another interesting series of events.

DL: What would your advice be to any aspiring writers?

RN: To aspiring writers, I would say this: Above all, don’t become discouraged. Second only to that is the fact that you mustn’t take criticism personally—a certain amount of it always goes with the territory. If your work is good, it will eventually be found. Polish your manuscript as best you can, and then try to find a good agent to represent you. It can be difficult to find representation, but you have to persevere. There will probab /ly be many rejection letters to wade through, before that magical one comes along. And be especially wary of polite, well-meaning comments from family and friends. Don’t ask what they liked about your work—ask about what they didn’t like, instead. It will be far more productive, I assure you.

When you write, don’t be afraid to go for broke—the delete key is always there at your fingertips to wipe out your mistakes. Own the page, and keep going! Most of all, try to write a little bit each day, no matter your personal circumstances. A little every day is a lot better than a whole bunch every once in a while. If you must rise at 4:30 AM each day to accomplish this, then so be it! In the end it will be worth it. At the rate of only one page a day, in a year you will have a 365 page novel.