A long time ago I used to be pretty into webcomics. Not a superfan, but usually having 3 or 4 on the go at a time, and binging a few archives a week. These days I check pretty much just one. Something Positive. It’s not always updated these days. Randy Milholland has a lot on […]

The universe through human eyes is a place of serendipity. We see events unfolding and our minds provide a pattern of how it has benefited us. Unless, of course, you don’t believe in that. Every pair of human eyes perceives a slightly different universe and countless words and hours have gone into measuring those differences […]

Before I get into the essay proper, I shall warn that this essay will mention the following works in some degree of spoilery detail: Three Hearts and Three Lions, Lord of the Rings, Earthsea Quartet, The Eternal Champion, His Dark Materials and of course, Watchmen. It’s also probably not very good. The level of all […]

Book Blogger Hop I’ve never done a book blogger hop before (credit for this week’s prompt of “Do You Post Negative Reviews” to Heather @ MM Romance Reviewed). But I saw HC Newton’s post on this and decided to get involved because this is a topic that’s been going around my head for a few […]

The fantasy genre is well known for it’s liking for characters whose relationship to their parent is in some way unconventional. The orphan is the most common, particularly when linked to the chosen one archetype, and there are a good number of changelings too, but also popular at times is the illegitimate child. In the […]

Note: This essay contains spoilers which you may not wish to read, does not contain references because I’m lazy, and is a first draft in case you feel like giving feedback. Thank you and I hope you enjoy. Albus Dumbledore and Granny Weatherwax are two of the fantasy world’s most famous fictional creations, and in […]

Mythopoeia. It’s a lovely sounding word, isn’t it? Assuming I’m saying it right. It comes from Greek, and I’ve never been all that strong at pronunciations from Greek sources. It has a lovely meaning too – myth making. An activity very suited to fantasy. Unsurprisingly, a good deal of how we view the word comes […]

Wotcha all. This article will be talking about the influences of North American authors from that initial boom of commercial Epic Fantasy that didn’t feature in this article. I will repeat the caveats from last article: this is a first draft and not exhaustively researched; it takes the authors at face value; I’m too lazy […]

This post has been on my mind for a while, driven by various chats with friends and reading academic books on the genre. For, you see, on one hand I’d be talking to fantasy loving friends who’d see the genre in the widest possible terms. Then on the other hand I’d be talking to friends […]

This one’s been bubbling around my mind for a few days after seeing a number of sub-genre discussions. Now that I think the thoughts are mostly distilled, here it is. The TL:DR version goes thus: People are trying to make sub-genres do too much in fantasy and should seek better ways to talk about the […]