Ten Reasons Why Fantasy Is Still Awesome
Hot on the heels of my “Ten Reasons Why Science Fiction Is Still Awesome” list, here is my take on the reasons why fantasy is still awesome. This list was much more difficult than the last primarily because most of the reasons I came up with were cliche. I wanted to do something more with this list than just talk about dragons and magic (granted, those things are in this list, just not as separate items). Don’t be scared to leave me a comment.And here goes: PopularityIt seems like the fantasy genre never had to worry about dying out. It’s always been popular and probably always will be because it is the ultimate escape. Science fiction, unfortunately, is limited in scope. It can only go so far before it becomes fantasy. Fantasy can go anywhere, anytime, anyplace (why it doesn’t, I don’t know). And with all the movies, TV shows, comics, etc. being made out of fantasy series, I don’t expect this popular boom to stop. Improves LiteracyYou might disagree with me on this, but I see the fantasy genre as one that has drastically improved literacy across multiple generations and improved the desire to read among the young. Harry Potter may not be the best fantasy or literature in general, but it has fired up the imaginations of kids all around the world. Even Twilight and Paolini’s Eragon have done wonders for literacy and reading. Say what you will about any of these authors. The fact remains that while kids are still picking these books up, they’re still reading. Some of them may move on and try more “literary” things, or some may stick with fantasy, or science fiction, or both. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that they’re reading! VarietyHow many different series are there in fantasy? How many of them are still going? Every year the list gets longer and longer. The genre isn’t letting up. True, I find the automatic move towards the trilogy or the never-ending series tiring, but the one thing you can’t knock fantasy for is the variety. There are so many authors, so many different kinds of fantasy, so many publishers, so many lengths and characters, etc. The tropes are still there, but if you’re willing to flutter along the edges you can find some fascinating, thought-provoking works. MoviesFor some reason it seems like fantasy books make far better movies that science fiction books do. Case in point:The Lord of the Rings movies were absolutely brilliant, as were the books. 2001: A Space Odyssey or Blade Runner? Not so much. Visually they were brilliant, but as far as being entertaining films…not by a long shot.Fantasy has Stardust, Harry Potter, the Chronicles of Narnia, Spiderwick, and Conan (yes, this last one was a good movie for what it was, thank you). Science fiction can’t really compare as far as well-rounded films go. This is referring ONLY to books turned into movies. As far as completely original works in film form, science fiction trumps fantasy every single time (Star Wars, Star Trek, etc.). Contemporary FantasyThis “new” trend of fantasy stories that flirt with the edges of the genre are particularly fascinating these days. It’s probably partially because they’re being written by people far outside of the genre (or at least not people who are known as part of the genre), or maybe it’s for entirely different reasons. Either way, contemporary fantasy, as a genre that isn’t all that new and yet feels so, well, fresh, is, in my opinion, revitalizing an already healthy genre. To put it simply, it adds character. Escapism (Still)Fantasy is still the kind of escapism, and I mean that in a good way. While some of its subgenres have become a little tired, new forms are erupting all over the place, drawing people in and giving them the opportunity to see fantastic worlds that never existed, to meet kings and magicians, and to see amazing creatures brought to life. Fantasy is still the only genre that truly offers an escape into the impossible, and it will continue to do so in the future. ImaginativenessThis ties into escapism, but at the same time is separate. Fantasy has an obvious history as the genre of the imagination, where things come to life that otherwise could never exist. Science fiction does a good job covering the possible, but fantasy covers all that stuff that never will be. As such, it’s a genre of imaginative elements, drawn together into new and striking worlds and characters. The cliches are still around, but the longer you look into the genre, the more you come to realize how much creative diversity exists there (it’s interesting, also, to consider that many of those old cliche elements are now being reworked and changed; orcs can now defy their “programming” and be good folks, if you can believe it). Comics/Graphic NovelsWhile I’m sure there are some excellent science fiction comics/graphic novels, most of the ones I have enjoyed have been fantasy, in some shape or form (and almost always some sort of Japanese concoction). Even the superhero genre has a hard time breaking out of the fantasy genre, if that was ever its intention. Granted, a lot of the best comic/graphic novel-based movies were science fiction, but that doesn’t seem to have phased the thriving fantasy comic/graphic novel market. I’m particularly fond of manga (such as the work of Yuu Watase, who did Alice 19th, one of my favorites). Manly Men and Strong WomenUnlike other genres (like cyberpunk), fantasy is populated by strong female leads and manly men. When I say manly men, I mean dudes who wield swords and chop off orc limbs with ease. None of this dork with bifocals waltzing around getting laid by cybernetically augmented super witches crap. No, in fantasy, the status quo is still maintained for the sake of realism. Do any of us really believe that a super dork can land a hot girl one not and spend the next twelve hours
The Interview Questions Meme
I discovered this meme through Tanaudel some time ago and she sent me a series of questions to answer. Before getting to those, however, I need to tell you the rules for this meme. The Rules: Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me!” I will (probably, in my sole discretion, and reserving the right not to – can you tell I’m a lawyer?) respond by asking you five questions. I get to pick the questions. You will post the answers to the questions (and the questions themselves) on your blog or journal. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions. And thus the endless cycle of the meme goes on and on and on and on… If you’re interested, let me know in the comments and, if your email isn’t in your profile, provide me a way to contact you directly. And with that out of the way, on to my responses to Tanaudel’s questions: With what philosophy do you meet rejections (and why and whence derived)?I learned long ago (like four years ago) that if you let things like rejections and failures get you down in a significant way, it will stop you from doing the things you actually love. With writing, I used to get depressed and upset at not doing well at it. There was a point where I didn’t write for well over a year (compounded by the fact that I was fighting off cancer, which I beat the sh*t out of, by the way…that bastard cancer). This all probably had a lot to do with the fact that at the time I was a lonely teenager that hadn’t come into his own, felt lost in the world, didn’t have a purpose, etc. I didn’t have a fun time as a teenager, generally speaking (as much as I hated Placerville, it was probably the best time of my High School life because I started to get a bit more of that “accepted” feel there than anywhere else, but I still left school and teenage-hood with the belief that women were, by definition, put on this Earth to torment me).So, there came a point where I started taking my writing really seriously (probably around the same time I started this blog, actually, with WISB and all that–chapters viewable on the left sidebar) and decided that if I was going to get butthurt over rejections and harsh critiques, I might as well stop being a writer altogether. I later learned that Jay Lake had hundreds upon hundreds of rejections before his writing really took off, and still gets rejections, further proving that getting butthurt over it is a bad way to go.So, my philosophy is much more about simply accepting that you can’t win every time, that life throws you curveballs, and that learning from failure/rejection is better than mulling over it. It’s okay to get upset, but don’t let it control you. Right now I’m thinking of a silly quote from Mystery Men:Sphinx: Your temper is very quick, my friend. But until you can master your rage…Mr. Furious: …your rage will be your master? That’s what you were going to say. Right? Right?Sphinx: Not necessarily… You’ve talked about losing interest in a series between books. Do you find that you tend to enjoy reading books more when you know the whole series has been published?Not necessarily. Ha! I wrote that twice. Anywho.I can enjoy a series that hasn’t been finished yet, I just find that knowing I don’t have to wait 15 years for the final installment to be printed makes it easier on me. I hate waiting. Every week waiting for the next episode of BSG is murder. So, really, if a series is good, it’s good regardless of how much of it is already published; a series that isn’t all that good is going to be mediocre even if all twelve volumes are in the stores. Name five books you mercilessly inflict on everyone you meet (or would mercilessly inflict on people if you were that sort of person) – not necessarily your favourite books (although they might be) but the books you think people should read.Mercilessly inflict? To be honest, I don’t think I’ve intentionally done this. I guess the books that I push people to read tend to be staples in the genre: 1984 by George Orwell, Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick, and others. Newer books I suggest folks read are: Sly Mongoose by Tobias S. Buckell, The Innocent Mage/The Awakened Mage by Karen Miller, The Golden Cord by Paul Genesse, Spaceman Blues by Brian Francis Slattery, and dozens of others. It’s hard to pick just one book I push on folks, since I push a lot of books. Then again, I try not to push books on people, because I know that irritates me. What do you try most to avoid in your own writing?Maybe preaching, or making mistakes, or I don’t know. I’m still developing my craft. A lot of things I refused to do before I am now doing as experiments. Back then I didn’t do those things because I hated them, but something about me is changing. I enjoy writing in first and third person present. I like trying to infuse literary elements into my fantasy and science fiction. There are a lot of things I’m trying now that I didn’t try years ago. I still try to avoid writing stories that have nothing to say. That doesn’t always mean I succeed, but I tend to hate my stories when they are just cliches. I still write cliches, obviously, but the ones that are literally cookie-cutter crap tend to end up in a “forget” folder somewhere. Which artist would you want to design a book cover for your work?Stephen Martiniere would be a knee-jerk reaction, however
Single Word Meme (Something Random)
I got tagged yet again by one of these meme things, and because I can’t resist, I’m posting it here. I’m not specifically tagging anyone. If you want to do it, awesome! If not, well fine then! Anywho, this meme is a single-word meme, meaning all questions have to be answered with a single word. Here goes: Where is your cell phone? Chair Your significant other? Lindsey Your hair? Brownish Your mother? Oregon Your father? Somewhere Your dream last night? Nonexistent Your favorite? #2 Your favorite drink? Coke Your dream/goal? Professowriter What room are you in? Mine Hobby? Writing Your fear? Many Where do you want to be in 6 years? Happy Where were you last night? Here Something that you are not? Dead Muffins? Yes Wish list/item? Books Where you grew up? Places Last thing you did? Work What are you wearing? Pajama-bottoms Your t.v.? Old Your pets? Lizards Friends? Yes Your life? Awesome-ish Your mood? Sad Missing someone? Yes Car? Nope Something you’re not wearing? Bra Your favorite store? Borders Your favorite color? Blue When is the last time you laughed? Yesterday When was the last time you cried? Today Who will resend? What? One place I go over and over? School One person who emails me regularly? Nobody Favorite place to eat? Joe’s And there you go. Hope you all enjoyed it! If you liked this post, please stumble it, digg it, or buzz it.
Top Ten Fantasy Movies
I’ve been thinking about how much attention I have paid to science fiction in the last year (or more) and it dawned on me that I should really do a top ten list of what I consider to be the best fantasy movies. I’ve done a top ten for science fiction and for series (even splitting the latter into the best, the overrated, and the worst). So without further procrastination, here’s the list (in no particular order): Lord of the Rings (Peter Jackson)This should be an automatic addition to any fantasy movies list. I’m treating the trilogy as one movie here primarily because the books were original one book and only when pressed by the publisher did Tolkien relinquish his hold on the massive single-story concept. These films were stunning not just for the computer animation or the story, but the sheer dedication of the film crew, the actors, and the creators (the costumers, the bigature folks, etc.). And then there’s Peter Jackson and his writing crew, who pulled this masterpiece together. LegendFew people know about this film and it’s honestly quite astonishing that it has stayed below the radar so long. It desperately needs a cult following. This film starred a young Tom Cruise and a typically creepy Tim Curry (who played the demon). It’s one of those films that was probably seen as absurdly childish and “cliché” when it first came out, but when you look back you can really see some larger things playing out. Or, at least, I think so. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black PearlTo make it clear, I’m only talking about the first movie, not the ones following it. The first PotC film had a lot going for it: good graphics, good acting, good story, and humor. Whenever I think of PotC I think of the first scene where we meet Jack Sparrow. I laughed so hard in the theatre when his ship sank and he stepped off onto the dock. So, this is a must have on this list. The Wizard of OzBecause it’s a classic, it still holds up despite its age, and it’s arguably one of the best musicals of all time. You don’t even have to have seen the original Wizard of Oz to know something about it. Just like PotC and 300, it has become one of those culture-influencing films that changes the world at large, even if the world isn’t aware of it. The only way you don’t know something about the Wizard of Oz is if you’ve been living in a box or you’re too young to know what the heck all the dancing, singing things on the TV are. Princess Mononoke (Mononoke-hime)Some will probably disagree with me on this. I think this is one of Miyazaki’s best films. I liked Spirited Away quite a bit, but it didn’t stick with me nearly as much as Princess Mononoke. Perhaps I liked the message the film was sending because of how rooted in Japanese mythology it was, or because of how powerful the story was without having to resort to cheap tactics. It’s a stunning film with a surprisingly good English-dub cast. Toy StoryThe first Toy Story was mind-bogglingly amazing when I first saw it. Hilarious, poignant, and imaginative, this film set the stage for what Pixar was to do for the rest of its existence. A cute film for kids that appealed, surprisingly, to all ages. I can still watch Toy Story and enjoy it as a 25-year-old man. Why? Because it’s ageless. The Princess BrideHeading up the sadly tiny genre of comedic fantasy, The Princess Bride was and still is one of my favorite movies of all time. My sister brought it to my attention and to this day it is one of my favorites. How can you not like this movie? It puts together all the ridiculous clichés of the genre while giving you a cast containing a mixed bag of fantastic actors (who didn’t love Andre the giant?). Classic, timeless, and still one of the best films of all time hands down. The Neverending StoryI’m putting this on this list not because I have watched it as much as the others, but because it did something to me as a youngling that few films meant for kids was capable of doing: it terrified the hell out of me. Literally. I could never watch it all the way through as a kid. Not only was the wolf freaking scary (even though it was just a puppet), but the Nothing freaked me out. In a way, the whole film was a dark fantasy that awoke all my childhood fears. I love the film, but it’s hard for me to watch. Some of the darkness in my writing comes from this brilliant Wolfgang Peterson flick. WillowI know I’m going to get ripped on for this, but Willow is still one of my favorite films. It’s cliché, I know, and I actually have a strange phobia of little people, but something about Willow is charming. Maybe it’s because Ron Howard was involved, or maybe it’s just because it’s a cute story. Either way, the film takes a silly cliché and twists is around to provide a fantasy adventure. True, it seems like a rip-off of LOTR, what with the main cast being little people from a faraway place where regular men (us) don’t hang out, but I think what Willow did that LOTR failed to do was make a story that was more believable. After all, there are no silly moments in the end where you go “wait, couldn’t they have just taken a giant eagle to the volcano instead of wasting all those months nearly dying of starvation?” Alice in WonderlandChoosing the final item for this list was difficult. I realize that I had placed a lot of children’s movies on this list, but it seems somewhat funny that the vast majority of good fantasy happens to be made for kids. In
Twenty-five Things (About Me): A Meme
I was tagged on Facebook for this, but because I don’t feel like doing this list there, I’m doing it here. Besides, this is what blogs are for. I officially tag anyone who wants to do this. The point is to make a list of twenty-five things about you, presumably stuff most people don’t know (or at least isn’t clear). This probably is an attempt to make people on the interwebs human or some such. In any case, here goes: Total Recall is one of my favorite movies for absolutely no logical reason whatsoever. The Matrix Revolutions is possibly my favorite music soundtrack ever. I think Battlestar Galactica (the re-imagined show by Ronald A. Moore) is the best science fiction show ever made. Period. It has overtaken Firefly without even a struggle. I applied to Oxford without any expectation to get in (in fact, I don’t even have my hopes up for it). I have actually gotten an A in a class without reading anything on the syllabus or paying attention to the lectures (not at UCSC, though). This might mean I was a bad student, but you should consider that if a student can not pay attention or read any of the books and still get an A, then the course wasn’t all that well put together, now was it? I have enough books to make the proportion of not-read to read close to 100 to 1. I have 13 leopard geckos and three common musk turtles with me where I live; my mother and her partner are caring for my bearded dragon and crested gecko (both of which they apparently love to death). I despise the following words: intrinsic, billfold, and lozenge. And by despise, I mean that I actually get angry shivers when I hear them. I’m agnostic, despite what anyone may assume from my rants against religion. I am afraid of horses. I have no desire to have any sort of wedding, and neither does my fiance. We just want to be married and move on from that moment. I rarely watch the following movies because they creep me out way too much (mostly because I saw them when I was a kid first): The Neverending Story and Ernest Scared Stupid I think American Cheese is an abomination and should be destroyed for the protection of all mankind. I considered, in my youth, converting to Islam, and then to Hinduism, and then to Buddhism, and then to Zen Buddhism, and then to Christianity, and then to nothing at all. Needless to say that none of these religions/ideologies did anything for me at all. I write short stories because I have limited time to devote to writing and they are somewhat easier for me to write and maintain interest. I still work on novels and have every intention of continuing, but shorts are simply easier for me at the moment. I have been told by people close to me that I am both a good writer and a crappy editor. Obviously I value their opinions to put up with that. I have also been told by two professionals in the writing field that I am a good writer (something I’ll be talking about later, I’m sure). I am a cancer survivor. Hodgkin’s Lymphoma; survivor of almost six years now. No, I don’t want sympathy. It was no big deal. I don’t shave or cut my hair often because I despise the entire process of both (plus one hurts and the other costs money). I love to argue, so much so that I will even take up positions that are not representative of how I actually think just so I can keep arguing. I don’t know why. I believe that the U.S. Constitution is not all that hard to understand and that people who think it is hard to interpret are not very smart and shouldn’t be running this country. I am lactose intolerant, but refuse to drink or eat soy products because they are disgusting. I continue to drink or eat dairy products, even though I can sometimes have unpleasant reactions to them. I’d probably only quit if I found it it would actually kill me. I will be close to $21,000 in debt by the time I get my B.A. This is to preserve my ability to not have to waste money on a car or get a job so that I may focus on my schooling and other aspects of my life (such as trying not to go insane). I suspect that I will make someone else pay for it in exchange for me doing something nice for them. I am politically a moderate and believe that people who vote via party or religious opinion are idiots who shouldn’t be allowed to vote at all. Likewise, people who vote because Bill O’Reilly or someone equally as polarizing and moronic tells them who to vote for should probably be put in a mental institution or, at the very least, deemed mentally handicapped and sent to their own island without food or water. I am a member of the Modern Language Associate of America. And there you go! Hope you all enjoy.
Steampunk Reading List?
Some time ago I found this list of Steampunk novels that someone had put together as a sort of preliminary reading list of the genre. Interestingly enough, it splits the list into three categories: proto-Steampunk, early Steampunk, and recent Steampunk. I’m not sure that there really is that big a difference between the first two categories (as named categories, not by what they contain), but so be it. The list is as follows: Proto-SteampunkGormenghast Novels (esp Titus Alone), Mervyn PeakeWorlds of the Imperium, Keith LaumerQueen Victoria’s Bomb, Ronald W. ClarkA Nomad of the Time Streaks, Michael Moorcock Early SteampunkThe Anubis Gates, Tim PowersHomunculus, James BlaylockInfernal Devices, K W Jeter More Recent SteampunkThe Difference Engine, William Gibson and Bruce SterlingLeague of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Alan Moore (Comic)Steampunk, Ann & Jeff VanderMeer (Anthology)Girl Genius, Studio Foglio (Comic)A Series of Unfortunate Events, Lemony Snicket It’s an interesting list, to be sure, and I’m curious what you all would consider to be good Steampunk reading that could be added to it. I, for one, think that a Steampunk list is required to have at least one Jules Verne novel, considering that he was sort of the unintentional father of the genre. But that’s me. What about you? Edit: These are some suggested books from the comments, etc.The Court of the Air by Stephen HuntThe Kingdom Beyond the Waves by Stephen HuntThe Rise of the Iron Moon by Stephen Hunt