Discussion Panel on Black Speculative Fiction - VIDEO

Back in April of this year, I posted about the rarity of black fantasy authors. Below is a link to a video of a panel discussing the State of Black Science Fiction at the 2012 DragonCon in Atlanta, GA. This blog concentrates mostly on epic fantasy, but I found this discussion worth sharing, and think it is very relevant to my post in April.

View video here.


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The War Ingredient

Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, the Riftwar Cycle, Wheel of Time, Malazan Book of the Fallen, A Song of Ice and Fire, and a multitude of other fantasy books consist of battles and wars of epic proportion—conflicts that shake the very foundations of the worlds these stories inhabit. Much of epic fantasy seems to be lost without the presence of warfare. Without war in fantasy, the stories almost fall into the identity of fairytales.

Unfortunately, war is in the fabric of the existence of mankind. It’s a dark, horrible blemish that writes our histories and forms the boundaries between nations. War is the death and destruction of lives and civilizations that causes an effect throughout existence for centuries and millennia. So for fantasy not to have at least a history of war within the story, it takes away the believability of that world and the civilizations therein.

The classic epic fantasy story takes the reader into a great conflict against a cancerous evil that is taking over the world. Another kind of fantasy story deals with the conflict between an antagonist building a force to dominate a region. Another story brings wars between different races, tribes or classes. These are usually the main three formulas, formed into different variations. Again, war does not have to be in the fantasy story itself, but at least a history of war, or the possibility of war tends to dwell in the world-building.

This element of fantasy seems to bring to life all the other elements in the genre. A wizard’s use of magic appears much more powerful and active in the setting of warfare. Dragon-riders soaring the heights, unleashing flames on their enemies below, bring about some of the most exciting moments of dragons in a story. The thrust and parry of a skilled swordsman, the lethal hack of a dwarf’s axe, and the graceful combat moves of an elf bring life to a battle scene on the pages. A sovereign’s declaration of war ups the stakes in a story of intrigue.

Just think about your favorite fantasy books without the battles. There wouldn’t be much of a story. The conflicts between good and evil, and the struggles between opposing kings would just be a game of chess. If only it was that easy. It’s sad that a genre where we go to escape this life carries over the vices of this world, but the difference, at least in traditional fantasy, is that we get to see the bad guys get their due justice, which is not always the case in our world.

Fantasy helps us look at reflections of our own existence. But, in most works, war in fantasy is usually glorified, and is used as a tool to entertain, and bring action to a story, yet leaving out the tragic consequences that real war tends to bring. However, in the majority of epic fantasy, war is a necessity. After all, the dark lord, the evil witch, the dark gods, and the force of chaos must not prevail; and they can only be stopped with the call for war—compromise, a therapy session, and a soft teddy bear just won’t do the trick.

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Discussion Panel on Epic Fantasy - VIDEO

I found this video to be an interesting discussion on Epic Fantasy. See video below (divided into 4 parts).

A panel from the World Fantasy Convention in 2010, featuring David Drake, John Fultz, Blake Charlton, David B. Coe and Freda Warrington.

Filmed by Moses Siregar III of http://sciencefictionfantasybooks.net

Part 1 of 4

 

 Part 2 of 4

  

 

 Part 3 of 4

 

 Part 4 of 4

 

Good vs Evil

 

Just about every fantasy story is based on the struggle between good and evil. How many dark lords have been defeated by the hero and his band of friends? How many wicked witches have been vanquished by innocent youths? How many dark wizards have met their end against the gifted brave? How many warlords have been defeated by the noble king? I could go on and on. The battle between good and evil is the foundation for almost every kind of fiction (fantasy, action, thriller, suspense, horror, etc). We go to the movies and we sit expecting to root for the “good” guy against the “bad” guy. It’s common in our culture, and it’s common in our nature. Mythology and folklore have been saturated with it for centuries.

In today’s fantasy fiction, there are times where we expect to root for the antihero. There are times where we see the lines between good and evil blurred. We’ve come to a place where the “all-good” hero and the “all-bad” villain no longer appeals, and shows no realism. It’s funny to see the genre which was supposed to be a vehicle of discovering the fantastic and speculative—to take us away from reality—is now being forced to make things as realistic as possible (in which I agree with). But I think the main purpose is to make things believable in the author’s created world, while giving the reader characters that are realistic.

It seems like today’s modern fantasy is trying to veer away from characters that are good and evil, and just make the characters grey (or amoral). This is a good thing for the genre, but it’s not good if this is done only to rebel against the old tradition of good versus evil. It should be done because that’s what the story calls for, and that’s who that character is. Also, a character shouldn’t be made dark just to put a dark spin on the story. There should be a believable reason why that character is that way.

There’s the belief that there is no absolute good or evil. But if someone believes in an all-good higher power, and believes that any force that defies that all-good higher power is evil, then there is absolute good and evil, in that concept. If someone does not believe in an all-good higher power, but believes that society sets the standards of what is right and wrong, then there is a degree of good and evil; for if anyone goes against what your society believes to be the right thing, then that person could be seen as evil in a way, and vice versa.

In the real world, there is good versus evil. That’s realistic. The generation known as the Greatest Generation, who fought Nazis in World War II, were not saints, but they were the good guys, going up against an evil empire. What Hitler did was evil. The Allies that fought him were good. That man that took those girls in Ohio and held them captive in his house for a decade, doing terrible things to them, did evil; and the people that helped those girls escape did good. A person that walks into an elementary school and slaughters children does evil; the people that tried to save those children, and tried to stop the murderer were good. The people that go and blow up innocent men, women and children are evil; the people that fight to stop those people are good. Do you see what I’m getting at here? Unfortunately, in our world, we see the evil that people do all the time. Fortunately, we see the good that people do all the time as well.

The key point here is that the struggle against good and evil is a part of our world, and of our existence, since the dawn of man. The battle of good and evil happens in the world, and it happens inside each and every person, as they make the choice to do the right or wrong thing everyday. This is reality, and this is the good against evil that we should see in fantasy fiction. So if an author is only going to give us grey characters, then show us readers why that character is that way. Also, show us the struggle inside the character as he/she strives to be a person that does the “right” thing; or if he/she strives to do the “wrong” thing.

So, authors of the dark and gritty, don’t try to make it an effort to exclude good and evil from your stories; but try making an effort to make your stories more realistic by including good and evil in the degree that your story calls for. Again, this could be an external struggle or an internal struggle for the character(s).

I think the things that bother us modern readers, in regards to the old-fashioned good versus evil plot, is that the hero and the villain have no depth. They’re just put there to fight each other, with nobility as the hero’s reason, and power and greed as the villain’s excuse. Readers want to get into the soldiers’ minds, and into the Nazis’ minds, so that the struggle becomes an explosion of good story, with depth and conflict; and the climax at the end is not predictability (even though you know the good guys will win), but a conclusion where you feel the triumph of the protagonists, because you fell in love with them, and you wanted them to succeed. 

Click here to see Part 2 of this post.

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The Royal Ingredient

 

It’s quite difficult to find a fantasy novel that does not have some sort of character or plot dealing with royalty. Even if the central focus of the story and its characters have nothing to do with sovereigns, thrones or kingdoms, there still tends to be someone or something in the plot that relates to things of royalty. I believe this is mostly due to the setting of most fantasy worlds taking place in a medieval-type era. The Middle Ages was a period of emperors, kings and lords.

Another look at this is that the utter most of us do not stem from royalty; therefore, experiencing the royal lifestyle is the dream (or fantasy) of many people. I think that’s why a lot of the western world is so fascinated with the royal family of England—it’s like a fairytale—something so far from us, and unattainable, that it’s like a fantasy.

So it has been since the dawn of fantasy fiction that kings, queens, princes and princesses have been the orbital point of stories. There are tales of dynasties holding their thrones (or trying to take back their thrones); tales of regicide and machinations; tales of usurpers. There are so many methods in the use of the royal ingredient in fantasy; and it has almost…almost become as common as magic (excluding urban fantasy).

Are there any fantasy books where there is no ruler somewhere in the story? Is it possible to have an epic fantasy without some element of the royal or imperial? I’m sure such books exist, but they are few (and I’m sorry to say that I cannot think of any at the moment).

I think the royal element tends to bring the grandeur scope of things into fantasy worlds. Palaces, castles, crowns, scepters, thrones, riches and servants, these are cool things (apart from magic). I just feel like a good fantasy would be amiss without some of these things in the mix.

The British folklore of King Arthur may have had influence on the genre—a legendary king mentored by a wizard (Merlin). Princesses and princes have been quite common in the fairytales of old; as well as kings and queens. Early fantasy novels like The Well at the World’s End by William Morris, published in 1896, and an influence to J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, contains characters of royalty; including Lord Dunsany’s novel, The King of Elfland’s Daughter.

I’ll leave this thought with you… Imagine A Song of Ice and Fire without the royalty ingredient. It would be more like the Hatfields and McCoys; which may be quite good, but it would lack the grandeur scope—lacking that epic scale.

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A Follow Up to The Dark and Gritty

A couple of months ago I posted about The Dark and Gritty in fantasy fiction; and I just found a post by bestselling author Elizabeth Moon on Orbit Books’ website that I feel gives an excellent illustration to the point I was trying to make.

Check out her post here.


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George R.R. Martin vs J.R.R. Tolkien

For awhile now, there's been talk about George R.R. Martin being the next Tolkien (or the American Tolkien). But how can you even compare the two? Tolkien started the modern fantasy genre. Martin didn’t really start anything. People say that Martin brought in a new kind of fantasy—realistic and gritty. But Glen Cook started “realistic” and “gritty” fantasy over a decade before A Game of Thrones was published. Sure, Martin has produced deeper characterization and intrigue in his books, but I wouldn’t say that he started anything.

In my opinion, to compare Martin to Tolkien is not fair to both writers. First off, Tolkien is an inspiration to nearly all modern fantasy authors, Martin included. Tolkien has put the “epic” into fantasy, and set the mold. No one today, if ever, will be able to build the kind of detailed world that he did—and who has the degree and time to create their own language like Tolkien did? He spent decades on this stuff. His knowledge and time spent creating his world is in itself “epic” in scale. Tolkien gave the world a story that people of all types and ages could enjoy over and over through generations. It is set in stone as a classic, and recommended reading, even for those who do not read fantasy. The story of Middle-earth has been a source for academic purposes, and a tool for the craft of storytelling and world-building. The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings is a world-wide literary phenomenon, that will continue to pass on to my children’s generation, and to their children, and their children’s children, and so forth.

Martin is a fantastic writer that has produced a good, gritty, graphic piece of fantasy fiction. A Song of Ice and Fire is a treat in modern fantasy, and is a trend-setter, but that’s about it. Like Twilight is to Paranormal Romance, or like Fifty Shades of Grey is to Erotica, or like Harry Potter is to YA Fantasy; A Song of Ice and Fire is to modern Epic Fantasy. That’s it. It has just become popular. Just because A Game of Thrones is hugely successful doesn’t make Martin out to be some great, groundbreaking writer of our time who will set the standard for a new genre. There’s no doubt that Martin has and will inspire a lot of new authors, but every great and popular author does that. It’s nothing new. A Song of Ice and Fire is not something that can be past along to one’s children; or is acceptable to many types of people like the Lord of the Rings.

So let Tolkien be Tolkien, and let Martin be Martin… Let the Lord of the Rings be the Lord of the Rings, and let A Song of Ice and Fire be A Song of Ice and Fire… And may I add, let A Song of Ice and Fire be completed some day (two more books to go, yet no end in sight). It’s not right to compare the two authors. Tolkien is of a whole other literary time and generation; and Martin has yet to complete his series, and has grown into huge success for only the past few years. He is still with us, and has not left a legacy of great, epic literary accomplishments.

Let’s put aside the comparisons between these two authors, because it just doesn’t work. Let’s enjoy the classic, and let’s enjoy the modern—and let’s enjoy the diverse fantasy genre.

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