Here is a
video of a panel of fantasy writers at the New York Comic Con last month, featuring
Patrick Rothfuss, Seth Fishman, Cinda Williams Chima, Gail Z. Martin, Garth Nix
and Robin Hobb. Moderated by David Peterson, the panel discusses how A Game of
Thrones affected the fantasy genre. All the authors had interesting opinions on
the subject, but I think what Patrick Rothfuss conveys at the 12 minute mark
was spot-on.
Saturday, November 1, 2014
Monday, October 27, 2014
History in Fantasy – Part 2
This is
part two of my post about History in Fantasy. If you have not read the previous
post, you can read it here.
As previously
mentioned, Historical Fantasy is the sub genre of fantasy fiction where the
story centers on a historical period in the “real world” (instead of a
secondary world) and brings in fantastic elements. There are many variations of
renderings by different authors in this sub genre, most taking form within
medieval Europe. I would say that it is the
Arthurian legend that triggered the influence of Historical Fantasy; with the
story of King Arthur, Merlin and Excalibur being the beginning of a type of
Historical Fantasy.
The
historical account of a real-life King Arthur remains inconclusive amongst
historians; however, the legend—stemmed from the account of the 9TH
century Welsh historian called Nennius and the pseudo-historical
account of the 12TH century Welsh cleric Geoffrey of Monmouth—has
become one of the most retold and honored stories in the western world. The
story of King Arthur penned by Geoffrey of Monmouth shaped the mythology of
Britain that we’re familiar with today, producing a wealth of novels such as: The Once and Future King by T.H. White, The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer
Bradley, and The Pendragon Cycle
series by Stephen R. Lawhead, just to name a few.
“Secret
History” is a popular formula within Historical Fantasy, where the author takes
historical persons and/or events and creates a story based on occurrences in
that period of time that were censored from historical records. Novels like
Mary Gentle’s Book of Ash series (a
single volume in the U.K.)
and Elizabeth Bear’s Promethean Age
series use this type of method. The Book
of Ash tells the story of a fictional 15TH century female
mercenary captain in Europe, receiving
military tactical guidance from a voice in her head—akin to Joan of Arc. Though
the setting of the story of Ash is late Medieval France, elements of fantasy
and science fiction are found in the book. Elizabeth Bear’s Promethean Age series contains that
mixture of Urban, Historical and Epic Fantasy that I hinted at in my previous
post. The first two books of the series deal more in the contemporary times,
but the last two books in the series (prequels to the initial two), also known
as The Stratford Man Duology, take us
back in the Elizabethan Era—using historical figures such as English dramatists
Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare as key characters in fictional
form.
J. Gregory
Keyes (also known as Greg Keyes) went all out with his Age of Unreason series using historical figures like Sir Isaac
Newton, a young Benjamin Franklin, and King Louis XIV of France in an epic tale full of
magic, demons and adventure. In similar fashion, the Traitor to the Crown series by C.C. Finley is set during the
American Revolution where witches, magic and supernatural beings have a great
impact on the tensions of the Revolutionary War. Historical figures like John
Adams and Benjamin Franklin appear as supporting characters in Finley’s series.
It is
Historical Fantasy’s duty to shake up and change history. John M. Ford was
applauded for his method in The Dragon
Waiting, which won him the 1984 World Fantasy Award for best novel. In The Dragon Waiting, Ford sets up an
alternate 15TH century Europe where Christianity never excelled and
Islam never existed, the Byzantine Empire threatens Europe,
and the worship of Roman gods is very active. Add in the workings of magic and
vampirism (as the result of a contagious disease) and The Dragon Waiting becomes another rung in classic Historical Fantasy. The
popular Temeraire series by Naomi
Novik takes readers into a world where dragons are real and used in the
Nopoleonic Wars. Not only is the world different because of the existence of
dragons, but Novik also spins nations like China,
the United States and Mexico with
alternate histories.
Two
Historical Fantasies released this year, which sound interesting, are Mark
Alder’s Son of the Morning and Angus
Watson’s Age of Iron. You can read
the authors' explanation on their works by checking out these two postings: Son of the Morning here | Age of Iron here
I could go
on and on with other examples of Historical Fantasy, like Judith Tarr’s The Hound and the Falcon trilogy, David
Gemmell’s Stones of Power series, or
D.B. Jackson’s Thieftaker Chronicles—works
which have entertained many. This is a sub genre which can stretch on and on
into new and intriguing stories; however, like Epic/High Fantasy, the overdose
on Medieval Europe is apparent. The works described above set in the 18TH
and 19TH century, even dealing in American history, make for
something appealing to readers—because it’s not overused. With the spark of
Flintlock Fantasy reaching for attention in the genre, I hope we can see more
settings in the Age of Reason.
In my next
and last post on History in Fantasy, I will discuss fantasy books that deal
with the inspiration of history within secondary worlds.
RELATED POSTS:
History in Fantasy - Part 1
History in Fantasy - Part 3
The Secondary World
Inspirations of Fantasy
Epic Worldbuilding
Flintlock Fantasy
RELATED POSTS:
History in Fantasy - Part 1
History in Fantasy - Part 3
The Secondary World
Inspirations of Fantasy
Epic Worldbuilding
Flintlock Fantasy
Monday, October 13, 2014
History in Fantasy – Part 1
When you
set aside the fantastic from epic/high fantasy you can surely conclude that you
are reading a story that is not modern, but set in a time long past. Today,
fantasy fiction is pretty much presented in three different facets—High
Fantasy, Urban Fantasy and Historical Fantasy—but sometimes mixes some of the
three. Urban Fantasy is usually set in the “real world” in contemporary times,
but the other two facets, High and Historical Fantasy primarily takes place in
a setting that is far from modern.
High
Fantasy is predominant in the use of Anglo-Saxon history, holding strong to the
Medieval period for its entire setting, but in a secondary world. Historical
Fantasy takes a historical period in the mundane world and adds elements of the
fantastic. From this point forward, when I talk about fantasy, I will be
talking specifically about High (Epic) Fantasy and Historical Fantasy, as these
two sub genres are the keystone of fantasy fiction.
Fantasy is
a kind of mosaic of different inspirations from various histories and cultures,
with the flavor of magic, adventure, and
fantastic creatures—like a recipe of many ingredients to form an
imaginative story. Most writers of fantasy are people fascinated by history in
one way or another; with a good handful of them being historians themselves,
such as J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Judith Tarr, and Sara Douglass, just to name
a few.
Think about
how history is presented to us. Whenever a historian writes a non-fiction book
about a prominent historical figure or event they construct it into a story in
a way. They do not have any way of knowing for sure what Cleopatra was
thinking, or why Alexander the Great did a certain thing, or how George
Washington acted when he was a kid. The historian is taking recorded facts
about an individual or event and piecing it together into a cohesive narrative,
often speaking as if they were there and are certain that every account that
they are reporting is accurate. But, at the end of the day, it’s all constructed;
it’s not entirely true in a sense. Likewise, paleontologist piece together
fossils and bones and try to illustrate and describe the appearance of long-extinct
creatures and convince us of their survival habits, but they cannot be 100%
certain.
The power
of the human imagination can take a historical figure like Bishop Nicholas of Myra and turn him into Santa Claus, or
take an affair between Cleopatra VII and Marcus Antonius (Mark Antony)
and romanticize it, or be inspired by Vlad III Dracula to bring about the iconic
character of Count Dracula. A lot of people probably obtain most of their
knowledge of Julius Caesar from William Shakespeare’s play, The Tragedy
of Julius Caesar, which was a fictional dramatization based on the
conspiracy to kill Julius Caesar. Creators of fiction, in great sums, have an
almost natural urge to be inspired by historical persons and events. It seems
to be mankind’s desire to write, read and watch stories of mankind in any shape
or form—even in the form of fantasy.
Guy Gavriel
Kay is widely know for his fantasy books inspired by historical persons and
events, transforming real historical periods within secondary worlds and bringing
life to fictional characters inspired by people of the past. He said, “I do as much research as I can in a period
of history, and then I do a quarter-turn to the fantastic. …that quarter-turn
to the fantastic is under-penned by respect for the actual period and the
actual people that I’m using as the inspiration for my novels.” Kay’s
strategy is to craft stories out of real settings, letting some of his
characters be fictional representations of figures in history. He stays away
from retellings of history; in his own words: “…not wanting to project my imagination on to the real lives of real people.”
Robert
Jordan noted the use of bits and pieces of historical cultures in his Wheel of Time books; such as the ancient
Celts, the Shogunates of Japan, and 17TH century France. In regards
to the city-state of Mayene in his books, Jordan said, “Mayene is based culturally on the cities of the Hanseatic League, as well as Venice and Genoa when those cities
were world commercial powers and city-states in themselves.” These were just a few of many things
he took and used as influences on his fantasy world.
In regards
to his book series, A Song of Ice and
Fire, George R.R. Martin said, “…although
I've drawn on many parts of history, the War of the Roses is probably the one
my story is closest to.” He also said,
“I like to use history to flavor my
fantasy, to add texture and verisimilitude, but simply rewriting history with
the names changed has no appeal for me. I prefer to re-imagine it all, and take
it in new and unexpected directions.” In an interview with Time Magazine
(online) back in April of 2011, Martin speaks a little more about his work and briefly
on how history is related in fantasy fiction—click here to read it.
In my next
post I’ll continue the discussion on history in fantasy, expounding on more
authors and books that pull inspiration from history.
Saturday, September 27, 2014
Maps in Fantasy
The map is
the second most sought after work of art in a fantasy book (in many cases).
Apart from the book cover, readers of the genre love flipping through the first
couple of pages to behold the layout of the world/land that they are about to
explore (via the characters). Fantasy maps are a great way of bringing
visualization to the author’s world, helping to provide just a drop of imagery
in the reader’s mind. They assist the reader with locale and perspective while
journeying through the pages. They may even help embellish one’s imagination.
Maps in
fantasy go as far back as 1908 when L. Frank Baum presented his map of the Land
of Oz, projected on a large screen, at his multi-media stage shows (The
Fairylogue and Radio-Plays); which were used to promote his first
three Oz books. In 1914 the first printed Oz map was included in Tik-Tok of Oz, the eighth Oz book, along
with another map at the back of the book titled Map of the Countries Near to the Land of Oz.
One will
not find a map in all fantasy books, but any fantasy novel set in a secondary world most commonly will feature some
kind of map. As stated above, this can assist in visualizing a world not like our
own, and help pull the reader into a “belief” of that fantasy world.
Not every
reader of fantasy likes or has respect for maps in fantasy. Some ignore them
completely; others glance over it with a shrug; yet others tend to delve into them
like one on a quest. There are even cases where people will select or reject a
fantasy novel based on whether or not it contains a map—or based on the
judgment of the quality of the map. Like the old saying, “Don’t judge a book by
its cover;” the same should apply to judging books by their map(s).
Fantasy
maps are an extension from the text. The fascinating thing about reading fantasy
books is being able to use one’s imagination; but wrapping that imagination
around a visual relation to the story can often expand that imagination. Yet,
this is not so for all readers. Personally, I tend to be the one who simply
glances over the map and then move on with the story. However, if I find myself
really engrossed in the story, I will look more intently at the map just to
suck up as much as I can of the world that I’m experiencing.
Saturday, August 23, 2014
A Discussion Panel of Fantasy Authors - VIDEO
A panel
consisting of fantasy authors Joe Abercrombie, Lev Grossman, Diana Gabaldon,
George R. R. Martin, and Patrick Rothfuss speak humorously about their writing styles and epic fantasy. This took place at this year’s San Diego
Comic Con on July 26. See video below…
Monday, August 18, 2014
The Secondary World
The
secondary world is practically the ruling art of epic fantasy, holding within
it not only scenery, names and races that are different from our world, but
producing histories, laws and creatures that make it a world in and of itself. It
is not only other-worldly creatures that differentiates the fantasy world from
our own, but it is the law of magic and how it effects that world and its
inhabitants. In epic fantasy, the setting of the secondary world dwells in the
likeness of the medieval period, and seldom veers from it. We can probably
thank J.R.R. Tolkien, who was a medievalist, for such a permanent brand since
it was he who set the mold for (modern) epic fantasy. It makes me wonder if Tolkien
had not been a medievalists, and, instead, created his epic story within a more
modern setting or a setting that reflected the ancient worlds of 3000 years
B.C., would epic fantasy have taken a much different form?
Edward
James, former professor of Medieval History at the University College in Dublin, wrote: “After 1955 fantasy writers no
longer had to explain away their worlds by framing them as dreams, or
travellers’ tales, or by providing them with any fictional link to our own
world at all.” Here James was referring to the publishing of The Lord of the Rings, the original epic
fantasy which popularized the secondary world. Even though Tolkien had said
that Middle-earth was simply a pre-history of our world, we all know that
Middle-earth is a fictional world outside any realm we’ve ever known. Maybe
Tolkien was not ready to admit that he was severing his work from the standards
of previous fantasy literature which always had some ties to the “real” world.
Today, we cannot think of epic/high fantasy being any other way. As Edward
James had also written: “This has become
so standard in modern fantasy that it is not easy to realize how unusual it was
before Tolkien.”
For a
writer, building a secondary world can be a pleasure, almost like a hobby—fed
by many other interests that correspond into a cohesive system. In other ways
it could evolve into an obsession of knitting together histories, magic
systems, and order of societies down to the slightest detail. The latter can be
good, if skillfully used as the backdrop for good characters within a good
story; otherwise, it does no good and is simply just a made-up world. A writer
has to avoid being geeky about their world and concentrate on the story. The
secondary world, no matter how complex, is still only the setting for the
author’s characters and their story—not the story itself.
The
secondary world can be that neutral ground between the author and the reader
where ideas and issues are explored without making things too personal—as they
may be if written in a more contemporary fashion within our world. It can be a
means of helping us relate on some things that we experience in the real world.
The secondary world can be a way to undo the complexity or confusion of our own
world, simplifying things and bringing a kind of focus to the characters and
the story that may be lacking contrast within tales that take place in the
primary world. Yet, at the end of the day, the secondary worlds that we journey
through in fantasy fiction still consist of the same old trials and conflicts
that plague us in this world: life and death; war and peace; good and evil;
etc.
Tolkien
wrote about the secondary world in his 1947 essay, On Fairy Stories. He talks about the art of the “story-maker” to
become a “sub-creator” in order to present a world where the reader can step
into a state of belief of that world. He says of the story-maker: “He makes a Secondary World which your mind
can enter. Inside it, what he relates is “true”: it accords with the laws of
that world. You therefore believe it, while you are, as it were, inside. The
moment disbelief arises, the spell is broken; the magic, or rather art, has
failed. You are then out in the Primary World again, looking at the little
abortive Secondary World from outside.”
In his essay on fairy stories,
Tolkien speaks profoundly on the art of creating a secondary world. The skill
of the writer must be good enough to make their world credible. Tolkien says, “To make a Secondary World inside which the
green sun will be credible, commanding Secondary Belief, will probably require
labour and thought, and will certainly demand a special skill, a kind of elvish
craft. Few attempt such difficult tasks. But when they are attempted and in any
degree accomplished then we have a rare achievement of Art: indeed narrative
art, story-making in its primary and most potent mode.” He also mentions
the course in which writers draw from reality when creating their world,
saying: “Probably every writer making a
secondary world, a fantasy, every sub-creator, wishes in some measure to be a
real maker, or hopes that he is drawing on reality: hopes that the peculiar
quality of this secondary world (if not all the details) are derived from
Reality, or are flowing into it. If he indeed achieves a quality that can
fairly be described by the dictionary definition: “inner consistency of reality,” it is difficult to conceive
how this can be, if the work does not in some way partake of reality.”
So to use a
simple illustration, when watching the makings of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films, we see all the
great detail that they went into in order to bring life to Middle-earth on the
screen. They took time to grow vegetation and gardens to make the Shire a
reality. Great detail was given to everything from the cooking ware to the
armory to the selection of the landscape. Now, when watching the films prior to
seeing the behind the scenes creation, the viewer has no care as to how much
work and meticulous designing it took to create the visuals that sucked them
into the film. No, the viewer is simply immersed into a story within an
enigmatic world where they are caught up into 3 hours of wonder, suspense,
humor and adventure. The camera does not zoom in on all the artistry and skill
used to bring life to Middle-earth; its focus is on the characters and the
incorporated scenes used to present an epic story.
Saturday, August 2, 2014
All-Powerful Dark Rulers
The fantasy
genre is full of stories where one (or a group, or race) of great power rules
over a kingdom or empire with malice and corruption. The subjects are forced to
live under the cruel, heavy hand of the dark rulers, and there’s always mention
of a group of brave souls who attempted to rise up against the powers-that-be
in hopes to overthrow the reigning darkness—but they failed. And so begins the
story of a chosen one, and those that follow, who rises and succeeds against the
evil power.
“The Lady”
from the Chronicles of the Black Company
betrayed her powerful, evil husband, the Dominator, to control and dominate the
Northern Empire herself. She is a cruel empress, destroying all who oppose her.
The Black Company, who were employed by the Lady, later change their course to
prepare to fight against the Lady.
My all-time
favorite, Emperor Palpatine, is the one Dark Lord of the Sith, who took the
ancient principles of the Sith, the rule of two (one to harness the power of
the darkside, and one to crave it), and patiently and skillfully took over the
galaxy—creating the first galactic empire. With his apprentice, Darth Vader,
Palpatine holds the galaxy in his powerful clutches, yet we see the Rebel
Alliance defy his rule as we read (or watch, in most cases) in what’s called
the original trilogy of the Star Wars
saga.
In the Halfblood Chronicles, the all-powerful
Elvenlords long ago entered the world through the Great Portal from another
dimension and enslaved humankind, making concubines of choice women and
gladiators of choice men, and oppressing all life forms to their will. Shana,
half elven and half human, leads a band of intelligent dragons, half-blood
wizards, and escaped human slaves to undo centuries of cruel elven reign.
Like the Halfblood Chronicles, the Annals of Drakis takes place in a world
ruled by cruel elves, yet they are not tall, fair, and good-looking like the
Elvenlords of the Halfblood Chronicles.
These are beings with (mostly) dark skin, elongated heads, and sharp teeth,
enslaving not just humans, but races of all kinds—controlling them with aether
magic to do their bidding.
In the
original Mistborn trilogy, the first
book, The Final Empire, gives us the
Lord Ruler, a seemingly all-powerful, god-like man who controls the known
empire. All who even attempt to oppose him meet their demise.
I could go
on with many examples in fantasy fiction of seemingly all-powerful dark rulers.
The genre is laded with them. It’s not too difficult to understand why authors
bring to life characters with great power who are nothing but ruthless and
dominating. It brings about conflict, and heightens the stakes for the “good”
characters that we will root for.
But why do
authors create ruling characters who possess great powers who are malevolent?
Why don’t they make ruling characters with great powers who are benevolent?
Stepping aside from the reasoning that evil characters with great powers makes
for a more climatic story, could it be that writers have rested on the fact that
no man/woman, or being, is able to be all-good if they were to possess great
powers? The writer may not see this consciously, but it’s just a rooted fact
within the human psyche. Anyone harnessing great powers will succumb to their
dark side, and force their will upon the weaker to advance their own cause.
So what can
be said of such characters? Do they reflect a reality that, in the words of
John Dalberg-Acton, “absolute power corrupts absolutely?” Putting Acton’s words more in context, he said: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power
corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they
exercise influence and not authority, still more when you superadd the tendency
or the certainty of corruption by authority.” An example of this in fantasy
fiction can be found in The Neverending Story. The main character,
Bastian, becomes corrupted after obtaining the talisman, AURYN, given to him by
the Childlike Empress. AURYN gave him the power to wish for whatever he wanted
in the land of Fantastica. Consumed by the world he created
with his wishes—creating havoc for the creatures of Fantastica—Bastian comes to
the brink of wanting to conquer the Childlike Empress so that he can become the
Childlike Emperor.
What would
a work of fantasy fiction be like if the tables had turned? What if the
all-powerful ruler was benevolent and good, ruling his people with peace,
kindness and justice, but evil characters attempt to rise up to subdue them?
Makes you wonder how such a story could work.
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