I know I haven't posted either League (LAOS) or Sockboy in a few weeks. Rest assured, I'm working on it - I know the events of the next League chapter, and I have the next few Sockboy episodes written. However, I've just returned to work, and life is a little more insane than usual. Any spare time and brain power is being devoted to the novel. Hopefully I'll have an update on one or the other for you next week :)
Also, because I am CLEARLY AND CERTIFIABLY INSANE, I'm doing a course on Fantasy and Science Fiction through Coursera that started this week. You can do the assessment tasks and wotnot and get a pretty certificate at the end, but hello, work, baby, writing, LIFE, so I'm mostly just there to watch the lecture vids as I can and see what ideas I can glean. Especially since the course reading is a novel a week o.O But anyway, if I find any interesting insights, I'll post here :)
Showing posts with label fantasy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fantasy. Show all posts
25 July 2012
27 January 2011
Closing the Gap
I was thinking the other day about middle grade books, because according to some really good definitions that I pretty much agree with, I've written one. I won't go into the details of the difference between MG and YA, because that link does it perfectly and comprehensively well, but suffice to say that the whole 'saving the world' motif is usually more characteristic of MG than YA. YA is more about saving yourself, as a very general rule.
Where am I going with all this? Here: I was pondering the other day about how in Sanctuary (my MG novel), Edge has to save her magical fairy world by reaffirming the boundary between it and the 'evil' land beyond. And althought this isn't strictly the idea in Sanctuary, it struck me that a lot of time, MG fantasy is about reaffirming boundaries.
Now, I'm sure there are perfectly adequate reasons for this, and I'm sure it could be interpreted in many cases as keeping good separate from evil, etc etc, blah blah. But it ALSO struck me that, really, it's kind of xenophobic of us. To me, it's strongly remniscent of the days when countries' boundaries were virtually tangible, when the oceans and airs were all but impassable, where we didn't know how the rest of the world lived and were terrified of anything different. To me, it's imperialism at it's best: anything different than our current way of life is a threat, is therefore evil, must therefore be kept away. People different to us are a threat, are scary, are out to kill us all and must be killed before they get us first.
The magic world that's colliding with Earth? The paranormals that are threatening to become common knowledge? The rift that's opened up, allowing passage between worlds? These are all threats to our way of life, and they must be shoved away, silenced, closed up. Isn't that usually the aim of quests, after all? To reseal the gap?
Surely, surely, we can understand at least intellectually that this doesn't have to be the case any more. Surely, by now, we can comprehend the vast benefits that other cultures have to offer, appreciate the mystery of other ways of life, form relationships based on our commonalities rather than our differences.
So that's what I would love to see: MG fantasy (or any fantasy, really) where the object isn't to push the Other away, but to learn to live with them, to learn from them, to struggle with the difficulty of meshing different worlds together rather than the fight to keep them apart.
And maybe, just maybe, if we can do that in our fiction, people might learn to do it in real life. Because occasionally, fiction is powerful.
Where am I going with all this? Here: I was pondering the other day about how in Sanctuary (my MG novel), Edge has to save her magical fairy world by reaffirming the boundary between it and the 'evil' land beyond. And althought this isn't strictly the idea in Sanctuary, it struck me that a lot of time, MG fantasy is about reaffirming boundaries.
Now, I'm sure there are perfectly adequate reasons for this, and I'm sure it could be interpreted in many cases as keeping good separate from evil, etc etc, blah blah. But it ALSO struck me that, really, it's kind of xenophobic of us. To me, it's strongly remniscent of the days when countries' boundaries were virtually tangible, when the oceans and airs were all but impassable, where we didn't know how the rest of the world lived and were terrified of anything different. To me, it's imperialism at it's best: anything different than our current way of life is a threat, is therefore evil, must therefore be kept away. People different to us are a threat, are scary, are out to kill us all and must be killed before they get us first.
The magic world that's colliding with Earth? The paranormals that are threatening to become common knowledge? The rift that's opened up, allowing passage between worlds? These are all threats to our way of life, and they must be shoved away, silenced, closed up. Isn't that usually the aim of quests, after all? To reseal the gap?
Surely, surely, we can understand at least intellectually that this doesn't have to be the case any more. Surely, by now, we can comprehend the vast benefits that other cultures have to offer, appreciate the mystery of other ways of life, form relationships based on our commonalities rather than our differences.
So that's what I would love to see: MG fantasy (or any fantasy, really) where the object isn't to push the Other away, but to learn to live with them, to learn from them, to struggle with the difficulty of meshing different worlds together rather than the fight to keep them apart.
And maybe, just maybe, if we can do that in our fiction, people might learn to do it in real life. Because occasionally, fiction is powerful.
16 June 2010
Technology and Magic
Today I have a guest post up on Liana Brooks's blog about the magic system that I use in my stories. I thought it might be interesting to post the original thoughts I had about magic and technology by way of prequel to that post :o) This is taken from my 'secret' blog that I use to throw all my worldbuilding thoughts onto, creatively named Worldbuilding, Inc. ;)
Had a thought the other morning to the effect that really, technology is magic. 'Magic', as I have been using the term, is that mysterious addition that has the ability to animate a bunch of cells and make them actually 'alive'; magic is life itself, in all its various forms, throughout the universe. We have magic from self, magic from plants and animals, magic from other people, and magic 'essence' from the universe itself - the latter being predominantly the realm of faith-based magic (miracles and what have you).
But what about the substances that aren't alive? Electricity is, in many ways, uncannily like life-force - I mean, think about the number of books that have been written whereby electricity is used to make something live. Think even about the fact that we use electricity to stimulate a flat-lined heart into beating again... And think about the wonders that we are able to do because we can manipulate this and knowledge like it.
It's like magic, isn't it?
So, we have 'magic', which uses lifeforce, and we have 'tech', which uses electricity. Both are magic; they don't actually conflict, like so many people seem to think they do. They complement. They need to be used in balance - to wit, Sanctuary. Life and death magic, acting in balance.
Only it isn't death magic, because that's something else again, I think. Utilising remnant echoes of life magic? Something, anyway.
But no, tech magic is unlife magic, not death magic. It's the magic of things that were never alive, it's the magic of computers and lightbulbs and machines.
AI is where it starts to get blurry - the world is trending towards a greater and greater merging of life and unlife, first and foremost in the field of AI, and of things like growing artificial organs. We are blending the two, trying to break down the boundaries (oh look, Chaos Theory! Everything swirling together to become mixed, like jam in rice pudding! You can't stir things apart, only together) so in the future, 'magic' is going to encompass both. Only we probably won't call it magic, because we tend only to use the term for things we can't understand ;)
Had a thought the other morning to the effect that really, technology is magic. 'Magic', as I have been using the term, is that mysterious addition that has the ability to animate a bunch of cells and make them actually 'alive'; magic is life itself, in all its various forms, throughout the universe. We have magic from self, magic from plants and animals, magic from other people, and magic 'essence' from the universe itself - the latter being predominantly the realm of faith-based magic (miracles and what have you).
But what about the substances that aren't alive? Electricity is, in many ways, uncannily like life-force - I mean, think about the number of books that have been written whereby electricity is used to make something live. Think even about the fact that we use electricity to stimulate a flat-lined heart into beating again... And think about the wonders that we are able to do because we can manipulate this and knowledge like it.
It's like magic, isn't it?
So, we have 'magic', which uses lifeforce, and we have 'tech', which uses electricity. Both are magic; they don't actually conflict, like so many people seem to think they do. They complement. They need to be used in balance - to wit, Sanctuary. Life and death magic, acting in balance.
Only it isn't death magic, because that's something else again, I think. Utilising remnant echoes of life magic? Something, anyway.
But no, tech magic is unlife magic, not death magic. It's the magic of things that were never alive, it's the magic of computers and lightbulbs and machines.
AI is where it starts to get blurry - the world is trending towards a greater and greater merging of life and unlife, first and foremost in the field of AI, and of things like growing artificial organs. We are blending the two, trying to break down the boundaries (oh look, Chaos Theory! Everything swirling together to become mixed, like jam in rice pudding! You can't stir things apart, only together) so in the future, 'magic' is going to encompass both. Only we probably won't call it magic, because we tend only to use the term for things we can't understand ;)
05 January 2009
Book Review: Overtime
Quick Stats
Genre - Humourous fantasy
Length - ~310p
Author - Tom Holt
Overview
Time travel. Fantasy. Investments. Missing kings, tax evasions, singing wandering bards, inter-time concerts, badly negotiated contracts, lust-at-first-sight that the MC realises is Very Bad, an intensely unique universe... This is about the best I can do to sum up Holt's Overtime. It's twisty, it's convoluted, and it's a fun romp through a wacky world where nothing and no-one is as it seems.
Belatedly, I found a good summary of this story in the fantasy encyclopedia I got for Christmas: Richard Lionheart's Blondel seeks for him in all the wrong centuries. :)
First Impressions
First impressions were good, actually. The book gets off to a very promising start, involving a somewhat comic situation with a dead body in an aeroplane, of all things. The tone is light-hearted and quick-witted, and you get all squiggly thinking about the sheer fun the book promises.
High Points
Well, it certainly has its amusing moments. The twists of the plot are fresh and surprising, it's funny, clever, and very, very different.
Low Points
Sadly, the second half of the book is a little lacking. It's a fun read, no doubt about it, but the overarching plot lacks a sense of consistency and coherency. I get the main point of the plot, but I'm still left with the question -- Why?? And what did that particular subplot have to do with the price of fish? Not to mention the fact that the final chapter wraps things up in a less-than-satisfactory manner...
Rating
Eh. I'd say a bus book: it's funny and useful for when you have nothing better to do and don't mind laughing a little in public. Not something for dedicated pocket-reading, though :)
Genre - Humourous fantasy
Length - ~310p
Author - Tom Holt
Overview
Time travel. Fantasy. Investments. Missing kings, tax evasions, singing wandering bards, inter-time concerts, badly negotiated contracts, lust-at-first-sight that the MC realises is Very Bad, an intensely unique universe... This is about the best I can do to sum up Holt's Overtime. It's twisty, it's convoluted, and it's a fun romp through a wacky world where nothing and no-one is as it seems.
Belatedly, I found a good summary of this story in the fantasy encyclopedia I got for Christmas: Richard Lionheart's Blondel seeks for him in all the wrong centuries. :)
First Impressions
First impressions were good, actually. The book gets off to a very promising start, involving a somewhat comic situation with a dead body in an aeroplane, of all things. The tone is light-hearted and quick-witted, and you get all squiggly thinking about the sheer fun the book promises.
High Points
Well, it certainly has its amusing moments. The twists of the plot are fresh and surprising, it's funny, clever, and very, very different.
Low Points
Sadly, the second half of the book is a little lacking. It's a fun read, no doubt about it, but the overarching plot lacks a sense of consistency and coherency. I get the main point of the plot, but I'm still left with the question -- Why?? And what did that particular subplot have to do with the price of fish? Not to mention the fact that the final chapter wraps things up in a less-than-satisfactory manner...
Rating
Eh. I'd say a bus book: it's funny and useful for when you have nothing better to do and don't mind laughing a little in public. Not something for dedicated pocket-reading, though :)
12 September 2008
Welcome to my Sidebar: Lisa Shearin
"Welcome to the website of Lisa Shearin, the National Bestselling Author of the fantasy adventure series featuring Raine Benares, a sorceress and seeker of things lost and people missing."
Who: Lisa Shearin is the author of the fabulously successful series featuring MC Raine Benares, a wise-cracking street-smart elf who works as a Seeker - and has a nose for trouble. This series is one of my all-time favourites, for its ease of reading, high entertainment value, fabulous dialogue and absolutely sparkly characters - not to mention the awesome urban fantasy-ness of it all :o)
What: This is Lisa's author website. It's chock full of goodies, from news about her latest books to events such as signings, free chapters to read and of course, her blog.
Where: Here, or here: www.lisashearin.com
Why: Lisa has a great sense of humour, which comes through in both her books and her blog. She shares her experiences openly and candidly, treating us to insights into the life of a Real Live Author :) From the way she balances writing with her day job, to cooking for the family when you're in the grips of a novel, to how she begins writing her book, to some wonderful posts on editing that inspired my own edits on TBAEO, Lisa's blog is a genuine, entertaining look into the life of someone who does what we all dream of - Writes, and gets Paid To Do So :)
When: Usually daily, with 'fun pics' on Saturdays :)
Who: Lisa Shearin is the author of the fabulously successful series featuring MC Raine Benares, a wise-cracking street-smart elf who works as a Seeker - and has a nose for trouble. This series is one of my all-time favourites, for its ease of reading, high entertainment value, fabulous dialogue and absolutely sparkly characters - not to mention the awesome urban fantasy-ness of it all :o)
What: This is Lisa's author website. It's chock full of goodies, from news about her latest books to events such as signings, free chapters to read and of course, her blog.
Where: Here, or here: www.lisashearin.com
Why: Lisa has a great sense of humour, which comes through in both her books and her blog. She shares her experiences openly and candidly, treating us to insights into the life of a Real Live Author :) From the way she balances writing with her day job, to cooking for the family when you're in the grips of a novel, to how she begins writing her book, to some wonderful posts on editing that inspired my own edits on TBAEO, Lisa's blog is a genuine, entertaining look into the life of someone who does what we all dream of - Writes, and gets Paid To Do So :)
When: Usually daily, with 'fun pics' on Saturdays :)
13 August 2008
WorldCon and Fantasy Comments
Dear Sparky, contributor on The Toasted Scimitar and author of Waiting for Antlers (formerly Iridescent Defenestration) has just returned from Worldcon, and is chock full of shinily awesome information. She's in the process of transcribing her notes - and they're awfully interesting. If you're interested, the first one is here.
:)
:)
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