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Tuesday, June 18, 2013

The Fairy Ingredient



Fairies are the stuff of myth and folklore from long ago; and they have been rather active in the fantasy genre. Fairies, Faeries, Fae, Fey, Fay—we see all the different types of spellings and representations. In fiction, we generally see two types of fairies: the small sprite or pixie (like Tinker Bell) and fae folk (human-sized). Children’s fiction tends to use the small fairies more so than teen and adult fiction, which leans more to the human-sized fae folk.

The depiction of small fairies in fiction ranges from kind to mischievous to evil. The fae folk take on the same depiction, depending on the author’s story, but we mostly see the fae as good-looking humans with magical abilities. The fae are more likely to turn up in Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance; however, books like Jack Vance’s Madouc and Michael Swanwick’s dark fantasy, The Iron Dragon’s Daughter, are some exceptions. Also the fae character, Felurian, in Patrick Rothfuss’ The Wise Man’s Fear is another example in the epic fantasy genre.

Emma Bull’s 1987 Urban Fantasy book, War for the Oaks is a story of good and evil faeries at war with each other. Much of it takes place in the real world; and the fae require a willing mortal in their war to bring mortality to their immorality, so that they can have a proper war of killing each other. But, of course, the book is more than that.

Raymond E. Feist’s horror/dark fantasy, Faerie Tale, depicts faeries in the many forms of Irish folklore, from tiny sprites to the human-sized. In this story, the real world and the faerie world are intertwined, and there are faeries with a malicious intent against mankind.     
 
The fairies described above are a far cry from Disney or The Spiderwick Chronicles, but so are most of the fairies in the genre, from YA fiction to “adult” fiction. Most of the fiction involving fairies are fairies mixing in our world, and/or characters from our world going into their world. Two popular YA books, Holly Black’s Modern Faerie Tale series and Aprilynne Pike’s Wings series, both center around a teen girl who discovers that she’s an actual faerie. Julie Kagawa’s Iron Fey series has the same kind of protagonist, yet she finds out that she’s half faerie. The bestselling Meredith Gentry series by Laurell K. Hamilton is probably the most popular in the Urban Fantasy genre, where the main character is a faerie princess dealing with political intrigue in her faerie world and private investigating in the real world. The Meredith Gentry books border on erotica, and I dare not read them, because of such content.

Books for the younger readers, like the Artemis Fowl series, the Dreamdark series, and the Faery Rebels series, put sprite-like fairies in more adventurous stories. The Artemis Fowl books actually divide fairies into a family of eight different types (elves, dwarves, goblins, gnomes, pixies, sprites, centaurs, and demons). The Dreamdark books have a fairy that hunts devils, and the Faery Rebels books deal with a faery realm on the verge of extinction.

Another popular YA series is the Fablehaven books by Brandon Mull. I thought Mr. Mull did a great job of depicting fairies in his stories, giving them the usual image of tiny, exotic, mysterious and feisty creatures. But they can also be well accomplished warriors as well.   

There are many other books with their different spins on fairies and fae folk, and the fantasy genre has its quiver full with tales for all types. For me, personally, I would like to see more of the sprite/pixie fairies cast in epic fantasy in some creative ways. Imagine fairies in books like The Malazan Book of the Fallen series or A Song of Ice and Fire series. I don’t know how that would work, but if done well it would be pretty cool (or not).

I would like for the influences of folklore, Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Disney to kind of fade out a bit, so that this modern time of fantasy could expand a little more on the myth and carve out some interesting fairy characters. It’s been done with many other types, like demons, dragons, werewolves and vampires. Just the fact that some of the folklore about fairies is based on them being a race of creation that kind of got caught in the conflict between God and Satan, and they were neither allowed into heaven nor allowed into hell. How would a race of beings caught in such an unfortunate position reactnot only to mankind, but to God, angels, Satan and demons? That could be an interesting story, if done well, and from the fairies’ perspective. That’s the great thing about fantasy fiction; you can take mythology, reality and imagination and just let them create something fantastical.


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The Dragon Ingredient

Saturday, June 8, 2013

The Dragon Ingredient

Dragons are probably the most famous of all beasts to dwell in the fantasy genre. Like eggs and flour are used in making cake, so dragons and magic have been used to make up a fantasy story—at least that seemed to be the norm for many years. Dragons have been written in many ways: from wild beasts that are to be slain; exotic creatures needing to be tamed for riding; or the talking colossal being to make alliance with.

Let’s list a few small examples in popular literary fiction:

  • Smaug is probably one of the most notorious dragons in the genre. He was the treasure-hoarding beast in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, that plagued the town of Dale and took over the Lonely Mountain from the dwarves.

  • Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern books placed dragons in a Science Fiction setting where they were the product of creation through genetic manipulation. Their riders could communicate with them through telepath.

  • In the YA books, Dragons in our Midst by Bryan Davis, dragons of long ago (King Arthur times) have transformed into human beings with long lives, and they married and had (human) children with their human spouses in modern time. These children had special abilities that were useful in their struggle against modern-day dragon slayers who sought their demise.

  • The Temeraire series, by Naomi Novik, brings dragons into the Napoleonic Wars, where they are used in warfare.

Let’s face it, dragons are cool. They have been in fiction since the beginning; and they’ll never go out of style. But, with that said, are dragons becoming tiresome in fantasy? Are they turning into a monotonous cliché? I think it all depends on how an author uses them in their story. I, personally, don’t care too much for stories where dragons are the main focus; however, I think it’s different in regards to cinema (e.g., Reign of Fire, DragonHeart, How to Train Your Dragon, and Eragon).

To me, in literary fiction, the characters and the story plot have to be solid and engrossing. An author should not throw dragons in their story just to have dragons in the story, thinking that it’s going to add some kind of excitement (or bonus points) to the tale. If the writer is putting dragons in, then they better be crucial to the story or the setting; not just there for show. That’s been done enough times already. Dragons should be used in a unique way these days.

Naomi Novik’s Temeraire books are an interesting spin on the story of dragons. Even though there is absolutely nothing new about dragons being used in combat, putting them in our world in the historical setting of the Napoleonic Wars is appealing. Whether it was done well or not, that is in the opinion of the reader.

The release of Marie Brennan’s new fantasy book this year, A Natural History of Dragons, is the start of a new series set in a quasi-Victorian age. The book is written in the narrative of the character, Lady Isabella Trent; like she’s writing a memoir of her years of studying dragons. In this tale, dragons are simply mysterious wild animals that are difficult to study.

Another interesting take on dragons is Jo Walton’s Tooth and Claw book. This is a story with a Victorian-like setting with nobles and servants in an established civilization, filled with family honor, political intrigue, romance and marriage (they even have a church); yet, all the characters are dragons. The only fantasy element in this book are the dragons themselves. They fly, (some) breathe fire, and it’s customary for the children to eat their deceased parents, or for the strong to eat the weak, to gain strength and power.

Dragons are not necessary for a fantasy book, but when they are used in the right way, they can bring phantasm to a basic story, or embellish the setting of an engrossing epic. Dragons have become trite in the genre, and there’s really not much reason to use them anymore. In this day and age, great characters and great worldbuilding are the main ingredient in fantasy.  



Saturday, June 1, 2013

Flintlock Fantasy


In the past recent years, the sub-genre of “Flintlock Fantasy” (also labeled Gunpowder Fantasy and Muskets and Magic—a take off Sword and Sorcery) has been growing and gaining popularity. Some may describe this sub-genre in a few ways, since it derives from Historical Fantasy, but could be very much Epic Fantasy, depending on the world setting, and the foundation of magic and/or fantastical creatures.

First of all, Flintlock Fantasy is fantasy that has moved out of the typical Medieval European setting that we’re all accustomed to in the fantasy genre, and into a more industrialized period (like the 18TH and 19TH century). Magic, gods and other fantastical creatures still exist, but we get to see guns and cannons (gunpowder) used in the setting. This makes for a different type of world than the usual fantasy novel, because warfare has changed completely. In addition, this description of Flintlock Fantasy takes place in a secondary world, which is the norm in the epic fantasy genre.

Examples are as follows… Brent Weeks’ Lightbringer series is a wonderful example of good “Flintlock Fantasy”, complete with a unique magic system (involving colors) and muskets. Chris Evans’ Iron Elves series is a series I have not gotten a hold of yet, but it falls into this same category. A debut author that has been getting really good reviews with his new release is Brian McClellan, author of Promise of Blood (book one in The Powder Mage Trilogy). He created a magic system in his world where there are people called Powder Mages who have the ability to manipulate gunpowder as their magic ability; all set in a world of other kinds of magic users and gods. Another new author coming on the scene as having a Flintlock Fantasy book released this year is Django Wexler, author of The Thousand Names (first in The Shadow Campaigns series). I’m looking forward to reading both Mr. McClellan and Mr. Wexler’s books.

Just to mention a few more authors; Bradley P. Beaulieu’s The Lays of Anuskaya series may fall in this sub-genre as well. Col Buchanan’s Heart of the World books have gunpowder and airships; not to be mistaken for steampunk, despite the airships. Margaret Weis & Robert Krammes’ Dragon Brigade series had their characters fighting with pistols and muskets, mixed with dragons, floating land masses and airships. Even the notorious Brandon Sanderson did a cool spin by writing a Mistborn novel set 300 years after his successful epic fantasy, The Mistborn Trilogy. The novel is called The Alloy of Law; and Mr. Sanderson shows his world of Scadrial as industrialized, with a late 19TH century-ish kind of setting, with revolvers, railroads, electric lighting, and the building of a skyscraper.

Another look at describing the Flintlock Fantasy sub-genre could fall in the style of The Pirates of the Caribbean, or the pulp-fiction classic of the late 1920’s and 1930’s, Solomon Kane, created by Robert E. Howard (who gave us Conan the Barbarian). These two examples are set in our world, around the 17TH and 18TH century, but they have magic, fantastical creatures, along with the use of flintlock pistols, muskets, rapiers and dirks.

Books that may get confused with the Flintlock Fantasy sub-genre can be Andre Norton and Rosemary Edghill’s Carolus Rex series. These books take place in the Napoleonic Era, with elements of magic, faeries and machinations; but they seem to be more of a work of historical fantasy / alternate history. I would say the same of Naomi Novik’s Temeraire novels, which also take place in the Napoleonic Era. These books are basically Alternate History with dragons. Michael A. Stackpole’s The Crown Colonies novels take place in the late 18TH century, giving us an alternate history of our world, complete with fantastical creatures, magic, and zombie soldiers. Last, but not at all least, is D.B. Jackson’s The Thieftaker Chronicles, set in Boston in the late 18TH century, which could be described a little more akin to Urban Fantasy, just not set in contemporary times.

I personally embrace the definition of Flintlock Fantasy as epic fantasy that has been industrialized. The use of gunpowder in fantasy-like stories is nothing new—as mentioned above with Solomon Kane. And video games and indie writers have given the use of flintlock weapons in a fantasy setting a fun spin for a while now. But seeing Epic Fantasy evolve into something fresh and not overdone is exciting. As this sub-genre grows, it's going to be great to see how each writer develops their worlds using this element. Just like Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance has gotten out of control these past few years, I’d like to see Flintlock Fantasy begin to take up the shelves, continuing the great diversity of our beloved genre.

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History in Fantasy - Part 1
History in Fantasy - Part 2 
History in Fantasy - Part 3