A few years ago, I wrote an article for this site called The Walking Dead is Not About Zombies. In it I show that the zombie apocalypse is just a backdrop. The thought experiments that explore who we are as humans is where the core value of the storytelling resides. Now, a few years later, … Read more
When The Last Witch Hunter first hit the theaters, the reviews were a mixed bag of complaints and acceptance. Many often stated that the movie entertained, but lacked the depth of a blockbuster offering. I have to admit, such reviews prevented me from watching the movie on the big screen. A recent international trip offered … Read more
This article is by Keitha Sargent. To get the most out of Tolkien’s works, it is important to understand a little about the man, his life, passions and views. Several things shaped the imagination from which Middle Earth emerged: his childhood in England, his experiences in the First World War, and his love for ‘Northern’ myth and literature. Tolkien was born … Read more
“Wake up, Guardian!”
Everything’s a little fuzzy. You can almost feel your toes. It’s like you’ve been laying on a pile of rocks for years. Then Peter Dinklage beckons again.
“Wake up!”
“Huh?” you incoherently babble. “What are – where am – is that Tyrion Lannis..?”
“No time for that, Guardian.” He answers. “Here – pick up this conveniently placed M16. Now kill!”
“Wait, what are these things?” you ask as you aim down the sights. “Why do they have four arms? WHY ARE THEY SHOOTING AT ME?”
I am a strong believer in the power of stories. Because of that, I look up to storytellers. So much so, that I’m doing something very painful right now. I’m writing about something I no longer care about… True Blood.
Why am I doing this?
I’ve taken on the job of helping writers by showing them a fan’s perspective… particularly a fan who is not an active writer. I’m writing about True Blood because I believe that it’s the best example of how a promising series can go downhill.
This article is by Matthew R. Bishop.
In a recent article featured on Mythic Scribes, Christian Madera explored the strengths and limitations of “black and white” fantasy, while defending the rise of “grey” fantasy as something that can overcome the drawbacks of black and white.
Let me clarify that I am an author of grey fantasy myself, so I do not take issue with this defense. For the purposes of fully understanding these disparate ways of writing fantasy, however, I want to expand on the strengths and limitations of both, and on the downfall of thinking one is exclusive of another. I hope this effort will lead to a greater appreciation for fantasy of all colors.
This article is by Christian Madera.
Early Fantasy literature, with its black-and-white morality, was very comfortable making statements about ethics. I’m using ‘ethics’ in a broad sense here: I don’t just mean questions about what a person should do in a difficult situation (though such questions are definitely a mainstay of Fantasy literature and merit discussion), but rather broader questions about how a person should be and how the world should be.
Recently, we’ve seen a backlash against black-and-white morality and a move towards so-called “grey” Fantasy. While I think it is very important to be cognizant of and think critically about the potential pitfalls of black-and-white Fantasy, I would argue that grey Fantasy is not without pitfalls of its own.
This article is by Anne Marie Gazzolo.
J. R. R Tolkien had a life-long fascination with dragons.
In his essay “On Fairy-Stories,” he spoke of the stories he liked and disliked as a child. “The dragon had the trade-mark Of Faërie written plain upon him. In whatever world he had his being it was an Other-world. Fantasy, the making or glimpsing of Other-worlds, was the heart of the desire of Faërie. I desired dragons with a profound desire. Of course, I in my timid body did not wish to have them in the neighborhood . . . . But the world that contained even the imagination of Fáfnir was richer and more beautiful, at whatever cost of peril.”