There’s a very clear traditional idea of what a fantasy world is supposed to be like. It has warriors riding horses and wielding swords and axes. It doesn’t have them travelling on planes and operating computers. It just doesn’t. But why not? After all, our world has had all that and much, much more, atContinue reading “A Fantasy World That’s All Grown Up”
Category: Writing, World-Making
Who Wants to Live Forever?
About forty years ago, I wrote a short story exploring the idea of immortality. The main character (a kind of everyman — or everywoman in this case) does a favour to a supernatural being who, in gratitude, offers to make her immortal. As she’s a bit unsure what to make of this, he takes herContinue reading “Who Wants to Live Forever?”
Empires, Evil and Otherwise
You don’t have to travel far within either fantasy or science fiction before you trip over an empire. If anything, in fact, they’re even more prevalent in SF than in fantasy, from the empire of the Klingons and the one that strikes back to the enemies of the Foundation and of the Atreides. Most areContinue reading “Empires, Evil and Otherwise”
What’s in a Surname?
It used to be simple enough. Fantasy names were Conan the Barbarian, Elric of Melniboné, Aragorn son of Arathorn. That even applied to sophisticated SF races: Vulcans and Klingons made do with a single name each, for instance. No self-respecting fantasy character would have such a thing as a surname — unless, of course, theyContinue reading “What’s in a Surname?”
My Writing Goals for 2024
New Year is a terrible time for resolutions. We make them because we feel under pressure to do so, not because we really want to. We “ought” to go on that diet or join the gym, and the commitment quickly runs out because it comes from outside. Far better to make the resolution at whateverContinue reading “My Writing Goals for 2024”
Introducing Loshi vi Assarid — The Thief of Shimeth
Back in the late 1970s, I wrote a short story called The Gift of the Outcast. It was a deliberate attempt to write something that was closer to traditional sword & sorcery than the more elaborate fantasy I was writing. It concerned a young thief, Loshi, in a city called Shimeth who was hired toContinue reading “Introducing Loshi vi Assarid — The Thief of Shimeth”