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Fantasy

Two manticores scowling at each other. One is saying, "soon" while the other is replying with, "It's here"

Xanth Is a Four Letter Word

The Xanth episode of Crap Books has come and gone. While we had fun discussing just how awful the books are on several levels (the prose is not great, the misogyny and objectification of women that's the norm is awful, the internal logic and plots are nonsensical, and so on), one of the things that I've been thinking about is how awful the politics of A Spell for Chameleon are. Bink, the supposed hero, just following the rules no matter how unjust or cruel they may be is truly something that I'd forgotten. To clarify, not every hero or protagonist of a book needs to be an exemplar, but nothing that happens in A Spell for Chameleon challenges Bink's spinelessness. If anything, Bink suffers no lasting consequences for his continued existence as a human doormat, which seems to hint at the author's own beliefs and privilege. https://twitter.com/PodsideP/status/1310700089430556674?s=20 An example of awful prose and...

October 1, 2020
Crap Books, Fantasy
Close up of Manticore's scowling face, with the caption "Soon" under it

Episode 4 – A Spell For Chameleon

In which Pete and I go work our way through the stages of grief, and finally reach acceptance that we've been Xanthed. Listen in for a wide-ranging discussion about self-selected Florida Man, Piers Anthony, and his best-known (and oh-so-craptastic) works. Oh, and we manage to fit in some A Spell For Chameleon talk, too! https://soundcloud.com/user-733327042/episode-84-crap-books-iv-a-spell-for-chameleon-ft-karlo-yeager-rodriguez ...

September 29, 2020
Crap Books, Fantasy, Podcast
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A Descent Into The World Below

What if I told you there was a world before this one you know, a world ever dark and cold, where cold water drip-drip-drips down into lightless depths. . . A world usurped by this one, full of sunlight and the wind tousling the grasses, and resentful of losing its place. A world that sends its inhabitants squirming up out of the depths, throngs twisted by their hatred of us living above, all waiting just on the far side of our cellars and between our walls for their moment to strike. . . Recently, I heard of a gaming supplement called The Veins of the Earth, which sounded like a re-imagining of the now-tired idea of The Underdark (I'd offer my apologies to R. A. Salvatore, but I never got around to reading his books detailing Menzoberranzan and drow culture). Veins of the Earth does what many works do when they...

September 13, 2020
Crap Books, Fantasy, Podcast
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Updates

As I'd mentioned in a previous post, I've been participating in Clarion West's Write-A-Thon. As a part of that, I also joined their writing challenge to finish a flash fiction story every week based off writing prompts. I've now completed three flash fiction pieces, and hope to complete three more before the Write-A-Thon's complete. One of the last prompts was a list of words, where "axolotl" was included. This immediately brought to mind the supremely weird Julio Cortázar short story, Axolotl which I then used as an inspiration. I'm pleased with what I came up with and can't wait to revise it and get it ready to submit. After reading my story recently, a friend reminded me about the Blood Sea of Istar (from the Dragonlance Chronicles I'd talked about on Podside Picnic and on my follow-up post). It was a weird moment for me, realizing how this area of Krynn...

July 11, 2020
Fantasy, Narration, Writing
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Added To the University of Liverpool’s “Resisting Dystopia” Reading List

"As The Shore To The Tides, So Blood Calls To Blood" was added to the University of Liverpool's "Resisting Dystopia (Part II)" reading list earlier this week, which I hope will help put my story in front of more new readers. Very exciting. As I came down off the initial thrill, however, I wondered how many fantasy dystopias are out there. For me, the term "dystopia" is one that seems very rooted in science fiction rather than fantasy, but as I asked other people their opinions, a few titles came up. There is, of course, N.K. Jemisin's Broken Earth series, as well as the new Dark Crystal series on Netflix, but I'm not certain if there's many more. Given the way our world is headed, I wouldn't be surprised if our own dystopian leanings leak into worlds of our imagination more and more often. ...

May 8, 2020
Fantasy, Writing
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