Modern Fantasy
You've probably noticed by now that I really like fantasy.
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| Look! A ferret! To distract you from that! |
Unfortunately, a lot of fantasy is the same. It takes place in a medieval setting. There's elves and dwarves and dragons and knights in shining armor. There's wizards with long beards. There's maniacal dark lords who either want to take over the kingdom or destroy the world. A lot of fantasy has become... generic.
So, I end up avoiding a lot of fantasy because I don't want to read the same thing all the time.
That's the same reason I don't read romance or mysteries as well. They get boring after a while.
I can understand the love of the medieval fantasy setting. I mean even in the Middle Ages people were thinking of some mysterious romantic time with knights in shining armor who defended the people and one the heart of a fair maiden. They had all manner of stories to that affect and that fiction was passed down through time to us.
And then a lot of fantasy froze right there instead of moving forward.
A lot MORE fantasy DID move forward, but you think "fantasy" and you see all the things I mentioned.
Let me tell you something about that view of fantasy. It's my own personal opinion. So take it with a grain of salt....
It sucks.
What I love about fantasy is that it's fueled almost purely by imagination. Whatever you can picture in your head, if you can describe it accurately enough, you can make it happen in fantasy. You could make worlds of wonder with strange creatures that look like the missing link between monkeys and man (not apes) with insecticide wings who live in trees in a rainforest along a River which is inhabited by their deadly enemy which is a cross between a crab and a dolphin. You could make a world where magic happens when you talk backwards and have a whole modernish society built off that one rule.
You could have immortals mafioso in 1930s New York City!
... No... That's Baccano! Sorry... It's already someone's fantasy!
But put YOUR twist on that and you're still more original than most fantasy authors I see most of the time.
A few years ago I came across an author called S.M. Peters who wrote two books: Whitechapel Gods and Ghost Ocean. Both books were very different from anything I'd ever read before. The first, Whitechapel Gods, was about a sort of alternate history where the Whitechapel part of London was blocked off because it's been taken over by clockwork people and mechanical men. I couldn't get through too much of it because the writing was a bit clunky, but the idea was fascinating. That was my introduction to the steampunk genre.
First it was original. Then I found it was like all fantasy: one idea that people chose to repeat over and over and over and over again. More original than knights and princesses and wizards... But yeesh!
The second book, Ghost Ocean, was also quite fascinating (with slightly less clunky writing) it was about a young woman who discovers she lives in a town which is a sort of cage for all the terrifying supernatural creatures of our nightmares such as a Siren, Baba Yaga, Medusa (I think), and others. Her father is one of the "prison guards" and her mother is one of the trapped supernatural creatures. Yeah. It just got crazier from there with a supernatural creature (a Kitsune) escaping and setting the other creatures free one by one while the girl tries to stop him while realizing that even she isn't entirely normal.
This kind of played to another kind of fantasy I see, created (from what I can see) with Neil Gaimen and authors like him. Fantasy that takes place in a modern world. These also have their own patterns such as: magic/gods/what-have-you are usually limited by the power of belief. If you don't believe, they lose power. Also, there is a lot more going on in the world that the average person simply doesn't see.
I like this genre because it harkens back to the romanticism of old while bringing in the new, modern world and all of it's developments. I'd like to read more of it, but there seems to be a tendency for most modern fantasy like that to either be paranormal romance (blech!) or be very similar to the works of Neil Gaimen or Stephen King.
In short, Modern Fantasy is pretty crazy and fantastic at times and horribly repetitive at other times. It's a sad thing, but it makes me happy too because sometimes... every once in a while, I find a book I really like, a book that makes the fantasy genre seem new and... amazing. I live for that.
I can understand the love of the medieval fantasy setting. I mean even in the Middle Ages people were thinking of some mysterious romantic time with knights in shining armor who defended the people and one the heart of a fair maiden. They had all manner of stories to that affect and that fiction was passed down through time to us.
And then a lot of fantasy froze right there instead of moving forward.
A lot MORE fantasy DID move forward, but you think "fantasy" and you see all the things I mentioned.
Let me tell you something about that view of fantasy. It's my own personal opinion. So take it with a grain of salt....
It sucks.
What I love about fantasy is that it's fueled almost purely by imagination. Whatever you can picture in your head, if you can describe it accurately enough, you can make it happen in fantasy. You could make worlds of wonder with strange creatures that look like the missing link between monkeys and man (not apes) with insecticide wings who live in trees in a rainforest along a River which is inhabited by their deadly enemy which is a cross between a crab and a dolphin. You could make a world where magic happens when you talk backwards and have a whole modernish society built off that one rule.
You could have immortals mafioso in 1930s New York City!
... No... That's Baccano! Sorry... It's already someone's fantasy!
But put YOUR twist on that and you're still more original than most fantasy authors I see most of the time.
A few years ago I came across an author called S.M. Peters who wrote two books: Whitechapel Gods and Ghost Ocean. Both books were very different from anything I'd ever read before. The first, Whitechapel Gods, was about a sort of alternate history where the Whitechapel part of London was blocked off because it's been taken over by clockwork people and mechanical men. I couldn't get through too much of it because the writing was a bit clunky, but the idea was fascinating. That was my introduction to the steampunk genre.
First it was original. Then I found it was like all fantasy: one idea that people chose to repeat over and over and over and over again. More original than knights and princesses and wizards... But yeesh!
The second book, Ghost Ocean, was also quite fascinating (with slightly less clunky writing) it was about a young woman who discovers she lives in a town which is a sort of cage for all the terrifying supernatural creatures of our nightmares such as a Siren, Baba Yaga, Medusa (I think), and others. Her father is one of the "prison guards" and her mother is one of the trapped supernatural creatures. Yeah. It just got crazier from there with a supernatural creature (a Kitsune) escaping and setting the other creatures free one by one while the girl tries to stop him while realizing that even she isn't entirely normal.
This kind of played to another kind of fantasy I see, created (from what I can see) with Neil Gaimen and authors like him. Fantasy that takes place in a modern world. These also have their own patterns such as: magic/gods/what-have-you are usually limited by the power of belief. If you don't believe, they lose power. Also, there is a lot more going on in the world that the average person simply doesn't see.
I like this genre because it harkens back to the romanticism of old while bringing in the new, modern world and all of it's developments. I'd like to read more of it, but there seems to be a tendency for most modern fantasy like that to either be paranormal romance (blech!) or be very similar to the works of Neil Gaimen or Stephen King.
In short, Modern Fantasy is pretty crazy and fantastic at times and horribly repetitive at other times. It's a sad thing, but it makes me happy too because sometimes... every once in a while, I find a book I really like, a book that makes the fantasy genre seem new and... amazing. I live for that.
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