Strange Horizons ForumJuly to September, 2002
I just read "Comrade Grandmother", and found it one of the most touching stories that I have read in a long time. At this point in my life my wife and I are having a lot of difficulties, and this story of love and sacrifice was, needless to say, very timely. I think it may very well have gven me strength to get through this trial. Thank you very much.
George Kraft <nebvap@webtv.net> I was pointed here by a reader who very much liked your article. So do I. Thank you. --cj cherryh
CJ Cherryh <cj@cherryh.com> I just finished reading "Comrade Grandmother." It was phenomenal! It is one of those sorts of stories I read and say, "I wish I had thought of that!" First rate work.
Keith Sloan <welleran@aol.com> Children of the Moon by Heather is phenomenal. I love the surreal quality of the piece and the images it calls up, I felt I was truly in a dream, reading in slow motion.
lake <CY2000607747059@aol.com> This is the first time I've read anything by Corie Ralston, but I'm really impressed with her piece called Looking Back. I do hope to be able to read more of her stories in Strange Horizons.
amy icanberry <abicanberry@kaycee.smalltown.net> I am doing an extra credit report in Chemistry II and before reading your artical I wasn't exactly comfortable with my knowledge regarding the BOSE-EINSTEIN CONDENSATES. I excell in English and creative writing, as do you, and would like to compliment the simplicity in which you explained the experiment, all the while making it interesting. Thanks for your help and good luck with your writing! Tifani
Tifani <btifani@netscape.net> I really enjoyed the article on martial arts in fantasy and science fiction. As a martial artist, I always like to see stories where the martial arts is, in my own completely subjective opinion, done right. There is one thing that I sometimes worry about, though. In the old stories, fighting was essentially metaphor. Rachel talked about moral character equalling training, and the fight was won by the person with the higher moral cause, or the stronger force of character. Now, though, some stories have gotten so caught up in the technical details that I get a really great fight scene, but the metaphor is gone. It's a bit like the complaint of people who get angry when an author "sciences up the magic." Or perhaps I'm just worrying too much, and the fact of the matter is that as martial arts become more accepted and commonly known, they will appear more often and in all kinds of stories -- the good ones that keep the metaphor and get the technique right as well, and the bad ones that throw a bunch of terms at you and expect you to overlook the lack of character development.
Patrick Weekes <gpweekes@yahoo.com> Jeffrey, I didn't mean to imply that most fantasy writers have trained in martial arts, but only that some have... and that all of them, and readers as well, became far more aware of martial arts and the importance of training post-Bruce Lee, "Kung Ku," and dojos on every corner. The point you make about the semi-divine nature of mythic heroes is an interesting one. I didn't address mythology (the roots of fantasy) in the article, as it was already pushing Strange Horizons' maximum page limit as it were. If I had, I might have pointed out that some of those ancient epics, _despite_ the "natural fighter" aspects of their heroes, actually do address training in detail reminiscent of the way much fantasy does now. Is Drona of the Mahabharata, who taught the Pandavas their warrior skills, the precursor of many a stern sensei in modern fantasy? Martial arts at that time would have been as much "in the air" (albeit in deadly seriousness, as arts of war) as they are now. Then came the invention of the gun. By the time modern fantasy, as distinct from mythology, began to be written, both war and writing conventions had changed greatly, and things were as they were at the time that my article picks up, in the early twentieth century. It all comes 'round again... Back to your first point, the list of fantasy and sf writers who have trained or train in some form of martial arts is quite long. Off the top of my head: Midori Snyder, Barbara Hambly, S. M. Stirling, Steven Brust, Walter Jon Williams, Kara Dalkey, Steven Donaldson, Steven Boyett: karate Steven Gould, Elizabeth Lynn, Vonda McIntyre, Michaela Roessner, Nicola Griffith: aikido Mary Gentle: SCA-type swordfighting Sherwood Smith, C. J. Cherryh, Robert Heinlein: fencing Steve Perry, Steven Barnes: silat James Alan Gardner, Ian McDowell:kung fu I see a correlation between the name Steve/Steven/Stephen and a propensity to engage in martial arts, but hesitate to draw any conclusions... ;)
Rachel Manija Brown <Rphoenix2@attbi.com> I read the article about how older fantasy doesn't explain how the characters learned to fight. I think the article is basically true but I think the writer is wrong to say that most fantasy writers trained in martial arts and that affected their stories. I think it's a tiny percentage of writers who personally practiced martial arts. There is another thing she didn't mention. In mythology, the heros are usually half-god, and that explains their superhuman abilities. Then you wouldn't need them to train. That then became traditional for heroes in fantasy. However, in the 19th Century, it became common for the heroes to be normal or unlikely, which makes it much easier for the reader to relate to. Initially, despite this, they retained the tradition of the heroes not needing to train, and it took awhile for that tradition to change to catch up with the modification of the nature of the hero.
Jeffery Winkler <jeffery_winkler@hotmail.com> Seeing as how I turned down the opportunity to review Kate Bernheimer's The Complete Tales of Ketzia Gold for Strange Horizons because I didn't feel I could recommend it, I'd like to provide an alternative viewpoint to Christopher Barzak's review. Bernheimer does successfully translate the strange symbols, arbitrariness, and brutality of folk tales into a contemporary suburban setting, which can't have been easy to do. But by the end of the book I wasn't convinced that she had put this ability to any great purpose. For me, the characters remained artificial and unengaging, and I didn't feel that anything particularly moving or insightful had been said, about life or about folk tales. Overall I found the book interesting and very accomplished in some respects, but ultimately unsuccessful
Erika Peterson <squid@hcis.net> Uh, guys? How the hell am I supposed to get any work done when you keep throwing all this good stuff at me? Not only do you have a kickin' interview with the superb Maureen McHugh, but also a trippy poem by Heather Shaw and a nifty fantasy tale tinged with horror by Lisa Nichols ("Rhythm of the Tides"). When we're eating ramen and ketchup next month, I'll be blaming Strange Horizons. ;)
Michael Jasper <mjasper@nc.rr.com> I just read your review of the reader survey. I was glad to find out that you have nothing against straight white men. If it helps your demographics, I am a SWM and have nothing against females of any type. Seriously. SH is doing a great job! I love Rachel's cartoons, and the fiction is excellent. I will be sure to check out the art department a little more closely. Probably part of the weaker response on the art and poetry pages is that both of those mediums are, IMHO, much more subjective. We tend to look at art or read a poem, internalize it, and move on. Stories on the other hand, more often elicit a more immediate positive or negative feeling. Of course, I could be all wrong. Either way. Good job. Keep it up
John Borneman <john_borneman@yahoo.com> I just wanted to say that I thought Looking Back was one of the best short stories I've read in a long while, and that is saying a lot, from me. It was a beautiful peace of work. Even though I enjoyed the peaceful setting of the story, I'd like to say it would be good to see some darker stories on this site, ones that explore the grittier side of human nature, not just the brighter ones.
Vincent Brown Thanks for Rachel Manija Brown's enlightening article on the evolution of martial arts in SF&F. Strange Horizons is the only publication I know of with such a wide range of informative commentary on SF&F and how it reflects aspects and issues of our times. Vandana
Vandana Singh Andy Miller's poem that I read might be as good as he made it to be, if it was convincing that he uses those type of words in every day life. Be you, man, and forget what other authors have written, become uninspired and find inspiration in the style that makes you you.
Douglas Lacy <hamsterdouglas@eudoramail.com> I really enjoyed Naomi Kritzer's well-crafted "Comrade Grandmother". I'm not much on fairy tales, but this one was so interweaved with reality that the lines seemed to blur. Good writing.
John Bushore <jdbushore@cs.com> Thanks for publishing Corie Ralston's Looking Back. What a good story.
Zed Lopez I was struck by Naomi Kritzer's story. I enjoyed how she juxtaposed traditional fairy tale lore with World War II happenings in "The Golem." Again, here in "Comrade Grandmother" I found the almost practical? mundane? treatment of Baba Yaga as convincing. The escalating prices Nadezhda paid built strong emotional tension for me. Thanks for the great story.
kirsten <kblincoln@yahoo.com> I really loved "Looking Back" by Corie Ralston -- I thought it was just amazing.
anna A truly great site! Glad I found it. Would like for you people to drop by my site as well, you're always welcome. World War II Forever Combat! http://www.msnusers.com/BeowolffsLairextension would like to paste a link of your site to mine and vice versa, if that's okay. I'll be visiting here quite often from now on. Good work!
Lynnon <beowolffs_lair@hotmail.com> I really liked Corie Ralston's story "Looking Back." A sensitively told tale with metaphorical significance for present-day, Earth-bound immigrants as well. I hope to read more stories by this author. Vandana
Vandana Singh Rich Horton has some interesting things to say about the SF Serial. I have found, however, that serials work very well online; there were several sites that posted a chapter a week that I never failed to read, and from what I understand their traffic was significant. The length of time it took them to reach the end of their books posting them in such small increments gave them plenty of time to work up momentum: people would read the chapter, tell friends, they would read the chapter and tell their friends . . . by the end, at least one of these small online novels had something like 11,000 weekly readers. With no publicity! It would be great to see more of these online serials!
MCAH <mcah@stardancer.org> I really enjoyed the article "Perpetual Nonsense" by Charles Mirho. It's enjoyable to see a technical topic covered in such a lucid and engaging manner. Well done!
Randall Coots <vhm@casco.net> How sad, in a nicely painful way, to see "Stin" make its appearance as the final entry of Benjamin Rosenbaum's "Other Cities" series. A lovely ending. Fiction like this is a fine reason "not to lapse back into the placid dullness of taking existence for granted." Thanks!
Michael Jasper <mjasper@nc.rr.com> Glad you liked it, Sean. As for seeing more of this world, there's good news for M. C. A. Hogarth fans: we'll be running another story of the Jokka in a couple of months.
Jed Hartman <fiction@strangehorizons.com> Freedom, Spiced and Drunk is a very moving story of a very different race and culture. I enjoyed it greatly and hope to see more of this world.
Sean Holland <knightoflillies@netscape.net> I just wanted to add, in response to Quality in Epic Fantasy, that the tendency to publish series fiction can be deeply frustrating for the writer. As a writer I often find myself feeling obligated to create a series work rather then focussing my efforts on making a single work really exceptional. It is nice to see someone pointing out a few of the flaws in this trend.
Nikki McCormack <neyska@hotmail.com> I thought "Feel of Heaven, Texture of Hell", by Ken Brady, was a pretty darn cool story. In fact, I read it twice it was so good. Nice nipple imagery. Contemporary fiction could use more of that. No, but seriously, this was a fantastically written story, and fucking creepy, to boot. I hate to think what the nightmares of Ken Brady are like. Hellish, I'm sure.
Nate <gfilms02@yahoo.com> I thought Mr. Muerte was delightful, and one of the things I thought was delightful about it was its goofily wrong portrayal of Hindu gods. I didn't take that as a comment on Hinduism, though, but as a send-up of the world of the comics. Mr. Muerte takes place, I think, in the same time period in which Marvel was bastardizing the Norse mythos with "Thor". The silly, two-fisted Hindu Gods of Mr. Muerte are just exactly what Sam Clay (he of the recent literary novel and homage to pulp comics "The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay") would have come up with on an encyclopedia of Hinduism found at a rummage sale and too little sleep. Choosing Hinduism as opposed to the well-mined Greek and Roman mythos lets us see the delightfully absurdity of the comics' worldview all over again. Now, since Hinduism, as opposed to the Norse pantheon, is a living religion, I'll be the first to admit this is offensive. Kali and Durga fighting is very much like Jesus and Christ fighting. Or like, say, Jesus kung-fu'ing Santa Claus on the initial, samizdat video of South Park. Very offensive. And very, very funny. (Full disclosure: I actually critiqued this story before its publication, so I can't claim to be impartial. I thought it was funny then, too.)
Benjamin Rosenbaum <ben@digitaladdiction.com> Mary Anne, I completely agree with you regarding the multiplicity of views. In fact my main complaint is directed not so much at the specific story but at the lack of a diverse spectrum of stories about non-Western culture. Mainstream fiction does have, as you point out, authors like Divakaruni (although some do exoticize the cultures they portray) but there are few such writers or portrayals in speculative fiction. As far as I know Ashok Banker is the only one who has appeared in a major publication in the West. Just to clarify, I certainly do not advocate that stories such as "Mr. Muerte and the Eyeball Kid" should not be published. As you imply, we need all kinds of stuff out there, if only to be able to have a discourse such as this one. My response to that story was in the spirit of such a discourse. Meanwhile I would recommend Amitav Ghosh's novel "The Calcutta Chromosome" to readers interested in a spec-fic story set mainly in India. Ghosh is a well-established mainstream writer whose one SF story is rather well done. Vandana
Vandana Singh Vandana, I guess I'd argue that a multiplicity of representations is generally good, and that it gives rise to the kind of discussion that ends up enlightening everyone regarding cultural and religious truths. I think that the point of view of a devout Hindu is a valid one, certainly -- but I also think that the point of view of an outsider to the culture, whose only knowledge of it is from confused misrepresentations found in comic books is also valid, and of interest.
Mary Anne Mohanraj <editor@strangehorizons.com> I am rather disappointed that in an otherwise sensitively told tale (Mr. Muerte and the Eyeball Kid by Sean Klein) the author chooses to depict gods of the Hindu pantheon in a sensational and inaccurate manner. Unfortunately negative portrayals of the goddess Kali do not seem to have died out since hack British colonial writers first wrote their lurid accounts of the infamous Thuggee cult. Since the days of this obscure cult, Kali became for a while a symbol of Indian aspirations of independence from British rule, and more recently she has been claimed by various women's movements in modern India. It should also be noted that Kali is not exactly separate from the goddess Durga --- she is, in fact, the most formidable aspect of Durga, who is in turn generally identified as the war-like aspect of Shiva's consort Parvati. Although these goddesses can have an independent stature, it is impossible for a Hindu to imagine Kali at loggerheads with Durga or with Shiva (the former almost as bad as saying that Christ is an enemy of Jesus). While I realize that the intent of the author is not cultural accuracy but to describe comic books of (what seems to be) early or mid-20th century America, the point, to me, is that without a broader context such stories can perpetuate stereotypes. If American magazines regularly published stories that accurately portrayed an alien culture/religion such as India or Hinduism, readers would know not to take the portrayals of the Hindu pantheon in this particular story seriously. However there is a dearth of culturally informed stories on South Asia (and, sadly, of magazines that publish them). In addition, Hinduism (unlike the religion of the ancient Greeks, for example) is a living religion followed by some 800 million people. As a writer and a Hindu I do *not* think it is wrong or reprehensible to play with the ideas and characters of the Hindu pantheon --- but it should be done with the kind of respect that one would find in a speculative-fictional portrayal of, say, Judaism. (Respect does not preclude satire or humor that is presented in an informed and non-derogatory manner). Cultural understanding is particularly vital in an age when ignorance so easily begets bigotry. Incidentally there are now an increasing (but still small)number of Indian writers being published in science fiction and fantasy magazines in the West. For a really powerful tale of Durga/Kali that takes off on the feminist aspect of the goddess(es) see for instance Ashok Banker's "In the Shadow of Her Wings," published in Interzone and more recently in the Year's Best Fantasy 2 (edited by David Hartwell). Sincerely, Vandana Singh
Vandana Singh I have loved Heather Alexander's rip-roarin' Celtic-folk fantasies since friends took me to a performance of Phoenyx at the Starry Plow in Berkeley in the early '90s! The tape (well-loved) I bought of "Keepers of the Flame" has a special place on my music shelf. (I only wish it were re-mastered to CD.) So glad to see Ms. Alexander sharing her music and stories to an ever wider audience. Any writer in the fantasy genre would be honored to collaborate with this talented musician, I know I would be! Yours, Cenizas
Cenizas <cenizasderosas@yahoo.com> I loved your interview with Heather Alexander. I've loved her music for quite a few years and I'm entirely jealous of anyone who lives on the west coast and could go see her shows. Heather we love you on the east coast too!!! Please please please come tour over here someday. Glad to see her getting more of the attention she so richly deserves.
Crystal <magelet21@hotmail.com> I'd just like to say I would much rather see original short fiction than excerpts from novels posted. No matter what the intention, I always feel like I'm reading a big ad rather than a coherent piece of fiction.
Jeremy Just wanted to say that I thought Benjamin Rosenbaum's latest entry, "The Cities of Myrkhyr," kicked ass. It could quite easily be my favorite one of the series, but I'm not sure. Great imagery and as always, the last paragraph is a great closer. Still waiting for someone to illustrate the map for this series...
Michael Jasper <Mjasper@nc.rr.com> I enjoyed very much Mr Khan's essay on communication. He has a splendid style with his language; it is simple, unhurried and succinct. It is an informative essay, and I especially like Mr Khan's closing question: Why, indeed, with all the communicative faculties available to us, do we still so frequently misunderstand each other? The problem is particular evident in matters relating to international affairs of State. Best Regards, Sam AJ Pillay
Sam AJ Pillay <SamAJPS@netscape.net> Note to readers: unfortunately, at the moment we don't automatically indicate what piece you're commenting on, so when you comment on a piece, please mention which piece you're commenting on so we can provide a link to it for other readers to follow. Thanks!
Jed Hartman <fiction@strangehorizons.com> Wonderful work. You caught my imagination and took me along through the short but enjoyable story! Do you have a published book.... thanx, forrest
forrest mericle <fmericle@hotmail.com> That story is good enough for ANALOG or any other good s-f magazine. I really can relate to that kind of thinking. I hope the author has a successful future as a writer, which this story shows to be her true career path!
Nathan F. Okun <nathanokun@netzero.net> Alphabet City. comments. I would pose that though I too liked it the fact that it was Pinocchio didn't enhance the story other then to act as a foil. I'd also like to point out that no explanation was given as to how they got in the city, and it seemed to me the author didn't have much background on the idea. If Pinocchio knows all about it then why isn't he getting offed? Plus killing people is pretty heavy. I'm not saying it doesn't happen but, what did she see. Two random guys in the dark beat up another random guy. Not too much she can testify on that. having her killed isn't goodbusiness. hookers tend not to be all that credible as witnesses too. and though she was a little dense I didn't get the feeling she was going to try and be a hero about the thing. comments or corrections to my blathering welcome. and again I liked the story too. I just think taking out the refrence to Pinocchio or delving into why he is in NYC would enhance things. As well as accentuating the fact that she did need to be killed. Have her talk about needing to fix things or some such.
Dan <Nylothartep@godisdead.com> I really was talking just about the Civ 3 AI, not about human players. I should have made that more clear.
Fred Bush <fbush555@yahoo.com> As someone who has played many, many hours of CivIII, I had to say that you have no idea what you're talking about when you say "It is really the Germans, English, and Russians who are the most dangerous in this game." The English are the single weakest Civ in the game. Germany and Russia are mediocre. America is only powerful on large/huge maps where their traits really shine. The Aztecs and Iroquois are quite powerful if you know how to use them. Same with the Zulu, but I prefer the "religious" trait. What the AI does with a civ isn't really a good benchmark. You say the AI does poorly with the Aztecs, Zulu and Iroquois. I've seen strong Iroquois & Aztecs, but you're right about the AI being bad with the Zulu. I don't think that means a damn thing, however, since the AI is programmed to do the same things with each civ - the only difference is "aggressiveness." I can tell you that human players have utterly destroyed the game with the Iroquois, Aztecs and Zulu. On Diety. I myself play on Monarch and Emperor, but I've had a lot of success with non-western civs (my favorites being Japan and China). So, to sum up... sorry, but I think you're completely off-base. -Rob
Rob England <rengland@covad.net> Thanks for your comments about the article. I have played a fair amount of Civ 3, and I still think my description of the Native Americans in that game is fair. (I should point out that I tend to play at very high difficulty levels; maybe the Native Americans do better on lower levels.) In Civ 3, any civilization can win. However, in my experience, the Aztecs and the Iroquois have a much lessened chance of winning, due to a number of factors which are intended to be "realistic" and bring them into line with history. First, if you play with historical starting locations, the Aztecs and Iroquois start off in an isolated corner of the board, with perhaps the Americans for company. The other civilizations usually get clustered together, and if you're playing a 7-player game, that means that the other tribes get more opportunities for technological exchanges and trade early on in the game, when it's crucial. While I agree with you that cultural isolation was a key factor in the Native Americans' technological inferiority in the real world, this "historical" inferiority is now being grafted on to the alternate world of Civ 3, weakening the Indians in the game based on what "really" happened. Second, the strategy that the computer uses for the Aztecs and the Iroquois is poor. Yes, they may occasionally win due to fortuitous board placement, but I'll wager that the only time you really have to fear an Aztec conquest is very early in the game (because the Aztecs don't pursue tech) and the only time you have to fear an Iroquois victory is when they have huge amounts of open space to explore at their leisure (since they expand so slowly, and tend to get boxed in.) If you looked at all the computer tribes, and how often they won, I believe from my experience playing the game that the Aztecs and Iroquois would be near the bottom. Their strategy in the game is supposed to mimic their strategy in the real world; once again history intrudes upon a fictional game and they lose.
Fred Bush Interesting article, but i'm a Civilization 3 player myself and I really must protest to how you use it. In Civilization 3 every pretty much has an equal chance, it just depends on where they start and who they meet. Europe and the East were given a technological lead because so many more were thinking up things, Native Americans were "stranded" without any other foreign cultures, so like in Civilization 3 this time they fell behind in the "tech race". I've seen the same thing happen to every civilization, its not unique to the native americans in Civilization 3, or the Aztecs/Zulus. If in real life traders had come to America before gunpowder, or just when it was a fairly new concept, the outcome would have been different. Assuming it had been a steady trade, at least. And also some tribes of Native Americans did develop a written language, but it was mostly too late by then. But really, next time you use Civilization 3 to back up a point don't take out of context, it's offensive to demean cultures based on your private experiences with a video game. Talk to any real Civilization 3 player and he'll probably point out how you're wrong as well, since most of us have experienced being conquered by the Aztecs, or the Iroquois building the SS to Centauri upon occasion. -Nick
Nick I very much enjoyed Joel Best's fairy tale noir story, "Once Upon a Time in Alphabet City."
Paul Martens <paulemartens@hotmail.com> I would like to send my praise for Fred Bush's article "The Time of the Other: Alternate History and the Conquest of America." My knowledge of Alternate History as a genre has been very limited -- up until now. Well written and well researched. Good Job!
John Borneman <john_borneman@yahoo.com> To tide you over while you await more new work from David, you can find a couple of his other poems in our archives. You can also read chapbooks of his work; for details, see his Web site (note particularly the "Other Publications" link, and the online poems in the "THIRST: Poems of Need" section).
Jed Hartman <fiction@strangehorizons.com> David C. Kopaska-Merkel's poem "Long Voyage" is everything I could ask for in SF poetry: a "story" that ties into the oldest trope of SF--space travel--with the poet's freedom to express emotional truths unbounded by any particular time or space. Excellent work, and highly readable. I look forward to more of his work.
Sarah Stegall <munchkyn@munchkyn.com> Having read the other James Allison stories on SH, and his submissions to Altair and On Spec, I'm becoming something of a fan. I've read a lot of sci fi/fantasy, though nothing with the dramatic and emotional impact of Allison's work, certainly nothing that borders between mainstream and speculative fiction with the ability to please both audiences at the same time. I was moved by Confounding Mr. Newton, moved by the intelligence of the writing and the author's ability to control emotions. I should have been prepared, having read Allison's stories before, but finding a story like this amongst aliens and wizards, spooky houses and cliches, is a rare gem.
William Johnson <alluringlight@hotmail.com> James Allison's "Confounding Mr.Newton" is rich, poetic, strange and poignant -- abounding with the graceful prose and sudden insights we have come to expect from this outstanding writer. His work is not always easy to read, but *always* a joy and a reward.
[Name removed upon request] Mr. Austin's essay was generally quite perceptive, but what I found more interesting was what he did NOT focus upon as errors in epic fantasy. I find these failures more annoying than those he remarked upon, but that is perhaps a sign of too much graduate school. * The absence of grey is a serious problem. In most "epic fantasy," there are two "sides" to every dispute: good and evil, good and bad, whatever. There is seldom much in the middle; the works that fail tend to have protagonists who never have second thoughts about their goals, either. * More serious, and perhaps more prevalent, is the misguided attempt to "just tell a story" without any thought as to theme. ALL fiction has a theme, even if unintentional, even if only "I got you to pay for this, you sucker, and it just proves how clever I am!" Authors need to show a little bit more respect for their readers. Make that a lot more respect. * The boundless good health of the focus characters (protagonists and antagonists) in the face of pseudomedieval diet, squalor, disease, and medicine is a constant irritant. At least Tolkein had the good sense to include specific healing skills in Aragorn's role. Given the high rate of battlefield sepsis and other complications even in the late 20th century (and recalling that a bullet opens a lot smaller hole than does a glaive), this makes little sense. * Another irritating problem is the overreliance on predestination and prophecy as motivational and explanatory devices. Le Guin's Earthsea books successfully avoid this trap by treating prophecy as merely another legend that is meaningless without corresponding deeds. The less said about the "mainstream" of epic fantasy and its misuse of prophecy and predestination the better. Of course, there are many other problems. Most of those, however, are merely technical errors, including the issues related to narrative voice cited by Mr. Austin. (That is not to say that they're unimportant; it is only to say that they're not fundamental.) We need not get into mismatches among political, economic, technological, and transportation systems; or the quasiutopian societies invented by writers who have never read any of the serious literature or commentary on utopian fiction; or any of other various sins. Mr. Austin's list of problems is certainly worth considering. It is, however, somewhat underinclusive.
John Savage <jsavage@authorslawyer.com> January to March, 2002, Comments October to December, 2001, Comments July to September, 2001, Comments
January to March, 2001, Comments
September to December, 2000, Comments
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