I’ve been a diehard fantasy fan all my life, but I am so constantly frustrated by series like WoT and Night Angel that simplify women or use them to make men look cooler. I wrote these a while ago and thought I’d share. Would love additions!
I see a lot of criticism on sexual assault depictions in fantasy on book subreddits. I agree that it’s lazy writing when it’s used to prop up a character that isn’t a victim, is sexually provocative, gratuitous, or a copy paste backstory for every female character. I disagree that there is a problem with using sexual assault for a character’s development, and I see that particularly criticism constantly, even with works that do explore the topic respectfully. I saw a fantasy subreddit thread that listed Jessica Jones of all things as an example of sexual assault as lazy writing. That’s just baffling. The protagonist is in an abusive relationship, of course there’s a strong possibility she’ll experience assault and spend time recovering from it.
As a survivor, I like seeing female characters who experience SA without it ruling their lives, even if the trauma is extensive. Saying “we shouldn’t use assault for development” is like saying “we shouldn’t use character death for …
Hi guys, I’m Brian McClellan! You might know me from my Powder Mage novels, the Valkyrie Collections urban fantasy series, or my podcast, Page Break with Brian McClellan.
I’ve got a new book out today! IN THE SHADOW OF LIGHTNING introduces the world of Glass Immortals where magic is an industrial resource that is running out. Follow Demir Grappo, a failed child prodigy whose mother’s murder forces him to return to the cutthroat machinations of the Ossan Empire and take his place as patriarch of their small guild-family. In Ossa revenge is never easy, the price of magic grows with each passing day, and even success can break a man.
I hope you’ll give my new world a shot. You can grab a copy from Amazon, my website, or your favorite bookstore. You can find me on Twitter, Instagram, or join my newsletter for updates. I’m even visiting a few cities for a signing tour this week!
I’ll be in and out all day answering questions, so AMA!
Are there any completely stale fantasy elements that need to be consigned to the trash bin? Are there some that need a major reinvention? If so, how would you put a unique spin on a tired cliche?
I’m thinking of three authors right now:
I think these authors should list their ghostwriter’s as co-authors for the following reasons:
That’s my opinion. What’s yours?
UPDATE
I can’t prove …
So, I just finished this book a few days ago and I’ve still got it on my mind. The only person I have to discuss books with is my boyfriend, and although I love him dearly, he just doesn’t get it, you know? Sp anyways, here we go. If this isn’t allowed for some reason, I’ll just delete it.
To preface this, I am not at all a sci-fi fan when it comes to my reading tastes, and I especially hate anything that has to do with the end of the world. When I picked this up, and pretty much the first thing you find out about the world that the characters are existing in is that the world is ending because the sun is growing dimmer, I figured I would flat out hate the book and strongly considered putting it down. I have really terrible, difficult to manage anxiety, (hence why I read to escape) so the last thing I need is a book that is just going to make me anxious about something that won’t happen.
But oh my god I’m glad I didn’t.
Rocky is just like, …
I just like to hear people’s opinions about this.
Let me detail my question a bit further with an example:
One of my all-time favorite books is ‘The Lost World’ by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; published in 1912.
For those who are unfamiliar, Doyle later wrote the Sherlock Holmes books.
It will come as no surprise that a book from 1912 about white European explorers in South-America has its fair share of outdated world views. Even though you could say it’s only a tiny fraction and that it isn’t actually what the story is about, it is still there.
Although it feels awkward telling people this is my favorite book; it… well… it still is my favorite book. Can you still truly love a book despite its problematic or outdated content? Is knowing its flaws enough to justify you still liking it? Or what do you think?
In 2020 I thought: I will spend 2021 reading Dickens.
Why not? I never read anything of his, he’s a greatly celebrated author, and he didn’t write that many books.
So I got myself all his books published in the same (Everyman’s Library) edition:
Then, to make a plan!
I summed up all the pages in the books: 11097. Divided by 365 days, that’s an average of 30.4 pages/day, for a whole year.
That’s doable, right? right?
Well, in the beginning, yes. Then life happened, I moved to another country and my plan kinda derailed, but I kept at it:
And yesterday I finished!
Now, enough with the silly story, here’s what I learned:
Basically title. I kind of stopped buying physical books when I discovered the alternative of ebooks, but I can’t concentrate on slower paced books or longer books or those that don’t completely capture my attention from the first few pages. I am the kind of person that needs to be alone (literally alone, when I have to do something I need to be away from my phone and laptop or else I get distracted) with a thing to get it done, and I guess that applies to books aswell.
I’m thinking of buying the 2019 Kindle, as it is the most affordable, but I can’t help but fear that I’ll either hate it or lose interest in reading books and it will be useless. I either read tons of books in a short period of time or just quit reading for months at a time.
Anyways, if I do buy it, do you have any other recommendations? What’s the best price I can get for a ebook reader?
Like many of you, I love the sort of pithy and poetic without seeming… ostentatious or overly literary/allegorical. He’s really good at finding phrases or bits of terminology that are more or less from everyday language, but that carry a lot of meaning and have a cool sound to them. Examples abound, but off the top of my head:
- The State of the Art (book title)
- Of Course I Still Love You (ship name)
- Prosthetic Conscience (ship name)
- Look to Windward (book title)
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I’m curious if anyone can pinpoint a name for this style of ‘poetry’/word play, or can think of some other examples of something similar. The next best example I can think of are some of the names from the Halo games, like “Pillar of Autumn” or “Guilty Spark”, but these lack some of the playfulness and connection to everyday/human experience that some of Banks’ names have.
Just finished Anathem by Neal Stephenson and I was very impressed by how meticulous and well thought out this book was. It also gave me a lot to think about.
Children of Time by Tchaikovsky (Zoology),
The Martian/Project Hail Mary (Physics/Maths),
The Malazan Book of the Fallen (Anthropology),
Dragon’s Egg by Robert L. Forward (Physics),
Tau Zero by Poul Anderson,
All of Greg Egan (?)
are other examples I know of where the authors make use of their field of expertise to produce an incredible, well thought-out work of speculative fiction.
Please recommend any works you can think of below.
Just finished Red Mars, generally considered to be KSR’s magnum opus, and I have a lot to say about it. It was a unique experience reading this book, as I was simultaneously awestruck, amazed, frustrated and often bored in equal measure. Red Mars is definitely a book greater than the sum of its parts, and even though I would ultimately mark it as a 5-star read, there were long stretches where it quite easily dipped down to a 3-star.
There is a ton to like about it. It’s a grounded, realistic hard sf story that takes a very practical and thorough look at how Martian colonization would go, in all its glory and ugliness. The amount of research done must have been insane. I know our knowledge of the good old red planet has changed since the book was released but kudos to KSR for still portraying what must have been cutting edge scientific knowledge at the time.
My favourite thing about the book though, is just how immersive it is in recreating the Martian landscape, through …
Trying to refill my queue after some neglect, I don’t know what’s new or happening.
What have you read and enjoyed that was published in the past year?
I’m looking for books full of short stories that wrinkle my brain.
Not an academy award, not a golden glove, not a sag award. Willem Dafoe is such a fantastic actor who completely falls into a role. Him never winning an award for his acting is an absolute joke. Which performance do you think he was robbed of awards? Do you disagree completely? What are your thoughts on willem dafoe’s acting?
Jumper is good. Lost in the myriad of superhero films of the last 20 years , Jumper is kinda an anomaly.
The premise is simple , the main character discovers through a childhood mishap he can teleport . He does what most people do and becomes a little opportunistic, travels the world , robs a couple banks. Its a fun example of what superhero films were like before the mcu really took hold.
The film takes a look at what having powers in the real world might equate to. What avenues people might choose. A great supporting cast and a funnpremise make this a great movie for a lazy sunday