This is something I’ve seen too many times lately all over twitter, youtube, and even r/fantasy and I just want to get my thoughts out.
First of all, a fantasy story, like any story, starts with established rules that the audience and the author sign a pact on at the start of the journey. The rules should be clear at the start. The author can say. “Alright, this is a fantasy story, so there will be dragons, wizards and magic and super strong giants that can swing a tree like a baseball bat. But our farmer boy main hero is a farmer boy and he is just like you and I, and he cannot swing an oak tree like a giant bat.”
As the story progresses, you can get into the shoes of the farmer boy protagonist and you know that he is just like you and I. So if the story is consistent, the farmer boy will stay that way and will solve his challenges using what you and I can realistically do if we were to thrust ourselves into this fantasy setting, this is what we mean by …
I know casting a Spanish actor to play someone named Ahmad ibn Fadlan is sketchy, but dammit, I love that movie so much. Everyone in the cast was extraordinary in their roll, most especially Dennis Storhøi. I just wanted to be that kind of person when I grew up.
Also the Vikings. I love their camaraderie and they humor in the face of actual death. It might be one of the greatest quest RPG movies I have ever seen and I wish we could have more of that type of movie. I reference it often whilst playing TTRPGs because it is a gold standard fantasy campaign to me.
I hope some of you agree.
EDIT: I definitely see my brothers and sisters! I will see you all in Valhalla!
Filming has concluded on the first season of The Wheel of Time, almost exactly twenty months after it began on 16 September 2019. The wrap comes a full year behind schedule, with shooting of the series repeatedly disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.
Amazon have not officially confirmed the news as yet, but multiple crew members have marked the completion of shooting with social media posts.
They can’t rest easy for too long, however, as production is rolling straight into Season 2. The cast and crew are still in Prague (with Lan reportedly stealing Moiraine’s Golden Globe Award a few days back), and casting and pre-production on the second year is already in full swing. Whether actual shooting will continue immediately into the second season or there’ll be a short break is unclear.
Shooting for the bulk of the first season was completed back in November 2020, with just a few last scenes being needed to complete the season. VFX, music scoring and post-production …
I’m so tired of this fucking cursed rectangle. I reward myself for a hard day of work by coming home and browsing the little rectangle while the big rectangle plays in the background, and perhaps using the medium rectangle to inject dopamine points into my eyeballs with video games for an hour or so.
My parents were for whatever reason a little slow to allow me my first smartphone (I had a flip phone until about 2012). I was a quiet, well behaved, and very obviously outwardly depressed student, so most of my teachers would let me either sleep (during periods 1, 2, and either 4 or 5 depending on which one was immediately after lunch) or read in the back of class (during periods 3, 4, and 6) because I was doing well on all my tests anyway.
(I also just want to take a second to say fuck high school schedules. I was and am a natural 3-11 sleeper like a lot of high schoolers were, and having to get up at 6:30 to go to learning jail should be against the Geneva Convention)
Reading …
I’d heard about Ursula K LeGuin every now and then (mainly from my Latin teacher), but had no clue what any of her stories were about. I hadn’t heard any of her concepts or stories discussed in popular culture much though, no references or anything. Even though I hadn’t seen Pulp Fiction until a week ago, I still knew the basic premise of the film and several of the scenes were familiar to me. They’re talked about a lot, people make jokes and references to it and other films. But Ursula LeGuin was someone I’d only ever heard mentioned when the topic of “good science fiction authors” came up. I was more into realistic fiction and historical dramas, so that didn’t really grab me all that much.
A few months ago though, I saw her name on the spine of a book in the shop, and pulled it out. It was The Left Hand of Darkness, and the preview text on the back so intrigued me I decided to take a break from my usual fare and try it out. I breezed …
As a book lover I’ve lurked this sub for awhile now and people really should check what age group the book was written for before reading them or making posts about how bad they are. Eragon, Cirque De Freak, Artimis Fowl, Divergent, Twilight, the list goes on and on. These books are meant for Young Adults and Teenagers. It’s not a surprised if you read them at 27 and realize how bad they are.
They aren’t bad books, they’re just not books for you. It’s okay to admit that and move on. Books have demographics just as much as TV and movies. An adult doesn’t go to see the Wiggles and expect to have a good time (although they are surprisingly enjoyable) or critique their children’s Saturday cartoons or their teenager’s cringe werewolf romance drama show for being simplistic and predicable. It’s great to them because it’s for them. It’s crap to you because you’re never expected to watch it anyway. That’s okay. …
So recently, I got a particularly nasty cold that kept me in bed, and I felt like the best way to pass the time was to do some reading. I decided it was finally time to read Rendezvous with Rama, since I quite like Arthur C. Clarke’s stuff.
What I read… honestly might be one of my favorite novels I’ve ever read! This is almost surprising to me, since the characters are basically cardboard cutouts, but that was fine, because The characterization takes a backseat to the intoxicating mystery of Rama, and I’ll admit I’m a sucker for Clarke’s geeky and technical style of writing. In particular, I liked how much is left unsaid about Rama’s inner workings and the ending, it added some extra realism that I didn’t expect from such a novel!
I’ve read that unfortunately, the Rama sequels take a far different tone due to the different author, and what I read about them doesn’t sound like it’d satisfy my itch for hard sci-fi. Are …
No spoilers: I finished this yesterday and absolutely loved it! Just my cup of tea. I’m a big fan of Peter F Hamilton, and Alastair Reynolds was recommended as something similar. I was not disappointed. I’m going to order the next one now, Chasm City.
Millions or more, or fource.
I really liked Moffitt’s The Genesis Quest which went 37 million years into he future, and then Second Geness which doubled that…and then more later on.
Then we could look at older books like Star Maker or Last and First Man which go very, very far into the future with future histories.
Anyway, any big suggestions for books that cover geological periods of time?
I also really like Nemo Ramjet’s All Tomorrows (does he have any books similar to that? any similar books in general?)
So i read those books above, and i was absolutely amazed by them. Just the concept of humanity pulling through impossible odds and somehow surviving the catastrophe feels incredibly fascinating. Are there more books that explore these topics? I read the follow up to the flood, the Arc, but i feel like there was too much character drama to my liking.
Lately I’ve been very interested in classic fantasy stories until I learned more about “the Sword and Planet” sub genre that seems to be fun mixture of both. However, most of these stories are small and long out of print. I personally own a collection of Robert E. Howard’s Conan stories, so does a sci-fi version containing a collection of sword and planet pulps exist out there?
I’m trying to identify a story that was probably published in Asimov’s magazine between 1980 and 1985. It’s possible it was Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction or that the years are off by a couple. I didn’t see an index on the Asimov’s site older than 2011.
My recollection is that the protagonist was confined in a cell and forced to paint works. He had a special ability to paint works with different levels of the painting revealed by …[different lights, angles, something - I don’t remember]. He effectively used one painting as a booby trap against his captor [I think. Really hazy here.] The story had a real Night Gallery vibe to it if I remember correctly. Thanks!