Read them right now, for free. Most casual readers of fantasy presume that J.R.R. Tolkien invented it. Not quite. Fantasy as an element of fiction has been around since history began, in all cultures and eras. The bible itself has fantastical stories, Greek myths are stuffed full of it, even The Arabian Nights tales are […]
The Original Modern Fantasies. Read More »
Unveiling the Tapestry Real-World History’s Impact on Fantasy Worldbuilding I’m a history nut. I don’t know if every fantasy author is also a history nut, but a love of history must surely become a facet of fantasy authors’ careers the longer they write fantasy. We all pull from history for our worldbuilding, after all. History
Unveiling the Tapestry Read More »
Magic systems in fantasy often fall into two distinct categories: hard magic and soft magic. Each offers unique storytelling opportunities, although readers tend to gravitate towards one or the other. What is the allure of each? I know I lean heavily toward hard magic, myself. Magic as technology has a strong appeal for me. The
The Duality of Magic Systems in Fantasy: Hard vs. Soft Magic Read More »
Fantasy as a genre tends to run long. One hundred thousand words (400 pages) for a novel is average. But short fantasy: short stories, novellas and novelettes, are a specialized artistry for the fantasy author. The shorter stories have the same amount of world building as the longer novels, but you only glimpse it. It’s
Top 13 Fantasy Magazines I Follow Read More »