Power without a price feels like cheating—and in fantasy, magic that costs nothing tends to mean nothing. Whether it’s burning memories, painful transformations, or the slow hollowing of a hero, the best magic systems leave a mark. Let’s talk about why magic should hurt—and what that says about the stories we can’t stop reading.
The Price of Power: Why Magic Should Hurt Read More »
Towns don’t just pop into existence because a hero needs a tavern. They grow around water, trade routes, resources—and they carry the scars of their own history. As a writer (and a lifelong map nerd), I can’t help studying fantasy town maps like archaeological sites. If the layout doesn’t tell me why the town exists, where it started, or how it grew, then something’s missing. Let’s talk about crooked streets, suspicious bridges, and why Hobbiton is pretty but perplexing.
Pretty But Wrong: The Problem With Fantasy Town Maps Read More »
I’ve been obsessed with maps since before I knew what fantasy was. The kind you unfold like treasure, with winding rivers, tiny illegible place names, and the promise of ancient secrets hidden in the margins. In my own stories, the map comes first—and sometimes refuses to budge. Which is probably why I have strong feelings about Tolkien’s very tidy mountain problem. Let’s talk about the beauty, the lies, and the suspicious tectonics of fantasy cartography.
Beautiful Lies: The Problem With Fantasy Maps (And Why I Still Love Them) Read More »
I first heard this term a few weeks ago on an author group, where they were discussing just that: short epic fantasy. At first, that seems like an oxymoron. Epic fantasy is…well, epic. As in long, big, sprawling. No way can it be short. Or…can it? You tell me. Have you ever read short fantasy fiction
Short Epic Fantasy… Come again? Read More »