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Some of you may have read the long article on epic fantasy at Clarkesworld built on interviews with fantasy writers, editors, etc. Robin McKinley, whose blog is my just-before-bedtime reading, was one of those interviewed and she referenced the article in her blog last night.
I threw a comment out on her discussion board, as I didn’t exactly agree with everything everyone interviewed had said, and she asked if she could use it–perhaps expanded a bit–as a guest-post on her blog. Uh…(scraping jaw off the floor)…certainly. Absolutely. Honored & delighted.
So for those interested in what I said about epic fantasy, here’s the link to her blog. You can read the blog or discussion group without registering, but you can’t comment without registering. I happen to be a McKinley fan, and I particularly enjoy her blog (with footnotes! My stars and garters, can that woman do footnotes–to the footnotes, too.) We have mutual interests beyond writing (photography, knitting, horses…) She’s already fixed one misspelled word and a couple of awkwardnesses for me; anything else wrong is all my fault.
Sometimes writers go off and write in pastures new…I think this is the first time I’ve done a guest-post on another writer’s blog.
Comment by Daniel Glover — July 15, 2011 @ 8:03 pm
Yup, you do! And, no, you don’t have to be shy about it.
Comment by din — July 16, 2011 @ 2:01 am
article like that make me realise how limited my reading has been
i’ve generally follow a few authors, so I havent heard of most of the books mentioned
Comment by Jonathan Schor — July 16, 2011 @ 1:27 pm
I agree – you do in fact belong up there with Tolkein and Homer. If Homer incorporates some truthful basis and your stories are more pure fiction, they still resonate.
Comment by Jenn — July 16, 2011 @ 5:28 pm
I am interested what do you think Tolkien was showing in Sam’s Character?
Loved the Blog
Comment by Alaska Fan — July 17, 2011 @ 12:12 am
Very nice essay, Ms. Moon. Early epic fantasy is a long-standing interest of mine: works like William Morris’ “Well at the World’s End,” David Lindsay, “A Voyage to Arcturus.” It looks like you’ve explored those roots as well.
Comment by Kip Colegrove — July 17, 2011 @ 5:12 pm
All honor to you (and Ms McKinley)for a splendid post.
Metamorphosis. (Pronounced the old Greek way, with pitch accent and trilled r. Permit an aging poet/linguist his predilections.) It’s at the heart of theology as well as epic…which those great masters, Tolien and Homer, understood.
So do you. And that alone puts you in their company, though your passion for story, character and craftsmanship doesn’t hurt.
Comment by Patrick Doris — July 18, 2011 @ 11:01 am
I read Eric Fantasy and yours is the best , the most fully realize of all the post LOTR that I have read. I think that having Oath of Fealty and King of the North being so non-contemporary with the Sheepfarmer’s Daughter or even “Liars Oath allows your life experience to infuse the tales with more nuance and depth that is totally in keeping with the theme and would have been unavailable to you at other stages of your life.I read a blurb once that said that the Deed of Paksenarrion completed Tolkien’s world or words to that effect. I felt that was wrong. Your world is unique. Ever since I read Sheepfarmer’s Daughter I have admired the way you took the hero’s journey and the leveling up concept and made a seamless credible believable lovely whole out of them. Thank you for your work and your craft, the combination of which makes art.
Comment by Lex — July 18, 2011 @ 7:50 pm
I think the vast majority of modern high-fantasy, since the New Wave really, internalizes both the scope of the epic and the intimacy of heroic fantasy.
Your own earlier fantasy work tends a bit toward the heroic end of the scale while your more recent pieces swing toward the epic, but they’re all far broader than Howard yet more personal than Tolkien.
Comment by Richard — July 19, 2011 @ 11:00 am
elizabeth, Your pertinent, fluent guest posting was a next-day redraft of an off-the-cuff response – wow! How do you do it? In between all your work too.
Your words tell me that Homer is the one who should be, not exactly laughed off this particular stage, but politely thanked (however unwittingly he was dragged into the original article) for his guest appearance where he doesn’t strictly belong the way Tolkien and you do. (Other readers of this: follow the link, read and then think)
Comment by Richard — July 19, 2011 @ 12:02 pm
By the way (forgive this digression that maybe really belongs in Robin McKinley’s blog), in the Clarkesworld article Robin wrote that Epic Fantasy “may be about rabbits” (or accountants, whom Lynn Flewelling had just dismissed from consideration), “but it needs…”. I reckon I know the rabbits (no prizes for that).
Comment by arthur Piantadosi — July 19, 2011 @ 3:11 pm
This is Arthur. I went to buy Oath of Fealty from the Howard Hughes Mall, on the Howard Hughes Parkway. I had heard of the Boarders chain going bankrupt, but. . . The store WAS NOT there. . . That hit home to me we really are in a Depression, or a Recession, or SOMEthing. I went to a Mexican restaraunt, called Titos Tacos, and got a meal, instead. Your books, Ms. Moon, are a feast for the soul. The Bible is full of people eating and drinking, but SOME people think no one will DO those things in Heaven! I cannot imagine not eating or drinking. . . Why would you WANT not to? Sorry. I have always read what made sense to me, and your books MAKE sense. Gird does not just go off and rebel because he is angry, or because his people are angry and grumbling, but because his people and the Magelord Finthans are so far apart in worldview that they CANNOT live in peace. Thank you for the character of Lou Arrendale. I guess I am like the character of V in V for Vendetta. IF you FEEL as I FEEL. . .
My anger scares me, sometimes. I do not WANT to be angry, unless it is like Gird is angry when he comes into the Stone Circle Camp and finds the Glorious Rebels cannot keep what they have clean! I read Huckleberry Finn all the time. I feel for Huckleberry when his Father is drunk, so that his father cannot control himself. I feel out of control sometimes. I felt so alone, and so ashamed of being beat up, I did not speak up. I started out your Serrano Legacy books with Once a Hero. My mom gave it to me. What Esmay went through, I felt I went through. Except My MOM tried to find the people RESPONSIBLE! ! ! I am FACE-BLIND. That means I DO NOT, CANNOT recognize people by their faces. I am also Hyperlexic, which means I respond to images very well. I am SORRY I took what was yours. I will do ANYTHING you want, within REASON, to pay you back! I do NOT want to be a thief! Unless of myself.