Posts Tagged ‘quotations’

Epic Grit Gives Epic Character

Wednesday, February 16th, 2011

The epic fantasy realm of the blogosphere is lately agog over a screed from Leo Grin, a Robert E. Howard scholar and Tolkien devotee who recently derided the modern wave of darker or gritty epic fantasy as “bankrupt nihilism.” Several epic fantasy authors have countered, rightly rejecting this shallow criticism of their approach, but none have noted what I see as the key value of this grittier or more visceral feel.

The boom in more visceral epic fantasy coincided with the late-90s success of George R.R. Martin, its first major practitioner, and its subsequent proliferation can seem mercenary.  In cases where bereft of any purpose or handled with callow ineptitude, it can be gratuitous if not exploitative.

But in the hands of an award-winning master like Martin, it can illumine universal insights.  When one of his characters has his hand brutally lopped off, thereby losing the expertise and persona that formed his entire self, the change forced onto him and the inner journey he takes to try to overcome it result in one of the most profound explorations of the human condition ever achieved in fantasy literature.  That grit isn’t nihilist.  It’s a poignant literary example of how even a despicable person can have humanity at their core, and even the ripping away of all that a person values most can inspire them onto a path toward redemption.

This visceral realism, including the sexual and scatalogical, is the most powerful vehicle for placing the reader into a fantasy world and into the shoes of the characters inhabiting it–in short, for making epic fantasy evoke the human condition.

Yet Grin posits that “Realism isn’t a primary concern in great literature.” That’s where he’s most wrong.  Realism isn’t important in escapist entertainment, such as Howard (yes, Howard was and is just that, although uniquely original and very very good).  But if discussing true literature in any period since the mid-20th century, the foundation is Faulkner’s comment in his 1950 Nobel acceptance speech:  “the human heart in conflict with itself… only that is worth writing about.”

Which is the human condition–what it means to be who we are.  Without that, epic fantasy–indeed, any fiction–becomes just more escapist entertainment.

Cheers, World Fantasy

Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010

I had a great time at World Fantasy!

I saw a bunch of people I know from other cons: my drinking buddy Saladin Ahmed, who read from his novel coming out next hear from DAW. I had read parts of it in draft form, and the final version he read is even better. BCS author and Sybil’s Garage editor Matt Kressel read from his upcoming BCS story “The Suffering Gallery”; I think I had a beer with him three days in a row. :) Fellow Codexians Corry and Mary, my former instructor now BCS author Steve Rasnic Tem, my Oddfellows drinking buddies, the ever-rosy Mike Allen, and more.

I met a ton of people I know online but hadn’t met before: BCS authors Marie Brennan, Vylar Kaftan, Erin Cashier, Ferret Steinmetz, Renee Stern, Brad Beaulieu, J. Kathleen Cheney, and more. Fellow Codexians Lon Prater, T.L. Morganfield, Jeremy Tolbert, and more. Fellow editors who dig what I’m doing with BCS Janson Sanford (storySouth, The Million Writers Award), John O’Neill and Howard Andrew Jones (Black Gate), John Klima (Electric Velocipede).

The swords & sorcery panel I sat on was quite good. Howard Andrew Jones mentioned many of the classics and the biggest new author out of Black Gate, James Enge; I mentioned Clark Ashton Smith and my favorite current author, Chris Willrich; Patricia Bray and Martha Wells mentioned a number of insightful things, including Charles Saunders and Saladin.

Patricia said that a lake monster in some S&S she’d read years ago felt like “the coolest thing ever.” That I think is a great tagline for the coolness or awe in S&S that all of us love–stuff that’s the coolest thing ever. :)

I enjoyed the panel on epic fantasy–all the panelists had good ideas and were into the discussion. Here’s some online video of that panel. Also here are some quotes of wisdom that Jason Sanford compiled and blogged.

The BCS not-officially-a-party went well–attendees included Steve Tem, Blake Charlton, Walter Jon Williams, lots of BCS authors and fans, and apparently the whole class of Clarion 2010! We only had a little beer left over, and I didn’t mind showering Sunday morning standing in three inches of still-melting ice. :)

Thanks all! It was an awesome weekend.

a Tolkien quote, to start

Saturday, October 13th, 2007

“It’s the job that’s never started that takes longest to finish.”

J.R.R. Tolkien