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From Stephen Elliott
Over the summer, NPR solicited listener nominations and votes to compile a giant list of the Top 100 Science-Fiction, Fantasy Books. Then SF signal took it a step further by creating an intricate flowchart based on that list. And then, they transformed that chart into a handy interactive guide.
...moreWhat is the problem with the representation of women in fantasy? This piece addresses the question, pointing to the lack of fantasy stories that reflect our basic contemporary understanding of history: that women have had agency despite limiting factors, and “that women were rarely only defined by their relationships with men in the way that so many women characters in fantasy have been.”
While much of young adult fantasy fiction encourages readers to question both the worldviews and roles imposed upon them, does adult oriented fantasy “undo all that good work?” The article calls for a longer lists of male fantasy authors who write “effective, convincing women” and asks fantasy writers to take seriously their opportunity not only to entertain, but also “to enrich our readers’ lives.”
(Via Largeheartedboy)
...moreThere is nothing quite like reading Little, Big, John Crowley’s epic and elegantly subtle fantasy novel about a New England family and their mystifying relationship with the Fairy World.
In language and style and vision, in action that veers from the curiously fantastic to the magically mundane, this book is unlike anything I’ve ever read, and something I’ll reread at least a dozen times more.
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