I’ll come right out and say that when I’m reading a fantasy book set in a time and place analogous to real human history (and aren’t they all?) I expect some level of ‘historical accuracy’.
The right amount of historically accurate details judiciously applied is the sprinkling of salt that makes the butter of a story taste like heaven. It helps to create reader immersion. In the same way I wouldn’t step into a lift made of papier mache, nor would I want to spend time in a world that doesn’t...
This month I was driven by universal forces to re-watch Legend. If you’re not sure what that is, it’s a dark fantasy film from 1985 starring a very young Tom Cruise alongside Mia Sara who I always get confused with Marisa Tomei. The eighties produced a real bumper crop of stunning, elfin brunettes with cute smiles. See: Winona Ryder et al.
This film forms a core component of my psyche, snuggled together with Willow and The Last Unicorn (Earlier this year I read The Last Unicorn by Peter S...
Dear Reader
I recently read one of those rarest of beasts- a standalone fantasy book that was both excellent and whole and complete in and of itself. The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie* in which gods are numerous, gregarious and always on speed dial. The humans in this world have direct access to their deities, making offerings of anything from water to a human sacrifice in exchange for favours. It was brilliant fun. The story was told in both first person and second person ‘you’ from the point of...