Review: The Magicians

Within the fandom genre, I consider myself a fan of Science Fiction over Fantasy. I’m more intrigued in the sheer variety that Science Fiction presents itself with as well as the notion of humanity (or whatever other race portrayed in any given story) pulling itself up on its own two feet with emperical science. Yet, I find myself coming back, time and again, to fantasy works for the absolute sense of escapism and wonder that I often feel with the books that I pick up. I tend to be particularly picky with fantasy books because it is very rare that a fantasy book will evoke some sort of feeling like that from me.

It is because it didn’t do this, I think, is what I really liked from Lev Grossman’s latest novel, The Magicians. In this fantastic addition to the fantasy genre, Grossman puts together a book that is radically different than just about every other fantasy novel out there, breaking a lot of the very common elements that seem to define the fantasy genre. On a first glance, The Magicians doesn’t seem to be very different from any number of well known fantasy books. A boy in his teens is brought to a magical academy, where he learns the various arts of magic, in a school that is hidden from the rest of the world. Without presupposition, anyone would immediately label this as any part of the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. Within the modern day world that Grossman puts together, Quentin, our protagonist, and his friends, are fans of the Fillory series that sees a family of children stumble into a magical world where they often help to fight for good and right in an epic quest. Again, someone would identify this plot as that of C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia. While this book certainly has been influenced by these, and more – J.R.R Tolkien’s epic The Lord of the Rings is mentioned a couple of times, not to mention the game Dungeons and Dragons, it cleverly turns many of the ideas and themes that defined these pillars of the fantasy genre on their heads.

Grossman’s fantasy world is no different than our own. This story takes place largely in our world, with the normal staples referenced for proper placement, but with a side world of magic. Unlike the rediculously cartoonish version that J.K. Rowling presents (which, even as a fanboying 13 year old, never made sense to me), Grossman’s alternative world functions in much the same way – magic is dull, time consuming and work. The people who study at colleges for magic study (such as Brakebills, in New York), graduate and enter the dull working world and fail to see that their lives have become essentially meaningless. There is a fantastic quote in the book that stuck with me:

“This wasn’t Fillory, where there was some magical war to be fought. There was no Watcherwoman to be rooted out, no great evil to be vanquished and without that everything seemed so mundane and penny-ante. No one would come out and say it, but the world wide magical community was suffering from a serious imbalance: too many magicians and not enough monsters.” (Grossman, 210)

What Grossman has essentially done, was insert real life into fantasy. The mundane aspects are there, but along with that is the cynicism and skeptical nature that one feels for life the more you learn from it. This book comes at a particularly interesting point in my own life where I find the text to be highly relatable. We enter college and expect to change the world, only to find that real life is far more dull than anybody bothered to tell us. The Magicians carries with it a resentful, sullen approach to fantasy, something completely contrary to the grand themes that most fantasy novels portray. Indeed, the main action and villain in the book hardly appear at all; just once early on, and in the last quarter of the book, when the characters stumble upon their quest. Even then, their quest is not a noble one, it is scattered, disorganized and brutal, where they turn out to be pawns in a far larger story that helps to tie the entire book together.

There are other elements to fantasy that Grossman stumbles upon that seems to be largely untried ground, at least with some modern works, the effects of magic and power upon a magician. While books such as Lord of the Rings look to the corrupting influence of power, Grossman expands this a bit and utilizes the theme throughout the story. His characters are unhappy creatures through most of the book, and one character hits it right on the head when they note that magicians are different because they are in pain, and from that pain comes the willpower and drive to succeed and make magic. Another character looks back towards the end of the book and wonders at the sheer power that the students are exposed to so early on, and speculates as to just what type of influence that would have upon them. But, for all the corrupting influences that magic might have upon its users, it is clear by the end of the book, when Quentin has retreated from its teachings, that there is still an irresistible pull and wonder to it that makes it hard to walk away from.

I like this approach to a story, changing the entire focus. In essence, it is Harry Potter, grown up. When I first read Rowling’s series, I was in the middle of high school, and couldn’t have made any critical points about the book if my life had depended upon it. Now, it is as if those major elements have undergone the same sort of transformation and growth that I’ve gone through in the past decade or so since I first read the books. Grossman’s fantasy is darker, far more adult and much more interesting from a storytelling perspective, I think, than all of Rowling’s series put together.

Reading over other reviews of this book, I can see a number of critics and reader who just don’t get the purpose of the book. While it does appear to be very similar to the aforementioned Harry Potter and Narnia series (there is no way to escape comparisons here), it is the themes and tone that sets this book far apart from them. The Magicians presents a far more realistic setting in a fantasy world, because that suits the characters, casting away the usual black and white morality with one that is far more gray. There are few clear cut moral resolutions here. Every character is damaged in their own way – Quentin, tired of life from early on, Alice, who has grown up with parents who are unable to see their meaningless purposes in life, Penny, who is so standoffish that he is an outsider, Janet, who is so consumed with herself that she must be the center of all problems and Eliot who is consumed with greed and lust. Throughout, the characters are often confronted not with a clear and present danger, but with the simple problem of finding their way in the world as role models and loved ones let each other down, or as childhood standbys turn out to be far more than they appear, such as what happens with the Fillory series within the book.

The Magicians is a thoughtful, interesting and dark read. Like his predecessors in the genre, Grossman has put together a highly imaginative and creative tale. While I often turn to fantasy because of its escapism, I was absolutely enraptured with its view of the modern world through a slightly different lens, one that I can not only relate to, but agree with almost completely. While I’m usually a Science Fiction fan, this book completely captivated me throughout, and is likely going to be on my list of top fantasy works.

The Book Of Lost Things

I love stories. From a young age, I’ve loved listening and reading them, as a child who was never terribly inclined towards sports or other activities. From a very young age, I have been fairly shy around other people, instead usually to turn to books for company – this is not to say that I’ve been antisocial all my life – as people often let me down or disappoint far more than books do. It’s with this basis that I love our ability to imagine.

While stopping by the bookstore recently, I came across an intriguing book – The Book of Lost Things, by John Connelly – and armed with a coupon e-mailed to me that day, I bought it, and found that it was one of the better fantasy books that I’ve read recently, and has reminded me of my simple love for stories, which this book is largely based around – a love for stories and the limits of imagination.

The book’s premise is fairly similar to one of my favorite films, Pan’s Labyrinth, which came out in 2007. David, a young English boy in 1939, has had a troubled life – his mother passed away from a wasting illness, and his father shortly fell for another woman, Rose, who bore him a son. David is resentful of this new family, and grows angry at the divided attention and the supposed replacement of his mother. He soon experiences a sort of episode – a blackout – and when he recovers, he begins to hear books whispering to one another. At this point, the London Blitz is well underway, and when trying to run away, a German bomber crashes near his house, and David is thrust into a fantasy world.

This is the interesting part of the book, and where there are a lot of parallels to Pan’s Labyrinth, but also to other well known stories, such as C.S. Lewis’s Narnia series, as well as Grimm’s Fairy Tales and even Life on Mars. Throughout the book, the reader is never entirely sure as to whether David has really been thrust into an alternate world, populated by fantastic creations, or whether he is lying injured, much as Sam Tyler is in the TV show, or even it the entire experience is a sort of psychotic break, a device that David utilizes to escape from a world that he hates so much.

The ability to hear books whisper to one another is a fun concept, and is helps to reinforce what happens to David goes through. In this world, we come across a number of fairly familiar stories or concepts as David journeys onwards in an attempt to find his lost mother, but later, to return home. Various incarnations of the tales, such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Sleeping Beauty, the heroic knight, werewolves and vampires make their appearances, often with far more brutal and violent twists that are more reminiscent of the Grimm’s Fairy Tales than their sanitized Disney versions. (However, the Seven Dwarves as a sort of communistical band who felt that they were repressed by the Capitalistic classes is downright hilarious) Essentially, this world of David’s has been created from within his own knowledge of stories, a creation of his own imagination, one that is borne out of a sort of self-realization and psychology that helps mend his own hurt nature.

The story elements, upon looking back, are really quite simple, and throughout, I found myself catching what would happen next and realizing where the plot was going next, which gives the book an air of predictability to anyone who’s listened to enough bedtime stories. But where that might have annoyed me in most books, it really didn’t here – this was a story with a good character arc, one that is reminiscent of the classic stories of the growth of a hero – a brash, angry young man who sets off to prove himself to the world, only to discover his own nature, and thus the character growth beings until you reach the happily ever after at the end. However, while there are many elements to this story that are much like the fairy tales that we are all familiar with, it feels far more realistic. The epilogue, of sorts, recounts the remainder of David’s days, in a way that really doesn’t fit with the rest of the tales that I’ve come across, giving the antagonist – the Crooked Man – a grain of truth to his predictions and proclamations.

While the book is fairly clear about what the entire experience was, it can easily fit into any of the three descriptions – David fell into a coma, he created the world because of trauma or he really was catapulted into this other world. The ambiguity of this is a very nice element, while one is clearly correct, they all are essentially part of what happened. Looking back at this, it really doesn’t matter to the overall part of the story – this story is more about the arc of the hero, self-realization and growth to beyond his angry and frustrated youth.

What the book really feels like, now that I’ve finished (and my copy was deceptively long, with a sort of notes and interview that takes up the last hundred or so pages of the novel) is an homage to the classic stories. There’s a grain of humor and twisting of some of the classics that only a modern author could get away with, but what it shows, most of all, that these stories and one’s imagination are still relevant and important. There are values to these stories that still permeate to the beginnings of the Second World War, and indeed, to the present moment, where some of the basic elements of good and evil are laid out. This book is about stories, and like David finds, how they can talk to you.

New Project : Geek!

A while ago, I picked up and read the book American Nerd: The Story of My People, by Benjamin Nugent, and while I enjoyed parts of it, I came away very disappointed with it. It’s toted as a sort of history, biography and social critique of the United States, but when I read it, I felt like it could have been a bit more in depth and more detailed when it came to the subject. While it touches on each element there, it doesn’t do so in any way that really made any sort of impact.

This was particularly dissapointing because it’s a subject that I find near and dear to my heart. I’m a geek, through and through, and over the past couple of years, this has been a huge point of contention, and looking back, this has been a sort of search for my own identify, but also a look at where this identity came from, and what has influenced it.

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, ‘geek’ is defined as:

1 : a carnival performer often billed as a wild man whose act usually includes biting the head off a live chicken or snake
2 : a person often of an intellectual bent who is disliked
3 : an enthusiast or expert especially in a technological field or activity <computer geek>

Obviously, I’m not looking at the 1st one, less towards the 2nd one, and more towards the 3rd definition listed. I also want to differenciate this from ‘nerd’, which is defined as thus:

1 : an unstylish, unattractive, or socially inept person ; especially : one slavishly devoted to intellectual or academic pursuits <computer nerds>

Obviously, there are overlaps here, and I think that both apply, especially when I look in the mirror. I’m certainly fairly socially inept more of the time, but from a narcessistic perspective, I don’t think that I’m horribly unstylish or unattractive (self-depricating, maybe). But nor do I think that I’m particularly disliked, although I have a number of interests that I’m enthusiastic about, and tend to devote myself to them.

A couple years ago, I read a book that defined how I viewed history and solidified my interest in the subject: The Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters and the Birth of the Comic Book, by Gerald Jones, which not only examines the comics, but puts them within the context of American history. I’ve long been interested in all things science fiction and fantasy (and related genres), and came to the realization that there is an extensive history behind many of my interests, but there’s also a facinating history with how they have been percieved by the public, and by the same token, how fans of various genres have been viewed by the public.

In thinking about this, it’s something that I’m hoping to write about in a far more organized and historical fashion, looking at the history of fandom and the things that we’re fans of, but also something that looks at how the social aspect of all this has played out, much as Nugent as started. I certainly have plenty of material to work with, and Nugent’s book did have a number of very good ideas in it, but it’s not necessarily the direction that I’m interested in going for this. It’s a project that I’ve had on my mind for a little while now, and I’ve finally started to outline and look into what exactly I’ll be writing about. Let’s see how well this goes.

The ‘To Read’ List

So, it’s been a little while since I’ve done one of these lists, and I’ve added a number of other books to the queue since I last listed off everything. Here’s what I’m reading:

Currently:

The Catch, Archer Mayor – Just finished this last night. Good, light reading, something that came out last fall that I never got around to picking up when it first came out. It’s not as good as the original Joe Gunther novels, but it was a fun read.
Blood and Thunder, Hampton Sides – Fantastic history of the American west. I’m working through it slowly, and it’s one of the best types of histories, that takes a smaller story and places it within the context of the greater happenings of the American expansion to the rest of America during the early 1800s.
Shadow Bridge, Gregory Frost – I came across this book when I wrote about Borders giving SF/F authors problems by not selling their books. I’m only a couple pages in, but it seems intersting.
A Game of Thrones, George R.R. Martin – Still plugging away every couple of months or so. At this rate, I’ll be done with the first book by the time that Martin finished the rest of the series.

Next Up:

Anathem, Neal Stephenson – This one’s garnered a lot of attention over the past year since its publication.
The Warded Man, Peter Brett – My friend Eric highly recommended this book, and I suspect that I’ll get to it quickly.
Paris 1919, Margaret Macmillan – I ‘read’ this for a class in college, and need to give it a proper read now.
Woken Furies, Richard K. Morgan – Third book in Morgan’s Takeshi Kovacs trilogy.
Western Warfare, Jeremy Black – Military History pleasure reading…
Warfare in the Western World, Jeremy Black – Ditto. Not until I finish my program, most likely.
Generation Kill, Evan Wright – This was made into a miniseries, and I’m intrerested in seeing what it’s about and what it says about society.
Redcoats, Stephen Brumwell – Another Military history piece that I haven’t gotten to yet. Originally, this was to be used for a paper, but my topic shifted and I never got around to reading it.
Hot, Flat and Crowded, Thomas Friedman – Christmas present. Looks facinating.
What Is Cultural History? Peter Burke – Historigraphy book.
The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman – Another one that’s garnered a lot of attention lately.
World War Z, Max Brooks – Despite my rant on Zombies, Ninjas and Pirates the other day, this looks like a fun read.
Theodore Rex, Edmund Morris – Biography on Theodore Roosevelt.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night, Mark Haddon – My mom recommended this one to me. At some point, I’ll get around to reading it.
The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, Michael Chabon – I loved the Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, and this one’s supposed to be just as good.

And Everything Else:
Mao, Jun Chang
Heartshaped Box, Joe Hill
A Crack at the Edge of the World, Simon Winchester
Girl Sleuth, Melanie Rehak
The Ten Cent Plague, David Hadju
Millennium Falcon, James Luceno
The Force Unleashed, Sean Williams
Invincible, Troy Denning
The Day of Battle, Rick Atkinson
The Big Red One, Wheeler
Ike: An American Hero, Michael Korda
John Adams, David McCullough
Lord Tophet, Gregory Frost
Pattern Recognition, William Gibson
Close to Shore, Michael Capuzzo
Flu, Gina Kolata
Aspho Fields, Karen Traviss
Devices and Desires, K.J. Parker
The Zombie Survival Handbook, Max Brooks
A Civil Action, Harr
Edison’s Eve, Gaby Wood
A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter Miller
Atonement, Ian McEwan
A Clash of Kings, George R.R. Martin
Command Decision, Elizabeth Moon
Marque and Reprisal, Elizabeth Moon
Cosmonaut Keep, Ken MacLeod
Fury, Aaron Allston
Revelation, Karen Traviss
Streets of Shadows, Michael Reeves
Inerno, Troy Denning
The Dragon’s Nine Sons, Chris Robinson
Tales of Ten Worlds, Arthur C Clark

53 Books in all. And that’s before my school books.

Astronauts > Ninjas

From here on out, I’m decreeing that Zombies, Ninjas and Pirates are no longer cool, and that Astronauts, Mongolians, Vikings and Robots are taking their place as the ‘cool’ things to geek out about.

Let me explain.

Over the past couple of years, these three character types have become more popular than usual. Pirates, Zombies and Ninjas have long been popular with the geek crowd. Recent films and games have only thrown the fuel on the fire. At camp, there were endless debates as to whether Pirates or Ninjas were better, or who would win in a fight, and I remember at least a couple of camp-wide games that revolved around these types of characters.

A couple weeks ago, I watched one of Yatzhee’s Zero Punctuation reviews for a game called Left 4 Dead, which is essentially a point and shoot at the undead, and where he says the following: “It’s my observation that Zombies are second only to Pirates, Ninjas and Monkeys in the list of things nerds like and need to shut the fuck up about.” After listening to that, it got me thinking – He’s certainly right, but but necessarily for the reasons that he presents in the game (basically, he rants about how Zombies have been overused for just about everything.)

I’ve never really gotten the whole pirates vs. ninjas vs. zombies thing. Sure, they make some interesting stories, but not to the level at which they’re really adored at. I think that it’s easy to atribute much of the hype to films because geeks and nerds like the various films that they’ve been portrayed in, and like to talk about it. The endless discussions are informed by the imaginations of screenwriters, and not necessarily fact, and as a result, 90% of the discussions are pure crap in the first place, a sort of rosy-nostalgic look at what we think these things should be.

The root complaint that I have at this point is that for such an inventive, interesting and imaginative genre, there’s very little actual innovation and imagination going on amongst the fan community. We obsess over pirates, ninjas and zombies because we’ve seen them before in films, and know all there is to know about them, reading over books like the Zombie survival handbook and Under the Black Flag if you’re really into the subject.

I’ve seen the fan community in action – we’re an incredbily handy bunch, and especially when it comes to things like costuming, there’s very little that people can’t do, and do it well. But, I try and think back to the various conventions that I’ve gone to, and wonder, when was the last time that I’ve seen something truely original. I’ve seen amazing costumes, especially from the 501st Legion that I’m a part of – and I’m not trying to disparage their work in the slightest – but everything revolves around existing media – Star Wars, Star Trek, Indiana Jones, Batman, Spiderman, you name it, you go to a big convention, you’ll likely see them. Even for halloween, unless you’re five, you’re unlikely to see any originality when it comes to costumes.

Forrest Ackerman, who recently passed away in December of 2008, was the first Science Fiction fan, appearing at the 1st World Con science fiction convention in a costume that he made himself, a sort of astronaut, essentially starting the trend of fan costuming. While I’m sure that there have been more cases of originality, I really haven’t seen anything like it. I’ve thought to myself that it would be really fun to try and construct something new and original for a con, before I remember that I’m really not that into costuming or conventions, but should I ever have the time and inclination, it’ll be something to attempt, for sure.

But this is something that falls beyond costuming – it’s largely affecting the entire genre. There are two specific examples that I can think of where this is happening – Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance – Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem! and the downsizing of the science fiction sections in Borders Books.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is a book that’s unoriginal to its core – it takes most of the text of Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice and inserts Zombies into it. I’m not necessarily against this by any stretch of the imagination, but I’m more worried about what it stands for in the greater sceme of things – a general trend of unoriginal thinking when it comes to the genre, especially in popular circles. The big comic book giants in particular are guitly of this sort of thing, running their characters for years on end, without rest or retirement, without replenishing the ranks with new characters that might be more interesting or more relevant. This sort of thinking penetrates all levels of fandom, from the top down. Fans don’t necessarily demand anything particularly original, and the production end of things doesn’t seem to mind turning over the same franchises to them. And I don’t blame them – much of this is a business, and this sells – keep it up, because there are good stories there. But the fan community should demand better.

Borders, last year announced that they were reducing the numbers of SF/F books that they’d have in their stores, a move that would likely hurt smaller and up and coming authors, as it put them in a catch 22 type postition – they weren’t selling enough books to warrent shelf-space, but at the same time, they’re not selling well because they don’t have the shelfspace, at least in theory. The trent here seems to favor more of the media-tie ins that sell far better. While that works for authors who are writing media-tieins, what about the authors who want to tell their own stories?

I don’t think that it’s any coincidence that books that are part of a larger franchise, such as Star Wars or Star Trek do excepetionally well, and they should – there are some excellent reads out there, and I know a bunch of authors who view their works as far more than a simple paycheck (Karen Traviss, Michael A Stackpole, to name two), and it shows. (Granted, there are a number of other hacks out there who really seem to churn out rubbish on a regular basis to get paid – Keith RA Dicandido comes to mind, as well as Max Allen Collins and a bunch of others). But, they sell, because they contain familiar concepts, characters and ongoing storylines.

I have no issues with tie-in media, so long as it’s well written. But for me, tie-in media is a form of advertising. That’s fine, especially because it’s generally entertaining, and features stories that are fun, but I’ll always value a story that’s original (and there will be those that will argue about just what originality is – in this instance, not tied in with someone else’s works) over everything else, just because it’s something new, a different way at looking at a story or story type. And there are good arguments here – because technically, there are only a handful of different story types – I mean, how many stories about space ships can you really expect? In a recent article that I wrote for io9, I was almost shocked to find that the main villian in most of the military science fiction stories were insectoids – Starship Troopers, Armor, Ender’s Game and Alien – all used similar elements to tell their stories. But, their stories are all very different, and I always find that I get more out of them, and most other standalone SF/F novels than I do for 90% of the tie-in books that I read. You just can’t compare Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell to Spider-Man: Down These Mean Streets, no matter the protestations of tie-in authors, you just can’t.

Sadly, this originality is something that seems to be lacking within the geek community, and we’ve become fans of the pre-existing. My complaint here is that Science Fiction and Fantasy has been an incredibly innovative and creative genre , and those qualities have become very far and few between when it comes to a good book or film. The imagination is still there, but the originality is not, and this is why we have the endless Zombies vs. Pirates vs. Ninja debates, I think – we just can’t seem to think of anything else to geek out over. And while it’s not completely original, how about Astronauts, Robots, Mongolians and Vikings? They’re totally better than Zombie Ninja Pirates any day of the week.

What is Science Fiction?

The Guardian Newspaper posted up an article about the label of Science Fiction when it comes to regular literature. Science Fiction as a broad genre has a number of connotations and images associated with it, for sure, but what exactly is the definition of the grouping?

According to Isaac Asimov, one of the greatest science fiction writers to ever live, Science Fiction is: Modern science fiction is the only form of literature that consistently considers the nature of the changes that face us, the possible consequences, and the possible solutions. (There are some other fantastic takes on this here.)

Over the past couple of years, as I have gotten more interested in the history and study of the genre, I’m leaning more towards an anti-genre sort of bias. I am a fan of the genre, and of the elements that commonly make it up – space ships, time travel, aliens, etc. What I find interesting though, is at how horror, science fiction and fantasy genres are generally grouped together, and how fans from one genre tend to be interested in the others.

According to the Guardian article, there are several authors whose books tend to fall under the SF/F genre heading, but aren’t generally considered part of the genre, either by the publisher or the author. For example, the following paragraph raises some eyebrows:

“The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway has just had its paperback release, and is a tour-de-force of ninjas, truckers, Dr Strangelove-type military men, awe-inspiring imagery and very clever writing. It’s also undeniably science fiction. Harkaway is an unrepentant fan of the genre, but his publishers William Heinemann have taken a lot of care not to market the book as such. Harkaway himself said in a recent interview: “I suppose the book does take place in the future, but not the ray-guns-and-silver-suits future. It’s more like tomorrow if today was a really, really bad day.”"

The last sentence is revealing one: “It’s more like tomorrow, if today was a really, really bad day.” Off the top of my head, I can list of a number of science fiction novels and films (Halting State, Children of Men, Wess’Har series, Firefly, etc), where this fits the description perfectly. Science fiction, in my opinion, is little different than most regular fiction, while just taking on a fantastic premise.

Margaret Atwood is somewhat misguided when she states: “Science fiction is rockets, chemicals and talking squids in outer space.”

Science fiction is not just about rockets, chemicals and talking squids in outer space, although these can certainly be elements, but it is not the individual elements that really make up the core of a science fiction story. The core premise is the story. The best science fiction stories, the ones that hold up, are the ones that explore the human condition – not unlike most “literature”. However, these elements do help to define the genre, and, if present in a story, help to define the novel. Stories with things like this are invariably labeled SF/F. It doesn’t necessarily matter what the point of the book is.

Matthew Stover posted an interesting view up on a message board a couple months back:

“Literature is narrative fiction in which the author’s intent is to express his individual vision of a fundamental truth of existence.

[Feel free to substitute other pronouns. I say "his" because, y'know, I'm a guy.]

The label of capital-L “Literature” is not a judgment of quality. It is a statement regarding the author’s objectives. If the author’s objective is simply (not “merely”) to entertain or divert, the work in question is not Literature. It’s still small-L literature (by definition), but that’s not really what we’re talking about. (I use the capital L to keep the distinction clear.)

And there’s plenty of crummy Literature out there. It may be bad, but it’s Literature nonetheless. “

At this definition, at a very broad angle, this encompasses a majority of SF/F genre stories, and separates out the ones that are essentially tie-in novels. The split is at the point where the view is either the author’s, or someone else’s. I’m content with this definition, because I’ve never seen the term Literature as something that automatically means quality. From there, everything can be broken down into the general elements that help to qualify the book. Science fictional type books tend to be grouped together with the ones that have the space ships, the aliens and things like that, but, above all, the story is such that the reader needs to be able to accept the premise, no matter what the story elements are. Battlestar Galactica and Firefly are two television shows that really did a good job at this – they took a situation, and focused on the way the characters reacted. Ron Moore has said that they didn’t want to do a science fiction show, but they wanted a drama in space. It has science fiction elements, but that’s not the focus.

Now, that might not be the main focus of these books that the Guardian has laid out, but they do contain science fiction elements. The article cites Jeanette Winterson with the following quote:

“”People say to me, ’so is the Stone Gods science fiction?’ Well, it is fiction, and it has science in it, and it is set (mostly) in the future, but the labels are meaningless. I can’t see the point of labeling a book like a pre-packed supermarket meal. There are books worth reading and books not worth reading. That’s all.”"

I think she hit the nail on the head – essentially, it doesn’t matter what the book’s label is to the reader or storyteller – these labels seem to be more a thing concocted by publishers and booksellers in order to target certain audiences who might be more inclined to buy something with weird aliens and space ships as opposed to something else. That being said, even though Cormac McCarthy’s The Road wasn’t published or marketed as such, it’s still gained quite a bit of a following in the SF/F genre crowd.

I’ll always be a fan of the SF/F label though, despite the elitism and mockery that it might get – it’s really the only genre that has a real geek following, and no matter the status that the genre gets from other authors and critics, it is still one of the sources, for me, of some of the best literature out there.

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell

The first four pages of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, (at least in my edition, the 2005 paperback) is a list of praise and quotes from reviews as to the quality of this novel. Coming across this, and the size of the book, is extremely daunting to a reader, and the prospect of watching to see if a novel comes to the level of quality so proclaimed is a challenge in and of itself.

Susanne Clarke has fashioned a masterpiece of English literature, one that throws back to a Victorian style, rich in prose and story, and is easily one of the greatest works of fantasy literature that I have ever read, rivaling some of the great classics of the genre, from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings to Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is a complicated, extraordinary and exceptional work, and I am very pleased to have read.

The story is one that is complicated and fascinating. It begins in 1806, and tells the tale of two magicians who come forward in England with the intent to return English magic to a nation that has long been without it. Mr. Norrell is the first to come forward, and begins to bring magic back into the world. He is shortly thereafter joined by a fellow magician under his tutorage, Jonathan Strange, and they begin to study and practice their new craft. Thus begins a tale of friendship, rivalries, prophecy and history. Some of the greatest themes of literature are present here, but the story plays out in a truly original manner. There is the story of the differences between the master and apprentice, and within that context we see a number of themes; old verses new, tradition verses innovation.

This story takes place during the Napoleonic wars, which play an integral part of the direction of the characters. Interwoven throughout the story are well known figures: King George II, Lord Wellington, Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, Lord Byron, and others, which give this story a rich historical context that borders on alternative history, but in a manner that far surpasses other known authors of the genre, such as Harry Turtledove, but in a way that far surpasses his works. Indeed, Clarke seems to pay as much attention to detail as J.R.R. Tolkien in his own works, with precise and detailed language to describe the events of the story.

The story takes place throughout England and continental Europe, and feels like it. From the dialogue to the characters and to the descriptions, it is a quintessential product of England, and draws upon its long history and literature. Oftentimes, I would find myself reading and feeling much like I was back in the country, something that I have longed for much lately. I know of a number of the locations in the book, as well as a good deal of the history of this time, and Clarke’s novel falls well within the context of the time and history here.

This book is a very complicated one, and having finished it only a short while ago, I am still processing all that has happened. It is written far differently from most other books – much as in the style of Jane Austin, from what I’ve read and it takes some time to get used to. Indeed, I read this book in two parts – I had started reading it almost a year or two ago, and put it aside to read something more accessible. Returning to it just a little while ago, I found that once I got into the story and characters, the pages flew by. But beyond the normal story here is a book that is rich with story. Throughout the pages there are footnotes of references to the author’s world, giving the readers insights into the surrounding history that helps to shape this story. A number of these footnotes could be an entire story within themselves, and Clarke has singlehandedly created her own mythology that not only stands well on its own, but is so detailed that one could almost mistake it for a mythological history in and of itself.

This book is a stunning debut of a new author. Looking back over the first couple of pages of praise that has been bestowed upon this book, I can see why it has been rated so highly by reviewers and fellow authors of the genre, and I am thrilled to say that this novel lives up to all expectations. Clarke has brought forth a complicated, yet intriguing, read to the fantasy genre, one that is most likely destined to become a classic, and one that, despite its real world historical contexts, is highly original, innovative and entertaining, one that I am sure to return to, and highly recommend to all fans of the genre, or a good read in general.

The Geek Demographic, or What to Call it?

Cinematical, a movie blog that I check up on every now and then just posted up an interesting article called The Geek Beat: Defining the Geek Genre. Actually, when I say interesting, I mean somewhat misguided. It provides an interesting starting point when it comes to this sort of genre, but the conclusions that she comes to are very misguided when she says things such as : “That’s why I restricted “geek films” to be movies based on (or accompanied by) graphic novels and comic books.”

Okay. Backing up for a moment, geek is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as the following:

/geek/

• noun informal, chiefly N. Amer. 1 an unfashionable or socially inept person. 2 an obsessive enthusiast.

When it comes to films or media in general, items that fall under the Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Genres are generally lumped together. It’s not too hard to see why this happens – all three share the same notion of the fantastic, whether it takes place in the future, past, alternate worlds or even this world. In general, the definition of geek here refers to the human component. When it comes to a genre, it’s hard to really describe films as socially inept or obsessive. (Unless they’re a documentary or some really obscure, brilliant film that nobody watches, etc).

Rather, a sort of Geek demographic would seem to include the films that the ‘traditional’ image of a geek (sci-fi/fantasy/horror fan who lives at home, collects comics and has never been within five feet of the opposite sex1) tends to frequent. You can pretty much include any sort of film that has the science fiction, fantasy and horror elements. Star fighters, aliens, ghosts, wizards, magic, weird creatures, things like that all seem to be fairly common elements, and genre (for lack of a better word at the moment) fans tend to be attracted to these elements and stories that come along with them, generally because there are many things to be examined about them, but also because they tend to be somewhat escapist in nature. (Discussion of escapism is probably an entire discussion for later).

The problem that I have with the article here is that the author is limiting it to things with media tie-ins such as books and comic books. That falls incredibly short of where the interests of this sort of geek demographic fall. Comics and cartoons are certainly part of this demographic, but they are only a small part of this genre. Additionally, some science fiction films are well received by mainstream audiences. Star Wars has grossed billions of dollars, as has Star Trek, and these are arguably some of the more geeky franchises out there. Shows such as LOST, Heroes, Battlestar Galactica and Firefly have likewise been well received critically, and in some cases by mainstream audiences that don’t generally go for the typical geeky genre.

In general, I had thought of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror in terms of separate genres. Science Fiction had space ships and robots, Fantasy got the wizards and magic, and horror got the guys with the axes and blood. Obviously, that isn’t the case, and while often times there are a number of superficial differences between the genres, I’ve come to believe that these differences aren’t the best things to judge by – oftentimes, it is the type of story that really counts, and why fans of the various genres tend to be attracted to them as a whole. You will always have people who are interested more in SciFi than fantasy (I tend to go more towards SF than I do the other two.) but when it comes down to it, there are common elements.

The article cites a number of films such as Transformers: Rise of the Fallen, Star Trek, Dr. Who, Terminator, and seems to label them different, a geek or a nerd sort of genre. Lump them all together here, and more. I consider things ranging from Robot Chicken, Indiana Jones, Fawlty Towers, Monty Python, Sherlock Holmes, Life on Mars, Battlestar Galactica, and Chuck to be part of the same demographic. Not all of these have the elements that one might consider to be in a sci-fi, fantasy or horror genre, but they do tend to attract people who are fans of those genres – they all contain fantastic elements that has to do with a escapist or speculative story, and thus, you can’t really apply any of the SciFi/Fantasy/Horror genre titles to this sort of thing because not all of the content falls under those titles. I don’t necessarily want to label the overall genre as a ‘Geek’ genre because it’s not necessarily accurate, if you go straight by the definition. I’m a self described geek, but I tend to also be a geek when it comes to music, history, reading, etc. By labelling this sort of genre a GEEK genre, you’ll get some of the cultural connotations right, but would that mean that films that history buffs and music affectionatos would also be included? No, because when one thinks of a sort of Geek Genre, they think of the content that tends to be attractive to your traditional/typical geek/nerd/etc. Additonally, in and of itself, it’s not necessarily something that only appeals to geeks, but to those who like the fantastic.

This is the Fantastic Genre, something that covers the Science Fiction, Fantasy or Horror genres, and what their fans tend to be attracted to.

Top Geek Things of 2008

It’s coming up to the end of the year, and looking back, 2008 has been a very fun year for geeks everywhere – in books, television programs and films, among other things. Over the past couple of days, I’ve been thinking back over the year to see what was the best and worst of 2008.

The Best:

Starbuck returned from the Grave; The Fleet reaches Earth. (Battlestar Galactica Season 4)

The third season of Battlestar Galactica was a little rocky in the middle, but the last episodes set up a real bang. Starbuck was presumably killed, only to turn up during a major confrontation of the Human and Cylon fleets. Season 4 opens even bigger, with one of the best space battles that I’ve ever seen. Our four new cylons are freaking out, Starbuck’s back and everything culminates in the discovery of Earth in episode 10.Galactica has long been one of my favorite shows, and with a certain end point in mind, Season four was where Galactica got somewhat back onto the tracks, with a fairly tight story arc, only to get to another long wait for the final ten episodes. It’s been well worth it though.

Pushing Daisies… back from the Grave, and back to it

After a long hiatus due to the writer’s strike (more about that in a bit) my favorite show of 2007-2008 came back with a new set of episodes. There are not enough good things that I can say about this show. We left off last year with Chuck learning that it was Ned that killed her father, only to end up at the end of this season with him being awoken. It was another season of fantastic storytelling, character development and extremely fantastic dialog. Unfortunately, the show has been axed due to low ratings. Fortunately, Bryan Fuller will be going to Heroes for the latter half of Season 3.

Lost Gets Better – Again.

Here’s the situation. LOST season 1 blew everyone away. Season 2 drove them away. Season 3 brought some people back, and Season 4, everything got interesting again. This season was the best since Season 1, in my opinion. We had several new characters (my favorite was Daniel Faraday, the physicist), and a couple people killed off. We started seeing flash-forwards, where Jack has a beard and addicted to pain pills, Hurley’s in a mental institution and Sayid is channeling Abram’s Alias. Oh, and they get off the island. Then the island vanishes.

I have Leonard Nemoy’s DNA? (The Big Bang Theory)

This show started in 2007, where I was annoyed by its laugh track and annoying characters. But this year, I started watching it and enjoying it. While it’s certainly a very stereotypical portrayal of nerds and geeks, it’s fun, because the creators have put in place a series of fun characters, and the writers make some jokes that are actually funny. This week’s episode was absolutely priceless, when Sheldon gets a napkin signed by Leonard Nimoy. Now, if they’ll just ditch the laugh track. This show’s likely to be around for a while longer – it’s been getting better and better ratings as the year goes on.

Back in a Nick of Time (Life on Mars)

One of my absolute favorite shows of all time was Life on Mars. Up until this year, it was only a BBC drama, until ABC picked it up and made a pilot. That pilot sucked, horribly, so the cast was ditched, except for Jason O’Mara, and the show was redone, set in New York City, given a good cast and started up. The result? A solid TV series that’s mirrored the original (but it’s starting to diverge a bit now), a wonderful soundtrack of classic rock and a story that’s actually interesting. I can’t wait for its return in 2009.

The Joker raises worldwide GDP. (The Dark Knight)

First, there was excitement when it was announced that the Joker was going to be the villain. Then Heath Ledger signed up for the role. Then he died earlier this year after filming was completed, leaving some people to wonder if the film would be released on schedule. Then Warner Brothers covered every surface they could find with Dark Knight ads. When the film was released, it went on to gross $996,680,514 in theaters. The film was a huge success, and a fantastic film at that. It was a comic book movie with true darkness, some real symbolism and good storytelling throughout. It’s a pity that we won’t see Heath Ledger reprise his role of The Joker, because he’s done the best portrayal of a villain in recent film memory.

I am Iron Man (Iron Man)

Before The Dark Knight blew the doors off the box office, there was Iron Man. Iron Man has long been a favorite marvel superhero of mine, and everything fell into place for this film. Good story, well directed, fantastic casting (Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark was brilliant) and of course, the Mark II set of armor. Marvel proved that they could make a good superhero movie, one that was relevant and not stuck in the low-humor that characterized other comic book adaptations. Already, I can’t wait for Iron Man 2. And Iron Man 3. And The Avengers.

Eeeeevvvvvaaaaaa (Wall-E)

Pixar has released what is possibly their best film to date. (Except maybe Toy Story and The Incredibles). Following a robot far from home, Andrew Stanton has presented a film with a cute, romantic science fiction story with some social commentary (said to be unintentional) woven into the CGI. Wall-E is easily the most appealing robot since R2-D2 hit the big screen in 1977, and his antics as he’s pulled along for the ride (literally) are cute, heartbreaking and funny.And with very little real dialog.

Roar. Crunch. Repeat. (Cloverfield)

Monster movies meets social networking video and America gets its own monster. This film was brilliantly shot with an extremely fun concept. A monster comes and plays t-ball with the statue of liberty, and it’s caught on camera by a bunch of twenty-somethings as they escape. The project was conceived of by LOST creator J.J. Abrams, and his fingerprints are all over it. From the lack of explanation of everything to the weird stuff, this is a very fun film to watch. Rumors are that there’s a Cloverfield 2 being talked about.

With My Freeze Ray I Will Stop… The World (Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog)

This project was a huge success for Joss Whedon & Co. Conceived of during the Writer’s strike, Whedon presents an aspiring supervillian, Dr. Horrible (Neil Patrick Harris), his buddies and his quest to finish his freeze ray, avoid Captain Hammer (Nathan Fillion) and win over Penny (Felicia Day). We’re treated to musical numbers, crazy plots and a fantastic venture to prove that the internet is a viable place to release content.Take a look here.

Up, up and away! (When We Left Earth/NASA)

This year was NASA’s 50th year in operation, and the Discovery channel released a fantastic documentary entitled When We Left Earth that touted its major achievements and failures throughout the years, bringing viewers some of the most incredible footage of space that I’ve ever seen, and telling a fantastic story of how NASA has come to be, with interviews with astronauts and support personnel. I get chills when I watch it, and wonder when we’ll return to the moon and beyond.

Hobbit’s Labyrinth (The Hobbit)

After long rumors, production problems and drama with Peter Jackson (who directed Lord of the Rings), Guillermo del Toro signed on to direct the upcoming Hobbit film and prequel. (Or two Hobbit films?) This is extremely good news, because the people who can adequately fill Jackson’s shoes after LOTR are few and far between. del Toro is the perfect director for this project, and has already proven that he can do fantasy brilliantly, with his masterpiece Pan’s Labyrinth. Plus, he can play in other people’s universes, as per his work with the Hellboy films. (Which weren’t as good, but fun)

Watchman Trailer (Watchman)

What’s called the greatest graphic novel ever is coming to the big screen, much to the annoyance of its creator, and to FOX, apparently. A trailer for Watchman aired with The Dark Knight, and it made fanboys everywhere sit up and take notice. There’s still complaints about how it’s unfilmable and that it’ll be too short or too long, but from my eyes? This looks like it’ll be THE comic book film to see next year. It looks like it captured the feel of the comic book pretty well, and it’s embellished a bit to look badass. Plus, Rorschach looks dead on. Just like I thought he’d be like.

Large Hadron Collider (Science)

The Large Hadron Collider was turned on on September 10th, to many worries about the world ending. Contrary to popular opinion, the earth didn’t vanish in a tiny black hole. It was set to uncover the mysteries of the universe, but then it broke down again nine days later and won’t be up online until 2009. But, it’s still cool!

Geeks in Politics (Obama [spiderman, conan, superman] Patrick Leahy [Batman Cameo])

There’s been a lot of geekiness in politics this year. No lightsaber waving from McCain this time around, but President Elect Obama has claimed to be a big Spiderman and Conan fan, and did a superman pose in Metropolis, IL. In addition to him, VT senator Patrick Leahy, a huge batman fan, had a cameo in The Dark Knight. He’s also the head of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Ironic.

Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy (Costumes)

The New York Metropolitan Museum of Art hosted an exhibit earlier this year (it’s since closed) called Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy. It featured a number of costumes from a number of classic films, such as the original Superman and Wonder Woman films, but also things as recently released as The Dark Knight and Iron Man. The fashion section was a bit of a miss for me, but the exhibit as a whole was just outstanding. Plus, they had several original copies of Superman and Batman, Spiderman and Iron Man on display. Covered in a plastic shield of course…

Star Wars Encyclopedia (Star Wars)

Del Rey released a new and expanded Star Wars Encyclopedia this year, one that is not only complete, but still remarkably up to date. That’s not likely to last as long, given how fast LFL churns out canon material, but it’s a beautiful repository of information in the universe. I can spend hours just paging through reading things.

“Anathem” By Neal Stephenson

I actually have yet to read this book, but it’s caught my eye, and it’s made a splash when it comes to the sci-fi literary world. All I really know about it is that it takes place on an earth-like world, and doubles as a philosophical text for knowledge and religion. I’ll have to pick it up, and only expand my to-read list further.

A Game of Thrones picked up by HBO (Song of Fire & Ice)

Another book that I have yet to read, but I actually own this one. HBO has picked up the book for a series. If there’s one thing that HBO does well, it’s TV shows, because they can pour money into them and get a good result. And, they have a good track record with adaptations, with things such as Band of Brothers and John Adams. I’ll watch this when it’s released.

We’ss Har Wars End (Karen Traviss)

Several years in the making, Karen Traviss has finally finished her Wess’Har Wars series with book 6, Judge. Starting back in 2003, she introduced readers to a fantastic story of first contacts filled with alien races, political commentary and expert storytelling. Judge didn’t deliver quite as well as I’d have liked (It certainly wasn’t the strongest of the series), it carried the momentum well, and proved to be a good read, one that finished up one of my favorite series satisfactorily. Hopefully, Karen will be back to writing hard scifi again, because she’s incredible at it.

Trooping (501st)

This year I got back into trooping with the 501st Legion. All in all, I did a total of 30 or so events, ranging from small affairs here in VT to much larger ones. The most memorable ones were the Boston St. Patrick’s Day Parade, Burlington Kid’s Day, the Weird Al Concert,  St-Jean-sur-Richelieu Balloon Festival, Walk for Autisms, and the 2008 Woburn Halloween Parade. All my events are listed here.

With all the good things that have happened this year, there’s the other side of the coin, and some letdowns, disappointments and pure flops.

Worst:

Writer’s Strike

Okay, this started in 2007, but it messed up television for the foreseeable future, by ending some shows and putting others on a long hiatus that has really hurt ratings. Pushing Daisies was one casualty, Terminator was almost one, LOST was put off for a year, as was 24, and already, we’re on the eve of another major strike over pretty much the same issues – internet distribution. Hopefully, some lessons will be learned.

Surviving a Nuclear Detonation (Indiana Jones)

Indiana Jones came back, and he came back bland. Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull was an impossible undertaking to fill the hopes of fans for the past twenty years. While it’s not a horrible film, it’s nowhere near as high quality as Raiders or Crusade (although I did like it better than Doom). There was no passion, a crazy storyline and some annoying characters. It does have its moments, but they are few and far between.

Skyguy/Snips/Roger Roger (The Clone Wars)

Star Wars was another big LFL franchise that came back this year, and while The Clone Wars certainly had its moments, even high points, this film just extends the image of money grubbing that LFL is involved with, which is a shame. There’s too much bad dialog, characters and situations to make this a good part of the Star Wars universe, but the TV show has been making some improvements. The animation is stunningly good, some of the stories are actually good, but every time the battle droids start talking, I want to throw something at my TV.

Michael Crichton Eaten by Cyborg T-Rex and Flesh eating Space Bacteria from the Past.

While my interest in Michael Crichton has waned over the years as he began to write crappy books (Such as Prey and State of Fear), there’s no doubt that he’s shaped my reading. I’m still a huge fan of Jurassic Park, The Andromeda Strain, Terminal Man and a number of his older novels. He’s one of the most popular scifi authors (although he’s resisted the genre title) out there with his works, most of which were made into films. It’s a shame that he’s passed – I was always hoping for another good story from him.

Gary Gygax failed his saving throw

Geek-God Gary Gygax likewise passed away this year, leaving behind a legacy that has shaped nerd-culture in the US forever. His creation, Dungeons and Dragons, along with co-creator Dave Arneson, was one of the defining features of geeks everywhere, something that I got into back in 2001. Along with giving geeks something to do in groups, it helped define a generation’s activities, reading materials and conceptions of fantasy through to this day.

Arthur C Clarke becomes the Space Child

Arguably one of the greatest science fiction authors ever, Clarke’s death hit the world hard. He helped to define the literary genre, and the actual science behind it, and was responsible for such classics as 2001: A Space Odyssey, Rama, Childhood’s End, and numerous others, as well as the telecommunications satellite. He will be sorely missed, and is one of the last of the golden age of science fiction to be with us.(Today would have been his 91st birthday)

CNN Hologram technology

On election nigh, CNN touted their new thing in news casting, a hologram of Will.I.Am. Looked cool, and it looked like a hologram, but it was nothing more than a lot of cameras and empty space plus some CGI. Blah. Let’s see some real technology in action please.

Close the Iris! (Stargate Atlantis)

I was a huge fan of Stargate SG-1, and same with Atlantis for the first couple of seasons. This season has just plain sucked. It’s a shame, because there’s a good concept there, amidst the horrible characters, stories and situations. Not long now, because Atlantis has been canceled, and will be replaced with Stargate Universe next year.

Even more Confusing and Confounding! (Heroes Season 3)

Heroes Season 1 was brilliant. It introduced a new spin on superheroes, only to fall to its own success and have a fairly slow and boring second season. (To be sure, the writer’s strike had something to do with it, because it got better). Season 3 was promised to be bigger and better. And it was certainly bigger, with heroes coming back from the grave, more time travel and action, but none of it really made the same impression that season 1 did. I’m still behind episodes, but apparently it’s been getting better. Now that Bryan Fuller’s returning to the show, can we PLEASE start off really good and get better? Please?

Weird Science (Fringe)

I was really excited for Fringe, the latest show by JJ Abrams. It was a fun concept, and had a good couple episodes at first, but just became so dull that I stopped following it. I might pick it up again at some point, but only when I can marathon the entire thing at once.

Forrest J. Ackerman Dies

Forrest J. Ackerman, one of the first science fiction fans out there recently passed away. He was a key element of the spread of science fiction fandom, and he helped to found the LA Science Fantasy Society, among other numerous achivements, as well as influencing numerous authors over his long life.

Borders Downsizes SciFi Sections

I ranted about this earlier, as did a number of authors. Borders has been downsizing their sci-fi sections. While it’s understandable that they have to sell items, and that they can’t put everything on the shelf, you can’t predict what the next big hit will be, and you can’t know that until you actually start selling things.

That’s it for this year. Next year, there’s already quite a bit coming up. Should be a fun year.

Introduction to Fantasy

Over the past couple of years, I’ve done a lot of thinking about how I’ve reached the point to where I am today, how I obtained the interests and passions that I have now. I’m a geek, and I’ve been one for a long time, but I’ve never really questioned or considered just how I’ve gotten to this point until recently.
Those who know me know that I’m a huge fan of Science Fiction and Fantasy – books, films, comics, TV shows, etc. Largely, I attribute this to being taken to a screening of A New Hope in 1997 when the series was re-released to theaters. Watching the film at that age really had a huge impact on me and my imagination, and it’s not too mellow dramatic to say that it was a life changing experience.

But thinking back, I’ve come to realize that I’ve been exposed to the genre much earlier, but I could never really track down just how or what I had been reading or listening to. In elementary school, I largely read the Hardy Boys or other mysteries – I wanted to be a detective for the longest time that I could remember.

It hit me a couple months ago while at home – Merlin and the Dragons. I’ve become very convinced that this was one of the first introductions that I had to the genre. When I was in elementary school, my mother worked as a secretary for the principle and would drive me and my siblings into school every morning. I can’t remember when exactly when I listened to it, but it was most likely around ‘92-’95 or so.

The story opens with a young King Arthur, who is having trouble sleeping. Walking around, he comes across Merlin, who tells him a story about a young boy in a village who was an orphan, booksmart and outcast from the rest of the children in the village. During the story, he has dreams and makes some predictions about the future. The king, Martigan, orders a tower to be built, and when it’s completed, it is destroyed, only to be rebuilt and destroyed again. The boy dreamed of two dragon eggs under the tower that hatch into dragons, and they battle in the skies over the tower and the village.

This story is a really good one, as a story on its own. It has a number of themes – predicting the future and destiny, archetypes of purely evil and purely good characters, all while tying into the Arthurian legends nicely. It’s a far different story in tone from the Disney Cartoon that I remember watching from the same time – this has some wholly dark elements to it, and some elegant storytelling that really sets this apart for me.

Listening to the audio book at that age, the narrator captured my imagination with talk of evil kings, dragons and mythology. I remember paticularly vivid imagry associated with this story, and listening to it now, it is bringing back a flood of memories that I’d largely forgotten. I’m getting chills while listening to this, remembering this story after such a long time.