Fantasy and Literature
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What is the draw of fantasy and folk tales? These thematic elements have been used by storytellers for millennia and they have yet to fall out of style. In this episode, we discuss their history as well as the effectiveness of fantasy as a medium, as well as share a few of our favorites.
About The Author
levi
I am the coyote of the group! This means I am the handsome one, the intelligent one, the one who says all sorts of positive things about himself because he can even though he may be stretching the truth a little. When I'm not hosting or editing the show, you can find me writing the next great furry novel.
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Someone mentioned science and magic- look what happened with alchemy in the 12th – 15th centuries. Science and magic have “always” been interwoven into stories, both factual and fiction. I use “always” loosely because some stories have a degree of mythology that borders the metaphysical, I.E. today’s MLP series.
What was that talk about Narnia?? Didn’t like C.S. Lewis??? And they got no treat for being on the show I hope- haha, I jest. Everyone has their opinions I guess. I thought Lewis and Tolkien both crafted marvelous worlds!
As for why so many stories/movies share a middle ages or medieval setting- I think someone said it but they are highly romanticized and it runs for an impressive 1000 years! From the 5th to 15th centuries, there was so much mystery, sagely magic and spooky stories floating around that living in that age must have been scary indeed!
If anyone was looking for some good anthro style fantasy or/and fiction, may I recommend Ted Blasingame’s “Blue Horizon” and “Sunset of Furmankind” and http://trblasingame.weebly.com/library.html for free web reading? (Get the books through, so awesome!)
Ted is a decent author and I’ve been in contact with him about his writing, definitely a couple books for the shelf.
Faster than light travel? Have you read Kip Thorne or Michio Kaku? Great theoretical physicists and they might have been the reason there was part of a linear collider in my garage back in the day -innocently whistles-
Another great podcast fellas!
My mom didn’t let me read any of the Harry Potter books when I was growing up, but I think she just didn’t want me accidentally summoning any evil spirits while playing pretend…Perfectly reasonable. Some of my favorite fantasy books are Brian Jacques’ “Redwall” series, Bryan Davis’ “Dragons in Our Midst” series, and Erin Hunter’s “Warriors” series. No, I never outgrew these!
Interestingly, none of these authors make a tremendous effort to explain the fantasy elements. They’re just a natural part of the fictional universes. Crafting a “believable” fantasy universe is an essential part of being a strong fantasy author.
Also, time in Lewis’ universe is wibbly wobbly!!
I read the Harry Potter books in high school, but I wouldn’t want to read them again. You aren’t missing out on a whole lot. I will say, though, that it would not be easy to do any summoning after reading it. Beyond that, I’ve heard of all three of the series you mentioned and have read two. (I am the latest admin of the former official Davis fan site, although it’s closed down now and the community has moved. If you want to know more, let me know.)
I’m not sure I would agree with you about Davis not explaining the fantasy elements. He may not do it as much in the first series, but I’ve found that as the books have continued, he’s sought explanations for more.
I was thinking about how Davis just lets readers assume that God made dragons, but yeah, he does explain some of the other fantasy elements, to the point that his books begin to intersect with science fiction.