I’ve received some recent emails and comments related to my post on turning your Dungeons and Dragons campaign into novel. It gives me the warm fuzzies to know that people are still reading this poor, neglected blog. It has also spurred me to ask why people are so interested in writing a D&D novel based [...]
Entries Categorized as 'Soapbox'
Don’t write a Dungeons and Dragons novel
Filed under Soapbox on January 18, 2011
Tagged: Dungeons & Dragons, Erevis Cale, fantasy fiction, Forgotten Realms, Paul Kemp, R. A. Salvatore, Wizards of the Coast
My review policy
Filed under Market Report, Soapbox on July 14, 2009
Tagged: book reviews, book trailers, fantasy fiction, Young Dragons
I’m a voracious reader. If you watch my “Currently Reading” widget, or friend me on Goodreads, you’ll note that I cycle through a book about once a week or so. I’d probably finish quicker, but I limit myself to reading during my weekday commutes (I take a 15-20 minute ride on the light rail). Given [...]
Relativism in fantasy fiction
Filed under Soapbox on March 17, 2009
Tagged: character motivation, fantasy fiction, relativism
A common praise I hear of George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Fire and Ice series is its “realism.” Take this recent comment from a mailing list I subscribe to: By real, I mean that there is no good or evil, everyone has a motive for his or her actions…. That isn’t realism, that’s [...]
Modern idioms in fantasy fiction
Filed under Soapbox on September 30, 2008
Tagged: fantasy fiction, idioms, language, vocabulary
I had a cute title planned out for this post that involved symbols and punctuation used to mask certain four-letter words, but the permalink didn’t like them. That’s fine. Modern idioms don’t belong in fantasy fiction, so it’s only appropriate that I can’t use one in the post title. Nothing disrupts my sense of immersion [...]
Why superheroes are fantasy fiction
Filed under Soapbox on May 14, 2008
Tagged: fantasy fiction, science fiction, superheroes
One of the arguments I offered against the stagnancy of fantasy fiction was the proliferation of sub-genres. We’re all familiar with epic fantasies like Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, or the sword-and-sorcery of Conan. Urban fantasy has risen in popularity thanks to Anita Blake and her contemporaries, while Temeraire has lead the resurgence in historical [...]
