#Modern fantasy literature | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

joncronshawauthor · 9 months

Text

How Robin Hobb's Farseer Trilogy Changed the Fantasy Genre

Unbeknownst to some, the fantastical world of modern literature has a secret benefactor. Robin Hobb, with her Farseer Trilogy, has bestowed riches upon the genre that would make Smaug blush. Kicking things off with “Assassin’s Apprentice,” Hobb didn’t just open a book—she flung open the gates to a new realm of character development. Our protagonist, FitzChivalry Farseer, doesn’t merely grow,…

View On WordPress

#Assassin&039;s Apprentice #character development #emotional depth #Farseer Trilogy #FitzChivalry Farseer #Modern Fantasy Literature #political intrigue #Robin Hobb #Royal Assassin

3 notes · View notes

ikenagi · 2 months

Text

Shocking fantasy What is the appeal of "Henn na Ie", a work that represents modern Japanese literature?

“Weird House” by Amena

Japanese author Amakura's book "Henn na Ie" is becoming well-known as an illustration of contemporary Japanese fantasy writing. This book has the ability to captivate readers by immersing them in an enigmatic universe while portraying an odd family and their peculiar existence.

The protagonist of the novel first encounters a family one day who reside in a structure known as "Weird House." The protagonist becomes drawn into the everyday lives and mysteries of this family because they have unique talents and secrets that set them apart from other families. The narrative prompts us to consider family ties and the significance of interpersonal relationships via their lives and experiences.

Ameana's deft brushwork deftly blends imagination and reality, drawing readers into an enigmatic realm. The characters' struggles and feelings are skillfully portrayed, giving the narrative more complexity overall. Readers are encouraged to connect with the characters and become fully engrossed in the narrative by their personalities and past experiences.

A work of contemporary Japanese fantasy literature, "The Strange House" is certain to stimulate and provide readers with novel sensations. Readers will be captivated and inspired to use their imaginations by Ameana's distinct worldview and narrative structure. Readers will be left pondering and feeling inspired by their examination of relationships and family.

#Japanese fantasy literature #Modern fantasy literature #Japanese novels #Strange family #Family bonds #Significance of human relationships #Mysterious world #Imagination and reality #Description of emotions #New sensations #Americana's worldview #Storytelling #Human Drama #Family Mystery #Charm of Reading

0 notes

caxycreations · 17 days

Text

Y'all. Omg.

I'm 4-5 chapters from being done with the story I've been working on for ten years.

A mere 12k-15k words.

In sprints I usually write between 450-700 words in 15 minutes.

I am ~5 hours of work away from being done with Draft One of Tylvinian Tales.

Y'ALL I AM SO HYPED TO GET DONE AND START EDITING

#writeblr #literature #relan #furry #fiction #anthro #anthropomorphic #modern fantasy #writing

214 notes · View notes

wedarkacademia · 12 days

Text

In May, anything seemed possible. If only I could learn to harness time itself. To make every month like May! Or, perhaps, to live backward in time, so that whenever the end of the month arrived, I could turn May right around and live it all over again.

- T.A. Barron, The Lost Years (Merlin, #1)

71 notes · View notes

cosmicwar · 1 year

Text

#i know we look through everything with a modern lens and to the modern lens asoiaf doesn’t fit with the expectations we have for fantasy now #but ‘when the sun has set no candle can replace it’ was written in the 90s man #that’s what so disgusting about how loras & renly are treated in the show. that more than 15 years prior they had been written with respect #like no asoiaf is not some great work of gay literature but i still appreciate it for what it has and despite the flaws #and the commentary on gender and identity is a whole nother topic but. anyway i love the gay asoiaf community <3 #asoiaf #grrm

474 notes · View notes

theheirofthesharingan · 9 months

Note

tolkien said sam was the chief hero of lord of the rings. also frodo wouldn't have made it out of the shire without him. sam carried frodo on his shoulders in mordor and fought shelob all alone.

tolkien said sam was the chief hero of lord of the rings.

He didn't, apparently. The chief hero quote is a heavily misquoted, perverted phrase LotR fandom has perpetuated without using any critical thinking because it serves their bias. The entire quote, within the context of the letter, means and says something else entirely.

Since we now try to deal with 'ordinary life', springing up ever unquenched under the trample of world policies and events, there are love-stories touched in, or love in different modes, wholly absent from The Hobbit. But the highest love-story, that of Aragorn and Arwen Elrond's daughter is only alluded to as a known thing. It is told elsewhere in a short tale. Of Aragorn and Arwen Undómiel. I think the simple 'rustic' love of Sam and his Rosie (nowhere elaborated) is absolutely essential to the study of his (the chief hero's) character, and to the theme of the relation of ordinary life (breathing, eating, working, begetting) and quests, sacrifice, causes, and the 'longing for Elves', and sheer beauty. But I will say no more, nor defend the theme of mistaken love seen in Eowyn and her first love for Aragorn. But altogether it would hardly amount to the excision of a single long chapter.

People miss the whole context. Here, the theme is that of Love. The characters in question are Sam (rustic, simple love) being compared to Aragorn (higher, nobler love). Tolkien also mentions Éowyn because of her feelings towards Aragorn. It's not a comparison between Frodo and Sam. LotR is a story about the hobbits and all four serve a purpose in the story. They all start out as fairytale heroes but only three return with a gain. Frodo is the tragic hero of the tale.

Furthermore, in many of his letters, Tolkien talks about Frodo as the central character.

Here is a small consignment of 'The Ring': the last two chapters that have been written, and the end of the Fourth Book of that great Romance, in which you will see that, as is all too easy, I have got the hero into such a fix that not even an author will be able to extricate him without labour and difficulty. Lewis was moved almost to tears by the last chapter. All the same, I chiefly want to hear what you think, as for a long time now I have written with you most in mind. (letter #91).

Many people think since Sam is the only one (physically) present there, Tolkien is talking about Sam; but in truth, the one character who is in 'fix' here is Frodo. The main objective of the story is how will Frodo, with Sam's help, go to Mordor and destroy the Ring. Since Sam abandons the idea of destroying the Ring and chooses to follow Frodo's 'dead body', hence endangering the fate of the world, I doubt it has to be about him. We need Frodo to save the world. And we need Sam to save Frodo. Without Frodo, Middle-earth is doomed and the story and the plot cannot go any further than this.

In another letter to David Masson (1955), Tolkien says this:

'Surely how often "quarter" is given is off the point in a book that breathes Mercy from start to finish: in which the central hero is at last divested of all arms, except his will?

(emphasis is mine)

Frodo is the one who divests himself of all arms. And it's his will that's repeatedly talked about throughout the story. The central hero Tolkien talking about here is him.

In The Silmarillion, Frodo is the only character mentioned from the Fellowship. Gandalf is mentioned as Olórin, not Gandalf. Surely, it's a bird-eye view of LotR, but the sentence that was phrased as 'Frodo with the help of his servant destroyed the ring' could also have been said differently with Sam being in focus instead. In the letter #246, JRRT goes in extreme detail regarding Frodo, his heroism, his contribution to the quest, and his relevance in the story thematically. Frodo was the antithesis of Sauron and fought against him singlehandedly. The battle of wills, not any physical battle. In the Field of Cormallen, both Frodo and Sam are honoured, but Frodo is still bestowed with the highest honour for his service (they sang 'Frodo of the Nine Fingers in his honour). Tolkien's words on this:

Frodo deserved all honour because he spent every drop of his power of will and body, and that was just sufficient to bring him to the destined point, and no further. Few others, possibly no others of his time, would have got so far. The Other Power then took over: the Writer of the Story (by which I do not mean myself), 'that one ever-present Person who is never absent and never named' (as one critic has said). (Letter #192)

also frodo wouldn't have made it out of the shire without him.

It's been many years since I read the book, so my memory might betray me, but if I remember it correctly, Sam helped them in the Old Forest because he was the only not under the spell of the tree (Old Man Willow, I suppose). In other instances Frodo took precautions himself. He knew whom to trust. The rest was handled by Merry and Pippin while they left their home and met Strider. Frodo saved his friends from Barrow Wight at the Downs, was the only one to summon courage enough to get back at the Nazgúl while the other three hobbits were terrified. Are you sure you aren't making any overstatements in your comments?

sam carried frodo on his shoulders in mordor and fought shelob all alone.

His contribution in helping Frodo and getting him to Mordor, even on his shoulder, are undeniable. He has a long list of accomplishments, for which he was generously rewarded in the end. But his accomplishments don't make him the 'true hero of LotR', definitely not greater than Frodo.

I can't recall the taste of food, nor the sound of water, nor the touch of grass. I'm naked in the dark. There's nothing — no veil between me and the wheel of fire. I can see him with my waking eyes.

This was Frodo's condition while they were nearing Orodruin. He still didn't give up. No one else, I repeat no one else, was put through these conditions, not even Sam. There comes a time when the Ring physically forces Frodo to put itself on. He resists it and then finds Galadriel's phial. When Sam carries Frodo on his shoulders, he states Frodo hardly weighed more than a hobbit child. It was either Sam was rewarded for his kindness or Frodo had actually lost so much weight that he didn't even weigh more than a child at that time.

'All gave some and some gave all' is a quote I read somewhere. Frodo was the one who gave all he had. He was the kindest, bravest, and most selfless hobbit. Tolkien might have meant Sam to be the chief hero/main character, but that means that for a 'supporting character', Frodo is far more heroic, relevant to the story, because without him, the story wouldn't even exist.

___

I hope this answer was convincing enough for you, anon. Thanks for reminding me why I grew to dislike LotR fandom so much. Apparently, anything pro Frodo must be responded with "sam is the true hero" and "tolkien said so" without looking at the context of the phrases because it helps you with your own bias.

#frodo #lotr frodo #frodo baggins #tolkien #jrr tolkien #lotr #ask #anon #i don't write for anything other than naruto on this blog but this ask had me do it #i gave up on LotR fandom a long time ago for this reason #and haven't written anything for years #for a fandom that has tons of scholars and the books that inspired modern fantasy literature lotr has some of the dumbest fans #though sometimes exceptions are necessary i guess #anyway if you love frodo we might be best friends already

76 notes · View notes

lunasbookshelf4 · 4 months

Text

why are people suddenly making it seem like you’re not a reader if you don’t read a specific amount of books each year?

You’re a reader if you’ve read 3 books last year and you’re a reader if you’ve read 40 books last year.

Reading literature is not supposed to be a chore or a competition, it’s supposed to be enjoyed and loved.

Don’t let anyone tell you that you don’t love literature just because you’re a slow reader or because you simply don’t have time to read as much. It’s completely okay <3

53 notes · View notes

eclipsecrowned · 8 months

Text

BLAME THE DIVINE. eventually they'll find the TIME. // indie selective mutually exclusive multifandom canon + oc multimuse. 18+. media represented includes literature, mythology, comics, video games, podcasts, manga, western animation, film, dungeons and dragons, television, and miscellaneous musical and album concepts. est. 2022. penned by kadian.

55 notes · View notes

joncronshawauthor · 8 months

Text

From Zelda to Epic Tales: Tracing Hyrule's Footprints in Contemporary Fantas

The Legend of Zelda, with its green-clad hero and captivating world of Hyrule, has been more than just a digital escape for many. Beyond the pixels, heart containers, and haunting ocarina melodies, it seems Hyrule’s winds have whispered inspiration to the realms of modern fantasy literature. Let’s dive into that Deku Tree of influence, shall we? A Link to the Past (and Future): Time is but a…

View On WordPress

#contemporary epics #epic heroes #epic inspirations #fantasy archetypes #fantasy storytelling #game-inspired narratives #Hyrule #Link #Master Sword #Modern Fantasy Literature #Ocarina of Time #silent heroes #The Legend of Zelda #time-bending #Triforce #video game in literature #world-building #Zelda&039;s influence #Zelda&039;s legacy

1 note · View note

bookboundnewsletter · 7 months

Text

Fantasy Friday 🧝🏻‍♀️

Share your favorite fantasy novel that you have read this year!

31 notes · View notes

caxycreations · 10 days

Text

As I am getting ever-closer to finishing the First Draft of Tylvinian Tales: The Wolf's Den...

This is my official call for readers!

People who have already read the available chapters, people who would be willing to, people who have been meaning to but haven't gotten to it yet, all are welcome.

You can find the story here on wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/1435263399-tylvinian-tales-the-wolf%27s-den-chapter-1-dance

Or here on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/50774143/chapters/128261692

What I am looking for:

Review and critique. What seems lacking, what feels missing, what do you think is overused or ignored? Looking for as wide an audience as possible for this, from as many corners of writeblr as possible, so I can get a variety of viewpoints.

Who I am looking for:

Anyone! Anyone and everyone. All are welcome to offer their views and opinions. But if you're looking for what the content is, look no further than...

About the story:

Tylvinian Tales: The Wolf's Den is the first in a 10-book anthology series detailing the lives of various residents of the city of Tylvin. The series is set in a world of anthropomorphic beings known as Sentients, specifically in a country called Ferus. The Wolf's Den focuses on Ryder Trayson and his efforts to navigate life, love, and his increasing involvement in the darker sides of his home town. It can best be defined as romantic slice-of-life with elements of crime. It also includes a diverse cast of LGBT individuals, with Ryder himself being bisexual, with his found family consisting of David Seltz, a homoflexible male, Trace Parker who is trans masc, Moss Seltz, who is non-binary, and Davina Seltz, who is omnisexual. Be aware, strong language and, at times, slurs are used, as well as there being heavy violence described in varying levels of detail, from mild to extremely graphic. Also features some sexual themes and scenes.

How long until the story is complete:

I am writing Chapter 15 as we speak, and there are a total of 20 chapters planned. I'm less than 2 weeks away from finishing the First Draft in it's entirety if I maintain this pace, or less than 4 weeks away if I slow down and account for off-days.

11 notes · View notes

mask131 · 5 months

Text

One of the things that D&D has to be praised AND blamed for is how it managed to unite together polar-opposite fantasy works.

I was planning on updating my old fantasy read list for "old school D&D" and so as I dug into the fantasy books the game took inspiration from (or in the case of the first edition, ripped off from Xp), I came to this realization.

It has already been established that one of the main reasons behind D&D's great success and lasting appeal is that it managed to bring together and unite elements taken from ALL the great, classical, foundational fantasy works of the time into one same universe that was the ultimate synthesis of what fantasy was at the time. You've got Tolkien and Leiber and Conan and Jack Vance and the Cthulhu mythos all together in one game...

... But not many people point out that this same thing is also what made the original brand of D&D fantasy age badly, what caused many of the first-generation D&D-inspired fantasy works to be plain bad , and what changed massively people's view of fantasy for the bad. Because, what EXACTLY did D&D do? It took polar opposite fantasy works, and blended them into one same thing. It took away all the nuances to have one monochrome set. It focused on uniting together the elements, the characters, the places and the archetypes, but at the cost of losing the themes, the motifs, the tone, the uniqueness of it all.

Mind you, again it was and still is one of D&D's strength. It built itself into an open-game allowing for all and any sort of stories and adventures - and many of today's web-series based on D&D show the game's current ability to do ANYTHING by having so many different tones and settings and inspirations... BUT it does not change the fact that, as a result, it erased massively the diversity of what fantasy used to be, to replace it with this artificial idea of "generic fantasy" that then became a reality.

For example, let us consider how D&D united together the pole of the two "classics" of first-generation fantasy, Conan the Barbarian and The Lord of the Rings, with the two most famous "anti-Tolkien" and "anti-Conan" fantasy works: Earthsea, and The Elric Saga. The character of Elric was designed to be the very opposite of what Conan was, and by extension the world of Elric was also designed to oppose all the settings Tolkien or Howard could have written. Earthsea was also designed to oppose and contradict Tolkien's work in every way in terms of setting, tone, inspiration, aesthetic, scope... As I said before, the world of Earthsea already offered in the 60s and 70s what so many modern fantasy novels of the 2000s and 2010s are claiming to be "the first ones to do", like... having a POC main character, having a female main character that isn't sexualized in a fantasy story, having a fantasy story not inspired by Europe, having a fantasy story that is not solved and is not about warriors, war or weapons, using fantasy to deal with internal problems and psychological topics... It was all there before, and yet everybody forgot it until quite recently, and why? I am very tempted to say that D&D and the format of fantasy is spread in American culture from the 80s onward had a part to play.

Because D&D took these elements from Earthsea... and placed them in a world inspired by the Lord of the Rings, and that smashed Conan with Fafhrd, and as a result it got dissolved into these other works, and Earthsea was often see as "Oh yes, just another sword and sorcery story, isn't it?".

Of course I am not claiming this is what actually happened, nor that Earthsea was the only work to suffer from it... But it cannot be denied that the massive spread, success and fame of D&D in America (and in Europe afterward) led to a certain idea, conception and vision of fantasy to be massively shared, copied and treated as the "real, typical, true fantasy"... When in fact it was a mash-in and blending of very varied and nuanced works offering a vast and complex extant of fantasy... A reduction and synthesis that gave a false idea of what fantasy was and ended up burying many strange, bizarre, alternate, groundbreaking or before-their-time fantasy works.

Of course, I am also NOT saying D&D is the only one to blame for that... The success of The Lord of the Ring movies in the early 2000s also had a part to play in this ; and then it was the success of Warcraft, etc etc... But I can't help to compare a bit what D&D did to the idea of fantasy, to what Coca-Cola did to the image of Santa Claus. Santa Claus/fantasy did exist long before Coca-Cola/D&D got hold of it... And afterward Santa Claus/fantasy regrew in its own thing... But in between Coca-Cola/D&D managed to reinvent fantasy/Santa Claus into a massively shared concept and widely accepted idea that became part of culture and marked deeply the history of fantasy/Santa Claus...

#fantasy #fantasy literature #d&d #dungeons and dragons #the lord of the rings #earthsea #conan #lotr #evolution of fantasy #i swear this is not a d&d-hating post #it is just a consideration I make as a French guy looking at America's brand of fantasy #and comparing how many D&D exclusive references there are still today in modern fantasy #versus how diverse strange and unexpected the “old” fantasy novels could be ; those everybody forgot about

12 notes · View notes

thelastrenaissance · 4 months

Text

Momo, also known as The Grey Gentlemen or The Men in Grey, is a fantasy novel by Michael Ende. The novel was published on January 1973.

“Calendars and clocks exist to measure time, but that signifies little because we all know that an hour can seem as eternity or pass in a flash, according to how we spend it.”

Michael Ende, Momo

10 notes · View notes

authorpkreeves · 6 months

Text

End of the year sale! Starting December 1st and ending on January 7, 2024. $ 0.99 for both ebooks!

Smashword code - coming soon!

Links - linktr.ee/pkreevesauthor

#independent author #ebook #urban fantasy #vampires #asian literature #filipina main character #filipino main character #modern fantasy #independent writer #ebook sale #end of the year sale

14 notes · View notes

aconstantstateofbladerunner · 1 year

Text

Okay legit question: what is up with all the romance books that are just retellings of fairytales or classic myths? Why is this specific trend so prominent? It’s not inherently bad or anything I just don’t see enough of the appeal for it to be as popular as it is.

#do people just have an attachment to fairytales that i don’t?#stuff like that has always been background noise for me i guess #i loved Greek mythology growing up #but i was more into the weird monsters than the stories themselves #as for rehashes of classic literature #no #Why would i read the 50 millionth version of pride and prejudice #when the original is a) right there and b) better than pretty much every imitator #and it’s always classic romance novels #Mix it up #The Great Gatsby #dracula #moby dick #‘But blade’#’how am i supposed to set something like moby dick in the modern day or a sexy fantasy world’#figure it out #man still has hubris and nature still humbles #blade’s romance reading quest

99 notes · View notes

kainatsstuff · 4 months

Text

Them: what keeps you awake at night??

Me: This quote of The Darkling

I don't why but i just love this quote so much. Its dark but at the same time its shows The Darkling's delusion that when she'll have no one, Alina will come back to him. Despite what he's done to her, he still wants her close. Maybe for his selfish reason. But i like to believe that its shows his yearning and delusion that one day she'll come back to him, and he'll finally have somebody to live his eternity with.

#the darkling #shadow and bone #darkling shadow and bone #leigh bardugo #ya fantasy #darklina #modern literature #book quote #books #fantasy books

16 notes · View notes