Comments on: Breaking Archetypes

By: Peat

Peat — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 13:12:46 +0000

It’s true that I am probably not alone in this, and my feelings may just represent a generational shift in the genre as new writers seek to build upon the foundation of books they loved, which were written by authors more influenced by Tolkien and Lewis and pulp authors like Robert E. Howard.

This is a good thing, as it keeps fantasy fresh and alive after a certain amount of stagnation, but my brain hurts just thinking about keeping the complexities of a dozen separate Song of Fire and Ice style series straight in my head.

Dave, I read your interview David Anthony Durham the other day, and I agree Acacia sounds pretty awesome. I’ll try and pick it up one of these days.

By: Jay

Jay — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 01:52:13 +0000

Pete-You bring up many good points. I wanted to comment about you talking about reading time becoming shorter, and I know how you feel. Even though much of my work these days is in reading new manuscripts for others, there is also that pile of books in my “waiting to be read” pile and sometimes I must just let something go that doesn’t do it for me. But I am also pleasantly surprised occasionally (like with my recent re-discovery of Jeff Somers’ The Electric Church – where by the way, the main dude worked for years becoming a badd@ss of the streets, barely surviving, learning his skills through experience and hard if dubius work).
And for me there is always the possibility of reading what can be, like, the next Peter V. Brett. I am always on that road of hopefullness in discovering something new and noteworthy.

By: Dave-Brendon de Burgh

Dave-Brendon de Burgh — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 07:51:25 +0000

Hey Peter, I know what you’re saying. I’ve been lucky enough to have been able to read some great new books (yours, Acacia – now there’s a book that I think you would enjoy!-, Jo Graham’s Black Ships and I’ve just started The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss) and so far none of them have been concerned with the farmboy/nobody who struggles through the book until he kicks ass in the end; I think that what is happening in the genre now is brilliant, I mean, Fantasy has to evolve at some point, and with guys like you and David Durham and Steven Erikson leading the way, it’ll happen.

By: Myke

Myke — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 02:52:48 +0000

There’s a reason that tired arc works so. . .well . . . tirelessly. This is because Joe Reader wants to believe that *they* are special, that their daily hum-drum life is really just a cheap veneer covering a dramatic and fantastic power lurking just beneath the surface. And in the end, most people want to win, even if there’s a little cheating involved to bring it about.

I think “Wanted” is the baldest expression of this. You’re not just a punk-ass cubicle monkey being bitched out by your fat boss. You’re really a deadly assassin – so powerful that you can defeat a *legion* of supervillians (all of whom have epochs of experience on you). All you have to do is keep trudging along until some gorgeous ninja chick shows up to pierce the veil. Hell, you don’t even have to put in the years of sweat and blood that makes real warriors, all you have to do is shoot the wings off the flies because a stern-faced man told you that you could.

People just want to be amazing, they don’t want to put the work into becoming amazing.

Point being: It may leave you feeling disappointed in the end, but don’t underestimate the power of this narrative on many, many readers. There’s a reason they call this stuff fantasy. . .