Presenters:
Diana Tixier Herald
Author Editor
Genreflecting Series
Bonnie Kunzel
Authors speaking
Elizabeth Haydon
Kenneth Oppel
Online Resources
Feminist Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Utopia
http://www.feministsf.org/femsf
Fluent in Fantasy
http://sff.net/people/dherald
Genreflecting
http://www.genrefluent.com
International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts
http://ebbs.english.vt.edu/iafa/iafa.home.html
Reader’s Robot Fantasy Page
http://www.tnrdlib.bcca/fa-menu.html
Recommended Fantasy Author List
http://www.sff.net/people/Amy.Sheldon/listcont.htm
First Contact
Fluent Fantasy
Teen Genreflecting: A Guide to Reading Interests
Genreflecting: A Gude to popular Reading Interest
History of Fantasy
Gilgamesh first fantasy
Iliad and Odyssey is where it started for most fantasy readers
Beowolf
1001 Arabian Nights- first printed in print
Gulliver’s Travels
Gothic Novels
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
The Worm Ouroboros by E. R. Eddison (influenced many fantasy writers)
The King of Elfland’s Daughter
Conan the Barbarian-
Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit
Swords against death by Fritz Leiber (short stories)
The Chronicles of Narnia
Ray Bradbury (dark fantasy)
Wealth of Short stories in
Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin 1968
Anne McCaffrey (Dragonriders Series) 1968 Science Fiction not Fantasy, but Fantasy readers love.
70’s was a time of big series
Katherine Kurtz (Deryni Series)
The Sword of Shannara (1977)
Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (Dark and grim) Non fantasy readers were reading
the 80s had many Arthurian legends
The Mists of Avalon by Bradbury
Current boom-Harry Potter
Fantasy readers don’t care if the book is published for children, Young Adult or Adult. They just want to read.
Elizabeth Hayden
Author of the Symphony of Ages: Rhapsody Trilogy
YA-The Floating Island Comparable to the Princess Bride part of The Lost Journals of Ven Polypheme,
http://www.elizabethhaydon.com
The future of fantasy
Librarians know more about what is going in the genre field than authors
“When you ever look at anything escapist you have to look at the state of the world” When the world is relatively calm things that are familiar are stagnate, and when the world is turbulent, things that are familiar are comfortable.
When Elizath Hayden was at a conference in New Orleans she met with an author who told her that women in Fantasy were typically cast as Warrior Princesses, and little mystery, romance and other non fantasy genre.
Three predictions
1. Things that are familiar (established series, authors,) will be popular, and comfortable, and new innovative things will be a bright spotlight and be truly innovative
2. Continuation of the blurring of lines will continue.
3. Throughout all of history it is the Young Adult and Children’s stories that lead the way.
Created a interactive curriculum about The Lost Journals of Ven Polypheme,
for educators and librarians that she is giving away for free linked to this presentation on PLA website.
Questions:
Andre Norton
Mentor to female fantasy writers
Librarian
Root award winner
Will there always be series?
I hope not-People crave series, they want to know what happened
Bonnie
Harry Potter has been a world wide event
It was the reason we now have a Children’s Best Seller list
Only book people will wait outside at midnight to have a party and read.
Readers Advisory Resources
Locus Magazine-publishes lists
http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/index.html
Hugo Award (World Science Fiction Convention)-incorporate Fantasy
Titles nomitated by Attendees of the Convention
Nebula (Science Fiction/Fantasy Writers of America Fantasy Science Fiction and Horror)-Books, short Stories, Young Adult new this year
Selected by published authors
VOYA great resource (they review paperback fantasy original) April has Years best Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Horror, Annotated lists, and includes Adult titles as well because the teens devour it.
New York Review of Science Fiction. Not many Fantasy titles.
John Moore twisted Fairytale
Kenneth Oppel
Author: Silverwing (grounded on science fact) most interesting part of story is based on history fact
Airborn (inspired by stories of individuals who first flew on airplanes) Pints Honor
When he was 14 he was deeply engaged by Dungeons and Dragons
Father read the Hobbit out load.
“As much story as a game”
Games didn’t last long enough.
So he became the Dungeon Master. Started with map, to funnel the characters. Best part was designing. Laid out the monsters, rooms, and events, but players would just come in and mess it up.
So he started writing stories. His first three stories were rejected by Dragon magazine.
What appealed to him was reaching a world where he could reach by no other means. He loved stories grounded in some way to our world.
Always have an escape. Grounded stories make it seem possible that these worlds are just hidden and if you pay close attention you may find it as well.
His own work has tried to combine fantasy and the world.
Like with DnD he writes with many rules. He is a blueprinter, and planner.
Fantasy is now being set in history. He personally likes these stories. Inspiring and more interesting, and more visual. The possibility of more exciting discoveries seems more likely.
What he loves is the daydreaming stage. the possibilities then are limitless.
Future of fantasy: show us old things in a new light?
Questions
Thanks for mentioning Lloyd Alexander
Definably more books with Matt. Currently working on prequel to Silverwing
Most libraries have Science Fiction to categorize Fantasy, Horror and Science Fiction.
Librarian: We are re-instructing patrons to mean Speculative Fiction. that way it is still SF
Librarian: I color code it
Librarian: I put the books in the Teen section. We are currently having a sticker war. Some librarians don’t want smaller genres to have stickers because they think it discourages Reader’s Advisory
Librarian: Found interest in Fantasy through gaming. Will video gaming cause more interest in Science fiction?
Oppel: I don’t think so. I
Not working with Screen Writer because he doesn’t want to splice it up.
Fantasy Sub Genres
A huge diversity of Fantasy
Epic Fantasy Long series that go through many generations
you continue to go on and on. As a reader keep…Sorry my Computer Died. Most of the things discussed are on the handout Fantasy Sub-Genres
