Ben G. Price's Blog
February 21, 2024
A breath of fresh air in the fantasy genre
". . . a fantasy story that took me by surprise and reaffirmed why I love the indie fantasy genre. 'Ogden: A Tale for The End of Time' is an excellent novel. It is a novel that dares to dream of a world where the magic of nature is revered and protected. With its endearing protagonist, enchanting narrative, and powerful yet subtle message of environmental preservation, it is a must-read for anyone looking for a story that entertains and inspires." -- Matthew Olney, Epic Indie Review
https://www.epicindie.net/bookreviews...
https://www.epicindie.net/bookreviews...
December 10, 2023
Sociological Fantasy? "OGDEN"
When the editor at Deep Green Resistance News Service agreed to review "Ogden: A Tale for the End of Time," I knew the results would be insightful, even if it turned out to be critical. Here it is, and does not disappoint:
A Coming of Age Story of Love, Loss and Nature: Ogden
by DGR News Service | Sep 25, 2023 | ANALYSIS, Alienation & Mental Health, Human Supremacy
Ogden
Ogden: A Tale for the End of Time by Ben G. Price [Editor’s Pick]
It is rare to read something written from a nonhuman perspective without forcing humanlike qualities on them. Ben Price does exactly that in “Ogden: A Tale for the End of Time.” The shift from human’s to troll’s to bear’s to deer’s perspectives seems authentic and genuine. This reflects the author’s own values: of the author being able to view the nonhumans with respect and see the nuances and complexities of their lives, without attributing humanlike qualities to them. It quite fits the author’s profile as well. Ben Price is a pioneer of the Rights of Nature movement – a movement for legal recognition of the rights of natural entities to survive and thrive, a movement that is not possible with a human supremacist attitude.
The lively forests of Huth and Tibbs
Ogden is a magical coming of age story about a troll who is raised by a human family in a society where men secretly meet to plan the genocide of trolls. Unfamiliar with all of this, the family takes care of the troll and attempts to teach him to become more “civilized”, or more man-like. The book is full of multiple themes, reflecting the unfortunate realities of our society – from patriarchy to class division to human supremacy to racism. It has something for all of us who critique one or more aspects of human society. In this review I’ll explore some of these in the context of the different settings presented throughout the novel.
From Drowden Erebus’ bucolic Hapstead Manor to the wild and lively forests of Huth and Tibbs (Ogden’s troll parents) to the un-lively walled town of Irongate to the slum-like settlement of Doltun and Petula, Ben Price jumps from one setting to another without creating an unsettling feeling among the readers. The four settings describe a contrast of social structure, in terms of class divide, racism, human supremacism, patriarchy, colonialism, a contrast that is not just apparent, but, sadly, too familiar to the readers. Taking a different perspective, these four settings are not just four different social structures but a metaphor to different historical times: the wild forests represent the past where we (all creatures including humans) came from; Hapstead Manor the sedentary lifestyle based on agriculture; Irongate as the industrialized cities, ones that the agriculturalists covet; the slums the inevitable byproducts of the cities.
Price puts our modern society in contrast to egalitarian societies
The societal structure inhabited by trolls, like Huth and Tibbs, is based on respect, not only for nature and natural elements, but for fellow conspecifics, for the females of their species and for other species. For one attuned to it, symbols of matriarchy are apparent in Huth and Tibbs’ cave: ancestor worship and Goddess figurines. Consistent with our most reliable knowledge of matriarchal societies, the trolls are also the most egalitarian of the different characters we see.
While the Hapstead Manor is owned by a kind, loving man who treats his women and children and workers well, it is still “owned” by the man of the house. Ultimately, his words are the last, even though Ben Price describes some instances where the wisdom of Drowden’s worker Argis, cook Odelia, wife Dorina or daughter Miranda prove to be superior to Drowden’s judgment. In other words, they have a significant place in the plot.
The same cannot be said for Irongate. Irongate is ruled, apparently and latently, by a group of belligerent entitled men whose sole purpose in life seems to be to increase their wealth and ultimately their power and to protect their supremacy. They are ready to use any means to do so, including silencing, raping or murdering those who don’t comply. That they rationalize their actions with absurd reasoning can be pitied, but not justified.
Finally, the slum-like settlement (Bladicville) where the outcasts live is an inseparable part of the walled town of Irongate. Cities are designed in a way where the land does not support the population, thus the need to import food from villages. At the same time, cities also require jobs risky enough or “low” enough that the residents do not deign to perform, thus a need for a “lower” group of people to do those jobs. That’s how poor quarters or slums are required in a city. This is where the “lower” group of people find their residence. Poverty is not the only thing that classifies them as inferior.
Humans are enslaving trolls
As Americans should know from their own history, in order for slavery to be justified, the slave owners and traders first needed to believe Blacks to be inferior to Whites. Similarly in “Ogden”, there needs to be created a classification where one group of people is considered inferior to the other. This is implied in the historical background of Ogden with the slavery of trolls by humans. Even though the slavery had ended, the hierarchy thus created, of trolls being an inferior group, was still intact. Slum dwellers like Doltun and Petula were ostracized not just because of their poverty, but because they were half trolls and half humans – a group considered inferior based on their genetic association with trolls.
The book resonates with anyone who grieves over the loss of natural world. I would highly recommend it to our readers.
A Coming of Age Story of Love, Loss and Nature: Ogden
by DGR News Service | Sep 25, 2023 | ANALYSIS, Alienation & Mental Health, Human Supremacy
Ogden
Ogden: A Tale for the End of Time by Ben G. Price [Editor’s Pick]
It is rare to read something written from a nonhuman perspective without forcing humanlike qualities on them. Ben Price does exactly that in “Ogden: A Tale for the End of Time.” The shift from human’s to troll’s to bear’s to deer’s perspectives seems authentic and genuine. This reflects the author’s own values: of the author being able to view the nonhumans with respect and see the nuances and complexities of their lives, without attributing humanlike qualities to them. It quite fits the author’s profile as well. Ben Price is a pioneer of the Rights of Nature movement – a movement for legal recognition of the rights of natural entities to survive and thrive, a movement that is not possible with a human supremacist attitude.
The lively forests of Huth and Tibbs
Ogden is a magical coming of age story about a troll who is raised by a human family in a society where men secretly meet to plan the genocide of trolls. Unfamiliar with all of this, the family takes care of the troll and attempts to teach him to become more “civilized”, or more man-like. The book is full of multiple themes, reflecting the unfortunate realities of our society – from patriarchy to class division to human supremacy to racism. It has something for all of us who critique one or more aspects of human society. In this review I’ll explore some of these in the context of the different settings presented throughout the novel.
From Drowden Erebus’ bucolic Hapstead Manor to the wild and lively forests of Huth and Tibbs (Ogden’s troll parents) to the un-lively walled town of Irongate to the slum-like settlement of Doltun and Petula, Ben Price jumps from one setting to another without creating an unsettling feeling among the readers. The four settings describe a contrast of social structure, in terms of class divide, racism, human supremacism, patriarchy, colonialism, a contrast that is not just apparent, but, sadly, too familiar to the readers. Taking a different perspective, these four settings are not just four different social structures but a metaphor to different historical times: the wild forests represent the past where we (all creatures including humans) came from; Hapstead Manor the sedentary lifestyle based on agriculture; Irongate as the industrialized cities, ones that the agriculturalists covet; the slums the inevitable byproducts of the cities.
Price puts our modern society in contrast to egalitarian societies
The societal structure inhabited by trolls, like Huth and Tibbs, is based on respect, not only for nature and natural elements, but for fellow conspecifics, for the females of their species and for other species. For one attuned to it, symbols of matriarchy are apparent in Huth and Tibbs’ cave: ancestor worship and Goddess figurines. Consistent with our most reliable knowledge of matriarchal societies, the trolls are also the most egalitarian of the different characters we see.
While the Hapstead Manor is owned by a kind, loving man who treats his women and children and workers well, it is still “owned” by the man of the house. Ultimately, his words are the last, even though Ben Price describes some instances where the wisdom of Drowden’s worker Argis, cook Odelia, wife Dorina or daughter Miranda prove to be superior to Drowden’s judgment. In other words, they have a significant place in the plot.
The same cannot be said for Irongate. Irongate is ruled, apparently and latently, by a group of belligerent entitled men whose sole purpose in life seems to be to increase their wealth and ultimately their power and to protect their supremacy. They are ready to use any means to do so, including silencing, raping or murdering those who don’t comply. That they rationalize their actions with absurd reasoning can be pitied, but not justified.
Finally, the slum-like settlement (Bladicville) where the outcasts live is an inseparable part of the walled town of Irongate. Cities are designed in a way where the land does not support the population, thus the need to import food from villages. At the same time, cities also require jobs risky enough or “low” enough that the residents do not deign to perform, thus a need for a “lower” group of people to do those jobs. That’s how poor quarters or slums are required in a city. This is where the “lower” group of people find their residence. Poverty is not the only thing that classifies them as inferior.
Humans are enslaving trolls
As Americans should know from their own history, in order for slavery to be justified, the slave owners and traders first needed to believe Blacks to be inferior to Whites. Similarly in “Ogden”, there needs to be created a classification where one group of people is considered inferior to the other. This is implied in the historical background of Ogden with the slavery of trolls by humans. Even though the slavery had ended, the hierarchy thus created, of trolls being an inferior group, was still intact. Slum dwellers like Doltun and Petula were ostracized not just because of their poverty, but because they were half trolls and half humans – a group considered inferior based on their genetic association with trolls.
The book resonates with anyone who grieves over the loss of natural world. I would highly recommend it to our readers.
October 24, 2023
"Ogden: A Tale for the End of Time" Published!
"Ogden: A Tale for the End of Time" is available today! Order online or at your favorite bookstore. Publisher: Histria Books / Addison & Highsmith imprint.
I hope you'll read and enjoy this story. Yes, it's a tale of adventure, coming of age, magic and danger, and also of love that transcends the "greed is good" kind of egocentric self-love promoted by advertisers every minute of the day. It's an easy read and avoids the fantasy tropes of muscle-bound warriors in line for the throne. "Ogden" is a very human story with a non-human title character who represents Nature.
Readers are invited to meet the spirit of Nature in her many guises and to try to answer the question: "Can humanity survive when Nature is the judge?"
I hope you'll read and enjoy this story. Yes, it's a tale of adventure, coming of age, magic and danger, and also of love that transcends the "greed is good" kind of egocentric self-love promoted by advertisers every minute of the day. It's an easy read and avoids the fantasy tropes of muscle-bound warriors in line for the throne. "Ogden" is a very human story with a non-human title character who represents Nature.
Readers are invited to meet the spirit of Nature in her many guises and to try to answer the question: "Can humanity survive when Nature is the judge?"
September 23, 2023
OGDEN publication date
"OGDEN: A Tale for the End of Time" is available for pre-order, with a publication date of October 24th. This is a change from October 3, due to shipping issues at the warehouse.
September 20, 2023
Reviewers: Gaslamp Fantasy
Reviewers - apply to download Historic Fantasy novel
If you have interest in reading "OGDEN: A Tale for the End of Time," and writing a review, here is a link on NetGalley for you to apply to download the book.
https://www.netgalley.com/catalog/boo...
If you have interest in reading "OGDEN: A Tale for the End of Time," and writing a review, here is a link on NetGalley for you to apply to download the book.
https://www.netgalley.com/catalog/boo...
August 16, 2023
Coming Soon! OGDEN: A Tale for the End of Time
It's my honor and pleasure to invite readers into the magical world of Ogden, a trollish man-child sent by the Spirits of Nature to live among humans at the dawn of the industrial age. His mission: to judge humanity's suitability for survival or extinction as a species.
The baby troll is abandoned in the woods by his father. A hunting party of men capture and make of him a present for their master. They don’t know it, but they’ve been led into a trap that will expose humanity’s legacy of malice toward the living world to Nature’s judgement.
I suspect there is a flourishing new market for stories that contextualize universal anxiety over ecological disasters within the shared social experience of modern life. Books like Richard Powers’ "The Overstory" convey the wonders of intimacy with nature. Non-fictional nature books, like David Abram’s "The Spell of the Sensuous" revitalize the readers’ connection with the hidden magic that is discoverable by silencing our certainties and perceiving creation free of our cultural filters. "Ogden: A Tale for the End of Time" belongs on the same shelf with these and other such books of wonder.
There is also a sub-genre of fantasy that I’ll call “true magic” that does more than storytelling. Novels like Hope Mirrlees’ "Lud-In-The-Mist" bring the boundaries between the every-day mundane world and the magical realm of faerie close within reach, so that the reader begins to feel and smell the fragrant winds from over yonder, “beyond the fields we know,” as Lord Dunsany use to say. "Ogden: A Tale for the End of Time" will have a similar effect, transporting the reader across the border between dreams and dull reality, into a world where every “thing” is aware and alive.
Yet, "Ogden: A Tale for the End of Time" is unique for placing Life, expressed as Nature, in the role of judge and jury, with authority to decide which branches on the tree of life will flourish, and which will wither and drop away. And so, at the infancy of human industrialization, as the apex of primate evolution prepares to enslave Nature and all its elemental parts to the satisfaction of human desire, Nature sends the young troll, Ogden, as its proxy. Can humanity survive when Nature is the judge?
I hope you enjoy reading "Ogden," and let me know what you think!
Praise for "Ogden: A Tale for the End of Time"
“Ogden: A Tale for the End of Time takes us back to the moment when we had a choice between the cunning allure of today’s socially constructed virtual reality and the real magic of living in the natural world as participants, not just distant observers. The story connects us to an organic intelligence, where nature is infused with mysteries that transcend the human.”
-- Andreas Kornevall, Storyteller, Ecologist and Author of Waking the Dragons: Norse Myth, Folklore, Runes and Magic
“Ogden is fantasy of the highest order. In the lost and adopted character of the Troll baby Ogden, we witness his growth and maturation in the context of his loving human family. From the trial and error of innocence, we follow his rapid and sometimes humorous journey to maturation. He fulfils his ancient identity as a descendent of a very real and magical lineage, magic often being that which was once innate to the experience but is now relegated to dusty, brittle manuscripts. Ogden will leave you in wonder, wistful for more and an unwavering insight that Nature is sentient.” -- Tom Mullian, Editor, La Mott Times
The baby troll is abandoned in the woods by his father. A hunting party of men capture and make of him a present for their master. They don’t know it, but they’ve been led into a trap that will expose humanity’s legacy of malice toward the living world to Nature’s judgement.
I suspect there is a flourishing new market for stories that contextualize universal anxiety over ecological disasters within the shared social experience of modern life. Books like Richard Powers’ "The Overstory" convey the wonders of intimacy with nature. Non-fictional nature books, like David Abram’s "The Spell of the Sensuous" revitalize the readers’ connection with the hidden magic that is discoverable by silencing our certainties and perceiving creation free of our cultural filters. "Ogden: A Tale for the End of Time" belongs on the same shelf with these and other such books of wonder.
There is also a sub-genre of fantasy that I’ll call “true magic” that does more than storytelling. Novels like Hope Mirrlees’ "Lud-In-The-Mist" bring the boundaries between the every-day mundane world and the magical realm of faerie close within reach, so that the reader begins to feel and smell the fragrant winds from over yonder, “beyond the fields we know,” as Lord Dunsany use to say. "Ogden: A Tale for the End of Time" will have a similar effect, transporting the reader across the border between dreams and dull reality, into a world where every “thing” is aware and alive.
Yet, "Ogden: A Tale for the End of Time" is unique for placing Life, expressed as Nature, in the role of judge and jury, with authority to decide which branches on the tree of life will flourish, and which will wither and drop away. And so, at the infancy of human industrialization, as the apex of primate evolution prepares to enslave Nature and all its elemental parts to the satisfaction of human desire, Nature sends the young troll, Ogden, as its proxy. Can humanity survive when Nature is the judge?
I hope you enjoy reading "Ogden," and let me know what you think!
Praise for "Ogden: A Tale for the End of Time"
“Ogden: A Tale for the End of Time takes us back to the moment when we had a choice between the cunning allure of today’s socially constructed virtual reality and the real magic of living in the natural world as participants, not just distant observers. The story connects us to an organic intelligence, where nature is infused with mysteries that transcend the human.”
-- Andreas Kornevall, Storyteller, Ecologist and Author of Waking the Dragons: Norse Myth, Folklore, Runes and Magic
“Ogden is fantasy of the highest order. In the lost and adopted character of the Troll baby Ogden, we witness his growth and maturation in the context of his loving human family. From the trial and error of innocence, we follow his rapid and sometimes humorous journey to maturation. He fulfils his ancient identity as a descendent of a very real and magical lineage, magic often being that which was once innate to the experience but is now relegated to dusty, brittle manuscripts. Ogden will leave you in wonder, wistful for more and an unwavering insight that Nature is sentient.” -- Tom Mullian, Editor, La Mott Times
