K.R. Gastreich's Blog, page 43

Reality Check: How Much is Too Much in Epic Fantasy?

My post last month led to a fantastic discussion of a variety of things, including the concept of realism in fantasy.  Commenters brought up many excellent points, including the idea that maybe it doesn't matter if a girl can't really heft that big sword; isn't it nice to suspend a little disbelief now and then and believe it could happen?
My answer?  It depends on the talent of the writer and the sensibilities of the reader.  One of the things I LOVE about Tolkien is that, as a medievalist myself, he pushes all of my scholarly buttons.  I enjoy seeing the seeds of our own culture in Middle Earth.  But I also love that he's taken those seeds and grown totally unique flowers.  One of the things that turned me off about Steven Erikson's Malazan Empire series is his unrelentingly realistic depictions of torture and violence.  While I understand that he's not reinventing the wheel here—historically, human beings have developed a marked appreciation for the varied ways to harm one another—but the image of hundreds of crucified children will never burn out of my brain.  That was more realism than I could handle.  Another reader's mileage may vary.  Regardless, both authors do a bang-up job of making their fantasies realistic to the reader, whether they're historically accurate or even probable—and that's good craft.
Sometimes it's not the big things, but the little details that intrude too much into the story.  One of the things I liked about Elizabeth Moon's Deed of Paksenarrion was that whenever the army stopped moving, one of the first things the soldiers did was dig the poop-trenches.  I found this to be an excellent small detail that made a lot of sense and said a great deal about the organization of the army, its priorities, and the pecking order (because that definitely wasn't a job handled by the highest-ranking members).    However, I quickly put down another fantasy novel because the main character was constantly menstruating and passing out.  It was messy and gross and really took me out of the story.  Unless it's important to the story in some way, I just don't need to read about certain aspects of reality.
Most importantly, characters should be as realistic as possible in the context of their own world.  I will only judge a fictional character by modern standards if the writer hasn't done a good enough job of convincing me that his/ her world is "real."  And characters need to connect with the reader in a human way, regardless of profession or social status.  Whether I'm writing or reading about a princess or a servant, I need to care about the character in order to feel engaged with the story.  Everything else is just window dressing.
Ultimately, the question of how much reality is too much all comes down to craft.  If I want to drop a couple of female ninjas riding pink hippos into a pseudo-medieval setting, I can—presuming I can get the reader to buy that this is totally plausible in my world.  The worldbuilding doesn't have to be historically accurate for readers to buy in; the real trick is selling the world so well that the reader doesn't even question whether or not something could or could not happen.
Kim Vandervort 

Love and Sex in a Heroine's World

A maga cannot be possessed by any man, and she will love many, if the Gods look upon her with favor before they call her home.  – Briana of East Selen

This semester, students in my first year seminar Environment and Politics in Central America are reading Gioconda Belli's compelling memoir The Country Under My Skin, which recounts Belli's involvement with the Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua during the 1970s and 80s.  My students tend to love this book; they find Belli's prose very accessible and come to admire her as a modern day heroine who risked life and family to take up arms against an oppressive and violent regime. 
That admiration is being undercut, however, for at least one of my students, who has found that the multiple love affairs Belli reports having had during those tumultuous years is beginning to get on her nerves: 
"She [Belli] has gone from being an admirable, strong woman," this student recently wrote, "to my idea of why women are so weak.  They rely on men's strength for comfort." 
This statement has been echoing in my head ever since I read it a couple weeks ago, and has me wondering in a broader sense about the relationship between love, sex and the image of strength in our heroines.  Women with multiple lovers are often called "fickle", "inconstant" and "weak", or any number of much more uncomplimentary words, but does calling them all these things make it so? 

Is a female protagonist with multiple lovers by definition weak?
When I began crafting the world of Eolyn , I had it very clear in my head how sex, and especially women's sexuality, would be seen by the subculture of the Magas (the particular tradition of witchcraft that Eolyn inherits). I even allowed Magas to use the term 'sexuality' in the original draft of the novel, until Terri-Lynne DeFino challenged me on this because, as she argued, sexuality as a concept didn't really exist in the Middle Ages, making the word anachronistic in the context of epic fantasy.
On the one hand, I thought Terri had a point, but her comment put me in a difficult dilemma.  While sexuality may be anachronistic in the context of pseudo-medieval societies, it was not in any way anachronistic for the Magas of Eolyn's world, who understood the concept of a woman's desire (shall we say, "needs"), and considered it an integral part of women's magic.  There was no way I could sacrifice the concept of 'sexuality' without losing a very important pillar of their worldview.
With a little bit of thought and some help from a friend, I invented the magical term 'aen-lasati', which literally translates to the 'fire within'.  So the word was changed in the final version of the novel, but the concept remains.
Aen-lasati is considered one of the gifts of Primitive Magic, the most ancient, powerful, and least understood class of magic recognized by Mages and Magas in Eolyn's world.  Aen-lasati is divine in nature, and Magas (as well as Mages) are taught to respond to it with joyful reverence, not with fear, and certainly not with prohibition.
There is no such thing, in a Maga's world, as meaningless sex. All sex, when freely shared, is considered sacred. On the other hand, there is no maxim that sexual relationships must be bound by rules of "love" and "fidelity".  Indeed, according to some lines of thought, the whole concept of fidelity flies in the face of a true understanding of aen-lasati.
(This is a little [ahem] different from how I was brought up as a Kansas girl from a Catholic family.  But that's another story. . .)
The perspective of the Magas is unique even in the context of Eolyn's world, where women are generally expected to fill the traditional roles we associate with patriarchal medieval societies.  This causes no small amount of tension and conflict, not only for Eolyn, but for all the Magas who have come before her. 
From an author's point of view, the practical implication of aen-lasati is that my heroine has no qualms about sleeping with a man she does not intend to stay with forever. She can also embrace the possibility of loving two (or perhaps more) men at once.  Now, there is a hero in her story who is the wonderful, complex alpha-type guy that most readers would expect the heroine to commit to when all is said and done.  But there is no guarantee that Eolyn will, even if given the opportunity. As a maga, she is generally reluctant to promise herself to one man because she knows (or has been taught) that sooner or later aen-lasati will kick in, and that the Gods may very well direct her toward another union with someone else in the not-so-distant future.
Does this make Eolyn weak?  I really don't think so.  But it sets her apart from many of the heroines I've known, most of whom seem clearly destined to settle with the one heroic guy who is "right" for them – even if they sleep with multiple partners along the way. 
I'm certain there are exceptions to this rule; Guinevere comes to mind as an example, and I imagine we'll hear others in this week's discussion. But for the most part it seems to me there is one hero out there for every heroine; and that we typically expect the Heroine, in her heart of hearts, to wait, like the legendary Penelope, steadfast and true to her Man. 
I look forward to hearing your thoughts. . .
Note:  I have tried to construct this essay in a way that avoids spoilers for those who have not yet read my novel.  For those of you who have already read EOLYN, I would very much appreciate it if you do the same with your comments. Thank you! 
Posted by Karin Rita Gastreich 

How one of the "Three With Eyes That See" started a new niche for Hadley Rille Books

Every fourth (and the occasional fifth) Monday on Heroines of Fantasy is set aside for a guest post.  Our line up for the fall is a very exciting one; for the complete list, including links to websites, please scan down the right-hand bar.  Today our guest is Eric T. Reynolds, editor of Hadley Rille Books .  But before we move on to the guest post, we have just a couple announcements. 

First, this week is your LAST chance to register for the Heroines of Fantasy Grand Opening Raffle on October 1.  First prize is a free signed copy of the novel Eolyn by Karin Rita Gastreich.  Second prize is the October 2010 issue of Adventures for the Average Woman, featuring Karin's short story 'Creatures of Light'.  To learn more about the prizes and registering, visit our Grand Opening Raffle Page .  Or just send your name and email address to women.writing.fantasy(at)gmail.com 

Also, Karin was interviewed this past week by Terra Whiteman at 1889 Labs.  To read about what inspired Eolyn, the challenges of writing the novel, and the three things Karin would like to do before she dies (which hopefully won't be any time soon), please visit the 1889 Labs Blog .

Now, onto our main attraction. . .




When Kim, Terri and I started Heroines of Fantasy, there was no doubt in our minds as to the person we wanted as our first guest blogger.  Eric T. Reynolds has edited over twenty critically acclaimed anthologies, collections and novels and has had short fiction published in several anthologies.  He has also published non-fiction articles about the history of space exploration and technology. 

Perhaps most relevant to this blog, Eric is the reason Kim, Terri and I know each other.  We came together through his small press Hadley Rillle Books, which was founded in 2005 and is dedicated to publishing quality works of science fiction, fantasy and archeologically accurate historical fiction. Hadley Rille is a busy little press that many people in the genre agree is going places.  I think I can speak for all three of us when I say it's been a great pleasure and a source of pride to work with Eric and Hadley Rille.  So without further ado, let me turn the stage over to our esteemed editor, Eric T. Reynolds:


About three years ago, just a few years after its founding, Hadley Rille Books inhabited two niches: we published hard science fiction anthologies (and some short works from other subgenres) and I was just beginning to plan for our new Archaeology series. In 2008, I was working with Jenny Blackford on her book, The Priestess and the Slave , and had just made an agreement to publish Buffalito Destiny by Lawrence M. Schoen.  Those were to be the first single-author books of our two niches. 
Jenny's, the first book of the new Archaeology series, featured female protagonists in dual stories set in ancient Greece (a subject of Jenny's specialty). She showed what life was like from a female point-of-view, from a common person who was coping on an individual and community level with the Plague of Athens.  This was a unique and accurate way to show the struggles of humanity during the ancient past.
Lawrence's science fiction novel was his first full length novel set in his popular world of The Amazing Conroy and his buffalito, Reggie, a fun adventure told on several levels, showing among other things how humans (and aliens) cope with their own frailties.
So Hadley Rille Books was all set. We had the new Archaeology series and the new Buffalito series of books to look forward to.  I was excited. Then Kim Vandervort approached me at Worldcon in 2008 and pitched her novel to me, a fantasy novel called The Song and the Sorceress .  I told her, sure I would consider it.  I had, after all, published a short story by her in the anthology Ruins Metropolis and I knew she could write.  I told her I hadn't been publishing much fantasy and wasn't sure if I was going to go that route, but I wanted to see what she had written so I told her to send it to me.
One chapter into the book, I knew I wanted to publish it.  (Naturally, I didn't tell her that until I finished it.) 
So here was a book that, even though from a genre I hadn't planned on spending much publishing time, I wanted to add to our growing list of fantastic titles. It took me a while to realize why I had wanted to publish it.  It was an excellent story, for sure.  Kim's voice was unique and exciting.  Her characters were vivid. The mystery and romance in the book were exceptional.  But after a while I figured out that it fit into a larger part of the Hadley Rille Books personality for which I'd been searching.  Along with Jenny's unique female characters and settings, and Lawrence's witty storytelling, Kim's book showed a new perspective on how a protagonist can grow from naivety to one who manages to conquer the unconquerable, and all without relying on many stereotypes of just how women in fantasy should be.  Kim's book also allowed me to appreciate Jenny's book even more (and appreciate what Jenny had started for Hadley Rille with her female characters' unique points of view). 
It's hard to describe why I thought this, but that sense of building a new niche became stronger as we've continued to add more exceptional titles, including those by Kim's Heroines of Fantasy sisters, Terri-Lynne DeFino and Karin Rita Gastreich.  Each of these authors' works complements and enhances the others. This "being part of something larger" also continued along the Archaeology and science fiction lines. From those beginnings we've developed an overall personality of our novels with unique and overlooked points of view from characters, such as female characters (who aren't always young) that show us perspectives of life from an angle we get to see much too seldom in fiction.
Eric T. ReynoldsHadley Rille Books


...As a post-script, let me add for our readers:  Please feel free to ask Eric any questions you have about small press, editing, or publishing in general.  Thanks for stopping by!  --Karin
 

Fantasy: A Love Story

"Round about what is lies a whole mysterious world of what might be." ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
As a child, I watched fairies flitter among the flowers. I heard ghosts whisper between my ears. I felt clawed witch-fingers slither up my spine whenever I walked by certain houses. If I held my breath and flapped my arms really, really hard, I could fly. My toys came alive when I was out of the room; I tried to catch them but never could. I had conversations with squirrels and neighborhood dogs. My childhood world was full of magic and adventure as real to me as dragonflies and my own thoughts, cranky old ladies and dreams.
That mysterious world of what might be got misplaced sometime between childhood and adolescence. As I grew and learned to see with adult eyes, the magic faded. The titles of my stories went from The Fire-breathing Dragon, to Luck is Only for Winners. From magic to mundane, all in a few years of growing up.
No wonder Peter Pan fought it.
In the summer of 1979, I was fifteen years old and spent many a-lazy hour reading, sprawled on a thick limb of a tree in my yard. I found my lust for Harlequin Romances waning. I was too old for childhood favorites like Pippi and Ramona and Harriet. A couple years earlier, Star Wars started me itching for something…something I almost remembered…
I went to the library where, within the seemingly infinite possibilities, nothing looked interesting. I remember absently thumbing through the books on the nickel shelf. Tattered, one and all. I spotted a blue cover. No dust jacket. Bent pages, frayed corners, broken spine. Gold letters etched into it.
The Once and Future King.
The title scratched my itch; the story blew my teenage mind. All that magic left in childhood came rushing back as Wart and Sir Kaye. A sword. A stone. Merlin and Nimue. Guinevere and Arthur and Lancelot. Did I get all the metaphor? All the symbolism? Hell, no! But I found the way back to the magic, the mystery, the possibilities you need the space behind your eyes to see.
I found Bilbo and Gandalf. Frodo and Sam. Lady Amalthea and Schmendrick; Thomas Covenant and Lord Foul; Garion and Belgarath and Polgara; Ged and Earthsea; Xanth and Dragonlance. I razed these worlds of words, went back for more and more, right up to this very day, more.
We are all born with that sense of wonder, the knowledge that there truly is a whole mysterious world, indeed, many mysterious worlds of what might be. Some keep the knowledge all their lives. Some lose it and never find it again. Some, like me, only misplace it, and are lucky enough find it again.
And then, there are those few of us who take the next step; we create our own mysterious worlds of what might be. We send them out into the world to ignite that sense of wonder and whimsy in others. It's our own sort of omnipotence, creating worlds. A form of immortality. And it's love, pure love. For me, that is why fantasy.
What is your love story?

Why Heroines? Defining the Heroine in Epic Fantasy

We've come a long way, baby, but why are good heroines still so hard to find?  And how do we, as authors,  write a heroine that speaks true to the reader?
The problem with "traditional"female characters in epic fantasy, as I see it, is that they fall into one ofonly a few roles: the goodly matron, the healer, the love interest, the witch, theprostitute, and the victim.  Sometimesthey fulfill more than one of these roles at a time.  She's a witch AND a goodly matron!  She's the prostitute AND the victim AND thelove interest!  5x bonus for a characterwho manages to meet all of the stereotypes at the same time!  Unfortunately, she doesn't play much of arole beyond that prescribed for her by the genre.  Our "heroine," even when she wields a swordlike a badass, still swoons over our hero and falls apart like bad toilet paperwhenever the going gets tough. 
Heads-up, people: theseare not real women.  In order to write aproper heroine, the author has to respect the characteristics that make womenstrong and use those to advantage instead of trying to force the heroine to occupya stale stereotype or squish into the role traditionally occupied by the hero.
So what, then, defines agreat heroine?
For starters, she's goingto use her words.  A woman's need tocommunicate is generally much stronger than that of her male counterpart.  We talk, and talk, and talk.  We problem solve, talk through trickysituations and share stories.  Thus, evenif our heroine isn't a chatterbox, she will still most likely attempt a littleparley before jumping into that bar fight. She'll try to talk herself out of—or into—a situation.  She'll use words as a delay, as a diversion,as a weapon, or to make up for what she herself may lack in physical strength.
Which leads me to anotherproblem: women are not equal in strength to men.  Yes, I'm going to have my feminist cardrevoked.  But it takes a lot of brutestrength to lift that two-handed broadsword over your head like Conan and splityour enemies in two.  Forensicarchaeology argues that the English archers of Agincourt had such overdevelopedchests and shoulders that their bone structures and musculature were physically altered.  Just to pull the bow those men had to trainfrom an early age, and even then, a particular body type was required or they wouldn't succeed past a certain point.  Unless your heroine has a gym membership and has been working out with her weapon of choice since the age of five, I have a hard time believing that she will ever be able to equal her male counterparts in battle.
So what' s a girl todo?  Pick up a smaller weapon.  A short sword.  A dagger. A small bow and arrow.  Or—my personalfavorite—use her brain.  The brain is anoft-overlooked tool in the sword and sorcery genre (unless it's being used tocast spells or figure out how to bed the hot guy in the party).  In Song and the Sorceress, Ki'leah's memory isthe most sought-after commodity on two continents.  The knowledge she carries is far more important—andmore dangerous—than she realizes.  Learningto use that to her advantage gives her more power than a lifetime of swordlessons could ever do.
Perhaps one of the mostimportant characteristics of a heroine is that she, unlike the lonely hero,thrives with a support network.  A goodheroine realizes she can't get the job done all by herself.  If she's lacking strength, she'll bring themuscle.  Does she need information?  She'll bring a spy, a scholar, a big-assbook.  She's not afraid to delegate or askher friends for help.  Why?  Because that's what strong women do.  Anyone who has ever been to a PTA or a GirlScout convention knows exactly what I'm talking about.  Strong women acknowledge their weaknesses,then find a way to overcome them.  They work together to get the job done.  They also connect, on a much deeper level, with other women, who are always ready tojump in and spackle up the cracks in their friend's emotional armor, buff it, shine it, giveher a hug and send her on her way with a "good luck" and a "don't forget yourgauntlets."  A strong network of friendsand associates is essential for any heroine worth her salt.
Which brings me to mylast point, which is that we seldom see too many of these women in fantasy eventhough we have moved beyond the gold-bikini-as-armor era (thank goodness—it's sounsafe to be fighting naked).  Nevertheless, eventhough one can glance at the SFF section in Barnes & Noble and see rowsupon rows of covers featuring women in tight tank tops and leather jackets,very few of these creatures are actual heroines.  They are simply male characters who've been dressed up aswomen.  These girls act like men, thinklike men, ride Harleys like men, fight like men, have sex like men.  They don't act like real women at all.  And while we women can pretend that we'remaking all kinds of progress in the genre, the reality is that those coversaren't so far after all from the gold-bikini-armored warriors that made BorisVallejo famous. 
The best way I've foundto tackle the problem is to just keep writing the kind of heroines Iadmire.  Women who have dreams, hopes,fears, friends, enemies, brains, and wit. Women who care deeply for their families and would do anything to help afriend, even if it means giving an edge to the enemy.  Women who laugh, cry, make mistakes, thenproblem solve ways to fix them.  Womenwho need men as companions, as friends, as lovers, but who don't need to berescued.  Women with depth of character,spirit, and passion.  These are realwomen; these are the true heroines of fantasy.
Now, speak: what do you all think?
Kim Vandervort

Why Fantasy?

"I propose to speak about fairy stories, though I am aware that this is a rash adventure. Faerie is a perilous land, and in it are pitfalls for the unwary and dungeons for the overbold.  And overbold I may be accounted…" –J.R.R. Tolkien

When Kim, Terri and I first began discussing the idea for this blog just a few weeks ago, I thought it might be a couple months before we came to an agreement on what we wanted to do, and how we wanted to do it.  But Heroines of Fantasy , as a concept and as a web site, was assembled in record time.  I think this reflects not only similarities between the three of us in terms of how we view fantasy fiction, but also the great excitement we share about the genre and our deep desire to discuss the adventure of fantasy fiction with other authors and readers.
By way of introduction, this month we've decided to talk a little about "Why fantasy?"  What is it about fantasy as a genre that inspires us as readers and authors?  Why start a blog dedicated to the discussion of fantasy fiction, and especially women in fantasy fiction?
The question of "why fantasy?" has come back to me many times, especially in recent months since the release of my first novel, Eolyn .  The full answer to the question would be way too long for the average blog post; and I've responded to it in different ways at different moments in my journey as a reader and a writer.
For colleagues who know me through my day job as a biology professor, the revelation that I am also a fantasy author seems all the more puzzling.  Why would a scientist write fantasy?   I think the perception that this is somehow contradictory stems from our cultural tendency to assume it is the career that defines the person, and not the person who defines her career.
But also, I think we tend to forget that fantasy and science, although very different endeavors, nonetheless respond to very similar needs.  This was made clear to me once again in recent weeks. While mulling over what I would write for this first post, I came across a curious coincidence between my readings about fantasy and my readings about ecology. 
In his classic essay, 'On Faerie Stories', J.R.R. Tolkien made the following observation:
"The magic of Faerie is not an end in itself, its virtue is in its operations: among these are the satisfaction of certain primordial human desires.  One of these desires is to survey the depths of space and time.  Another is…to hold communion with other living things."
Wow.  That really struck a chord with me, and it occurred to me that maybe I became a fantasy author for the same reasons that I became a scientist – the desire to explore the limits of space and time, and the desire to commune with other living things.  
A generation later, in 1984, one of my heroes in the field of ecology, Edward O. Wilson (known as "Captain E.O." to entomologists worldwide), popularized what he called the 'biophilia hypothesis'.  Wilson defines biophilia as "the connections human beings subconsciously seek with the rest of life" – wording that very closely resembles one of the 'primordial desires' identified by Tolkien. 
I find it fascinating that these two men from different periods and very different walks of life should have come to such similar conclusions about one of the foundations of human desire. Writing fantasy fiction is one of the ways that I can not only fulfill these 'primordial desires', but also share in their fulfillment with others, both readers and fellow authors.
Wilson, interestingly enough, also recognizes the connection between one mode of exploration and the other:
"I have argued...that we are human in good part because of the particular way we affiliate with other organisms.  They are the matrix in which the human mind originated and is permanently rooted, and they offer the challenge and freedom innately sought....I offer this as a formula of reenchantment to invigorate poetry and myth: mysterious and little known organisms live within walking distance of where you sit.  Splendor awaits in minute proportions."
Splendor in my world, splendor in my books.
That's one answer I can give to the question "Why fantasy?", and it's enough, I think, for a single blog post.  
I do have a couple questions for you before I finish:
What do you like (or dislike) about fantasy fiction?
And, more importantly, what topics would you like to see discussed on a blog dedicated to fantasy fiction, and especially women in fantasy fiction?
Thanks for stopping by!  We look forward to reading your thoughts and comments.  While you're with us, make sure you check out our Grand Opening Raffle and register to win your free signed copy of Eolyn.  The drawing will be on October 1, 2011.  
--posted by Karin Rita Gastreich