Brondt Kamffer's Blog, page 16

Fantasy Motifs: Old Books

I am currently reading a series of novels in which the importance of an old, lost book cannot be understated. I have often been intrigued by the importance of books in fantasy, and this often goes in hand with the importance of history in the genre. Most conflicts in fantasy are the results of ancient conflicts come again; it seems to be a genre trope. Things old and forgotten, especially books that contain hidden and/or lost knowledge, are often vital to the heroes overcoming in the end.

So, ...

Fantasy Motifs: The Quest

One of the most ubiquitous motifs of older fantasy, the quest has fallen a little out of favour in recent years due to NY Publishing's pushing of dark, gritty, realistic fantasy from about the mid-90s on. But the quest is an old, old motif, one that the earliest fantasy writers got from Classical and Medieval literature, and one that is full of possibility for exploring the human soul and condition.

Writers like E.R. Eddison, Robert E. Howard, J.R.R. Tolkien, and even the "un-Tolkien" Stephen ...

The Call of Sage and Kindred Published

At last, the first of two offerings to come in the next couple of weeks is available for download. The Call of Sage and Kindred is a 25,000 words prequel novella in the style of a hagiography.

It will be available for free from Smashwords and wherever Smashwords distributes (once the trickle-through goes into effect), and I'll be trying to get Amazon to list it for free too (still waiting for it to go live there).

The people are sore oppressed by invaders.

A God calls a deliverer to challenge...

Turin and the Elves

The Children of Hurin lecture 3 of 8, looking at Turin's leaving of Dor-Lomin and his time among the Elves of Doriath. We examine the first two sorrows of Turin's life and see how Tolkien lays the groundwork in chapters 4 and 5 for all the tragedy that is to come later in Turin's life.

Text:

Chapter 4, "The Departure of Turin"

Chapter 5, "Turin in Doriath"

Direct Download – 52:45 – 48.5mb mp3

Text: The Children of Hurin by J.R.R. Tolkien

*To my knowledge, there is no difference in pagination...

Moses Siregar III: The Black God's War (Novella)

I have seen many people praising Moses Siregar's upcoming novel The Black God's War (to be released about August 1, I think), and some time ago, Mr. Siregar released a novella that excerpted fifteen chapters from the complete novel, making up one small story arc out of the longer narrative. Seeing as the complete novel was pending, I checked out the novella to get an idea of whether or not I'd actually like to read the novel so many are raving about (including NY Times bestselling fantasy...

Fantasy Motifs: Swords

*For a recap of what a motif is, read the first part of last week's post.*

Weaponry in fantasy novels is one of the most classic types of motifs in the genre, and yet the meanings and associations given to those weapons can change rather drastically from author to author and work to work. In many ways, weaponry acts like a leitmotif in a film's music score. You know, every time you hear the horns blowing in the Lord of the Rings film, the Rohirrim are nearby; or the pipes when the Hobbits are ...

The Curse of Morgoth

The Children of Hurin lecture 2 of 8, examining the victory of Morgoth over Elves and Men at the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, Morgoth's capture of Hurin, Hurin's steadfastness, and Morgoth's curse on Hurin's family.

Text:

Chapter 2, "The Battle of Unnumbered Tears"

Chapter 3, "The Words of Hurin and Morgoth"

Direct Download – 39:31 – 36.4mb mp3

Text: The Children of Hurin by J.R.R. Tolkien

*To my knowledge, there is no difference in pagination between the various printed editions. Therefore, though I am u...

Robert Clear: The Cambridge List

*The following is in response to an author's request for review*

The Cambridge List is an hilarious and fun book. I fail to remember when last I laughed so hard while reading. It is a fine debut from young Englishman Robert Clear, who I think will have a long career ahead of him if he can continue to produce stories like this.

The narrative follows James Conner, a recently flunked student from the Classics department at Cambridge University. He is depressed, and so a friend (a bio-tech...

Fantasy Motifs: Magic

*One of the most common searches that leads to this site is "fantasy motifs." This leads people to the Motifs of Fantasy episode of the podcast, and some have even listened to it. I Googled the above search terms and found that there is almost nobody else out there who talks about how motifs relate to the genre. Therefore, I have decided to elaborate on that podcast episode with a series on short essays on various fantasy motifs, what they are, how the work, etc.*

A motif is a significant...

The Childhood of Turin

The Children of Hurin lecture 1 of 8, in which I introduce the work as a whole, outlining genre, themes, motifs, recurrent words, etc, as well as it's place in the greater narratives of the Elder Days of Middle-earth. Also, I discuss chapter 1, "The Childhood of Turin."

Direct Download – 46:44 – 43.0mb mp3

Text: The Children of Hurin by J.R.R. Tolkien

*To my knowledge, there is no difference in pagination between the various printed editions. Therefore, though I am using the mass market...