Brondt Kamffer's Blog, page 9

religion in fantasy: theism

*This is the first in an eight-part series, which I'll publish during the month of March*

Religion is an integral part of every society in this world, and thus it comes as no surprise that religion often features so prominently in fantasy literature, wherein authors construct imaginary worlds that must balance the fantastic with the believable in a way few other genres have to deal with. The issue I want to explore is how various authors approach this most delicate of human subjects. They say ...

omnibus, scion, &c. (3/2 update)

So, I missed posting entirely last week, dropping off the face of the earth, but not without reason. I have spent the greater part of my non-writing time working on another web-based project, which as it has nothing to do with this site, I'll say no more about. But on the writing front, there is much to report, and most of it good news.

Omnibus

I have at last got The Ossian Chronicles omnibus completed, and it went on sale earlier this week. The only real noteworthy thing to say about this is t...

Weekly Update: Feb 10-16

It's been a bit of a hectic week all around, but I have survived and remain on schedule. I had x-rays taken last Friday on my left elbow, forearm, and wrist, checking for a possible fracture. As a result of the pain I had prior and subsequent to that, typing has been relatively slow going. Fortunately, there is no fracture, but the arm remains in some pain, and the doctor reckons it's ligament damage. Slow as the work is, however, I am progressing positively with the current writing...

Fantasy Cult Movie Plug

I don't ordinarily do this sort of thing, but last week I stumbled upon a low-budget fantasy film titled The Gamers 2: Dorkness Rising. It's a D&D flick, chronicling the adventures of four PCs and their GM's NPC babysitter in search of a Necromancer and the evil artifact he's stolen (if you have no idea what all that means, then this is probably not for you. If those acronyms make sense, then this will likely be right up your alley). Every sort of gaming cliché is made fun of in here–and...

Week in Review: Feb 3-9

Things are starting to change for me, both in my private life and in this public forum. I have no idea where I'll be or what I'll be doing a month from now, let alone three months or a year out. Far from seeking to pour out my heart here, what I do want to do is start some weekly updates and reviews, discussing the progress of my books and plans for the future of my writing. It's all moving and changing so rapidly that I think–at least for myself–this will be interesting to look out for. In a...

Proud and Impatient — Reading Chapter 2 of "The Wizard of Earthsea"

Chapter Two of the novel is called "The Shadow," a title laden with irony and heavy with multiple meanings in the context of the chapter itself and in the novel at large. The primary focus here is Sparrowhawk/Ged's brief time as the apprentice to Ogion, the great magician of Gont.

We have a progression on the characterization of our hero as laid out in Chapter One, though Le Guin complicates our feelings towards him in many ways. We realize that he is still young and, if our memory serves, we ...

Kirk Yuras: Time of the Awakening

I first encountered Time of the Awakening in the late summer of last year. I was intrigued by the scope of the author's vision: ten books that have a sort of cyclical nature to the plot, events occurring and reoccurring until finally coming to closure in the final book. This is a very simplistic way to sum up the series (and I'm sure the author would cringe at reading that), but it serves to illustrate that Mr. Yuras has a vision for his series unlike anything I've ever seen.

Oh, and did I...

Style, Character, and Plot — Reading Chapter 1 of "A Wizard of Earthsea"

With so much emphasis on world building in the first chapter, it is easy to forget that Ursula Le Guin breaks some other rules of fantasy as well, namely presenting a whole lot of characterization in a style that is somewhat archaic. In fact, the plot, the element for which genre fiction is so well known (and so oft derided) appears little more than a framework to reveal the world and the main character, Sparrowhawk, to us.

Le Guin's Style

But let us begin with a brief look at the style of the ...

The World of Earthsea — Reading Chapter 1 of "A Wizard of Earthsea"

Chapter one of A Wizard of Earthsea breaks all sorts of rules that are now put forward to fantasy writers. While this may not be too surprising for a book first published in 1968, it is nevertheless a testament to Le Guin's ability that the only comment I have to offer is that it is all so skillfully done. What am I talking about? Well, rule number one (or thereabouts) for fantasy writers is don't do too much world building in the first fifty/hundred/random number of pages, as it slows the...

The Scion of Abacus, Part 2 Published

Part two of my ongoing serial novel, The Scion of Abacus, has now been published and is available for download at Amazon.

I have decided to take advantage of Amazon's new KPD Select programme, and am in the process of pulling the first volume of the serial from Apple, BN, and Sony. This is a decision I have arrived at after much thought–and a bit of consultation of Joe Konrath's New Year's Resolutions for Writers:

Take more risks.

So, instead of going down the trodden path of the first novels...