Michal Wojcik's Blog, page 13
October 30, 2016
Fantasy Economics
One charge often lobbed against secondary-world fantasy novels is that they don’t dwell on the economics of their imagined landscapes. What currency do the people use? Who grows the food? Who manufactured that cloak? The complaint strikes me as a little silly; most realist and historical novels I’ve read are similarly disinterested in these questions if they’re not directly tied to the narrative. I don’t see why the switch to an imaginary place suddenly makes the absence of economic matters...
October 23, 2016
October 17, 2016
Author Interview: On Monsters
A new author interview with yours truly went up today at CoreyRedekop’s website, this time about monsters and the upcoming anthologyThose Who Make Us.
October 15, 2016
Children of Mythago Wood
There are two books I read over the summer/autumn that I meant to write about at some length on this blog, but never actually did. With winter very close and the days shortening at an alarming rate, it seems as good time as any to get my thoughts about both of them out in one go.
As an aside, I really love the design of this cover.
Children of Earth and Sky – Guy Gavriel Kay (2016)
I should have enjoyed Kay’s latest more than I did, since it once again happens to enter an area of personal his...
September 30, 2016
A Quarterly Almanac and a Monstrous Preorder
Two bits of news today, my first full day of being 28 years old (ooh, just a couple of years left where I can mark “new generation writer” on my short story submissions…):
The Book Smugglers’ Quarterly Almanac Vol. 2is now available for purchase, which includes a reprint of my short story “Mrs. Yaga” along with various other goodies. Details of where to get it and a free giveaway here. You can pre-order Those Who Make Us: Canadian Creature, Myth and Monster Storiesand oggle at the cover art...August 25, 2016
August 6, 2016
Back to Sketching
My current mental state
I haven’t posted a sketch on this blog since 2011. That’s…a long time.
Meanwhile, the spacebetween articles is growing ever larger. Truth is, I haven’t been writing much of anything lately, fiction or otherwise. What I have been doing, is drawing. That’s the exact opposite of the situation coming out of my undergrad, where I was devoting a lot of time to writing but didn’t spendmuch time at all on art. I have no concrete reason why the flip happened. Somewhere, drawing...
June 26, 2016
Episode 29 – Thank you for your childhood
The Giverby Lois Lowry isthe one book on elementary/high school reading lists that Canadians our ageremember fondly. Why is this, and why is the cover so darn memorable?
https://ia601503.us.archive.org/21/items/OLSP29TheGiver/OLSP29_TheGiver.mp3Download the Podcast(archive.org page)
Episode 26: Get Urras back to Anarres(Discussion ofThe Dispossessed)
June 11, 2016
Fantasy as protest: Towards a new movement in fantasy literature
Kevan Manwaring is trying to define a new movement in fantasy he’s calling “Goldendark”. I can quibble about the name, which honestly ain’t great, but we’re well past due for another paradigm shift in fantasy literature, and Manwaring constructs an attractive and concrete thematic goal authors can aim for.
Mind you, Manwaring is participating in the “against grimdark” conversation that has been going on for years now; that is, a backlash against the perceived uptick of fantasy novels and sto...
May 25, 2016
Episode 28 – Web series galore
The internet has provided ways for artists to skirt around traditional channels to get their work out to the public; web series are one of the more ambitious examples. We chat about our favourite web series and the idiosyncrasies of the medium.
https://archive.org/download/OLSP28Webseries/OLSP28_Webseries.mp3Download the Podcast(archive.org page)
Web series mentioned:
The Guild
The Lizzie Bennet Diaries
Welcome to Sanditon
Emma Approved...
