New Worlds, Year Four: More Essays on the Art of Worldbuilding

New Worlds #4

by Marie Brennan

Escape into another world . . .

Bathing and banking, animals and adultery: human culture contains a truly daunting array of elements. The fourth volume of the NEW WORLDS series takes readers on a tour of all-new topics, delving into everything from childbirth to dream interpretation to the importance of generosity, as award-winning fantasy author and former anthropologist Marie Brennan continues her in-depth exploration of worldbuilding in science fiction and fantasy.

This volume collects essays from the fourth year of the New Worlds Patreon.

Genres: Nonfiction

204 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 18, 2021

About the author

Marie Brennan a.k.a. M.A. Carrick

Marie Brennan is a former anthropologist and folklorist who shamelessly pillages her academic fields for material. She recently misapplied her professors' hard work to Turning Darkness Into Light, a sequel to the Hugo Award-nominated series The Memoirs of Lady Trent. As half of M.A. Carrick, she is also the author of The Mask of Mirrors, first in the Rook and Rose trilogy. For more information, visit swantower.com, Twitter @swan_tower, or her Patreon.

Reviews

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another Excellent Compilation

I won’t deny that as a writer I have Worldbuilders Disease, but that’s mostly because there’s so much to consider when it comes to creating fictional worlds. This book and the others in the series are thought-provoking by bringing to light subjects I had previously taken for granted from a world-building perspective.

[Eliah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some very great topics, some very uninteresting ones

[Thia Reads A Lot · Rating 4 out of 5]

New Worlds, Year Four: More Essays on the Art of Worldbuilding - Marie Brennan
Rating: ★★★ ½
Award-winning fantasy author Marie Brennan continues her in-depth exploration of worldbuilding in science fiction and fantasy for the New Worlds Patreon. These 52 essays were written between March 2020 and February 2021.

Like its predecessor Year Three, this volume lacked some of the anecdotes of real-world or fictional cultures that illustrated the possibilities of the topics at hand. Many essays (particularly those revolving around the human body and its care) felt very introductory to me and didn’t add to my knowledge in any significant way, but I’m ready to blame the exceptional circumstances of the time period when these essays were written. The most memorable essays were the “theory essays” focused on anthropological concepts applied to writing (Cultural Spheres, Marked and Unmarked Categories, Essentialism, Culture Contact) and the essays on the roles of animals in society.

“In short: real religion is often messy. It changes over time, adopting new elements from the influences around it, it defies any effort to fix it down to a nice clean system distinct from those around it. Fictional faith doesn’t have to be like that… but there’s so much vitality and interest in letting things get a bit complicated.” - Syncretism

Reading Journal Index: 2023-108