Fantasy Aficionados discussion
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What Sub-Genre is this?
Wow, that is really good work! Why can't any of my new books come with covers like this??
Sorta back on topic: What sub-genre would you categorize On a Pale Horse and the rest of the series? At first, I consider them to simply be "fantasy." With further thought, I think they are closer to "Urban Fantasy" than not.
I use to want to fit in when I was young. Now, I could care less! I believe in marching to the the beat of my own drummer.
Lady Danielle "The Book Huntress" wrote: "I use to want to fit in when I was young. Now, I could care less! I believe in marching to the the beat of my own drummer."Big thumbs up to you! I agree 100%. And to be honest, there is nothing wrong with being smart and liking to read or being a nerd. I think the stigma comes from fear - that maybe they don't have the ability to read for pleasure?
My mom used to say, "A fool's name - like a fool's face - is always found in a public place."
I used to get picked on really bad, for most of my childhood. My mother would always say they were jealous. As a grown-up, I'm coming to realize it was probably true. I did my own thing and I was in my own world. I didn't really care about what was going on around me. I think that people wondered what kept me so happy that I didn't even pay attention to others. I only wanted to fit in because I got tired of getting picked on. I realized in college that it wasn't worth it. I didn't like what other people wanted me to be. I like being myself. When I embraced that, a lot of that silly pressure just went away.
Lady Danielle "The Book Huntress" wrote: "I used to get picked on really bad, for most of my childhood. My mother would always say they were jealous. As a grown-up, I'm coming to realize it was probably true. I did my own thing and I was i..."You would have loved my HS - at least the people I hung out with in HS & college. Theatre is THE #1 way to go in my opinion. The theatre people didn't care what I was into - they were all strange, too. ;)
I joined a film group in college, and it was awesome. My college was very conservative, and I think all the weird/edgy/alternative people joined the film society. I loved being in that environment.
I love film and art people, too. Since my intro into the U.S. is as an Asian who couldn't speak English in Baptist Louisiana, there was no way I was ever going to fit in. That kind of started my being a total individual and not really caring about what anybody else was into. Or maybe it was because I never had an opportunity to be in a peer group so didn't know any better. Ignorance is bliss.
I've never tried film clubs...that is very interesting.Art school was very cool, too. I completed about 1 year at the Art Institute of Washington. I wish I could have finished up but at the prices I was paying it makes more sense to get a Masters and call it a day.
I have always loved art and literature, as much as science. It's a dual nature for me. I think I like being around artsy folks.
We can call ourselves The Art Farts. Oh...no wonder I'm a nerd...
I created a separate thread for anyone who wishes to continue the cover art discussion.Here's the link:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/4...
Aloha wrote: "We can call ourselves The Art Farts. Oh...no wonder I'm a nerd..."LOL!
I don't know, I've always gone my own way and worried very little about other's opinions. I just figured they don't know what they're missing (LOL). I found fantasy young and like many of you I pretty much keep a book with me any time I go somewhere I might have "sitting time". Aloha, my wife was an artist. Throughout her life she went through many (what?) periods? Landscapes, seascapes, florals etc. Just before her first stroke (which paralyzed her right side) she had begun to work on fanciful largely "fairy" paintings.
Go for it. I tried to be sure my wife had the time and material she needed to paint. By the way, she had other interests to...crafts etc. but mostly she loved painting. She worked mostly in oils, but loved waters for certain things and also used acrylics. She could take water based color pencils and do a painting you'd swear was in oil. So, the dishes will wait, the floor isn't going to collapse in on itself if it has to wait to be swept till tomorrow...
By the way, if your married, hubby can help, I did and it never killed me (LOL). I'm a pretty good cook and housework isn't fatal.
As they say on your death bed you won't say "boy, I wish I'd spent more time doing chores". So PAINT.
Oh and to everyone else...WRITE, DRAW, SCULPT, PAINT, or whatever is applicable. :)
Thank you, Mike. What you said was very encouraging. Your wife is lucky to have a supportive husband like you. :o)
Thanks Aloha.. I won't belabor it. Most here know, my wife passed away almost 2 years ago. it's sort of why I'm aware of the "do it now" aspect of things.Anyway, as I said go for it.
I'm sure we're all starting to dust off our paint brushes and drawing pencils after you said that. Thanks, Mike!
Mike, I have to say you sound like a wonderfully supportive husband. I hope that my marriage is as happy as yours.
I have a 'sub-genre' question. What does au-fantasy mean? I'm reading Merlin's Ring by H. Warner Munn and I noticed it was shelved by someone as 'au-fantasy' so I checked the 'au-fantasy' shelf and these are the books listed, though it gives me no clue as to what au-fantasy is: http://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/a...
Can anyone satisfy my curiosity?
I'm going to defer this question to Grant or someone else. I'm stumped.
Hmm I'm gonna have to second Nicki on this one. I'm going alternate universe but since I'm not familiar with the book I'll look it up and find out for sure :)
I've only read two on that list: Poison Study and Magic Study. I wouldn't call them alternate universe, would you?
Hmm well it's definitely not australian authors but MrsJosephs right....theyre not alternate universe either.....hmm...I'll keep looking
Nothing comes to mind now either. When you mentioned Merlin's Ring I thought maybe Arthurian, but Poison Study and Magic Study aren't Arthurian... I'll have to think about it.
Wow, our resident geniuses are stuck.
Oddly enough, when I google it, I get lots of sports results :PI have no idea..
Lol! No worries, MrsJoseph, I haven't renewed my mensa membership in years :P Seriously though I have no clue yet. This is like an itch right in the middle of your back...*sigh*
I'd suggest going back to the profile and seeing what other books are listed as this, it might give you/us a clue...or you could just ask them. :)
Excellent idea, Mike!It's the same person and the books don't help me, neither did google. So I took your advice, Mike, sent a message, and sent a FR, followed reviews and invited him to join us. It pays to stand out from the crowd, lol
If and when I get an answer I will rush right over here and pass it on. Thanks you guys, you've been great in trying to help. Love you people! Mwah!
OK, kids, we got an answer. And wow that was fast.Here it is, dude's name is Brian:
'au-fantasy' is my abbreviation for 'Alternate Universe Fantasy'--books with a fantasy setting that seem to have started as a recognizable Earth sometime in the past and then took a left turn to add fantasy elements (e.g., dragons in the Napoleonic wars, werewolves in Victorian England). Not quite 'Historical Fantasy' (since I think of that as set in recognizable history with just a dollop of fantasy hidden from the rest of the world), but one where the fantasy has changed things enough that the world is significantly different.
Perhaps alt-history-fantasy would be a better term.
Mystery solved.
Hmm...so this was his own classification then?
And here I was going to suggest that "au" was the chemical symbol for gold.
I like that! AU-Fantasy, the golden standard :)
Makes sense (cents) to me.
Ok, sounds cool...I'm not quite sure about the two I've read, but I've not read the others so...
I thought it was going to be a fancy smancy French thing.
Mike (the Paladin) wrote: "I'd suggest going back to the profile and seeing what other books are listed as this, it might give you/us a clue...or you could just ask them. :)"I agree with this.
I actually wouldn't pay too much attention to it if au fantasy was on someone's personal bookshelf, since we can create our own shelves. It's probably holds some personal meaning.
Jesslyn had a question about the sub-genre of The Blade Itself over in the Poll comments: http://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/44...What sub-genre is this book? I have only read a few chapters so I have no real idea. From what I remember it felt like it had aspects of both "epic" (or "high" for you, Grant :) and "sword & sorcery."
Note: To me, this doesn't matter for the poll, I'm just curious.
I'd call it Epic, but I wouldn't call it High Fantasy..though some might disagree with me. It's sort of borderline I think... maybe, "epic pulp"?:)
In the choices for this month's Epic Fantasy read, one of the choices is The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie. After reading reviews and a few synopsis (synopsi? synopses?), I always thought of this as a Sword and Sorcery Fantasy rather than an Epic Fantasy.Anyone read this one who can comment?
It probably fits. The series is 3 books so I leaned toward some form of Epic as the world is pretty complete... But it does have the requisite Wizardry vs. Warrior etc. I said Epic Pulp above...maybe Sword and Sorcery Epic, or vice-versa ? LOL :)
Mike (the Paladin) wrote: "It probably fits. The series is 3 books so I leaned toward some form of Epic as the world is pretty complete... But it does have the requisite Wizardry vs. Warrior etc. I said Epic Pulp above...may..."**snicker** He said "Epic Pulp"
Is there a such thing as epic sword & sorcery? I like the sound of it, though! :-)
That's the point...we can name it! It's like, you know, jumbo shrimp.
Fantasy Aficionados
Books mentioned in this topic
Izzy, Willy-Nilly (other topics)Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural (other topics)
The Eyes of the Dragon (other topics)
The Name of the Wind (other topics)
At Swim, Two Boys (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Kevin Hearne (other topics)Leigh Brackett (other topics)
http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/
I have the ZBrush program but have not had much time to work with it. So far, I've only had time to play around with the models that came with the program, but nowhere close to what is being done on this site.