I think most writers can relate to this—especially those of us with really long series.
Tag: J.R.R. Tolkien
Short-form vs. long-form fantasy
For the last month, I’ve been doing a lot of research into the fantasy genre, rereading all of the original Conan the Barbarian stories by Robert E. Howard and a bunch of the other ones too, by authors like L. Sprague De Camp, Lin Carter, Bjorn Nyberg, Robert Jordan, etc. I’ve also been reading a… Continue reading Short-form vs. long-form fantasy
Chat GPT Writes Fantasy in Various Authors’ Styles
Generic (no author style specified): Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there was a brave knight named Sir William. He was renowned throughout the kingdom for his valor, loyalty, and unwavering sense of justice. One day, a dreadful dragon named Gorthor, known to terrorize the kingdom, descended upon the land, spreading… Continue reading Chat GPT Writes Fantasy in Various Authors’ Styles
The Generational Cycles of Grimdark vs. Noblebright
A couple of months ago, I was discussing genre trends with my indie publishing mastermind group where we drew some fascinating connections between grimdark fantasy, noblebright fantasy, and Strauss-Howe generational theory. In that discussion, we came up with a theory that predicts when each type of fantasy (grimdark, nobledark, noblebright, and grimbright) will be ascendant,… Continue reading The Generational Cycles of Grimdark vs. Noblebright
Tolkien the movie
Future Mrs. Vasicek and I saw this movie over the weekend, and it was fantastic. Ten out of ten. It really hit home for me, not only as a Tolkien fan, but as a writer too. A few of the critics are panning this movie, but pay no attention to them. They’re probably just upset… Continue reading Tolkien the movie
Will A Song of Ice and Fire stand the test of time?
A while ago, I wrote a blog post titled Why I don’t like George R.R. Martin, in which I laid out some of the issues I had with the Song of Ice and Fire series, and why I decided not to read past the first book. That post has been getting a lot of traffic… Continue reading Will A Song of Ice and Fire stand the test of time?
Extra Sci-Fi S3E4: The Return of the King
Okay, I think the folks at Extra Credits got it wrong with this one in a really big way. Gollum didn’t redeem himself. That’s the entire point. Redemption is an important and very Christian theme of Lord of the Rings, but so is the problem of evil. Several comments on the video point this out:… Continue reading Extra Sci-Fi S3E4: The Return of the King
Extra Sci-Fi S3E3: The Two Towers
This episode of Extra Sci-Fi got me to thinking about a speech that Orson Scott Card gave when he visited BYU back in 2007. He said a bunch of interesting things that have stuck with me over the years, including (to paraphrase) “conservatism is the new counterculture.” He was probably ten to fifteen years before… Continue reading Extra Sci-Fi S3E3: The Two Towers
Extra Sci-Fi S3E2: The Fellowship of the Ring
Another fascinating episode from Extra Credits, this one focusing on the themes of generational passing and the diminishing of ages that is present in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. I have a lot of thoughts on this episode, but they all basically boil down to one thing: Every generation reinvents the world. It’s a theme… Continue reading Extra Sci-Fi S3E2: The Fellowship of the Ring
Extra Sci-Fi S3E1: Tolkien and Herbert, the World Builders
So I really enjoyed the first two seasons of Extra Sci-Fi, and since they’ve just started up with season three, I’d like to do a blog series where I react to the episodes. From the first episode, it looks like the main focus of this season is on Lord of the Rings and Dune, two… Continue reading Extra Sci-Fi S3E1: Tolkien and Herbert, the World Builders