I for one am not interested in cleverly-hidden ripoffs of D&D modules my friends could run.
It's unfortunate but true that the stereotypes embedded in the fantasy genre by Anne Rice and J. R.R. Tolkien persist in such vast quantities, and that most of what else is out there idolizes George R.R. Martin and Robert Jordan far too much for it to be healthy.
I am sick of the gothic bishounen vampire, and I am sick of any and all depictions of elves as distant and unfeeling. You might say it's personal bias, but I have sat through countless dozens of vampire movies, played my fair share of video games, and read an absolutely brain-busting number of books in my short life. It's an attitude born of witnessing too many of the same ideas spread across too much of my favorite territory. I admit I read and enjoy all the aforementioned authors in some fashion or another - I'm biased to think that Anne Rice should never write another book again and should stick to making more movies, as she handles herself better with an editor - and I'm not ashamed of that. I love playing Dungeons and Dragons, Vampire: The Masquerade, Exalted, and the Breath of Fire games. I love movies like Star Wars, Dragonheart, Merlin, and The Witches of Eastwick. But I - can't - stand something that simply parrots these concepts without giving some consideration as to why they think the ideas work in the setting they're using. That's acceptable - when you're writing something set in those universes. Not, however, when you're writing something you're touting as "original fiction." I expect more creativity in the concept.
Unless, of course, it's well-written, engaging, and shows a genuine understanding of the subject matter. A friend of mine once wrote a 900-page fantasy novel that in style and approach owed a great deal to Jordan and Martin, but he made it his own and blew the pants off everyone who read it, including the Tor editors. To the best of my knowledge it's still in the process of preparing to publish, and he stands to make a good deal of money off it, supposing he's written it well enough to stand out from the dozens of other books with similar goals. I'd like to think so, but then, apparently I'm elitist, so I really don't fit in the majority, do I?
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I for one am not interested in cleverly-hidden ripoffs of D&D modules my friends could run.
It's unfortunate but true that the stereotypes embedded in the fantasy genre by Anne Rice and J. R.R. Tolkien persist in such vast quantities, and that most of what else is out there idolizes George R.R. Martin and Robert Jordan far too much for it to be healthy.
I am sick of the gothic bishounen vampire, and I am sick of any and all depictions of elves as distant and unfeeling. You might say it's personal bias, but I have sat through countless dozens of vampire movies, played my fair share of video games, and read an absolutely brain-busting number of books in my short life. It's an attitude born of witnessing too many of the same ideas spread across too much of my favorite territory. I admit I read and enjoy all the aforementioned authors in some fashion or another - I'm biased to think that Anne Rice should never write another book again and should stick to making more movies, as she handles herself better with an editor - and I'm not ashamed of that. I love playing Dungeons and Dragons, Vampire: The Masquerade, Exalted, and the Breath of Fire games. I love movies like Star Wars, Dragonheart, Merlin, and The Witches of Eastwick. But I - can't - stand something that simply parrots these concepts without giving some consideration as to why they think the ideas work in the setting they're using. That's acceptable - when you're writing something set in those universes. Not, however, when you're writing something you're touting as "original fiction." I expect more creativity in the concept.
Unless, of course, it's well-written, engaging, and shows a genuine understanding of the subject matter. A friend of mine once wrote a 900-page fantasy novel that in style and approach owed a great deal to Jordan and Martin, but he made it his own and blew the pants off everyone who read it, including the Tor editors. To the best of my knowledge it's still in the process of preparing to publish, and he stands to make a good deal of money off it, supposing he's written it well enough to stand out from the dozens of other books with similar goals. I'd like to think so, but then, apparently I'm elitist, so I really don't fit in the majority, do I?