Browsing all articles tagged with magic.
Worlds Within Worlds – Part Two: Magic Warfare
Fallout taught fans that war…war never changes. Military historians, however, argue otherwise. Case in point: the stirrup. Before firearms dominated the battlefield, it’s generally agreed that the stirrup was the most important innovation in warfare for a couple centuries. Fans of the Rohirrim will recognize why: cavalry is fast and maneuverable, and the stirrup allows […]
Magic, Mutants, and Machines: The Nifty Bits Reviews
Are you tired of reading lengthy, critical reviews that leave you even more confused about what to read next? Daniel Potter’s Nifty Bits – brief summaries of his past month’s reading – are the perfect remedy! Steal the Sky by Megan E. O’Keefe is a prelude to a high skies adventure-story. The plot, world, and economy […]
Is This Normal Around Here?
So you get home to your enchanted castle, hand your coat to the golem butler who waits by the door, tut sadly at Markus; the caretaker who’s trying to fill a light globe and letting all the fairies escape, then you head to the kitchen where your goblin chef has an entire pig roasting on […]
A Wizard Alone by Diane Duane
Whatever else may be your opinion of A Wizard Alone, you have to admit that you will likely never read any other book which opens with a boy arguing with a DVD player as the DVD player argues back. I’ve noticed in checking out the Young Wizards series from the library that they all come […]
Potions, Alchemy, & Apothecaries: Inspirations from the Real World
A witch hunched over a bubbling cauldron; a reclusive alchemist searching for the secret to eternal life; a hooded figure procuring a poison from a shady apothecary… While these are classic images from fantasy and storytelling, they are rooted in history. People tried as witches often “confessed” to making potions and salves that caused others […]
Fantasy Medicine – Part One: Healthcare, Magical and Mundane
Fantasy, whether epic, high, or sword-and-sorcery, would not be very exciting if the characters were as susceptible to death and disability as we are in the real world. The truth is, it takes much less than a broken leg or severed hamstring to render a human useless for battle and adventuring. How about a back […]
New Models for Magicians
In many fantasy stories, magicians often follow one or two traditional models. Many are often portrayed as guides or teachers that assist the protagonist. Often this mentor is described as an old man, with a long, white beard. They wear robes and carry walking staffs. Merlin and Gandalf cast long shadows over the genre. Alternatively, […]
iPods in Narnia
Okay, so there weren’t iPods in Narnia…but there are in ancient Egypt. Sort of. If you read Rick Riordan’s Kane Chronicles. A lot of fantasy writers find it tricky to balance the more fantastical elements of their world with the myriad of cool, real-world gadgets their characters can access these days. Riordan is one of […]
Five Favourite Wizards – Guest Blog by Stephen Aryan
Battlemage is an epic fantasy story where overt magic is front and centre, with powerful men and women able to change the very course of the war that has swept across a large part of the world. It is influenced by many modern and classic fantasy novels and I wanted to share some of my […]
Fantastical Biology – Part Eight: Fantasy Diseases
When creating a believable fantasy world, we often focus on things like politics, religion, culture; but there’s a tiny (microscopic, in fact) detail that can flesh out a story world and be used to create tension and conflict. Protagonists in fantasy novels often get cuts and bruises, or spend a few nights camping in the […]
Magic In Fantasy – Part Three: Ancient Magic
This is the third article in our Magic In Fantasy series. If you missed part one or two you can read them here: Part One: Introduction Part Two: Real Magic Divine magic—magic wielded by godly and divine beings—might not be a mainstay of fantasy fiction anymore, but it originates at the very roots of fantasy […]
Magically Systematic
One of the keystones of the fantasy genre is magic. Whether it be dark and mysterious, lost and forgotten, or as common as forks and spoons, it is an ever-present theme in our favourite fantasy books. There doesn’t seem to be anything magic can’t do. When our heroes are in trouble, a well placed spell […]
