Browsing all articles tagged with science.
Knocking People Out: Easier In Fiction Than In Real Life
It’s a common scenario in many kinds of fiction, including fantasy: a character passes out, either because they’ve been knocked on the head or injured or drugged, and the world “goes black” or they “fall into darkness”. The unfortunate character usually wakes up several hours or days later in a new place, disoriented and sometimes […]
A Streak of White Hair: Fantasy or Reality?
I was recently reading a fantasy romance novel where the main character pushed himself to the limits of his magical abilities and nearly died. Afterward, he was left with a streak of white in his long black hair (if you don’t mind spoilers, this is the book). I’ve seen this before many times in fantasy, […]
The Creatures We Base Aliens On
One of the interesting things about fictional aliens is that they’re almost never completely alien. We have no real idea what extra-terrestrials would look like, and it’s nigh impossible to imagine an entirely new species unlike anything we’ve ever seen. As such, we usually fall back on earthly species for inspiration, combining known elements to […]
Monthly Short Story Winner: Potions and Elixirs
Outside of RPGs and adventure games, potions hadn’t been very popular until a certain professor humiliated a little wizard student lesson after lesson in his potion class. This month our entrants were to show us there is more to potions than Severus Snape, Felix Felices and Polyjuice Potion. Rules: 1. This must be prose or […]
Why Aliens Look Like Octopuses
Have you ever noticed that extra-terrestrials in most “aliens-make-contact” science fiction usually resemble octopuses, squids, or other cephalopods? At least, when they don’t just look like humans in Halloween masks or cheap make up. Arrival, Independence Day, War of the Worlds, The Simpsons… the list goes on. The default non-humanoid aliens seem to always have […]
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 […]
The Last of a Kind: Extinction in Fantasy
We often hear about extinction in the real world – whether it’s a dodo that’s already died out, a rhinoceros that’s on the brink of extinction, a bluefin tuna that’s well on its way there, or more rarely, a Bermuda petrel that provides a glimmer of hope, reappearing after years of being thought extinct. The […]
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 […]
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 […]
Fantastical Biology – Part Seven: Fantasy Biologists
So far this series has focused on animals and habitats, exploring anything from the relationships between predators and prey to the deepest parts of the ocean. But what is fantastical biology, without a fantastical biologist? This article takes a look at the people who study science in our world, and how the real world study […]
Fantastical Biology – Part Six: Fantasy Creatures & Urban Living
Wildlife isn’t the first thing that might come to mind when you think of the city, but lots of animals make their homes there. Things are no different in fantasy cities, and urban fantasy is a popular genre often featuring fantastical incursions into modern day life. Looking at how nature copes in real cities can […]
Fantastical Biology – Part Six: Symbiosis
Nature is often depicted as being brutal, where only the strongest survive, and fantasy novels often follow this idea. But, predator versus prey is not the only way animals interact with one another in the real world. While different species living in the same area often compete with one another for resources, there are many […]
