IMHO: A Brief and Personal History of Heroic Fantasy and Sword and Sorcery.
As I struggle with old age and its infirmities and limitations, I've been struggling with trying to do something for a fourth and final Mad Shadows volume. Although my goal is to return to the first book's "playlist" of 6 novellas, (roughly 125-K words) I want to expand on that, whether in story length or the number of stories. I want to put my main character of Dorgo the Dowser through some mental and emotional changes, based on what he experienced and what he witnessed during the course of book 3. I want to do something different and even more character-driven, but we'll. It's been a rather slow-growing process, and writing 4-K and 5-K stories is not something I'm good at. Anyway, getting back on track, I had forgotten I wrote this article for Black Gate and can't even remember if I posted it here. It's one of a number of IMHO articles I wrote, and this one I discuss the evolution of Heroic Fantasy and Sword & Sorcery, from market-driven short stories to door-stop novels and mega-volume sagas. But since this article was written I have been discovering more and more markets catering to short fiction, and that's a welcome return to something that had nearly gone extinct. If I revised this article now, I'd be discussing such markets as Savage Realms Monthly, Sword & Sorceries: Tales of Heroic Fantasy, and others. So here's the link to my article, if any of you are interested. Some great comments and insights by Keith West, James Enge , Fletcher Vredenburgh, and others. Thanks for listening!
1 comment:
Hello out there! I pray you are well these days, though judging by this blog entry, you are struggling with what I am in aging. For this, well, God be with us. I look forward to seeing your work if you continue with writing more Dorgo- I know he and his world were very special to you… Anyway, be well out there and know you are remembered and prayed for.
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