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fantasy

Olden Lore

Is “Historical Accuracy” a Good Defense of Patriarchal Societies in Fantasy Fiction?

by Dan Wohl | 12:30 pm, December 5th, 2012

Are you aware that human history is full of examples of sexist, patriarchal societies where women were discriminated against? I’m sure you are, as a reader of The Mary Sue. I’m pretty sure you are as a person alive in the 21st Century, too. Yet so many of the historically inspired fantasy worlds we love are remarkably intent on reminding us of this.

When I raise this issue with someone, I often get some variation of this in reply. Sexism in (to pick the most obvious example) medieval fantasy is okay or even desirable, the thinking goes, because in the real European Middle Ages sexism was the status quo. There’s no denying that, but fantasy is called fantasy because it’s a fantasy. There were no dragons in the real Middle Ages either, but we don’t have a problem including them.

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Things We Saw Today

Things We Saw Today: President Lincoln Riding A Velociraptor

by Jill Pantozzi | 5:30 pm, November 11th, 2012

Sequel to Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter? No, awesome photo series from Andrew Becraft. See which other “great leaders” he sat atop “terrible lizards” on The Brothers Brick. (via io9) 

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Things We Saw Today

Things We Saw Today: Monsters Head To University

by Jill Pantozzi | 5:05 pm, October 9th, 2012

Monsters University, the sequel to Monsters Inc., has a brand-new, super-realistic website for the school. Marketing Done Right 101. (via TDW Geek) 

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And All Was Right With the World

Newest Humble Bundle Offers Books! Half by Women! Pay What You Want! OMG Excited!

by Susana Polo | 1:53 pm, October 9th, 2012

If you’re not an avid video gamer, you might not be familiar with the Humble Indie Bundle, or you might not have had an avid video gamer friend accost you and demand that you immediately take what’s offered by the habitual organizer and offerer of DRM-free indie developed games on a pay-what-you-want system where funds go directly to the game makers and game-related charities.

This summer, the Humble Bundle branched out a bit, offering a bundle entirely of nerdy musical artists like MC Frontalot, They Might Be Giants, and Jonathan Coulton. Now the Bundle tackles another frontier: books. Here’s how it works:

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Fans Do Cool Things

Check Out This High Fantasy Take on The Avengers

by Alanna Bennett | 2:25 pm, July 8th, 2012

Fanart never ceases to amaze us. The time and the talent poured into depictions of often fictional characters, the results of which have the power to even outdo the PR teams and artists who are actually employed to promote the thing in the first place. It’s what we love about fandom: the power that fans have to take one thing they love and mix it with so many other things. Like these super intense illustrations by deviantartist theDurrian, which takes characters from The Avengers and infuses them with “high/dark/epic fantasy.”

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Here Be Dragons

Syfy Set To Adapt Stephen King’s The Eyes of the Dragon

by Jill Pantozzi | 2:02 pm, April 24th, 2012

Stephen King’s 1987 fantasy novel, The Eyes of the Dragon, may not be his most famous work but it’s one of his best in my opinion. I always thought it was prime material for a movie adaptation, what with it’s dragons and evil wizards. Now, it looks like I might finally get my wish. Syfy has optioned King’s book for a film or mini-series.

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This is just like magic!

The Rules of Magic, According to… Well, Everything, Ever

by Susana Polo | 3:40 pm, December 8th, 2011

If you have ever wanted to figure out how magic works, go could do more wrong than to peruse this exhaustive compilation of magic systems in fantasy fiction, complied and displayed by io9. We’re going to post the biggest snippet of it we can behind the jump, but it leaves out several columns and a significant portion of the bottom of the chart. Here we go:

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Vital Information for Your Everyday Life

Need Something to Read? Flowcharts Are Here To Help

by Susana Polo | 9:42 am, October 5th, 2011

The folks at SF Signal have taken the exhausting task of taking all one hundred books and series from NPR’s viewer’s choice list of the greatest science fiction and fantasy books in history, and throwing them onto a flowchart that tells you which ones would suit you. I consider it pretty accurate, since following my own tastes across its twisting streams resulted only in finding my favorite books of the genres.

Although, these days I never really have to ask what I’m going to read next, because I just look at the books and series that people suggest should have been in our Power Grids and read those. But right! You probably want to see the whole thing. Click on.

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And So It Begins

In The Game of Thrones, You Get Nominated for a Bunch of Emmys Or Die

by Alanna Bennett | 11:48 am, July 14th, 2011

This morning Melissa McCarthy and Joshua Jackson got up at about three in the morning to announce the nominations for the 2011 Emmy Awards. Game of Thrones and some other sci-fi fare took home some impressive nominations, as did a bevvy of awesome women in comedy. Follow the jump for the details.

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Vital Information for Your Everyday Life

On Skimpy Suits of Armor for Women

by Alanna Bennett | 5:43 pm, June 28th, 2011

Female body armor as portrayed in most comics and movies is, to say the least, impractical. How can one go about kicking serious ass when those booty shorts are giving you a constant wedgie? The last thing you want to worry about when you’re pummeling some bad (or good) guy is some embarrassing wardrobe malfunction, or, you know, a very gory death. And let’s face it, you’d be dead in a second wearing most of these costumes. This recent College Humor video finally shines a light on these issues.

(via Laughing Squid)

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