MetaFilter posts tagged with fiction and fantasy

Tomes of ancient lore

Artw — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:13:37 -0800

Although it's commonplace nowadays to assume that J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings was the primary source of inspiration for Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax when they created the world's first tabletop roleplaying game, Dungeons & Dragons, a careful examination of the game suggests otherwise... James Maliszewski on The Books That Founded D&D. Some disagreement.

New Worlds and Old

Artw — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 10:16:08 -0800

The Readers of Boing Boing interview Michael Moorcock

Tell me a secret.

hpliferaft — Sat, 23 May 2009 15:42:07 -0800

Published speculation first appeared in 1911, although others point to 1945 for its first modern phrasing. It originally looked like a flashlight on Star Trek. In Star Wars, it walked, talked, and was fluent "in over six million forms of communication." Many narratives have just abandoned the idea entirely.
Previous iterations have been quite limited in scope, but now it appears that the first learning, dynamic universal translator has finally arrived. And its futuristic aesthetic has been relegated to fiction in favor of a much more familiar object. Popularized artifacts have included a radio, "a metal tube" (or was it?), a disc, a stylish lapel pin (@ 1m14s), and, of course, a fish. Many other inventions persist. Oh, and when the universe was much smaller, it took a more prosaic form.

A merry "Bah, Humbug!" to us all

JHarris — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 18:24:05 -0800

Robert E. Howard-themed fantasy blog The Cimmerian posts a different take on a holiday classic.
Mystery Science Theater presents A Child's Christmas in Space, A Patrick Swazye Christmas, Merry Christmas (If That's Okay), a critique of Christmas movies and shows, and a little yuletide hysteria.
Tom Lehrer: "A Christmas Carol"
Futurama: The Elves' Christmas Song
Finally, there's The Colbert Report's book-burning Yule Log, both on the web and downloadable for Windows and Macintosh.

A year or so I linked the Escape Pod's recording of "In The Late December" here. It still fits. So does "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Fish-Men." (But this link is to the World of Warcraft version.)

Rosenbaum, The Plausible-Fabulist

ninebelow — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 07:13:41 -0800

Like others before him Benjamin Rosenbaum is making his debut short story collection, The Ant King And Other Stories, available from his publishers, Small Beer, as a free download. More than this though, he is holding a competition to find the best derivative work inspired by it. These include "translations, plays, movies, radio plays, audiobooks, flashmob happenings, horticultural installations, visual artworks, slash fanfic epics, robot operas, sequels, webcomics, ASCII art, text adventure games, roleplaying campaigns, knitting projects, handmade shoes, or anything else you feel like." Benjamin Rosenbaum is not a character from The Scarlett Pimpernel, a poet or a writer of children's books as 'Biographical Notes to 'A Discourse on the Nature of Causality, with Air-Planes', by Benjamin Rosenbaum' makes clear.

Database of free speculative fiction online

Kattullus — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 13:52:07 -0800

Free Speculative Fiction Online is a database of free science fiction and fantasy stories online by published authors (no fan-fiction or stories by unpublished writers). Among the authors that FSFO links to are Paul Di Filippo (14 stories), James Tiptree, Jr. (4 stories), Connie Willis (3 stories), Eleanor Arnason (3 stories), Bruce Sterling (5 stories), Robert Heinlein (7 stories), Ursula K. LeGuin (3 stories), Jonathan Lethem (5 stories), Michael Moorcock (6 stories), Chine Miéville (2 stories), Samuel R. Delany (3 stories), Robert Sheckley (8 stories), MeFite Charles Stross (33 stories) and hundreds of other authors. If you don't know where to start, there's a list of recommended stories.

Again to see the Wiz(ard)?

baylink — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 07:41:43 -0800

Rick Cook, the author of the 5 novels in the "Wizard's Bane" series of computer-infused light fantasy from the early 90s (the first two are available, free, and legally, courtesy of the Baen Books Free Library) was in the middle of writing a sixth in Spring 2000, when he underwent emergency heart surgery. The result of that, and the meds that followed — he says in his blog — is that he has the sixth book (The Wizard Recapitalized) about 90% complete, but can't finish it, and he wants to know if he should release it anyway. Not all that much I vote yes; I loved the books — as well as his off-series Mall Purchase Night — but the 7 yes votes he has so far, plus mine, probably don't constitute a quorum. If you, too, got a laugh out of a demon named Toth Set-Ra, then this would be a good time to go tell the man so.

“You got gun in my blade!” “You got blade in my gun!”

cmgonzalez — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 18:17:18 -0800

Imagine a world without lightsabers—where, instead, every big Star Wars finale consists of a 10-minute slap fight. Thank the maker we’ll never have to witness such a spectacle, because magical and impossibly high-tech weapons are staples of nearly all of our favorite entertainments! ToyFare Magazine presents the 50 Greatest Fictional Weapons of All Time.

A China That Never Was

robocop is bleeding — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 08:36:58 -0800

"I shall clasp my hands together and bow to the corners of the world." Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart won the World Fantasy Award in 1985. Set in a China that never was, it tells the tale of Master Li Kao, who has a slight flaw in his character, and Number Ten Ox as they uncover the mysteries of a cursed town, a terrible duke, and a beautiful woman. Originally intended to be the first in a series of seven, Bridge of Birds spawned only two sequels. The reclusive author explains some of his influences and poor luck here. Also, for those of you familiar with the story, the original draft of Bridge of Birds (PDF version) is available online!

Leper Outcast Unclean!

davidmsc — Sun, 12 Sep 2004 19:21:49 -0800

The Final Chronicles of Thomas Covenant More than two decades after the last chapter, Stephen R. Donaldson is set to release the first of four novels in "The Final Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant." Bonus: a "trailer" of sorts (left side of page, midpoint). Hellfire & White Gold!

Step 7: Make it long

Robot Johnny — Thu, 26 Aug 2004 11:50:23 -0800

How to write a best-selling fantasy novel. Ten steps towards instant literary fame.

What if Kirk had a three-way with Leia and Xena?

mathowie — Fri, 07 May 2004 12:39:14 -0800

If you can't get enough Sith-on-Sith sexy slashfiction action, you could check out the entire category of such work, broken down to what types of character interaction takes place and who is involved. It's just a tiny sliver of the work indexed by The Slash Page Database Project. Oh, the creativity of sexless nerds...

Rare Science Fiction

starscream — Mon, 24 Nov 2003 10:43:22 -0800

Looking for that rare science fiction first edition? The Barry R. Levin Science Fiction & Fantasy Literature store just might have the volume you seek.

Fantastic in Art & Fiction - images of the grotesque, marvelous and macabre

madamjujujive — Sun, 16 Nov 2003 07:16:35 -0800

The Fantastic in Art & Fiction - Cornell University's bank of nearly 300 images of the fantastic, the grotesque, the macabre, the marvelous and more "from works spanning a period from medieval manuscripts and printed incunabulae, to the early twentieth century."