Purveyor of fine fantasy adventures

Author: Ellie (Page 49 of 84)

Far-flung Songs

Gonzalo Morán with Bajo la Hiedra

I tweeted recently that I’d had a request for an interview from a fantasy fan in Cuba. Here he is – Gonzalo very kindly sent me a picture of himself and his much-prized copy of Bajo la Hiedra. Note the finger carefully marking his place . . .

Fantasy books are pretty difficult to obtain in Cuba; due to their currency not being internationally traded Cuban readers can’t just pop onto Amazon or The Book Depository whenever they fancy something new to read. After hearing about my book on the Internet, Gonzalo only managed to get hold of a copy by asking a friend to bring it with her when she came to visit.

If you speak Spanish, Gonzalo runs a fantasy blog and was impressed enough with my last rant to go to the trouble of translating it for his readers. I don’t know what on earth came over him.

Just for kids?

Lord of the Rings cover image“I love when the ‘literary establishment’ ‘discovers’ fantasy” tweeted @DelReySpectra, the American genre publishers, yesterday, linking to an article in the New Yorker.

The article in question, The Dragon’s Egg – high fantasy for young adults was a very well-written piece, articulate and full of gentle humour, so I can see why Adam Gopnik has won the National Magazine Award for his essays, but by the time I got to the end of it I was left with a somewhat bitter aftertaste: a distinct impression that he thinks *all* fantasy is for young adults.

The books with which he chose to illustrate his piece were Lord of the Rings, the Twilight saga, and the Inheritance Cycle. You could almost see the labels “enduring classic”, “for girls” and “for boys” floating over them, saying look at me, look at how balanced I’m being. Continue reading

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