Fairy Tale Retellings

         I’m scheduled to be on a panel about fairy tale retellings at the Readercon Conference on Imaginative Literature later this month, plus I’ve been hard at work on my own collection of fairy tale and mythology-inspired stories, poems, and art, so I’ve been thinking a lot about this recently.  Perhaps the first thing to get straight is that I’m thinking about “retellings” quite broadly.  We can start, however, with retellings that stick pretty closely to the source tale while simply adding more detail.  One of the all-time greats in that category is Robin McKinley’s Beauty, based on Beauty and the Beast.  Thorn by Instisar Khanani is a retelling of The Goose Girl that also falls into this category.  It can be hard to do a very straightforward retelling well, in part because it’s boring if it doesn’t feel like anything new is added, and in part because fairy tales often don’t quite make sense without adding in sizeable chunks of new plot and character to explain why things happen the way they do.

        Which brings us to retellings that put enough of a twist on the story to give us believable reasons.  Gail Carson Levine’s Ella Enchanted is a good example, in which Cinderella is given a magical explanation for her extreme obedience.  Two retellings of Scheherazade also give more powerful explanations for the sultan’s murderous rampage: The Wrath and the Dawn by Renée Ahdieh and A Thousand Nights by E.K. Johnston.

        Moving even farther from the source, a story can be retold from a different, unconventional point of view, for the purpose of highlighting different elements, or even allowing some parts of the story to be completely reinterpreted.  Sleeping Beauty’s little sister gives us a new story in E.D. Baker’s The Wide-Awake Princess, Robin Hood’s daughter gives us new legends in Rowan Hood by Nancy Springer, and we get a sideways view of Scheherazade from a servant in Susan Fletcher’s Shadow Spinner.  Marilyn Singer has written two books of "reverso" fairy tale poems, in which each set of poems gives the same story from two opposite points of view.  This idea of exploring well-known tales from a new point of view can work very well, although it can also be loathed by readers who feel that the source material wasn’t respected, or that the new version doesn’t seem plausible or natural to the story.

        Extreme reader reactions can also be elicited when an author turns the whole thing upside down, as in Disney’s recent crop of fairy tale villain back-stories.  It’s often either love or hate, and I confess that I often hate these… and yet I’ve also written a number of them myself.  It takes skill and delicacy to do it well, but I think it also takes the luck of landing in the hands of a reader who’s receptive to the concept.

        Sometimes the line can be blurry between this category and those “retellings” in which the original story is really just a jumping-off point to head in a whole new direction.  The Dragon and the George by Gordon R. Dickson and The Reluctant Dragon by Kenneth Grahame are both certainly based on the traditional folklore of St George and the Dragon, but are they retellings, riffs, satires, or merely vaguely “inspired by?”  Roshani Chokshi’s Once More Upon a Time begins with The Twelve Dancing Princesses, but doesn’t retell any part of the actual story, instead taking us forward after the fairy tale ends.  Tamsyn Muir’s Princess Floralinda and the Forty Flight Tower clearly begins with a Rapunzel-like set-up, but the fact that her princess has a completely different name is a clue that this is probably a step beyond even a broad definition of “retelling” and possibly just counts as using general fairy tale tropes.

        Then there’s Briar Rose by Jane Yolen, in which a version of Sleeping Beauty is used as a metaphor for an experience of the Holocaust, and Marissa Meyer’s Cinder, in which Cinderella becomes a cyborg mechanic amid sci fi political intrigue.

        All this variation and breadth in fairy tale retellings helps illustrate just how popular, powerful, and resonant these stories are, sticking with us generation after generation…  Which is why I, too, have been creating so many fairy-tale-inspired short stories, poems, and art that I’m putting together a collection.  I expect to launch a Kickstarter campaign in September, and if you’re interested, feel free to fill out my short questionnaire here, and give me some feedback about what book details and backer rewards you’d like to see me incorporate into my project.

        Also, of all the books I’ve mentioned today, I like some better than others.  My absolute favorites are McKinley and Chokshi (and my least favorite is Muir).  You can find slightly longer reviews of a few of the books in these previous posts:

    Scheherazade Retold (Fletcher, Ahdieh, Johnston)

    Reading the Old to the Young (Grahame)

    Books for Hope (Chokshi)

    Reverso Fairy Tales (Singer)

[Picture: Beyond the Thorns, rubber block print (two blocks) by AEGN, 2017 (sold out);

Apotropaic, rubber block print by AEGNydam, 2025 (Image from NydamPrints.com).]

Writing Wednesdays

        On Instagram I’ve been participating in #WritingWednesdays, in which I post stuff about my books each Wednesday, according to particular themes.  This was started by a couple of authors as a way to prompt themselves to get out more information about their books, in a fun, entertaining way, and I started joining in because I tend not to mention my books without an “excuse.”

        I don’t participate every week, since sometimes the particular theme doesn’t really apply to my work, or doesn’t seem like as much fun; and of course sometimes I’ve got something else of higher priority to do.  But most weeks it’s fun to think about the prompt and come up with a little graphic about it, which I can post on Instagram.  And having gone through the work of putting these things together, I thought I might as well share them here, too.  I’ve taken some of those graphics and arranged them not in the order they came, but instead grouping together all the posts about each book or series.

        Starting with a couple of posts about my Kate and Sam Adventures, these two are self-explanatory.  The only note to emphasize is that the single most effective thing you can do to support a

book you love is to talk about it.  Whether that’s suggesting to your cousin that they might like it, or leaving a review on Amazon, Goodreads or some other on-line site, or filling out a request slip for your local library to buy a copy, small-time and indie authors can’t survive without reviews from our readers.

        My other series is the Otherworld “hexalogy” (yes, that’s a real word technically, but not a real word in the sense that anybody actually uses it!)  I’ve done three Writing Wednesdays posts about these books, obviously focussed on characters.  When you’ve spent six whole novels imagining people, you tend to have a very

strong sense of what they look like, as well as many of their various likes and dislikes.  I’ll admit, though, that until filling out the squares for the “Introduce your Main Character” theme, I’d never actually given any thought to Svarnil’s favorite season or color.  Still, they didn’t take much reflection to know!  (Another reminder that if you want to see all these graphics big enough to read them, just click on them.)

        I had so much fun with the “What Are They Wearing” theme that I did it twice.  I had to do it for Chen and Polly in The Extraordinary Book of Doors because Polly’s crazy bright outfits (and Chen’s reaction to them) are a running motif throughout the book.  When the weekly theme was “What is the Setting of your Book?” it was another one that called out to be about The Extraordinary Book of Doors.  After all, that book is set in some of my favorite places of historical and magical interest, and the book was practically a love letter to the Cleveland Museum of Art.  This was also an opportunity to share the pictures of myself at a couple of the doors that actually feature in the book.

        Today’s theme was “If your character were to win Olympic gold,” and I decided to feature the special talents of magical creatures from On the Virtues of Beasts of the Realms of Imagination.  I made two pages worth for Instagram, and could easily have come up with more.  After all, these are truly exceptional beasts!

The other theme for which I featured On the Virtues of Beasts was “5 Things You’ll Find in This Book.”

        All my other singleton books have gotten less attention on #WritingWednesdays.  Maybe some of them will be featured if one of the future themes seems to call for it.  Or, of course, maybe not.  It’s hard to try to promote 16 books in 9 separate and sometimes very different categories.  In fact, for all I know that’s a bad idea that will just confuse and muddy the marketing waters or something.  None of this sales and marketing stuff has ever been my strong suit, which is exactly why playing along with #WritingWednesdays seemed like it might bring a little fun to the part of being a writer that is usually no fun at all.

        And on that note, I have used these #WritingWednesdays posts to start already promoting Bittersweetness & Light, which will be released in January 2025.  I’m going to try to allow pre-orders starting in December, (as well as the advanced copies in November for all my Kickstarter backers), and I’ll see whether I can’t actually do this whole “book

promotion” thing right for once!  Who knows; it’s not inconceivable.  But whether or not I manage to nail the promotion, and whether or not any of this gains me any readers, at the very least I appreciate getting to play along with

#WritingWednesdays - it makes the painful necessity of promoting my books slightly less of a slog.  So if any of these little graphics were actually appealing, by all means let me know!  (And of course, I wouldn't be playing the promotional game if I didn't remind you that you can always find out more about all these books on my web page.)

        If you're on Instagram and you want to see what other authors have tagged for #WritingWednesdays, head over and check out @shameezwrites and @nuhaamakes, who come up with the themes each month.

[Pictures: all images by AEGNydam, 2024.]

#WyrdAndWonder 2024

         Wyrd And Wonder is a month-long celebration of all things fantasy.  If you want to know more, you can find out all about the idea and about its noble and heroic hosts here.  Of course my blog is a celebration of fantasy (and block prints) not just for the month of May but all the time, which is why each year I like to make a post that points out where any intrepid travellers from Wyrd And Wonder can find prior posts that connect with this year’s various Wyrd And Wonder prompts.  So let’s dive right in!

Lists of Books

     Bite Sized Islands (Short Stories and Novellas)

            Books for Hope

            Fantasy Tales of Frank R. Stockton

     Clockwork Castle (Subgenre: Steampunk)

            Technofantasy

     The Road Less Travelled (Underrated Books and Small Press Publications)

            A Few Lesser-Known Treasures

            The Last Three Read-Alouds

          I would be remiss not to mention just a couple more lesser-known treasures that I haven’t had a chance to write posts about yet: Lumina and the Goblin King by Cari Lyn Jones and The King of Next Week by E.C. Ambrose.  The latter could also have been filed under “Bite Sized Islands” above.  The former could probably be filed under “Zone in on Comfort” below.

         I also have to mention my own books in this category!  You can see them all listed here, or read blog posts about a few particular books:

            On the Virtues of Beasts of the Realms of Imagination: Introduction plus An Entire Series of Posts

            Turn the Page… Open the Door… Enter the Adventure (The Extraordinary Book of Doors)

            The Cheesemonster Cometh!  (Kate and Sam and the Cheesemonster)

            Introducing: Ruin of Ancient Powers

            Kickstarter Campaign (Bittersweetness & Light)

     Dragon’s Pass (Dragons, of course!)

            Why Dragons Are Cool

            Creature Collections: Dracopedia

            Creature Collections: The More the Merrier

            Creature Collections: Encyclopedias

            Creature Collections: Artists’ Edition

            Field Guides to the Creatures of Fantasy

            More Field Guides

Information on Creatures of Fantasy

     The Fountain of Youth (Immortal Characters)

            R is for Regeneration

     Here Be Monsters (the Darker Creatures of Fantasy)

            V is for Vampirism

            U is for Undead

            D is for Demonic

            A is for Anthropophagus

            How to Summon a Giant Skeleton

            N is for Ninki Nanka

            They Run Again

            Words of the Month - Ghosts

            Gruss vom Krampus

            I Don’t Do Vampires

            Words of the Month - Things That Go Bump In the Night

     Dragon’s Pass

            W is for Wyvern

            P is for Pyrallis

            D is for Dragon

            O is for Oracle

            Kircher’s Dragons

            A Short History of Dragon Lore

Fantastic Fives: Zone in on Comfort

       The Golden Key

       Psalm for the Wild-Built and Once More Upon a Time: Books for Hope

       My list of fantasy comfort reads probably should also include

       The Lord of the Rings, suitable for Conflict Bay (Battles or Great Rivalries - something I don’t always have much interest in)

       The Phantom Tollbooth, suitable for Standalone Isle

            assorted Terry Pratchett, and… well, that’s five so I guess I should stop.  For more comfort reads you could also check out the books in my post Random Books of Kindness.

        For me, the ingredients for a good comfort read include

1. Characters I love, who are genuinely trying to do what’s right, without too much angsty whining.

2. Settings I long to be immersed in - including epic landscapes, magical palaces, mysterious libraries, enchanted gardens, and wonders to be seen all around!

3. Happy endings.

        That should be enough content to keep you busy for a while!

[Pictures: Wyrd & Wonder orange dragon by Elena Zakharchuk;

Fire on the Wind, rubber block print by AEGNydam, 2024 (Image from NydamPrints);

Bigger than a Breadbox, rubber block print by AEGNydam, 2022 (Image from NydamPrints).]

Books for Hope

         At this time of year it’s common to look forward to the next year, and these days most of us feel a certain amount of trepidation about the future.  Speculative fiction to the rescue!  Spec fic can remind us that no future is inevitable, that marvelous things are possible, and that it’s worth envisioning the world we want to see.  Today I’m sharing three (and a half) books to give you hope.

        A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers - This novella is gentle and contemplative.  The characters are few, the plot is sedate, and the most harrowing danger is self-doubt - yet in its own way, this little book packs a powerful punch… of hope.  Hopeful point 1: generations ago the world of Panga was very much like ours, careening toward self-destruction with fossil fuels, environmental degradation, and the threshold of AI sentience.  But before apocalypse, the people pulled themselves together and changed everything, giving rise to a new version of inhabiting their world which, while not perfect, is pretty darn utopian.  A big part of the allure of this book is simply the opportunity to be a tourist in this world and see what solutions they’ve come up with.  Hopeful point 2: there are no villains.  People are pretty much doing the best they can and trying to treat each other decently.  Another part of the allure is spending time with Sibling Dex and (eventually) Mosscap, two characters who are not only likable but lovable.  Hopeful point 3: The charming and beautiful writing is balm, giving an opportunity to draw breath and detox from too much hate-mongering news coverage.  (There is also a sequel, A  Prayer for the Crown-Shy, and I hope more to come.)  I enjoyed these so much that my kids gave them to me for Christmas, and I quickly whipped through my re-read of book 1.

        Binti by Nnedi Okorafor - Technically a trilogy of novellas, just think of it as one normal-sized book.  This one is not gentle and there are definitely villains and harrowing experiences, but it is nevertheless full of hopeful moments.  It’s beautifully written and offers a radical reimagining of how it is possible for enemies to come together.  Hopeful point 1: The protagonist Binti experiences the transformative power of reaching out to enemies — literally, physically transformative, so that she becomes connected body and soul with those who are the other.  Hopeful point 2: In a world that tends to hail as heroes only conquerors or “defenders” who defeat with violence, the story of Binti shows that the role of harmonizer takes even more courage, strength, and heroism.  Binti is in the genre of Afrofuturism, and blends harder sci fi with exploration of how African-inspired cultures might develop and influence a future space-traveling world.  In expanding those imaginary worlds, it has the power to expand ours.  This is not necessarily an easy read, but it is inspiring.

        Once More Upon a Time by Roshani Chokshi - Going to the opposite side of spec fic, this novella is a light and comic reimagining of classic fairy tale tropes, playing with what happens after the traditional fairy tale of the Twelve Dancing Princesses.  This is another fun and quick read, but it’s not just amusement value that gets it onto my list today.  Hopeful point 1: happily ever after isn’t static.  That means it may not always be happy - but it also means there’s always hope for more developments.  Hopeful point 2: It’s possible to find your way around and through and past all sorts of past baggage: dysfunctional families, slumping relationships, misunderstandings, and even curses.  It’s not too late.  This one is a small domestic romance rather than a galaxy-spanning political epic, but we all need hopes both personal and political.

        These books share a vision of hope, in a variety of ways, they share a faith in second chances (and more, if need be), and they share wonderful writing, which is balm to the soul in its own right.  Pick the one in your flavor of choice, or read them all; I recommend any 

and all of them.

        And for one more book of hope, here’s another foreshadowing plug for my own upcoming book, Bittersweetness & Light.  This will be a collection of my short stories, poems, and art, all of which are various genres and subgenres of speculative fiction, and all of which share the theme of finding joy and offering hope.  The Kickstarter campaign to publish the book will go live in just a couple of weeks, but you can visit the preview page NOW!

        As we start a new year, let’s make this the year we turn ourselves around, harmonize with our enemies, seize our second chances, find the good that’s still all around, and give ourselves real and meaningful reasons to hope.

Recent Reads of MG Magic

         MG, for those who don’t know, is Middle Grade, a category of books for kids in the age range of roughly 8-12 or sometimes 14 years old.  Of course the reading level and content taste of individual kids varies widely, but that’s the general ballpark.  (Plus of course there’s the fact that while I am well over 14 years old, I very much enjoy MG books.  Maybe I’ll explain why in another post, but for now, let’s get to the books!)  It’s been quite a while since I posted about books I’ve been reading, but I’m writing such a post now because I recently received an ARC (Advanced Review or Reading Copy) of a book that will be released this summer, and I wanted to do my part to help generate buzz!  So we’ll start with

        The Demon Sword Asperides by Sarah Jean Horwitz.  Asperides the demon sword is pinned through the heart of its late master, a supremely evil sorcerer knight, when someone (bored dark sorceress Cleoline, to be specific) resurrects the guy.  At the same time, Asperides just can’t help himself from inveigling naive, somewhat hapless would-be knight Nack from entering into a binding soul-contract to be the demon sword’s next master.  Meanwhile the young novitiate seer Therin foretells the return of the Missing Moon…  Each character with their various motivations and talents (and lack of talent, at times) struggles to follow their chosen path, as those paths begin to converge and intertwine.  What will happen when the Missing Moon returns and the evil sorcerer knight carves a hole into the demon realms in an attempt to retrieve the missing 80% of his soul?  I enjoyed this book very much, with its light, humorous tone, lovable characters, interesting world-building, and tons of heart.  Horwitz is a master at making “dark” characters with hearts of gold, as demonstrated in her previous book The Dark Lord Clementine.  (Horwitz joined me for an interview about 

it on this very blog three years ago, and I encourage you to read what she has to say about writing Middle Grade fantasy.)  But not all hearts are gold, and our heroes have their work cut out for them, discovering the true meaning of duty, honor, courage, and knighthood.  Curious?  Want to hear more?  Horwitz herself will be giving a live on-line reading from The Demon Sword Asperides on July 20.  Learn more about the event at Strong Women-Strange Worlds!

        Another MG book I read relatively recently and loved was Sal & Gabi Break the Universe by Carlos Hernandez (and its sequel Sal & Gabi Fix the Universe).  This is not a book that needs any extra buzz from me, because it’s won tons of awards and starred reviews since its release in 2019.  Sal Vidón is struggling at a new (but wonderfully wacky and innovative) school, as well as struggling with the loss of his mother.  Student council president Gabi Reál is doing everything she can to keep her friend Yasmany from being expelled for bullying after he picks a fight with Sal.  Another very funny book, which touches on all kinds of heart-wrenching issues without ever losing its light touch, this is another one that warmed me to the very cockles.  And this is one reason I love MG fantasy so much: it’s never ashamed to celebrate love and joy.  I won’t attempt a synopsis of the crazy, convoluted, multiverse-spanning plot, but I will say that the thing about these books that won me over utterly was their portrayal of happy families that come in some pretty unusual variations.  Sal may have lost his mother, whom he longs to bring back (from another universe), but he’s also got a wonderful father and stepmother.  Gabi has a mother who would embrace (and feed) the entire world if she could, plus a huge number of “dads” who include men, women, a robot, and more, all of whom love her, her critically ill baby brother, and each other fiercely.  Sometimes it seems like dysfunctional families are used by writers as just an easy shortcut to add conflict, so it’s really refreshing and satisfying to see a portrayal of healthy, happy, and delightfully diverse, loving families who work together to solve their problems.

        The Lock-Eater by Zack Loran Clark (2022) is another magical adventure with a wonderful message of love and acceptance.  Melanie Gate is an orphan in the capital city of the thaumacracy.  She has a strange talent for opening locks, which occasionally causes trouble, but most of all, she longs for adventure.  Then adventure finds her, in the form of a mage’s gearling who turns out, impossibly, to be sentient, alive… a person.  In fact, Traveler is an absolutely endearing person, and also (all too rare in stories) one whose desire to do no harm makes him work hard to be a pacifist.  This world (which is flavored like 19th-early 20th century Europe with 2 competing magical systems) is well-drawn, the adventure twists and turns with several surprising pivots, and there are many likeable characters.  Like the families in Sal & Gabi, Melanie’s orphanage family is loving and supportive, and they have her back when she needs them.  Although there were times when the theme of diversity and inclusion seemed a tad heavy-handed, it’s not a theme I’m going to object to (and it may seem less obvious to MG readers).  In addition to that I appreciated that the characters engaged seriously with issues of non-violence.  I enjoyed this one very much, and the ending was warm and satisfying.

        Each of these books has its own distinct flavor, and you can take your pick between light goth, madcap sci-fi, or political epic fantasy… but I would recommend any of them to anyone who needs a reminder that love is its own powerful kind of magic, and no matter who we are, we can all choose to wield it.

Book Week Scavenger Hunt

         Children’s Book Week was in May and I missed it at the time, partly because I’ve basically been boycotting them since the Rush Limbaugh fiasco in 2014.  But I believe in redemption and now that I look back at recent years it seems like Every Child A Reader, which runs Children’s Book Week, is doing more good than harm, so I’ve decided to play along with one of this year’s featured activities.  In keeping with the theme of this blog, however, wherever possible my selections come specifically from the realm of children’s fantasy, or (for a second choice) children’s non-fantasy or adult fantasy.

* Shooting Star - Stardust by Neil Gaiman, of course (see a little more here)

* Bright Idea - “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” (see a little more here)

* Character I Look Up To - A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett

* Real-Life Person Who Made Positive Change - Desmond and the Very Mean Word by Desmond Tutu and Douglas Carlton Abrams (see more here)

* Bonfire - Uh oh… I can think of plenty of books with campfires or cooking fires (how about Rumpelstiltskin by Paul O. Zelinsky) and plenty of books with  buildings on fire (how about Treasure of Green Knowe by L.M. Boston or Going Postal by Terry Pratchett) but I actually can’t think of any proper bonfires right now!

* Idea that Comes to Life - Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson (see a little more here, plus some wordless picture books with the same theme here)

* Team Who Works Together - Lots, as that’s one of the best themes!  But I’m going to go with The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place by Julie Berry (and also Kate and Sam to the Rescue by Anne E.G. Nydam)

* Book that Inspires Me - The Golden Key by George MacDonald (see more here)

* Invention - Frank’n’Stan by M.P. Robertson (see more here)

* Light Triumphs Over Darkness - Pretty much every one of my favorite books!  But to pick one that makes a real theme of light and dark, The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo

* Sun - fable of “The Sun and the North Wind” by Aesop (see more here)

* Book Sparks Change - Ink, Iron, and Glass by Gwendolyn Clare (or perhaps The Extraordinary Book of Doors by Anne E.G. Nydam)

        Have you ever read any of these?  Which are your favorites?  Which books would you pick for these categories?  And how about discussing your choices with a child reader in your life!

[Image from Every Child a Reader]

Portal Fantasy

         Here’s another post for #WyrdAndWonder, where the prompt is to celebrate the subgenre Portal Fantasy.

        When it comes right down to it, there are two options in fantasy: either there’s magic in the world, or there isn’t.  If the world of our characters includes magic, either it’s a secondary world (ie, a completely different world, such as Middle Earth or Berk or the Five Kingdoms or Khelathra-Ven) or it’s our world that happens to have magic which may or may not be known to the general public (such as the settings of Artemis Fowl, Sorcery & Cecilia, Mary Poppins, or lots of fairy tales and urban fantasy.)  But what if you cross the two possibilities (no-magic in our world with secondary worlds containing magic)?  What if we know that our world doesn’t have magic, and yet we want to tell a story about ordinary-world characters who find their way to magical worlds?  That’s portal fantasy.

        Probably the most iconic portal fantasy is that of C.S. Lewis, wherein our characters go through a portal in the back of a wardrobe and come out in the world of Narnia.  The Phantom Tollbooth, too, includes a very clear, literal portal: drive through the cardboard tollbooth and come out in the magical Lands Beyond.  In The Secrets of Droon series by Tony Abbott (deservedly less famous) the portal is a stairway in the basement of one of the characters.  In Jane’s Adventures In and Out of the Book by Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy the portal is, as the name suggests, a book.  A rabbit hole is Alice’s portal to Wonderland.

        If you take a slightly broader look, however, you can include more stories in this category.  Ordinary-world characters always require some sort of special event to transport them from, say, Kansas to Oz.  Famously a cyclone does the trick in L. Frank Baum’s first book, but it’s a storm at sea in another, and an earthquake in another.  In many a classic fairy tale the role of portal is played by the enchanted forest.  Leave the known path and you cross into a world where wicked witches and fairies have power, animals can speak, and curses, blessings, and transformations change all the rules.

        Harry Potter’s Wizarding World is somewhat superimposed upon the Muggle world and not wholly separate as in a true portal fantasy, but in J.K. Rowling’s books the Hogwarts Express often serves as a sort of portal, marking the point at which Harry transitions between the ordinary world and the world of magic.  The bottom line is that there always has to be some moment of transition or discovery where people just like us are suddenly confronted with a world of magic.

        As for myself, I like secondary world fantasy where I’m immersed in a place where magic is part of the fabric of people’s lives, and I like portal fantasy where people living without magic are suddenly transported into a whole ‘nother world.  And I like that other variant, too, where our world does happen to have magic or other fantastical elements.  They all appeal to slightly different ideas for me, and they can all be good!  Do you have a preference?  Or what’s your favorite portal fantasy?

[Pictures: Through the wardrobe, illustration by Marco Soma for The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis (Image from Marco Soma illustrator);

Jane entering the book, illustration by Nicolas Hill for Jane’s Adventures In and Out of the Book by Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy, 1972;

The Cyclone, illustration by W.W. Denslow for The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, 1900 (Image from Internet Archive);

Tree wolf image by chic2view on 123RF.com.]