Author Archives: Anitra

About Anitra

Writer/teacher/activist; raging moderate political heretic; freethinking liberal Christian religious heretic. Happily married. If you want to know anything else, my life is an open website. :)

Thalia Muses On: What is Fantasy?

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Thalia by Jonathon BowserI have a long and delightful relationship with Thalia, the Muse of Comedy. She lets me know when she has something to say, and I write it down for her.
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There are those who would say that Thalia Herself is a figure of fantasy. There are differences between Myths, Archetypes, folklore and fantasy, but we won’t go into them here — mostly because I tend to cross the lines all over the place, myself. You may regard me as Fantasy if you wish, dear — just keep writing.

What Is Fantasy?

Froud fae 25On any mailing list, that question is good for about a week’s worth of debate. Which will eventually end without ever coming to a conclusion. In general, “fantasy” is fiction in which things can exist and happen that would not normally exist and happen in our waking lives. Unlike science fiction, it is permissible in fantasy to violate physical laws as we know them, even to flout logic itself — although most modern readers favor stories in which the fantasy elements are consistent within themselves; if you are going to have magic, have it follow its own logical system.

What is the difference between teleporting by magic mirror, teleporting by human mental power discovered in a scientific  laboratory, Scotty beaming up you up with the transporter, or traveling long distances instantly through hyperspace? It’s all “babble a little and pretend that explains it.”

The first one is fantasy because while waving your hands and babbling you used the word “magic.”  The others are all science fiction because while waving your hands and babbling you used the word “science.”

Phantasmagoria-CoverAnitra likes to say that science fiction is an excellent way to ask “What is ‘being human’?”  and fantasy is an excellent way to ask “What is reality?”  To me, the most powerful fantasy embodies archetypes, like folklore and mythology do and classic literature often does. It is easiest to deal with archetypes, dream images, and many other fundamentals of human psychology in fantasy, which echoes the earliest stories of our childhood and the human race’s childhood.

If you do want to analyze it some more, I recommend Phantasmagoria, a set of excellent essays by Roger Schlobin.

Ultimately, I define fantasy by reference to stories that I consider fantasy.

The Forgotten Beasts of Eld, by Patricia McKillip, is a classic example of high fantasy.  “High fantasy” is what most people think of in reference to “fantasy”: stories dealing with wizards, elves & magical beasts, uually in a low-technology, medievalish setting.

The Little Country, by Charles de Lint, is another classic. This is an example of “urban fantasy”, by one of the pillars of the genre. “High fantasy” tends to take place “long ago and far away”, usually in a low-technology setting. In urban fantasy, the setting is updated to our own modern world, yet the elements of magic and myth and archetype are kept. It takes a great deal of talent to make this work without making it a comic parody, but de Lint has the talent.

The Empire of the East, by Fred Saberhagen, is harder to classify. One review (by Eric S. Raymond) says, “Is this post-holocaust technology-of-magic SF, or heroic fantasy with rivets for flavor?” You’ve got gods, heroes, magic, a coming-of-age quest, and a whopping big army tank — you want to quibble about categories? As Eric says, “…it’s powerful stuff, a grabber from page one. Enjoy!”

Brian Froud fae 21Mojo and the Pickle Jar by Douglas Bell is another example of urban fantasy — and comic fantasy. It’s an example of a lot of things, all mixed together. It won the Philip K. Dick Award in 1991. It’s out of print, but look for it — it’s worth the effort.

I don’t think you need a definition of comic fantasy, do you? If you do, pick up any Discworld book by Terry Pratchett. You’ll get the definition.
Froud fae 26a

Some Fantasy Links

Charles de Lint homepage
Master of Urban Fantasy

The L-Space Web for all things Terry Pratchett & Discworldly

Jane Yolen a bibliography on Inkspot
Mistress of Fables

Patricia McKillip a bibliography from Putnam Berkeley Online
Patricia McKillip a fan page
Mistress of High Fantasy.

IF YOU LIKE THIS, THEN YOU’LL LIKE THAT page of the Ultimate Science Fiction Web Guide from MagicDragon Multimedia

Remember: Save America’s Vanishing Frompers!

Images adapted from the art of Jonathon Bowser and Brian Froud by Fantasyland Graphics

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My First Adventure in Worm-Wrangling

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From June 7, 2007:

The tenants in our apartment building started our first urban garden this April. One of the first decisions we made was that it would be an organic garden.

When I hear “organic garden” I think “compost.” When the maintenance crew hears “compost,” they think “rats.” Big hairy rats, that we already have a constant battle with around the garbage bins. And other tenants think “compost=rotting garbage=stink.” And I think, “Whole lot of work to keep a compost bin active and healthy and rat-free.”

Then I read that composting with worms yields a higher-quality fertilizer in shorter time and with less odor. I liked the idea of “worm wrangling,” and it didn’t take a lot of work to get the rest of the folks to let me try it. Continue reading →

Worm-Wrangling

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From the height of my worm-wrangling days:

* Two 10-gallon Rubbermaid totes outside, both sitting on a 40-gallon tub of composting material and covered in leaves, with a sheet draped over the whole. This, so far, keeps them warm enough to stay active. They have also spread extensively through the older compost bin, and begun to spread through the newer one. Six months from now, I may have two forty-gallon worm bins. Mixed redworms and European nightcrawlers. Continue reading →

Anitra’s Microwave-Baked Apple

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Whole: Core apple, fill with blend of butter, brown sugar & spices to taste.  Optional: raisins, nuts.

My favorite part of the baked apple is the liquid left in the bottom of the bowl & I get more of it (as well as faster cooking) by slicing the apple.  You may peel it; I don’t. I jumble the slices into a bowl, add a pat of butter & sugar-as-desired & spices-as-I-feel-like-it, cover it with a small plate & pop it in the microwave.  Cook on high, a couple of minutes at a time, until the slices are soft to your taste.  Then… move the slices to a separate bowl & put the delicious liquid back to cook down until it’s a syrup.  Pour that over your apple slices.  Add a bit of heavy cream or whipped cream – or pour it all over ice cream.

Singularitarians Who Might Congress

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I was re-reading an old column this morning, that I wrote for what was then “Adventures in Poetry” (“What Wes Won’t Do“) while Wes took a break, in which I referred to having discovered a site for Congrescent Singularitarians. Curiosity re-sparked, I googled to see if they were still out there. Alas, the only remaining mention of Singularitarians ever congrescing is mine. Singular Singularitarians are still all over the web, tho’, and here are ten that should definitely be invited to any congress that may be held in the future: Top 10 Singularitarians of All Time.

Occupy CEHKC Wednesday November 20th, early MORNING!

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Organized homeless people have been talking to the Committee to End Homelessness since the Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness was in the planning stage.  We have been telling them: they have to work for economic justice if they want to end homelessness, and in the meantime people need immediate shelter to stay alive tonight.  Helping homeless people survive tonight is not a distraction from ending homelessness; it is essential to it.

The Ten Year Plan began in 2005 with good intentions.  It went in the direction that paths of good intentions tend to go when they don’t get reality checks.  By 2012, there were more homeless people, and more homeless people outside without shelter, since the Ten Year Plan started, and  over 300 homeless people had died outside or by violence in King County.

We stopped talking to CEHKC.  We began going to their Governing Board meetings with 150-200 people and demanding that they get real.  And we have had an effect.  CEHKC changed its policies to recognize the need and value of emergency shelter as the entry point to the path out of homelessness, and at their November 20th meeting they will announce the intention of getting 1,000 people off the street by summer 2014.

To make this promise real, we must continue to give CEHKC reality checks, and insist they cash them.  Tomorrow morning we will rally in Westlake Park at 7 am, with breakfast and coffee, then at 8 am we will march to occupy the CEHKC Governing Board meeting. Please join us. We all need to pull together to make the promise real.

I will be picking up sandwiches at the SHARE office at 6:15 am, as I do (almost) every Wednesday; this time the sandwiches will be distributed at Westlake Park instead of Steinbrueck Park.  If I can get up that early, you can too!  If you can’t join us at 7 am, march with us at 8.  If you can’t march with us at 8, sit with us at 8:30, at the Governing Board meeting.

At noon, WHEEL/Women in Black will stand vigil for five more homeless people who died outside or by violence.  With these five deaths, we have reached a tragic milestone of  500 people we have stood vigil for since we began in 2000.  We will be asking the people of the Governing Board to stand with us.  We hope they will take this reality check.