Fantasy genre paradigm shift

I was having a conversation with a fellow fantasy fan recently, who also likes to write, and we were laughing about the way some people compare all fantasy to Tolkien's work. Don't get me wrong--I think The Lord of the the Rings is a phenomenol series and I loved the movies. On a certain level, it makes sense to compare other epic fantasy writing to arguably the most famous epic fantasy series ever written.

But here's what my friend had to say about someone who was reading his writing:

"It's funny how we perceive things, especially when we're so close to the issue. She compared it to Tolkien and I had to laugh out loud! I don't think she's ever read all the way through The Lord of the Rings."

And I replied:

"Yeah well people who don't know much about fantasy usually do compare any fantasy they do come across to Tolkien. It may be a valid point or it may not. It's kind of like if someone had never seen any flowers before, except a bird of paradise and a rose. Then one day they saw a dandelion and said it was like the rose. The thing is, a dandelion may be more like a rose than a bird of paradise, but there are hundreds, if not thousands of other flowers that are even more like it than a rose."

My friend is probably being too humble about his work in the above conversation, but the point remains that people will compare one work to another even though such comparisons are skewed by the limitations of how much reading they have done in the genre. I read a lot more fantasy than the person my friend was talking about, but even so, I admit to not having a broad enough perspective to be able to make the best comparison between one fantasy work and another. All I can offer is a limited viewpoint.

When it comes to my series, The Astor Chronicles, I would consider it an honour to be told it was like Tolkien or Lewis, but I would also have a sneaking suspicion the person making such a comparison was not very well read in the genre. Fantasy has come a long way since those two great epics, and there are countless thousands of great books to choose from, some more epic than others.

Another problem with comparisons is that the series you would most like to compare another series with may not be as famous as The Lord or the Rings, and what point is there in making comparisons for people if they've never heard of the work you're referring to? For example, I could say that The Astor Chronicles is somehwhat like The Chronicles of the Cheysuli meets The Chronicles of Narnia. But that comparison would only be useful to someone who was familiar with the latter series by Jennifer Roberson.

It occurs to me that what I'm writing about here is a paradigm shift. "Paradigm" is one of those wonderful words you generally don't learn until after High School and then you can't seem to have an academic conversation without it. Pronounced "PARA-DIME", it refers to a class of elements with similarities--a philosophical or theoretical framework of some kind. See the Wikipedia definition for "Paradigm" here.

A shift occurs when the rules that were set down for a paradigm are changed, such as when Einstein's special relativity challenged Newtonian physics. Perhaps with the fantasy genre, The Lord of the the Rings was the most well-known, mainstream story for such a long time that it posesses the Ring of Power over the paradigm for this genre. But with such a proliferation of fantasy books, and especially movies, in the last ten years, the paradigm for the fantasy genre is being transformed.

For today's generation, the fantasy genre is starting to conjure up all manner of stories in people's minds--from Harry Potter, Eragon and Twilight to Underworld, Pirates of the Carribean, Beowulf and Stardust. In movies, fantasy is largely a genre for kids, which is probably having an effect on the paradigm as well, but in time we will see more serious attempts at adult fantasy. With such a wealth of fantastic books out there, it is only a matter of time before the fantasy transforms itself again in the mainstream imagination.

Dark Space By Marianne de Pierres

Marianne’s writing is not for the faint-hearted. She tells it like it is, even if it happens to be a futuristic world she’s invented. The substance of her worlds is palpable, with places you can see, hear and smell in your mind. Her characters strut across the pages, cantankerous, callous and compassionate all in one chapter. The language Marianne uses is utterly ingrained in the world and she utilizes the device of contradiction to produce intriguing oxymorons. Marianne is a unique and powerful voice in science-fiction, a credit to the writers of her country.

Dark Space is an ominous space opera set primarily on the mining world of Araldis where the main character, Baronessa Mira Fedor was raised. After fleeing back to her home planet to avoid a gene-transfer that would rob her of a rare talent for flying biozoons (organic pilot ships), Mira is among the survivors of a system-wide invasion by body-fluid-sucking aliens.

The setting in Dark Space consists of a number of planets in the Orion system inhabited primarily by humans and humanoids (called “humanesques”). Earth is never mentioned, but there are obvious influences such as the pseudo-Italian language and certain customs indicative of various Earth cultures. The Aristo women, for example, wear concealing “fellalas” which seem like the Islamic abaya overgarment. An author note at the beginning reads “I have taken extreme liberties with the Italian language. Please do not look for grammatical accuracy — you will not find it. This is the far, far future!”

The foreign/made-up words used throughout Dark Space are in keeping with the setting, but make it difficult to understand what is going on at times. There are techno-babble words like “mag-beam”, “res-shift”, “moud”, “preserv-field” and “catoplasma” ; and pseudo-Italian words like “studium”, “nobile”, “cavaliere”, “ragazza”, “speranza”, “sorella” and “bambini”. Even halfway through the novel there are new words appearing in sentences with no explanation of their meaning. Marianne shows instead of telling the reader what is going on, to enhance immersion. When context doesn’t make it obvious what certain words mean, it is best just to keep reading. Eventually the reader has a general idea of what the words mean without being explicitly told. This is artful storytelling, but can be frustrating at times.

Another artful storytelling technique is the use of oxymorons. On page 253, for example, intergalactic vagabond Jo-Jo rasterovich is forced to take a philosophy course to remain in a good spying position in Scolar space. Marianne writes from his point of view, “The agony and ecstasy of it all went on for several weeks...” an oxymoron that fits nicely with the sadomasochistic character of Jo-Jo.

Many of the characters in Dark Space are sexually deranged in one way or another. There’s Trin, the son of the Principe (ruler of the aristocrats in their part of space), who has problems performing without the aid of “bravura” until he meets a ginko (alien) with mottled skin-folds and gills. Then there’s Tekton, a character set apart from most of the others, but closely tied to the events that unfold on Araldis. Intelligent and ambitious, Tekton engages in sex with various beings throughout his travels, mostly to curry favour. And Jo-Jo Rasterovich, who has nightmares about the wobbling thighs of one sexual encounter, enjoys being walked on by an alien with spines in her feet...

With her sexuality unmentioned for most of the novel, Mira stands apart as the most appealing of the four main characters. Honest, fair-minded and hard-working (especially for an aristo), Mira charts the turbulent territory of Dark Space, giving the reader a voice to anticipate rather than despise. Marianne de Pierres pulls no punches—the selfishness of some characters extends to unnecessary and brutal killings that shock Mira as much as the reader. But in this climate of dark motives and vicious acts of violence, Mira is revealed as a diamond in the rough. The four characters trade turns in the novel until the final chapter, which has seen the darkness of Mira’s world turn to chaos...

Chaos Space is the name of the second book in the series. I look forward to reading it. But that’s a topic for another blog.

To buy Dark Space or read articles about writing by Marianne de Pierres, visit her website:

www.mariannedepierres.com