The appeal of magic in writing

I’ve read science fiction from an early age and always been enthralled by its possibilities.  Even if man can't visit the stars in person just yet (someday I’m sure we will) we can go there in our imaginations.  Eventually science will follow and get us there.  However, at university I also read, as did most students of my age, the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings which led me on to more fantasy including one of my all time favourites, The Magician by Raymond Feist.  And then of course every other book in that long series.  For me one of the main appeals of those books has to be the use of magic.

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Meet Inspector Kirby

Inspector Kirby, Jonah to his friends and 'old school' to his junior colleagues, wandered out of the cottage.  He crossed the road and headed down the lane, with thorny hedge rows either side, that led to the sea.  He’d put this off for days, wondering how it would make him feel.  Still there was nothing quite like a walk along the coast with its prevailing North East breeze and the smell of salt and rotting seaweed in the air to clear the mind.  And let’s face it there was a lot to clear.

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The fantasy fiction chicken and egg question?

In the UK there have been an interesting series of programs (on the BBC) by Andrew Marr looking in-depth at why we love reading fiction.  The first program concerned the genre of detective stories and the second Fantasy (I haven’t watched the third yet).  Now, as a science fiction writer I found the discussion on fantasy the most interesting as, in many ways, much of it could apply to sci-fi as well.  There was some talk about the escapism etc. and that so much of fantasy is set in almost an alternative middle ages (obviously does not apply to sci-fi), usually with magic added in, in some form or other.  This to me was all pretty standard.  However, what I found most interesting was the concept of deeper meanings in fantasy fiction.

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Go on - read some fantasy

Last week I extolled the values of great science fiction.  This week I'm doing the same for fantasy - so go on, put aside those prejudices of 'genre' fiction and read some fantasy: http://wp.me/p3ycbY-1cq

The magic of fantasy - or sometimes not

I'm a writer and reader of science fiction.  But I also read a lot of fantasy.  There are some great books out their by people like Raymond Feist, David Gemmel and George RR Martin.  However, it seems to me that the quality is very variable.  I think magic is both a strength and weakness of fantasy - see my blog
for why:
  
http://wp.me/p3ycbY-148