Fantasy Fiction Welcomes You!

For the tenth anniversary of The In Serein Trilogy we have a brand new website to read my favourite Fantasy Fiction novel online - all three books complete, Book 1, Sorcerer & Apprentice, Book 2, The Cage and Book 3, The End of Dreams. Check it out!

Last night, I settled in to see the first Episode of HBO's new power fantasy fiction show, Game Of Thrones, with a little trepidation. Still, Sean Bean was playing a lead role and with the hope that his character wouldn't be slain within the first 15 minutes, I pressed "play ..."

* Plus update - 8 episodes in and ...

Once upon a time, in a land not as far away as we might think, there lived a fairy who was very sad indeed.

For it was so that all fairies there had wonderful long tails, very elegant they were and really helped to keep the balance when they flew; and there were sparkly, shiny tails of many colours and all the fairies took great pride in grooming, oiling and massaging their tails so they would be just as proud and shiny as they could be.

Today is Winter Solstice and it is cold.

Gather around the fire, and I will tell you a story ...

Time Sand is a short fantasy fiction story that was originally created as an illustration for The Genius Symbols 1st Edition - how to use the Project Sanctuary Classic Game to create a habitat and a story that plays within it.

But there is more to this story than meets the eye ... :-)

I am having a hard time with "writing a review" for this, because Avatar is not really a "movie" in that sense.

Avatar is a moment when cinematography changed forever, a watershed, and now we are in a different territory altogether.

* Update: Avatar The DVD Version: Watching Avatar On My TV ...

Lost Spoiler warning! Don't read it if you are still waiting to get your Lost answers.

Ok, so I've just watched the final episode of Lost - The Finale and it turns out that Lost is ...

I am delighted to hear that a fourth movie from the Riddick universe is on the cards (or a third, if you don't count the animated one). The Chronicles of Riddick wasn't well received when it was first released in 2004, but I think it's an excellent movie for a number of reasons.

A new contender for Fantasy-Fiction's "Best Character in a Graphic Novel that was turned into a Movie" award - it's the Blue Guy, playing one Dr Manhattan from Watchmen on this occasion. See the bigger picture?

A fantasy fiction poem - a rhyming poem, even! - that tells a story of something that happened a long time ago, in a village by the sea when a mysterious stranger came to the shore ...

What is fantasy? What is imagination? How does fantasy work in the human mind? Why is World of Warcraft more real than "real life" for some people?

Find out the surprising answers to what is fantasy in this short essay by Dr Silvia Hartmann, the Creator of Project Sanctuary and The Genius Symbols.

I can't call this a review for "Vampire Diaries" (UK ITV2). A review is a balanced opinion, and I  hate this so much, I don't even know where to start ranting ...

Daybreakers is one of those movies where one cannot really discern from the trailers and ads what it might be all about.

I actually like that; I hate movie trailers that tell you the entire story from start to finish - what's the point of going to see the movie then? But back to Daybreakers of which I knew very little before purchasing my ticket and the popcorn (sweet).

A brand new fairy tale for 2010 - The Ice Prince by StarFields.

The story is complete  ... are you sitting comfortably?

I am going to admit that I was absolutely terrified.

As an honest to God 1st generation, original, first seen in black and white as a small impressionable squirt and never forgotten, die hard StarTrek fan the idea of a whole new "classic" cast featuring Sylar as Spock just made me shudder to the core.

But still, I'm brave and so I went to the cinema, with a piece of wood to bite on if necessary at the ready ...

These worlds, these kingdoms I have seen, they are not anywhere. There are not in this world, they are not even real, they are more like a dream come to life, or a nightmare ....

Fantasy Fiction short story The Widest Sharing by StarFields

The scene:

One very basic wooden hut which contains a small fireplace, one window, a door, a small rough bed, plank floors.

On the bed, we have a dishevelled man of about 30 years of age, long, untidy, greasy dark hair, stubble beard, curled up facing towards the wall with his arms around his shoulders.

Sitting on the side of the bed, we have one child, 4 1/2 years old, with a puppy sleeping at her feet. She holds a plain metal cup which contains water and some bits of leaves she thought to add to make a healing soup for him.

Outside, the afternoon is advancing.

Telling stories is one thing, and writing them down so they become a "short story" or a "novella" or a "novel" is another thing altogether. I don't think I fully realised that until just now, and I think that is an important step forward.

Writing for a living and being a story teller are quite distinct things.

One the one hand, there is the format; fashions decide how a story should be "presented" to the "target market" and that reflects not only in the language used, and the word count aspired to, but also in many other ways onto the story, re-shapes it, makes it into this other thing.

Being a story teller, one may free oneself from all of that.

The story from Northold I want to share tonight is about a young man, the only son of a rich and aristocratic family, who was badly injured during birth, brain damaged through lack of oxygene we would suppose today.

Fantasy poem "Below The Sea" by StarFields.

Hypnotic.