Book Review: FOUL DAYS by Genoveva Dimova
Dimova writes Foul Days as an amalgamation of traditional Slavic folklore, an urban fantasy style and tone, and social themes very much of the moment.
Book Review: What Feasts at Night
As always, Kingfisher does a wonderful job immersing the reader in whatever environment she’s describing; I was reveling in the description of the countryside from the first page.
324. Inclusivity in Fairy Tales — A Discussion w/ Sara Cleto, Brittany Warman, and Shveta Thakrar
http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEpisode324InclusivityInFairyTales/Sandf–Episode324–InclusivityInFairyTales.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSBeastly brides, universal motifs, and complicating narratives, oh my! Sara Cleto, Brittany Warman, and Shveta Thakrar join Julia and Mike (who dusts off his M.A. in Folklore Studies) to discuss inclusivity in fairy tales, specifically the conversations in Fairy Tale and Folklore studies about how to decolonize the conversation and become more inclusive. We hope you enjoy the episode! Note: If you have iTunes and like this show, please give us a review on our iTunes page, or feel free to email us with your thoughts about the show! Here’s the episode (show notes are below):
Film Review: Trollhunter (2010) — A (World) SFF Film Odyssey
Trollhunter (2010)(Trolljegeren in Norway) is André Øvredal’s most popular film, though it is, I’d argue, sorely overlooked by American audiences. Originally released in October 2010, the film was eventually transplanted to U.S. audiences via the Sundance Film Festival in January 2011. The premise is fairly simple: Under the guise of presenting secret footage, Trollhunter follows a trio of student journalists who arrive in the mountains in order to interview and document the actions of a mysterious man named Hans who locals suspect is illegally killing bears. In their attempts to catch the man in the act, they follow him and discover that Hans is actually a trollhunter, protecting the borders between human and troll territories with a UV light gun and other clever amenities. Invited to ride along, the trio document Hans’ journey to determine what has caused a recent series of violent troll events, only to realize that they’re in over their heads.
135. Folklore, Myth, and Narrative w/ Marie Brennan
http://media.blubrry.com/skiffyandfanty/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/SandFEpisode135TalkingFolkloreAndNarrativeWMarieBrennan/SandF%20–%20Episode%20135%20–%20Talking%20Folklore%20and%20Narrative%20w%20Marie%20Brennan.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Android | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | Podcast Index | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSSFolklore, narrative, and dragons, oh my! Marie Brennan, author of A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent (among other great novels), joins us to discuss the influence and relevance of folklore to narrative, her new book, genre fiction, and much more. We hope you enjoy the episode! Note: If you have iTunes and like this show, please give us a review on our iTunes page, or feel free to email us with your thoughts about the show! Here’s the episode (show notes are below): Episode 135 — Download (MP3) Intro and Discussion (0:00 – 1:24:40) Marie’s Website You can also support this podcast by signing up for a one month free trial at Audible. Doing so helps us, gives you a change to try out Audible’s service, and brings joy to everyone. Our new intro music is “Time Flux” by Revolution Void (CC BY 3.0). That’s all, folks! Thanks for listening. See you next week.
Question of the Week: What mythological or folkloric tradition would you like to see more Fantasy based on?
We’re on a bit of a fantasy kick these days. With places like the World SF blog covering speculative literature published elsewhere around the world, it’s becoming pretty obvious that there’s so much more out there that traditional outlets aren’t covering. But Western myths and folkloric traditions are still the dominant theme in a lot of fantasy, which is why we’re asking the question in the title. Here’s what we think: Jen I think it’s fairly obvious to American readers that most of our fantasy is based on western European mythologies and folklore, predominantly the folklore of the British Isles and, to a lesser extent, Greek and Norse mythology. Even the vampire legend had to be transplanted from Eastern Europe before it was popularized (although vampires are a broader tradition and not unique to even Eastern Europe). Anyway, what I’m saying is – BOOOOOR-ing! Boring isn’t really the right word. I still continue to enjoy these traditions in the fantasy that I read, but I’d really love to see the American fantasy community branch out a bit more – break out of their Western European comfort zone! I’ll grant you that Neil Gaiman and Charles de Lint have done a great job incorporating non-western mythologies; it seems to be lacking for the most part. And though writers that are born within those non-western traditions/cultures do incorporate them, they aren’t necessarily things you see on the American market. So, the mythology/folklore I would like to see more of is… crap… I’m going to go with South American. Things out of the Mayan and Aztec and tribal mythos would be very neat to see. If anyone can tell me some fantasy that already uses these traditions – point me in that direction! I want chupacabras and Quetzacoatl and whatever else they have! Can you tell it’s a tradition I know next to nothing about? Well I want to learn! Shaun Honestly, I would like to see accurate portrayals of tribal myths/folklore/belief systems/etc., particularly those from the African continent. The problem I’ve seen in SF/F is that a lot of work that tries to use non-Western mythologies or folklore does so with an implicitly Western viewpoint. By that I mean that such works rarely explore the myth without somehow Westernizing it, either by using a Western POV character or trying to change the dynamics of the myth itself to make it accessible to a Western audience. Accessibility is problematic, though, since one can easily cross over the line into “too accessible,” which inevitably means that your attempt to represent a non-Western myth has failed miserably. African, Native American, South American (Amazonian, perhaps?), Chinese, Southeast Asian, South Pacific-an…whatever it may be, I want to see it brought out in its entirety, without unfair reduction. Worldbuilding should be totalizing, not half-assed. What do you all what to see? Let us know in the comments below!
