Friday Five: Only One Day Late

 1) My timeline was recently taken up with the Time 100 Best Fantasy of All Time list... until I muted it. I muted it with extreme prejudice. It's not because of what's on the list - I don't agree with it but whatevs - but because of how the list is presented. Now, I know these lists mainly exist to stir up conversation, but the type of the conversation comes down to the presentation. It is presented as a statement of fact made with authority. That presentation immediately turns the conversation sour. There's also the All Time part of this. Now, All Time is a nebulous thing - which in itself I dislike for this - but when I see it, I at the very least take an implication that the books of yesteryear will be judged equal to the books of today. That straight up didn't happen. Which is another souring of the conversation. And something that made me angry, which means my conversation would have got even sourer... and ultimately, there's only one thing that'd have been left; controversy for the sake of controversy. So mute mute mute I went.

If Time had presented Time's 100 Favourite Fantasy Books of Today, there'd have been something interesting to discuss. But they didn't. Presentation matters. Communication matters. An acknowledgment that this is just our truth and it's intended to invite others should come before the bickering starts and not after.

2) Speaking of bickering over the presentation of objectivity where things are clearly subjective, I think it's time to talk about the Fantasy Community and how it's changed. That is to say, the community is now a collection of overlapping communities with no single true mainstream. I don't think it was that long ago you could say there was a mainstream built around trad vaguely-swords&castles Europeanish fantasy - Middle Earth, Westeros, Baldur's Gate - but it no longer seems to be the case. There's a bunch of fantasy fans who - will appreciating the odd dip in that on their terms - are mainly here for Urban Fantasy, or Victoriana, or outside of Europe, or just the whole smorgasbord of what's available as long as they don't see the same thing again and again. Which is all fine and the natural fate of successful genres but it does mean we have less commonality. I'm not saying we need to be extra considerate as a result because the thing can clearly run on flame wars and pretty tribalism, but I don't know why anyone would prefer that route, and the way clear of it probably does need that consideration - and in some cases, self-restraint on avoiding the communities we have major issues with. Completely avoiding arguments is probably a bad thing, but they should at least be over something major

3) My visions of The Shape Of Fantasy To Come aside, I saw a couple of really cool twitter threads. One was a really good writing technique thread by David Dalglish on how he addresses transition between scenes in order to get books done well.

4) The other was this small collection of short story outlets from LP Kindred - I often feel like the information for those looking to break into this isn't well put together, so it was great to see this.

5) Finally, two wee gems courtesy of Adri Joy. The first is this What LotR Poem Are You quiz that she linked to on twitter and it's just a wonderful way to spend five minutes, full of little nuggets from the book that'll make you think. The other gem is here Nerds on Tour Bingo Card. I am normally against such things as I believe in saying no to organized fun (or, in fact, any type of fun, but particularly organized) but I just think this one is a great idea. The Anglosphere will always look to itself first and foremost but there is a huge amount of world out there beyond it, with huge amounts of good stories for us, and taking a moment to get in amongst it is to our benefit. So I will be filling this card out and thoroughly recommend others do so too.