2008 Woodie Awards
Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Fantasy 201: An Unconventional Dragon
Cameron Summers
Issue date: 9/26/06 Section: Entertainment
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Hello again! I missed being at the Rock (granted, I didn't miss the work load). It's good to be back, and it's good to be working on this feature again. For my first column of Somewhere Over the Rainbow, I will continue with our theme of an introduction to Fantasy.
Last Issue, Brother Glenn included in the review Ben Bova's maxim for separating fantasy and science fiction: "Fantasy has trees, and science fiction has rivets." However, I happen to think this is misleading-in my mind, fantasy can have rivets.
Take, for example, Michael Swanwick's The Iron Dragon's Daughter, a story involving elves, magic, dragons-as well as a few rivets-all (supposedly) written with a picture of the Sex Pistols sitting next to his word processor. It feels just like that, too. Swanwick has written both a celebration of Tolkien's milieu and a polemic against those who he feels shamelessly steal from Tolkien to create derivative, commercial fantasy.
Swanwick plumbs the depths of Celtic mythology and combines it with modern consumer culture, creating his own version of the land of Faery. It is a world in which sex, drugs, racism, violence and poverty have just as much a presence as in our own. Despite the magic of this world, the wonder is gone. The magic is used for such tawdry things as speeding up time in shopping malls so that people can spend money as long as they wish, and spells to beautify the ruling class.
As in most epic fantasy, Swanwick has included a variety of races, but has recast them to fit the roles he needs. For example, the Elves, seen as the paragon of virtue and good in most works of fantasy fiction, are the capricious, amoral overlords of Faery. Dwarves, Trolls, and living gargoyles all put in appearances, but are less like strange creatures out of legend than various ethnic groups inhabiting the same society.
The main character, Jane, is a Changeling-a human child kidnapped from our world to serve as an indentured worker. She is a valuable commodity for the rulers of Faery, being capable of touching iron without being poisoned by it. For as long as she can remember, she has been kept in a factory with dozens of other children, and forced to help create war machines. The weapons that these children build are half-magical, half-cybernetic dragons. Monstrous and intelligent creatures used like jet fighters.
Last Issue, Brother Glenn included in the review Ben Bova's maxim for separating fantasy and science fiction: "Fantasy has trees, and science fiction has rivets." However, I happen to think this is misleading-in my mind, fantasy can have rivets.
Take, for example, Michael Swanwick's The Iron Dragon's Daughter, a story involving elves, magic, dragons-as well as a few rivets-all (supposedly) written with a picture of the Sex Pistols sitting next to his word processor. It feels just like that, too. Swanwick has written both a celebration of Tolkien's milieu and a polemic against those who he feels shamelessly steal from Tolkien to create derivative, commercial fantasy.
Swanwick plumbs the depths of Celtic mythology and combines it with modern consumer culture, creating his own version of the land of Faery. It is a world in which sex, drugs, racism, violence and poverty have just as much a presence as in our own. Despite the magic of this world, the wonder is gone. The magic is used for such tawdry things as speeding up time in shopping malls so that people can spend money as long as they wish, and spells to beautify the ruling class.
As in most epic fantasy, Swanwick has included a variety of races, but has recast them to fit the roles he needs. For example, the Elves, seen as the paragon of virtue and good in most works of fantasy fiction, are the capricious, amoral overlords of Faery. Dwarves, Trolls, and living gargoyles all put in appearances, but are less like strange creatures out of legend than various ethnic groups inhabiting the same society.
The main character, Jane, is a Changeling-a human child kidnapped from our world to serve as an indentured worker. She is a valuable commodity for the rulers of Faery, being capable of touching iron without being poisoned by it. For as long as she can remember, she has been kept in a factory with dozens of other children, and forced to help create war machines. The weapons that these children build are half-magical, half-cybernetic dragons. Monstrous and intelligent creatures used like jet fighters.
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