The final “cliché” in fantasy fiction needs little introduction. He is the granddaddy of all antagonists, the embodiment of evil that threatens the main character, and often the survival of kingdoms, continents, and worlds. Relatively recent incarnations of this antagonist, whose power usually dwarfs that of our poor hero, include Sauron from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The…
Since this typically is a joyous time of year, I tried to find a happier “beginning” for this week – which should be a challenge given the desire to create tension in the opening passage of a novel. The beginning of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring comes close to fitting this bill, while…
As an element of fantasy fiction, the Magic Weapon is so often used it’s either the most cliché item on my Top 5 list or it’s an essential ingredient of such stories. Now, we know the latter’s not true as we’ve all read great works of fantasy fiction that lacked any emphasis on magic weapons….
Yesterday’s premier of Season 2 of HBO’s Game of Thrones was as good as expected. This season is based on A Clash of Kings, George R.R. Martin’s second novel in his epic A Song of Ice and Fire series. Last night’s episode stayed true to some of the novel’s memorable early scenes, even if the…
After a two week diversion, I’m back with the fourth post in my six part series on The Top 5 Clichés in Fantasy Fiction. On the surface, today’s cliché has Tolkien to blame. Ever since the first orc crawled out of Mordor in his 1954 novel The Fellowship of the Ring, these misshapen beasts, in…
Season 2 of HBO’s Game of Thrones debuts this upcoming Sunday, and I can hardly wait! This season is based on A Clash of Kings, George R.R. Martin’s second novel in his epic series A Song of Ice and Fire. So I decided that this week’s “beginning” should be the one that started it all…
This week I’m taking another short break from my series on The Top 5 Clichés in Fantasy Fiction for a review of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ A Princess of Mars, as well as some comments on the new film John Carter, which is based on the novel. The novel tells the story of Captain John Carter,…
With Saint Patrick’s Day less than a week away, Fresh-scraped Vellum is focusing on all things Irish! So for the “beginning” of this week I’ve chosen the opening passage from Morgan Llywelyn’s Bard: The Odyssey of the Irish. This novel was an easy call for today’s “beginning” because it tells the story of the legendary…
In the third post in my six part series on The Top 5 Clichés in Fantasy Fiction, I’m discussing the second of my listed clichés: The Wise Wizard. This character is so recognizable in fantasy novels it almost seems like a mandatory ingredient. He’s the one who teaches the protagonist how to be a hero –…
With the debut of the film John Carter, I chose the opening passage of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ first John Carter novel, A Princess of Mars, for the “beginning” of this week. Burroughs wrote this novel in 1912, so the writing may differ a bit from today’s norms, but I think the first passage delivers an…
In the second post in my six part series on The Top 5 Clichés in Fantasy Fiction, I’m discussing the first of my listed clichés: The Farm Boy with a Secret. Since Frodo Baggins left the Shire in J.R.R. Tolkien’s 1954 novel The Fellowship of the Ring, we’ve seen a plethora of such characters in…