From Modern Mythcraft to Magical Surrealism

Brave New Worlds: Dystopian Stories, an anthology edited by John Joseph Adams

Nonfiction

Author Spotlight: Naomi Novik

“Vici” shows the seeds of various aspects of the relationship between dragons and humans that we see initially in Britain and other European nations in His Majesty’s Dragon.

Three Dragons

The dragon is a myth that has grown and molded itself to whatever contradictions the current age requires. It’s a world-carrier or a treasure-hoarder, celestial or flawed.

Falling With Style, Travelling Through Portals

Portal travel has a lot to recommend it. It’s fast, exciting, no one has to sing any songs and you can often go directly to your destination.

Author Spotlight: Seanan McGuire

So the “kids + magical world = adventure” equation was very, very heavily used during the 1980s. Almost every cartoon had it, because it was a way to get the kids into the story.

The Deathly Shadows in Our Lives

European folk tradition has placed quite a strong emphasis on the connection between the shadow and the soul; this connection can be found in German and Portuguese folklore, and in non-European folk belief as well.

Author Spotlight: Joe R. Lansdale

Write for yourself, write like everyone you know is dead. Then when you finish you can worry about who might like it.

Feature Interview: Puss in Boots Director Chris Miller

We knew that we were going to have the fairy tale world as a backdrop in Puss in Boots, we wanted to make sure we didn’t end up just parodying them. We wanted to take the original stories and put a new spin on them.

Author Spotlight: Nike Sulway

You can’t hope to get a whole person on the page—other people are always the biggest mystery, the great unknowable in life—but you can sometimes get down in words that thing that makes them strange and alluring.

Artist Spotlight: J.P. Targete

Personally I feel environments can sometimes give you more insight into a story then a portrait especially if the environment is closely connected to that story.

Editorial, December 2011

Welcome to issue fifty-seven of Fantasy! Here’s what we’ve got on tap this month … Fiction: “Her Lover’s Golden Hair ” by Nike Sulway, “Torn Away” by Joe R. Lansdale, “Crystal Halloway and the Forgotten Passage” by Seanan Maguire, “Vici” by Naomi Novik. Nonfiction: “Feature Interview: Chris Miller” by Andrew Penn Romine, “The Deathly Shadows in Our Lives” by Veronica Schanoes, “Falling With Style” by Alasdair Stuart, “”Three Dragons” by Genevieve Valentine.