Month: September 2018

#SPFBO Guest Post: Finding Fairy Tales by A M Justice

I’m super excited to share this guest post I wrote for Lynn’s Books. Lynn is the SPFBO judge who will be reviewing A Wizard’s Forge, and she gave me some space on her blog to talk about how “Rapunzel” made its way into the narrative. Thanks, Lynn!

Books and travelling with Lynn

Today, I’m really pleased to welcome to my blog the author of A Wizard’s Forge: Amanda Justice.  Amanda has written a post about the inspiration for her book A Wizard’s Forge which will be one of my upcoming reads for the Self Published Fantasy Blog Off.  A Wizard’s Forge is a deconstructed version of Rapunzel.  If you know anything about my blog you’ll know I love fairytale retellings so excitement am I to read this post: 

Rapunzel4‘Sometimes inspiration is like a beacon, drawing the author toward her goal. Other times, the influence is a sleeper agent that infiltrates the subconscious and adds unexpected layers to the narrative. My SPFBO 2018 entry, A Wizard’s Forge, is a retelling of “Rapunzel,” but not necessarily one I set out to write.

Because we’re usually introduced to fairy tales as children, and we hear or read them over and over, they tend to…

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Guest Post: Gender-Equal Fantasy – On Writing Fantasy Without Patriarchy by E.J. Beaton

E..J. Beaton beautifully articulates the rationale for and approach to writing epic fantasy where genders share power equally. I share the same philosophy about gender-neutral fantasy worlds and the possibilities they create for readers and writers alike.

The Fantasy Inn

I began writing epic fantasy (also known as high fantasy), the kind of fantasy fiction set in an entirely imagined world, partly because I am a woman. That might seem strange, in a genre historically known for stories about male heroes and patriarchal dynasties. Women were often constrained by their roles as love interests or victims in the fantasy novels I had read. Yet epic poetry and literature called strongly to me, and the prospect of making it my own glinted like a spear-tip on the horizon.

I wanted to see a person like me as the lead character in a story. I wanted to see a woman driving and shaping the narrative, not merely fitting into it as a complement to the hero’s journey. I had read and loved The Lord of the Rings, but I longed for a story where someone like Arwen could be the ultimate queen…

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