#american fantasy

[leidensygdom]

Here's Doc for @comixqueen as an attack on Artfight! I wanted to draw some birds this year and I was so endeared by the sheer fluff on this lad~

[bloodmoonlich]

It was so cruel what popularity did to people, what culture did to people, what magazines and TV news shows and the internet and social media did to people.

From American Fantasy by Emma Straub

[hallowgracie]

Americana in High Fantasy

As apparently this is the project that is gearing up to take over next when To Sail on Seas of Sky wraps up, I've been thinking more about House of Apocalypse lately and its setting.

House of Apocalypse is a high fantasy project taking place in another world that is inspired by California in the 1970s. How I came to this idea was kind of an interesting one.

There have been a lot of discussions lately about how fantasy--especially high fantasy--is very much locked in medieval Europe, maybe venturing as far forward as the Edwardian era if anything. While there have been attempts to include other traditions and continents, I realized that for all that a lot of Americans such as myself write fantasy, we don't often write fantasy about our country.

This is an idea that has intrigued me for a long time. One of my abandoned projects, Sorcerers of the Iron Circle (later the Divine Legacy) was initially a take on this, taking Regency-era fantasy and putting it across the pond to the Federalist era in a fantasy country inspired by America. To Sail on Seas of Sky also has this element, being inspired by the New World era piracy and how certain elements of piracy and pirate culture eventually fed into American ideals of democracy and self-sufficiency.

Because while Europe has its divine right of kings, China has the Mandate of Heaven, we in America have our cultural myths surrounding democracy and the American Dream.

There has been a lot of discourse and disillusionment with the ideas in modern American culture, and for good reason. But as someone who was once a little girl who played with American Girl dolls, I still cannot help but hold a fascination for our cultural myths.

We tell a story of young revolutionaries who were creating a brand new system, one that allows the people to decide (while avoiding the question of which people) and a more fair and equal system than the divine right of kings (again, debatable in real life). We tell stories of people who forged new lives out of terrible circumstances, of people coming to America for new lives and finding it, a found family of sorts.

Hamilton as a stage musical does a really good job at exploring the cultural myths and pathos surrounding our Founding Fathers and the Revolutionary War. These ideas are really powerful, and I think they should be explored in a high fantasy setting.

We enjoy seeing the cultural myth of the good king taking the throne and revitalizing the land--why not enjoy the cultural myth of young men from differing circumstances and homelands of birth changing the world to create a more fair system and marking their place in history?

I love American history, and while my country does not always do me proud, I find a lot of intrigue in our stories and cultural values and myths. Hence why I want to explore them as a fantasy writer and make some fantasy worlds inspired by America.

[grrlmusic]

KALEIDOSCOPE Album No. 01 “Richard Kern: American Fantasy”

[pigeonbreedaday]

American Fantasy

Produced by Harold Jones

[bloodmoonlich]

That was the part that Sarah resented the most—the fact that there was no universal rating system for shared experiences. What could haunt one person for the rest of their life would be forgotten by someone else.

From American Fantasy by Emma Straub

[fizzreads]

New Emma Straub book? 😍 I’m so in.

(There’s also a new Ann Patchett! What a time to be alive.)

This book is about a cruise themed around a fictional boy band, who are now past middle aged, but still have tons of fans. The pov changes from one particularly disheartened band member, to one cruise guest who isn’t exactly sure she should be there and is going through some major life changes, and a staff member who is also at a crossroads. I liked it a lot. Emma Straub is a gem.

[allanwalshauthor]

What If Your City Turned Dark Fantasy?

Hello Readers, In this week’s ‘Dark City’ series post, I bring to you my dark fantasy re-imagining of… San Francisco! I’ve never been to this city, but if I had to step into this dark fantasy version of San Francisco, I’d have to ask myself these questions: When the Crimson Tide rolls beneath the Golden Gate, which forbidden sigils flare up, and what drowned spirits awaken in the mist? How…

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