#intersectional fantasy

[papabirbdev]

Thinking about Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children and X-Men again, and the “non-representative representation” of using metaphors like peculiars and mutants for “being different”. This time though, I’m focusing purely on the metaphor-as-representation instead of the perfect-body stuff in fiction or sex-segregated powers, and while thinking about how Miss Peregrine uses the metaphorical representation while also explicitly representing the persecution of Jews, I’ve got a new item for my fantasy wishlist.

Intersectional Fantasy: Instead of using being magic or mutated or whatever as a metaphor for being different, Intersectional Fantasy would take pre-existing intersectional identities and add a new layer to them: the magic/mutant-ness. I’m pretty sure X-Men does this some, and the explicitly represented Jewish character in Miss Peregrine certainly has that going on, but I would like to see it become something that isn’t the main, metaphor focus; something that’s just another identity for characters in a universe to have. I want to see fantasy elements represented in an intersectional framework.

[teal-deer]

a few random fantasy novels not set in medieval Europe (absolutely not exhaustive)

China

The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox

Dragon of the Lost Sea (etc) (Lawrence Yep) (YA)

Under Heaven — Guy Gavriel Kay

Ou Lu Ken & the Beautiful Madwoman — Jessica Amanda Salmonson

Jin Wong / Yong’s Wuxia novels (English translations may not be so great) 

Crane Iron Series by Wang Dulu (includes Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)

Japan

Tales of the Otori

Tomoe Gozen Trilogy by Jessica Amanda Salmonson

Brave Story, the Book of Heroes

Mesoamerica

Obsidian and Blood Trilogy (Pre-columbian Mexico)

Two Serpents Rise (mayincatec mashup)

Middle East

Throne of the Crescent Moon

Desert of Souls by Howard Andrew Jones

The Lion of Al-Rassan (Iberia) 

The Painted Man

Africa

Jousters (Mercedes Lackey) (Ancient Egypt)

Zoo City (South Africa) http://www.robottradingcompany.com/zoo-city-lauren-beukes.html

The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm (YA, kinda cyberpunk, south africa)

Soldier of Sidon by Gene Wolfe (Egypt; however main character is Roman)

Imaro by Charles Saunders (East Africa)

Doussouye by Charles Saunders (West Africa) (female protagonist!) 

Somewhere, But Not Medieval Europe

The Earthsea Cycle (inspired by Polynesia & the Caribbean but not really analogous to anything) (you wanna get mad about white washing get mad about the sci-fi channel)

The Knights of Breton Court (urban Arthurian in Indianapolis with black version of King Arthur) 

Inda — Sherwood Smith (might be Mongolian) 

10 Billion Days and 100 Billion Nights

Twelve Kingdoms (Asia mashup thingy)

Three Parts Dead (prequel to Two Serpents Rise)

Tales of Neveryon (no real world analogue but everyone’s dark skinned & pale people are considered weirdo barbarians from the south)

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (no real analogue) 

Edge Cases

Daughter of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist (part of the Riftwar series, some of which are fantasy medieval europe; but this one is sort of fantasy Japan by way of Dungeons & Dragons)

Malazan Book of the Fallen (kind of an edge case; not really well analogized to any Earth cultures, but occasionally has a kind of Middle Eastern vibe)

Myst: the Book of Atrus and Myst: the Book of Ti’ana (video game tie-ins; D’ni culture is based somewhat on various Semitic cultures and is the center of the series; books also notable for having a LOT to say on the evils of colonialism)

Ico (also based on a video game, but Ico feels sort of Mesopotamian)