Tag: unoriginal fantasy

‘Romance + Fantasy = Literary Vandalism’ (2016)

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Reviews: Hundra - IMDb

No, please, not that! Anything but the Invincible Female Warrior!

For want of any other writers’ organization to join, I once joined a romance writers’ group. I still have nightmares about it. To this day I don’t know which cliche is the absolute worst: the sexy Invincible Female Warrior or the Dark and Sexy Vampire.  If you’re really rolling snake-eyes, you’ll get ’em both in one book.

Romance + Fantasy = Literary Vandalism

I mean, what is the point of writing a novel that does nothing but pile up cliches? Homer knew better than to do that, and he was almost 3,000 years ago.

It is said, with some justice, that people get the government that they deserve.

It also looks like they get the popular fiction they deserve.

‘And Now, Another One…’ (2018)

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I’m always being contacted by publicists inviting me to review their clients’ books. I don’t think I’ve yet said “Yes,” in several hundred tries.

And Now, Another One…

The thing that most amazes me is the appalling sameness of it all–as if there were only one publicist, only one writer, and only one book; the same cliches heaped up, one on top of another; you know what they’re going to say three pages ahead. I mean, this stuff is nutra-loaf for the mind.

If you read this blog regularly, you know that I do do book reviews. I’ll even review books suggested by my readers here, without benefit of a publicist.

But this… this… stuff! out there, boxcar-loads of it, all the same darkly handsome men and mysterious gorgeous women–all of whom need to be picked off in a hurry by a giant chameleon!

‘No, No, Please, No! No “Katana-Wielding Scullery Maid”!’ (2018)

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Image result for images of ella the slayer

At last! A fantasy novel that tries to give a definitive answer to the age-old question, Which are more obnoxious–zombies or superheroes? And is there any limit to how ridiculous you can make the martial arts?

No, No, Please, No! No ‘Katana-Wielding Scullery Maid’!

The whole blamed point of fantasy is to let the imagination run wild. Here it is locked up in Cliche Camp with watchtowers, guards, and dogs to make sure no original idea can get out or get in.

My sword sensei used to go green around the gills when people came in asking to learn “those jumpin’, spinnin’ kicks” that they see in movies.

Books that make the reader dumber… a growth industry.

 

‘Why I Don’t Use Magic’ (2014)

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Image result for images of funny wizard

Somehow fantasy got to be a hangout for lazy writers who use “magic” to get things done in the story, instead of work–and that’s the most charitable view of it. There are also those writers who use magic because they believe in it. Worse, there are writers who use it because they want the reader to believe in it.

https://leeduigon.com/2014/02/11/why-i-dont-use-magic/

There’s fantasy that’s bad simply because it’s unoriginal. And there’s also fantasy that’s worse.