Tag: Fantasy
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Drama at the Dragon Awards
The Dragon Awards made a colossal mistake: it caved to the whims of writers who disrespected their fans. Alison Littlewood and N.K. Jemisin withdrew their novels from the Dragon Awards nomination. John Scalzi, who initially withdrew, decided to withdraw his withdrawal. The former two claimed they were being used as proxies in the culture war.…
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Anime Retrospective: Record of Lodoss War
Record of Lodoss War belongs to a different era of Japanese anime, and indeed of storytelling. There are no obligatory fanservice moments, no in-jokes aimed at the audience, no audience surrogates in the form of bland high school otaku protagonists, no injections of unnecessary modern political messaging. Record of Lodoss War does one thing, and one thing only:…
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My Winding Road To PulpRev
I wasn’t always a science fiction and fantasy reader. Despite what my bibliography says, in some ways I still am not. At least, not the kind of reader most SFF is aimed at. As a child I read voraciously, but I was always drawn to world myths, folklore and fairy tales. One day I would…
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Anime Analysis: GATE – Thus the JSDF Fought There!
GATE – Thus the JSDF Fought There had all the ingredients for awesomeness: modern military technology, high fantasy setting, magic, politics, war. And squandered everything. The anime started promisingly enough. A mysterious gateway opens in Ginza. An army of legionnaires, orcs and dragons pours out. The Japanese Self Defense Force responds decisively, defeating the invasion.…
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Anime Analysis: Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash
Party wipe in the first five minutes. If the anime adaptation of Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash were set in a realistic and unforgiving world, the main cast would have been slaughtered in the first fight scene. Fortunately for them, they somehow blunder their way out and live to fight another die. Unfortunately, the sequence…
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Book Unreview: The Gatekeepers by Nuraliah Norasid
I try not to review books I don’t finish. But some books are so terrible that they serve as a prime example of how not to write. The Gatekeepers by Nuraliah Norasid was the winner of the 2016 Epigram Books Fiction Prize. The prize ‘promotes contemporary Singapore creative writing and rewards excellence in Singapore literature’…