Category Archives: A to Z 2012

Q is for quests

Posted on April 19, 2012 by Erin

Quests are as much a part of epic fantasy as prophecies are. It can be a quest to retrieve the one weapon that will destroy the Evil One forever, a quest to return magic to the world, a quest to … Continue reading →

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P is for prophecy

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Erin

(Just for the record, I had this post planned before S.L. Hennessy posted about precognition and knowing the future with her N is for Next post.) Prophecies are always popping up, from the Delphic Oracle to an entire roomful of … Continue reading →

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O is for Orullian

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Erin

Peter Orullian started his epic trilogy, Vault of Heaven, with The Unremembered. I actually had a hard time getting into this book. It’s the first book I can remember where I wish I had skipped the prologue.

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N is for Name of the Wind

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Erin

Name of the Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss, startled me when I read it. It did several things that I’d been told you couldn’t do in a book if you wanted to get published: only one POV in an epic fantasy … Continue reading →

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M is for magic

Posted on April 14, 2012 by Erin

What else? Magic can be big and flashy or small and quiet. It can follow such clearcut rules it’s almost a science, or you can leave the book wondering what exactly it’s good for. (Years on, I’m still trying to … Continue reading →

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L is for Lord of the Rings

Posted on April 13, 2012 by Erin

I couldn’t write a month of posts on epic fantasy and not touch on the most famous one, the one thst launched fantasy as a separate genre, now could I?

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Only semi-here

Posted on April 12, 2012 by Erin

Just wanted to post a quick note apologizing for my lack of commenting on other A to Z blog participants. I’m a procrastinator (I’d say a terrible procrastinator, but the truth is I’m quite good at it!), and I’m going … Continue reading →

Posted in A to Z 2012, announcements | Tagged | 9 Comments

K is for knights and kings

Posted on April 12, 2012 by Erin

On a writers’ board I frequent, another poster recently opined that if a book doesn’t have knights, swords, and horses, he (I think the poster was male, although I could be wrong) doesn’t consider it epic fantasy.

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J is for Journey

Posted on April 11, 2012 by Erin

Hero’s journey, that is. You’ve probably already been exposed to the idea (or monomyth) of the hero’s journey, as put forward by Joseph Campbell: person in the normal world receives a call to action, refuses it, is called again, and … Continue reading →

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I is for inheritance

Posted on April 10, 2012 by Erin

Many stories talk about what we get from our families. In epic fantasy, stories can hinge on things that characters have inherited — swords (Shannara), rings (LotR), a way with the Force, the ability to do magic (unless one is … Continue reading →

Posted in A to Z 2012 | Tagged | 14 Comments