At Pornokitsch, Jared takes a look at The Dragonlance Chronicles’ influence on contemporary fantasy: “[C]ool or not, Dragonlance has done more than almost any other post-Tolkien property in influencing fantasy. Its narrative and conceptual tropes can be found in every nook and cranny of the genre, and much of the modern low fantasy resurgence can be traced [...]
At his Invincible Super Blog, Chris Sims has some trouble with Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim and compares the game to Assassin’s Creed 3: Brotherhood and Fallout 3. “What’s the point of giving you an overwhelming amount of content when none of it matters?”
At The New Yorker, Adam Gopnik writes about The Lord of the Rings and its influence on young adult fantasy, how Tolkien’s fusing of the epic and the familiarly domestic brought us Eragon and Twilight. “Kids go to fantasy not for escape but for organization, and a little elevation; since life is like this already, [...]
The Belated Nerd looks back at the alien dragon menace, Fin Fang Foom.
Hobbits on film! Well, not quite yet. Here’s Peter Jackson’s second production vidoe for The Hobbit.
Good Show, Sir, offers you, the reader, only the worst and most ill-conceived science fiction and fantasy book covers. And if you have some terrible cover art in your collection, you can submit to their gallery.
Dragonriders of Pern as a live action film? Looks like it might happen.
Every April at the Gutter, the editors write about something outside their usual domains. This month, Romance Editor Chris Szego writes about animated movies. When I was a kid, cartoons were a real treat. I didn’t watch much TV, but Bugs Bunny and friends were mandatory viewing. We watched the show as a family, [...]
A straight male gamer accuses Bioware of ignoring straight male gamers by having queer romance options in Dragon Age II. Bioware responds by talking about having options for everyone and straight male privilege. Seriously.
Gianluca Maconi’s gallery of characters makes a great case for a comic based on George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones. (via Robot 6)
Sometimes it’s easy to forget why I like comics and 2010 was a particularly tough year, in comics and otherwise. But here are 10 that reminded me why I do like them. There’s a lot of crime, anthropomorphic animals, gorgeous art, silly fun, people dealing with things the best they can, and plenty of Greg [...]
I recently burned through all seven books in Christopher Rowley’s Bazil Broketail series. What I liked best? The broad strokes, literally (here is our hero with a sword, there goes the head of the bad guy, flying through the air) as well as metaphorically.
A severed dragon head, a monkey’s paw, a vampire pharaoh and an interdimensional cat are all specimens collected and mounted by artist Alex CF. Cryptids, oddities and mythical monsters presented with retro-Victorian naturalism. (thanks, Ariel!)
George R. R. Martin has a few things he wants to get off his chest. Like he’s not lying about A Dance With Dragons completion dates. So deal with it. (via Super Punch)
I love shiny new things. I’m also getting more ruthless about my time than I used to be. Those competing impulses get resolved in a simple activity that everyone does naturally: following writers who have proved themselves in the past. On that note, here are a few follow-up visits to Gutter pieces of the past. [...]
In the spirit of the season, here are ten, in alphabetical order by author.
Remember Y2K? All those pre-New Year’s warnings about what might happen to the world’s computer systems? People were pretty calm about it, but many thought, hey, better safe than sorry, and stocked up on toilet paper and non-perishables. But as it happened, the giant looming what if turned out to be nothing, and the world [...]
Electric Dragon 80,000 Volts: Filled with Electricity! Filled with Emotion! Conversing with dragons and creatures, is a man! Dragon Eye Morrison!” (Thanks, Colin!)
Strange things happen to the Armitages on Mondays. Sometimes there’s a unicorn in the garden, sometimes there are 100. Harriet and Mark, sister and brother, are used to the ghosts, the dragons, the Furies, and so on. Life in their small village, and wacky relatives who come to visit? Much harder to take. Joan Aiken [...]
Michelle Yeoh, Jet Li, Wu Jing, Anthony Wong Chau-Sang and… Brendan Fraser? That’s right, it’s The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. Who knew the Qin Emperor was a shapeshifter? (via Kaiju Shakedown)
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What, it’s June already? I’m sure a I had a whole year here a minute ago. In any case, summer means humidity, allergies, and a sad lack of home AC. This year, it also means squirrels in the roof (don’t ask. No, really).
