epic fantasy Archives - Andrew Knighton Writes

Edge Lit 6

Conventions are one of my favourite things about science fiction and fantasy fandom. The chance to hear and talk about sf+f with like minded people is great. And with Derby within day trip distance, one of my regular ones is Edge Lit.

The Epic Panel

I didn’t go to many panels this Edge Lit. I enjoy the panels as conversation starters, but I get easily distracted and end up staying in the bar.

The one I went to was on epic fantasy.

The panel’s starting question was about why epic fantasy is so popular at the moment. But there’s a reason why I say “starting” question. The titles of panels are seldom their whole focus. Instead, they provide a theme and a starting point for the panelists to work from. What’s interesting is what they do with it.

This particular panel featured RJ Barker, Lucy Hounsom, Stan Nicholls, Anna Stephens, and Gav Thorpe in the chair. They talked about how epic fantasy lets them write the stories they want to tell, about how various media are making it more popular, about the bad cliches that can be a problem, and all sorts of other things around what epic fantasy is. It was a wide-ranging and fascinating discussion that ended with some good recommendations for books.

This is the joy of panels. It’s hearing smart, lively people talk about interesting stuff. The panel titles might get a bit repetitive, but it’s the panelists that bring them alive.

The Event Running Workshop

Alex Davis, who runs Edge Lit, ran a workshop on running events. It’s certainly something he’s got experience on, making it a valuable addition to the convention. I’ve been toying with the idea of running some sf+f evenings in Leeds, so I went along to learn about the practicalities.

I know Alex puts a lot of effort into these events. Hearing him talk about it only made me more aware of that. So kudos to him for keeping the convention going. Whether I act on what I learned remains to be seen…

All the Books

I have too many books on my to-read pile already. Every convention I go to, I plan not to add any more. Every convention, that plan fails.

My main purchase this time was Laura Mauro’s Naming the Bones. I heard her read from this at the book launch and it caught my attention. A horror story that starts with a terrorist attack and ends up in the tunnels under London is something new for me, but with familiar elements I’m fascinated by. I’m looking forward to reading it, though probably not when I want to be able to sleep.

And then there was the raffle. I bought five tickets. Three of mine got drawn from the massive bowl. Slightly embarrassed, I asked them to draw again and let someone else have my prize the third time. Because like I said, I have too many books. But hey, I won!

In summary, Edge Lit 6 was everything I expected, in a good way. Books, panels, conversations, more books. Plenty of inspiration for what to read and write.

Needless to say, I’ll be back in the winter for Sledge Lit.

The Tiger and the Wolf by Adrian Tchaikovsky

The Tiger and the Wolf by Adrian Tchaikovsky is an exciting fantasy adventure story. It has one of the best fantasy metaphors I’ve ever read for growing up. And, as you’d expect from Tchaikovsky, it’s a great piece of world building that provides a new and fascinating setting.

Stepping into Different Bodies

The protagonist of The Tiger and the Wolf, Maniye, is a tribal chief’s daughter. In her world, everyone can transform into an animal, a process called Stepping.

Which animal depends upon the culture they come from. Maniye lives in a wolf tribe, so the people around her can transform into wolves. The traders can become horses, the people of the distant southern lands alligators, the cave dwellers of the far north bears. Stepping gives the story its unusual and well-written action sequences, as characters shift between bodies to give them an edge in fights and chases.

One of the interesting parts about this is that Stepping is entirely voluntary. Which body to use is a choice characters make, unlike many traditional werewolf stories in which the animal takes over. This isn’t about a division between civilised and base instincts – it’s about what sort of person to be at any given moment.

For Maniye, that’s a tough decision.

Choosing Who to Be

Maniye’s father may be a wolf chief, but her mother was a tiger queen. She can turn into either animal, but violent tensions between the tiger and wolf cultures mean that her tiger form is completely unacceptable in her tribe. On the verge of adulthood, Maniye is about to face the choice of all those with two animal spirits within them, abandoning one and embracing the other.

As a metaphor for growing up, it’s not the most subtle, but it is powerful. Maniye is facing a choice between the different people she could be, the different heritages she comes from. It’s about the forms her parents would want her to take. She’s facing big choices about her identity, is under huge social pressure, and life seems out of her control. Her two animal souls are tearing her apart as she struggles to choose.

This could have ended up reading like a terrible heap of teen angst, but it doesn’t. Instead, it’s one more struggle for Maniye to face as she goes on the run, trying to define her own life and save that of a stranger. The final choice is predictable but immensely satisfying, and how she gets there is far from predictable. Like being a teenager, it’s more about the journey than the destination.

A Rich and Diverse World

When I started reading this book, I thought it was set in a world based on bronze age and dark age Europe. The more I read, the more it became apparent that that was my biases coming into play. As Tchaikovsky expands his world beyond the snowbound forests of the tiger and the wolf, we see civilisations influenced by real world examples from all over the globe. The wolf are reminiscent of hunting tribes from all across the icy regions below the Arctic. It was my background that coloured them Norse or Germanic. The world ofThe Tiger and the Wolf is actually far richer and more varied than that, and all the more fascinating for it.

Given the fierce online debates raging about diversity and representation in fantasy – debates which have fostered some gems of insight and a lot of ugly bluster – the diversity of this world reflects the themes of the book within a wider context. Fantasy culture is facing choices about what to be, just like Maniye. And like her, it is tearing itself apart over this. This book sets an example of a positive direction that choice could take us, and how that is compatible with the exciting stories more conservative elements claim to fear losing.

But honestly, most readers will neither know nor care about that. Good for them. What they’ll find is a gripping story, good characters and a cool new setting to explore. What more could you want?

Disclaimer:

I know Adrian Tchaikovsky personally, and my copy of this book was provided courtesy of his publicist.

But if I hadn’t liked the book I just wouldn’t have written about it. I’m not a pro reviewer, I mostly save this space for enthusing about cool stuff, and so if someone I know produces something that’s not to my tastes, I just don’t deal with it here. Call it my review policy, if you like. Andrew Knighton, taking the discreet way out since 1978.

And remember, my new book A Mosaic of Stars, collecting together over a year’s worth of weekly short stories, is available for pre-order as a Kindle e-book now.

Werewolves and Whuppings – An Interview With Adrian Tchaikovsky

Anyone who follows epic fantasy has heard of Adrian Tchaikovsky. A lawyer, gamer and all round top chap, he’s the author of the Shadows of the Apt series – the sort of massive fantasy work whose printing almost causes deforestation – and the wonderful Jane Austen meets Vietnam war fantasy Guns of the Dawn. I discussed his new book a little last week. Today I have an interview with Adrian, in which he talks world building, writing and which authors could beat him in a fight…

AK: Your new book, The Tiger and the Wolf, has just come out. Could you please tell readers what the book’s about and why they should be excited about it.

The Tiger and the Wolf takes us to a completely new world of shapeshifters. It’s a plunge into a setting where everyone has an animal soul, and some – like the heroine, Maniye – have more than one. This is my first new series after Shadows of the Apt, planned for at least 3 books, and the plot moves from Maniye’s quest to escape the reach of her father towards something truly world-shattering.

Why did you pick the particular animals you use in the book?

Obviously I wanted to get away from the insects and arachnids that were the mainstays on Shadows of the Apt. What I ended up with was a mix of the very familiar and the unexpected. So the people of Maniye’s cold northern climes are wolves, bears and tigers, fairly common shapeshifting fare, but other characters travelling in from elsewhere have different shapes – crocodiles, serpents, hyenas. I wanted to get a diverse spread of cultures, and the cultures are inextricably linked to the animals.

Have you learned any new lessons as a writer in the process of writing this book? And if not, could you tell us something you’ve learned from writing one of your previous novels?

I cut a whole hell of a lot of world building exposition. It’s really easy, when you put a lot of work into the world, to want to show your working to the reader. It was actually useful for me to write down, as it fixed it in my mind, but it all had to come out before the final version.

I heard you talking about your re-enactment fighting a couple of years ago. How does that feed into your writing? And which other author would you be most afraid to face in battle?

A basic understanding of how fights work is always a good thing as it gives you a much expanded toolkit when writing those scenes (though, as above, you also have to learn not to show your working too much). In T&W a lot of the fights were kind of crazy to write because the shapeshifting is instantaneous, so characters are shifting in and out of animal shape depending on what works best in that moment.

As for other writers, I’m a big guy but I reckon there are a whole raft of them who would whup my ass but good. Myke Cole, for one, or Martin Page who’s a very accomplished swordsman.

Is there any chance you’ll be returning to the world of Guns of the Dawn? I loved that book.

There’s every chance if it looks as though the demand is there. I have an idea for a sequel, with Emily being called back into military service out of civilian (and married) life, because when you’ve done what she’s done, war isn’t just going to leave you alone. Some day it’ll get written.

And finally the inevitable question – where can people find you online?

My website is www.shadowsoftheapt.com, and I’m on Facebook, and @aptshadow on Twitter.

The Tiger and the Wolf is out now from TOR.

Thanks very much to Adrian for the interview, and to Jamie-Lee Nardone for setting it up.