Stephanie Zacharek reviews The Golden Compass: “Most of what’s magical about Pullman’s novel has been mechanized, obviously at great expense: It must cost a heap of dough to make animal figures look like they’re talking, and there’s barely an instant in The Golden Compass when you can’t hear […]
Fantasy novels are filled with war, and maybe that’s a default because human history is also filled with war. And violence is exciting, right? But I start to wonder: can’t we imagine a different way of telling a story? Fantasy is an imagined world after all. After reading […]
I know of many fantasy readers (myself sometimes included) who pick what book to read next based on how long it is – for epic fantasies, the longer the better. Books like this are a huge commitment though, and so for a lot of people, the fact that […]
There comes a point in every game where the player asks themselves why they’re wasting time on a terrible game. It’s a scenario no gamer wants to be presented with – and it’s a developer’s worst nightmare. Depending on how the storyline is integrated with the game, a […]
If you had unlimited power – magical power as a wizard, or even unlimited built-in power like Superman – what would you do with it? Would you act responsibly and protect us regular folks? Or would you become greedy and try to take over the world, like a […]
Ursula K. Le Guin is one of the most respected names in fantasy and science fiction. She doesn’t need to boost her career by cheap gimmicks or by following current trends. So I was a bit shocked to read about how Le Guin’s editor had suggested she write […]
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The Cultural Gutter 