Posting about John Howe, playing in Blizack's excellent Dragon Warriors game, and reading through my recently purchased Pendragon 5th Edition rules, has rekindled my love of proper European, more specifically British, folklore.
For some reason certain sections of the fantasy literature crowd (particularly those on the left) have looked down their noses at anything drawing on such fare, calling it derivative, conversative, pastoral and reactionary. (Mostly this is directed at Tolkien.) I say those people are agitprop-obsessed idiots. I have, however, fallen prey in recent years to a disdain for 'eurocentric' fantasy - it's partly what creating Yoon-Suin was motivated by. Now that I've scratched that itch, however, I think I'm ready to go back to the fold. I am after all a European, raised in England, of Scots-Irish parents. European mythology is my heritage, by God. Screw Sword & Sorcery and High Fantasy, I want Romance!
Here's a 25 word blurb for what I'd like to do:
Scotland, heaths, moors, meadows, celts, picts, redcaps, giants, knights, romanticism, chivalry, nockers, boggarts, Tolkien, Mallory, faeries, devils, enchantresses, dragons, castles, wizard-knight, Lewis, woodwoses, fauns, menhirs.
Sounds like either Pendragon or MERP, really.
Thanks very much for the compliment.
ReplyDeleteMyself, I tend to like two types of fantasy: euro-centric (or "folkloric" as I call it) or straight-up bizarre.
D&D-style high fantasy is something I can stand only for short periods of time these days. Of course, I have been playing it for a year straight, so it makes sense I'd be burned out on it.
Are you familiar with Susan Cooper's _The Dark is Rising_ series? Excellent high fantasy, Eurocentric but not Tolkienesque. Really good reads, even though "intended" for young adults. A bit away from your 25-word blurb though, since there isn't much emphasis on fairies and the Sidhe and so forth.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to see a "peasant's eye view" version of eurocentric fantasy. Something of limited focus (no chosen ones, no saving the world,) just a fantasy of the everyday.
ReplyDeleteNot that such things don't exist, mind you. I just want it to be a D&Ded up.
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