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This week: Edited by: Colin Back on the Ghost Roads  
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This newsletter is for everyone who enjoys the magic and mystery of a good Fantasy, be it Tolkien, Jordan, Rowling, or a host of others. I will also be attempting to give some time to other types of fantasy, as written by the likes of Asimov, Wilson, Clarke and a galaxy of talent.
I hope to present some information that will be useful to other fantasy authors on site, and entertaining to all our subscribers.
So, let the wonder and glory of all that is fantasy engulf you.
The Fantasy Editors:
Colin Back on the Ghost Roads
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You Got Orcs in my Cyberpunk!
Last time, I discussed the sub genre of Cyberpunk, which is generally considered a subtype of Science Fiction. This is not always the case however. I have read two cases of Cyberpunk merging with Fantasy. There are also more possibilities of using Cyberpunk themes and conventions in more traditional fantasy stories.
William Gibson, in his two follow up novels to Neuromancer made extensive use of voodoo themes in cyberspace. Somehow the events of the first novel either created the traditional Voodoo Loas in cyberspace, or caused the artificial intelligences that already lived there to evolve into the Loas. In any case, the Loas of the book have priests and priestesses and worshipers. They are able to 'ride' some of their chosen followers, by possessing them, and they are also able to meddle in the affairs of men in other ways, up to and including sending Baron Samedhi, the Loa of death and the dead, to visit a particularly troublesome man and kill him. The use of voodoo in a fantastic form is one of the first examples I'm aware of of fantasy themes entering a cyberpunk story. If you know of others, please mail them in and I'll put them in the Letters section of the next newsletter.
Another blending of cyberpunk and fantasy is the Shadowrun series of games and novels. In this world, we have all the near future trappings of cyberpunk, including a 'wireless' version of cyberspace, as the authors wished to keep up with modern technological trends, existing alongside magic and fantasy trappings. Dragons not only exist, some of them run for office. Elves, Dwarves, Orcs and Trolls live in the Shadows, and often in the limelight of mainstream society, and take part in the events of the world just as Humans do. Other, more mysterious, creatures have awakened and are acting on their own agendas. Most reviewers refer to Shadowrun as a blending of Cyberpunk and Tolkien, which is as apt a description as any, although I wouldn't restrict the fantasy aspects to those of Tolkien. The setting has traditional studious mages as well as more instinctive shamans, whose powers come from their totem spirits. The Orcs and Trolls bear some resemblance to those of Tolkien's Middle Earth, but also have their own unique aspects in the Shadowrun world, and there are numerous less common races that do not appear in Tolkien at all, but which are known in other worlds. Clearly other Cyberpunk authors and Fantasy authors serve as inspirations for Shadowrun, but they have their own unique take on things.
Like most Cyberpunk settings, it is the Mega corporations that control the world. The Corps in Shadowrun go beyond the concept of multinational, becoming almost anational, existing as sovereign territories all their own, operating under their own laws and rules. While we see Japanese influence on some of the companies, there are representatives from many other nations as well. Aztechnology from South America, Ares Macrotech of the US, EVO Corp of Russia, and others from other places all compete with each other in the world wide playground of the Mega corporations.
Shadowrun also makes use of cybertechnology, the enhancement and replacement of organic parts with mechanical additions. Cybertechnology and magic have a competitive relationship, in that the more technology you graft to yourself, the less capable you are in manipulating magic. In addition, a person who adds too much to him or herself eventually ceases to be human altogether, often becoming a bloodthirsty soulless monster. Despite these risks, a great many people use cybertechnology in their chosen careers, either in traditional jobs or in the more shadowy world of the Shadowrunners. Cyber-enhanced Orcs and Trolls are very common, as they can enhance their already superior physical abilities to superhuman levels. Humans and Dwarves also frequently favor cyberenhancement, although most Elves tend to avoid it.
So, it is clearly possible to blend cyberpunk and fantasy into a unified whole. But, what if you really want to write a more traditional fantasy story with cyberpunk themes? Is it possible? Well, as people who have read my articles in the past probably know, my opinion is that anything is possible depending on how you want to set things up.
Cyberpunk tends to set low class protagonists against global corporations who hold the real power in the world. Most fantasy worlds have lower classes, but can global corporations be set up? Well, even in the middle ages and Renaissance times, we had craft guilds and merchant houses. With the addition of magic, it doesn't seem too far fetched that these organizations could take on a global role. Alternatively, magic itself could provide the source of the 'Mega corps'. Instead of competing technology companies, it could be competing world wide schools of magic that are the real power players of the world.
The protagonists of the Fantasypunk world would not be the nobles, court mages and such of epic fantasy. They would be the renegades, the cast offs, the tavern brawlers, burglars and brigands. Much like traditional cyberpunk actually. The plots would generally not involve the protagonists saving the world, at least not knowingly at first, but rather striving to survive under the shadows of the power players and their machinations, and maybe to give back a little of what has been forced on them. It is entirely possible that their more personal quests could end up causing global changes depending on the way you want to write the story, but the focus should always remain on the protagonists' individual and personal goals. This sort of fantasy story is an excellent chance to use more monstrous protagonists, as they already exist on the outskirts of the civilized world.
One potential stumbling block for a fantasy cyberpunk world is the concept of cyberspace. Fantasy worlds generally don't have a lot of computer technology (for obvious reasons), and so a computer generated world is not particularly believable. There are alternatives, however. Many fantasy worlds include a concept like the Astral Plane, a nearly empty space which magical travelers can sometimes access. This can easily take the place of a computer generated cyberspace. In some settings, mages can shape the Astral plane to create small or large regions under their control. This could be analogous to the corporate 'web sites' in cyberspace. These separate worlds could well have very different physical laws and appearances than the mainstream world setting, thus allowing some variety in the setting. Instead of expert hackers, it would be mages able to pierce the vale between the two realms who are the cyberspace runners, and instead of computer defense and attack programs, it would be spells that allow the characters to do what they need to in Astral Space. I guess this would also require a name change from Cyberpunk to Astralpunk, but it still seems to work.
As stated above, cybertechnology enhancements are also a common theme in cyberpunk stories. So the question arises, does fantasy have anything analogous to that. Well, I suppose Ash's artificial hand in Army of Darkness sort of fits. He was stuck in a fantasy Earth, and he did make a functional artificial hand. Still I think we'd need something a bit more reasonable for any serious story. Let's look at the World of Aden. Aden has magical equivalents of cybernetic limbs and organs, the process of attaching them is called Golemization. People who receive these devices tend to suffer an illness called The Wasting, which causes them to slowly loose their humanity and degenerate into bloodthirsty monsters. Hmm...sounds familiar.
Another example, this one even more fantasy based, is Michael Moorcock's Corum. At the start of his book series, Corum lost one eye and one hand. Soon after, a strange wizard grafted the Eye of Kwll and the hand of Rhyn, from the two gods of those names, to him. The Eye and Hand gave him fantastic powers, but they also had some drawbacks, like the fact that the hand tended to act of its own accord in defending Corum at times. Like seemingly randomly strangling people around him. In any case, these sorts of things can serve as alternatives to Cyberpunk cybertechnology.
So, Cyberpunk does not have to be restricted to science fiction. With a bit of creativity, you can incorporate many of the ideas and themes into a standard fantasy story and make it into something altogether different. I hope some of you will be inspired to try it. |
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From: billwilcox
Colin,
Another informative newsletter. You are, as always, a wealth of info. I think I'll start a new style and call it 'Slobberpunk'. It's like cyberpunk, but a bit more wet and gooey 
Well, as you can see from this edition, I've (hopefully) coined a new term, so go for it. Slobberpunk, maybe focusing more on genetic engineering, and neural enhancement (wetware)? Many possibilities. And there's probably no better feeling than to be the author who essentially creates a new genre.
From: Eiric
I would really be interested in hearing about any full length (ie- completely finished) fantasy novels that are presently up for perusal on WDC. I am the sort that really likes to finish a good book- so, of course I am inclined to want to find COMPLETE good books to review! I was wondering if your lovely fantasy newsletter might dedicate an issue to recommending fantasy stories that fall into that general category- good classic fantasy novels that are completed works.
Why wait for us? Head up to the top of any page, and do a search. You should be able to set both genre and item type. So if you're looking for any Fantasy novels, leave the title blank, choose fantasy from the Dropdown Genre menu, and Book from the Item type menu.
Unfortunately, I am not able to go through whole books when preparing a newsletter. I have very limited time to work on them, and going through an entire book would take most if not all or more than all my lead time. Other editors may have the time available, so I'll leave your comment open for the others to answer for themselves.
From: Robert Waltz 
Excellent summary of the forms and conventions of cyberpunk! But I can't let this feedback opportunity pass without mentioning my favorite cyberpunk author, Neal Stephenson 
Thanks for the reading suggestions, I always appreciate it, and I'm sure many of the other readers will as well. Thanks also for the feedback.
From: blackbeauty
Hey, that was a very interesting article on Cyberpunk genre!I learnt a lot. Don't you think that using computers is a cool way of doing fantasy 3D?
^_^
Yes, computer technology has really come a long way, and can now be used to do some very good fantasy work. Recently watched Advent Children, and while it was basically an action/eye candy movie, it was a good one. Hopefully we'll see more computer generated fantasy in the future. Glad you enjoyed the article.
From: Strange Wulf
Only problem I have with Cyberpunk is that it tends to be written with the assumption that corporations are evil. Being a conservative, I find this irritating, as I know this to be false. Greed might cause a business to consider less than ethical actions to increase profits, but they are not automatically evil, like some seem to think.
A more realistic option would be to have a puppet government handled by a criminal or political group that prefers to remain anonymous. Or a full breakdown of law with several groups vying for power. It'd be like a high-tech version of the civil wars fought in some Arab countries by greedy warlords.
Still, I must admit the technology does draw my interest...
While many cyberpunk stories do seem to assume evil corporations, I don't think it's a requirement. Most of what I've read seems to take the assumption that the coprorations are primarily interested in profits and the good of their shareholders. They are far from evil, however. The main cyberpunk themes tend to be less good vs. evil than the weak vs. the strong. Of course, some authors prefer to paint the corporations as evil, or some corporations as evil and some neutral and even some good. It all depends on the author and the story she or he is trying to tell.
Having said that, it's not necessary to have corporations be the power players at all. It could just as easily be criminal or political groups as you say, or lobby groups, or any other group of power players. Like any good genre, there are lots of options.
And yes, the technology does tend to be a centerpiece and is generally quite interesting. Thanks for the feedback.
That's it for another one. See you all in four weeks. |
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Fantasy: September 13, 2006 Issue [#1257]
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