tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3967806610957360397.post4931300458677412477..comments2023-09-29T00:18:58.055-07:00Comments on Marshall Ryan Maresca: Why are we stuck in the Middle Ages?Marshall Ryan Marescahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06259367667777920728noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3967806610957360397.post-47083078969255209812012-03-22T18:17:35.950-07:002012-03-22T18:17:35.950-07:00Michael, I don't consider it "pickiing on...Michael, I don't consider it "pickiing on" me at all. There is context here (Marshall and I have talked about this very thing before, and I've pointed him toward _The Elifin Ship_ over it), but it's not "picking" to point out that my response merely kicks the can a few feet further down the road.Daniel Fawcetthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10206011790319793546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3967806610957360397.post-26047486612595888342012-03-20T19:46:32.125-07:002012-03-20T19:46:32.125-07:00I expanded my comment at my own blog, speculative-...I expanded my comment at my own blog, speculative-nonfiction.blogspot.com. Daniel, I picked on your comment a little, so only fair that I warn you.Michael Catonhttp://speculative-nonfiction.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3967806610957360397.post-76537213750164279432012-03-20T19:22:04.233-07:002012-03-20T19:22:04.233-07:00Thank you. This is exactly my complaint about the...Thank you. This is exactly my complaint about the fantasy genre. Most of it seems to be transparently the early Middle Ages, with the names of the countries changed, and the reports of miracles and magic taken literally (but the Christian language and symbolism taken out), complete with barbarians on the borders and often the looming shadow of a fallen empire. The genre's inventor was a medievalist, so big surprise there. As to why medieval times specifically are more interesting - have there been Sumerian scholars that tried to do the same and their stories didn't spawn a genre? - I don't know, although to be exciting to us moderns I think<br />you need a) some kind nation-state identity so you can engage the tribal loyalty circuit, b) 1:1 combat, c) recognizable values that you think were carried by people who you think basically looked like you (even if they weren't) and d) it's far enough away and long enough ago that the endemic disease and violence in these times and places can be ignored (hence, no fantasy in modern sub-Saharan Africa, because it's hard to escape the realization that it's just miserable.)<br /> <br />Boiling down my complaint, "early medieval" seems unnecessarily restrictive, and it strikes me a damn shame that when someone is writing speculative fiction where they're allowed to bring the setting into play and use it for any authorial purpose they want,<br />they go to Home Depot and buy the same old backdrop. Not that science fiction stories avoid this same problem or consider the point of why they're using the setting they are, but when a genre is *defined* as using one type of setting, I think it's going to get in trouble. (Hence why I like China Mieville as well.)Michael Catonhttp://speculative-nonfiction.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3967806610957360397.post-67899447654298295662012-03-19T19:20:52.461-07:002012-03-19T19:20:52.461-07:00I would point you to James P. Blaylock's "...I would point you to James P. Blaylock's "Balumnia" books (which I am including in my next blog, actually). The tech level there is hard to pin down. There is certainly a Tolkien-esque vibe (particularly _The Hobbit_), but there are references to 18th Century tech, steam-driven oddities, and a submarine. The technologies are anachronistic, but it is fine because his world-build is engaging.Daniel Fawcetthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10206011790319793546noreply@blogger.com