703 posts tagged with fantasy.
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Basically the fetish equivalent of proclaiming “I love vanilla lattes”
Could my desire to be rag-dolled by a big, strong man be a symptom of some sort of patriarchal Disney brain virus contracted during childhood? Do I want to be romantically rescued by a man? Saved by love? Yeah, unfortunately. Like honestly, that sounds fucking great. Is that gross? Sure. Okay, let’s sit with that for a minute. It’s not like I want to be a trad wife or anything, but there’s a reason a bunch 20-something TikTokers are singing the virtues of baking all day. Life is hard. Jobs are hard. I could never give up my sense of self-worth for the trade-off of being a large adult dependent, but maybe that’s what the fantasy is really about — having a brief moment where someone else is responsible for me again. from Pick Me Up by Lauren Bans [The Cut; ungated] [via The Morning News]
For when "Crusader Kings" is a bit much
Sort the Court is a charmingly addictive "kingdombuilder" of sorts that's perfect for a lazy Saturday. Designed and written by Graeme Borland in just 72 hours for Ludum Dare 34, the game casts you as a new monarch who must judiciously grow your realm's wealth, population, and happiness with an eye toward joining the illustrious Council of Crowns... all by giving flat yes-or-no answers to an endless parade of requests from dozens of whimsical subjects. It's possible to lose, and the more common asks can get a bit repetitive, but with hundreds of scenarios and a number of longer-term storylines, the game can be won in an hour or two while remaining funny and fresh.
See the forum or the wiki for help, enjoy the original art of Amy "amymja" Gerardy and the soundtrack by Bogdan Rybak, or check out some other fantasy decisionmaking games in this vein: Borland's spiritual prequel A Crown of My Own - the somewhat darker card-based REIGNS - the more expansive and story-driven pixel drama Yes, Your Grace (reviews), which has a sequel due out this year
"half-remembered and half-created, neither real nor ideal"
Andrew was convinced the writer had been trans. By this point his friends were tired of hearing about it, but he had no one else to tell besides the internet, and he was too smart for that. That would be asking for it. B. Pladek's new short fantasy story "The Spindle of Necessity" (published in the May 20th, 2024 issue of Strange Horizons) is a captivating, closely-observed story of longing, literary connection, insecurity, queer community, and how we make use of the past. I think this will resonate with a lot of readers who wrestle with questions about representation and what used to be called #OwnVoices in fiction, and mixed feelings about art we love. [more inside]
It Is Known
What Game of Thrones means to today’s television-makers, 5 years after the finale - includes writers from Shogun, Wheel of Time, BSG (and DS9) and more.
"Animals speak their own language... it’s a lot simpler to figure out."
When I think of genre awards
10 Major Awards for Fantasy Literature (2018) hits the SFF high points. There is, however, a long list of contenders for awards of varying sizes (2019). Another perspective (2016), from around the time of the last major Hugos fracas. If you haven't heard of them, maybe check out the Ignyte Awards, the Lambda Literary Award for Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror (or see the overall database of Lambda winners), or the Prix Jacques Brossard. For more information, visit the Science Fiction Awards Database. [more inside]
Finalists for the 59th Nebula Awards
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association has announced the finalists for the Nebula Awards. [more inside]
Here at the edge of things.
(The child has opened the book again)Evan Dahm just finished the first passage of his latest web comic, 3rd Voice. In his words: 3rd Voice is a long-format fantasy graphic novel updating with one scene or so a week. It concerns an invented world in a state of apocalyptic crisis, and the precarious lives of many people therein. [more inside]
INDISS: Hark. (Closing the book with one enormous hand, scattering the dried flowers) Look not too closely, girl.
CHILD: I want to hear the voice, Indiss!
INDISS: (holding the book) I’m sorry. It isn’t fair. But we live beyond the end of such things. In the shadow of a great catastrophe. Or within its bleaching light.
The Lost Universe: NASA's First TTRPG Adventure
The Lost Universe (science.nasa.gov, 03/04/2024): "A dark mystery has settled over the city of Aldastron on the rogue planet of Exlaris. Researchers dedicated to studying the cosmos have disappeared, and the Hubble Space Telescope has vanished from Earth's timeline. Only an ambitious crew of adventurers can uncover what was lost. Are you up to the challenge? This adventure is designed for a party of 4-7 level 7-10 characters and is easily adaptable for your preferred tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) system." Adventure design by Christina Mitchell. Graphic design by Michelle Belleville.
Ten there were, dusty chronicles of forgotten lore…
Fiction. Desire. Fantasy. Power. Death. Identity. -- Twilight
ContraPoints has a new video essay out, titled simply Twilight [2h53m]. It covers quite a lot. Like a lot more than you think it's going to cover. I enjoyed it and learned things.
A genre of swords and soulmates
"Romantasy 'allows women to have it all', says Christina Clark-Brown, who shares book recommendations on the Instagram page ninas_nook. 'There is no damsel who needs saving but rather women are allowed to be powerful, go on epic quests, and find love with a partner who is an equal to them in every way.'" The Guardian has some exciting news for you [Archive] about romantasy. Is what's described, though, a never-before-seen phenomenon? (Of course not.) [more inside]
She wrote Lives of the Monster Dogs and then, silence.
Proof that the Hugo Awards were censored
The 2023 Hugo Awards: A Report on Censorship and Exclusion by Jason Sanford and Chris M. Barkley. The latter received from Diane Lacey copies of e-mails that were exchanged between her and Kat Jones and Dave McCarty, fellow volunteer administrators of the 2023 Hugo Awards at the Chengdu Worldcon, showing that the three of them made dossiers of Hugo Award nominees deemed to be potentially troubling to local business interests and authorities. Jones, the 2024 Hugo Administrator, has resigned from her position, after releasing a statement. Diane Lacey has apologized for her part. There have been many responses to these revelations, including by Cora Buhlert, Camestros Felapton and MeFi's Own John Scalzi.
30 of the best fantasy novels of all time
"Yet the value of returning to the fantasy genre in later life cannot be understated. Mystical novels filled with world-building brilliance at once allow us to explore both the trials and tribulations of otherworldly creatures and of very human characters with preternatural destinies. In both cases, nevertheless, magic and mystery boil down to very simple universal truths and lessons. Indeed, it was Lewis Carroll in his beloved Alice in Wonderland who wrote, “Everything’s got a moral, if only you can find it”." [more inside]
The British Library Fantasy Exhibition
The British Library is running an exhibition entitled Fantasy: Realms of the Imagination. Featured items include everything from Earthseaa drafts to Buffy clips to a playable Fallen London mini-game. The associated talks that are being streamed online look like something special, including Susanna Clarke and Alan Moore in conversation tomorrow (11 January at 19.30), and more yet to come, including Queer Fantasy, Black to the Future, and Goblin Market and Other Poems, among others.
Gordon lives again!!!
“A lone spaceship crash-lands on Mongo - - three humans on a mission of peace. An athlete, a traveler and a mad, desperate scientist. Alone against an empire.” - Flash Gordon returns in style with a new daily comic strip. Creator interview with Dan Schkade.
He saw a whole new genre to populate
Lester del Rey was a strange Minnesota farm kid with a wild imagination and a knack for business. He intuited that what millions wanted from a publishing industry urgently optimizing to keep up with capitalism was to escape the modern age into a world where capitalism and industry had never happened. There is magic in that. from The Man Who Invented Fantasy
Overstuffed and Increasingly Ornery
When you think about food too much, it becomes grotesque: meat in pools of its own juices, tangled spaghetti with clams like small scabs. I hadn’t felt hunger in weeks, but it was my obligation to eat. I felt heavy moving between kitchen and table as the guests got drunker and drunker, as they slumped in their seats but egged each other on to finish the crémeux. I watched Maria lowering a fat chunk of glistening steak into the dog’s mouth. The dog barely even registered the meat, just ate it dutifully. He was inured to it; every night he was pumped full of veal and velouté. Of course, the guests were also worried about the constant indulgence. They liked to look horrified as I brought out each new course, but really they were enthralled. They were paying for pleasure. They didn’t need to finish their plates or worry about what failing to do might signal to the kitchen. from La Dolce Vita
"I found it interesting and rewarding"
Jim Ray riffs on the satirical 2021 tweet about "Don't Create The Torment Nexus" with a short fiction story told as a thread on Mastodon starting: "Like seemingly everyone on this app I have plenty of opinions about the launch of The Torment Nexus, the opening of the Xthonic Gateway, and release of the arch-demon Tzaunh MAY HIS REIGN BE DARK AND ETERNAL, who has begun his foretold 10,000 years of suffering and torment. I figure now is a good time to open up a bit about my experience at the company." The skewerings in the 17 following posts call to my mind The Bug by Ellen Ullman or the Knives Out films. Ray noted, "The Call of PMthulu writes itself". [more inside]
Friar Park, Henley-On-Thames
Let's say you want to build yourself a fantasy home. What would it contain? A hedge maze? Formal gardens? A lake, surrounded by trees, upon which to row? Maybe greenhouses? Perhaps an alpine garden with a forced-perspective Matterhorn? How about secret caves? How about all this AND MORE? Friar Park: A Magical Journey Through George Harrison's Estate [1h5m] is a leisurely look at Sir Frank Crisp's [Wikipedia] wonderland [Wikipedia] which Harrison eventually purchased in 1970. [more inside]
A Mystery That Should Not Exist
Sarah Elizabeth, author of the upcoming book The Art of Fantasy, posted in May that she'd been searching for years for the name of the artist who painted the cover for the 1976 Dell Laurel Leaf edition of Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time. Four months of dead ends from various internet sleuths later, the folks at WBUR's Endless Thread podcast have announced the mystery is solved and described how they did it. (Full transcript available at the link.)
“What did you mean, ‘Not again?’”
A new wrinkle on the old story of three wishes, set after the end of the world. "As Good As New", by Charlie Jane Anders, published on Tor.com in 2014. "The door to the panic room wouldn’t actually open when Marisol finally decided it had been a couple months since the last quake and it was time to go the hell out there. She had to kick the door a few dozen times, until she dislodged enough of the debris blocking it to stagger out into the wasteland." A short fantasy story with no villain, where two people work together to make stuff. It’s a hopeful story -- with creativity and love and working together and systematic thought, we can turn things around.
Black girl magic.
Black Girl Gamers' Jay-Ann Lopez on the importance of Black representation in fantasy [Eurogamer] “Ahead of the release of Square Enix's Forspoken, there were concerns about representation. Frey, the game's Black female protagonist, was described in a 2021 preview session as having a "hip-hoppy kind of walk", as well as being "an orphan" and "very angry", raising eyebrows at the perpetuation of negative Black stereotypes. Before the game's release earlier this year, paid consultants were asked to play a pre-release build of the game, including a representative from Black Girl Gamers, a 10,000-stong community organization with lived experience of Black cultures and heritage that consults on various elements of the games industry, and whose founder Jay-Ann Lopez I caught up with to find out more.”
“As a trusted voice in gaming, diversity, and inclusivity, we were brought in. We had an opportunity to weigh in on the game - especially given that it is one of the first games to feature a fantasy female protagonist of Black descent. "The importance was key to us and our community and this was communicated during our consultation. Forspoken centres itself on the representation of women of all different experiences, and due to that - the game has unfairly received extreme and unjust criticism about its quality.”The group's consultation work on games typically includes feedback on character representation, lore, aesthetic authenticity, digital marketing strategies, and how to avoid simply furthering the status quo, where games have centred white male gamers.” [Previously.]
Do YOU dare to enter the threatening labyrinth of… GEARWORLD?
Come, unwary adventurers, into the strange, wondrous yet terrifying land of GEARWORLD! Documented by the distinguished travel author Eland the Younger, Gearworld is best described as “an access tunnel under reality.” Originally created by MeFi favorite Hugo and Nebula award winner Ursula Vernon (previously) as the draft for a Twine game, Gearworld has taken on a life of its own with multiple interactive fictions, written in Vernon's distinctive style. [more inside]
"You, my friends, are not boring or lame."
Brandon Sanderson (Reddit, 03/23/2023), "On the Wired Article": "Honestly, I'm a guy who enjoys his job, loves his family, and is a little obsessive about his stories ... I can see how it is difficult to write an article about me." Additional context by Janet Manley (LitHub, 03/24/2023), "Read the meanest literary profile of the year (so far) ... and the subject's response": "Does Kehe insult Sanderson’s writing, or Sanderson, or Sanderson's Mormonism? Yes. All of those things." The Wired article by Jason Kehe (03/23/2023), "Brandon Sanderson Is Your God": "I realize, in a panic, that I now have a problem. Sanderson is excited to talk about his reputation. He's excited, really, to talk about anything. But none of his self-analysis is, for my purposes, exciting" (Wayback Machine).
rescue, bandages, and smoke
A few very different wish-fulfillment pieces of speculative fiction. Stories by lyricwritesprose and by dalekteaservice give us alien points of view on what humans could offer to a troubled universe. And in "Burning Men" by Maria Farrell, certain people start spontaneously combusting. (Author's commentary: it's "about a world where the cost of sexual violence is born by the perpetrators and how that changes everything" as well as "the mood music of brexit and covid.") [more inside]
“I did not come to bury wuxia, but to praise it.”
The History and Politics of Wuxia by Jeannette Ng [Tor] “These are stories, after all, that are about outlaws and outcasts, existing outside of the conventional hierarchies of power. And they certainly do have plenty to say about these big universal themes of freedom, loyalty and justice. But this is also a genre that has been banned by multiple governments within living memory. Its development continues to happen in the shadows of fickle Chinese censorship and at the heart of it remains a certain defiant cultural and national pride intermingled with nostalgia and diasporic yearning. The vast majority of the most iconic wuxia texts are not written by Chinese authors living comfortably in China, but by a dreaming diaspora amid or in the aftermath of vast political turmoil. Which is all to say that the world of wuxia is fundamentally bound up with those hierarchies of power it seeks to reject. Much like there is more to superheroes than dorky names, love triangles, and broad universal ideals of justice, wuxia is grounded in the specific time and place of its creation.” [Bonus: Wiki, 30 Essential Wuxia Films, An Introduction to Wuxia Novels]
a look back at one of Capcom's most misunderstood RPGs
Dragon's Dogma: Revisiting the cult fantasy RPG that found its own weird path to adventure [Games Radar] “On the surface, Dragon's Dogma appears a rote open-world action RPG – Japanese developer Capcom trying its hand at Western ideas and Tolkienesque fantasy. Dig deeper, however, and you discover something far more distinct and alluring. Capcom had its own vision for what a game like this could be: something built on turning left wherever its contemporaries turn right. At its core, Dragon's Dogma is about journeys – long, hard treks across its sprawling kingdom. It's about learning the landscape around you, managing dwindling supplies and the moment of relief when, after days on the road, you finally spot civilisation on the horizon. It's not afraid to inconvenience players in favour of giving its world and its quests a greater sense of scale. And it's not afraid to be scary – not simply hostile or difficult, but dangerous.” [YouTube][Game Trailer] [more inside]
"i’m worried that this has something to do with the wizard thing"
Do you perhaps like your historical/fantasy fiction short and silly? "first day as a second century warlord..." starts a 16-paragraph farce of mistakes, crucial conversations gone wrong, and accidental intrigue. Found via unpretty.
Science fiction in the age of mechanical reproduction
Neil Clarke writes that his SFF magazine Clarkesworld has been flooded with AI-generated spam submissions in recent months. "I’m not going to detail how I know these stories are 'AI' spam or outline any of the data I have collected from these submissions. [...] What I can say is that the number of spam submissions resulting in bans has hit 38% this month."
a funnel, the tinsel, sifting, forgetting, remembering
Here, have 2 heartwrenching short speculative fiction stories where parents, trying their best, say or do terrible yet ordinary things; their children eventually find imperfect ways to cope or heal. "Coming Through in Waves" by Samantha Murray -- content notes at the top -- "[My mother's] sentences all sound … reasonable on the surface. She’s pulling any immediate clues from the environment, from my expression, from words that knit well together, to cover the gaping wound which is her mind.". Summary of "Sand" by Jasmin Kirkbride: When Suzy was born, her parents filled her mouth with sand. But this is normal and natural and the way things are always done. And if she finds it uncomfortable to keep it there, to eat with it there, to talk with it there, she’s just going to have to learn to live with it.
The Lathe of Heaven
Kelly Link in Praise of Ursula K. Le Guin's Genuine Magic - "It is also, notably, Le Guin's deliberate foray into Philip K. Dick's territory, with its hallucinatory beginning, its drug-using protagonist, and its surreal, literally world-melting alternate realities. Dick and Le Guin were admirers of each other's work and occasional correspondents." [more inside]
The things that make us happy make us wise
Back in 2004, plans were announced for a sumptuous new edition of John Crowley's beloved fantasy novel Little, Big, to be published in 2006 to mark the book's 25th anniversary. Years passed, the project stalled, irate subscribers started demanding their money back. Then in 2021 Neil Gaiman stepped in to rescue the project, and this week it was announced that the first copies have shipped. Gaiman has posted a video of himself unboxing his copy.
The Dybbuk and Other Stories, Dances, Plays, and Games
On Oct. 3, 1960, the Play of the Week was The Dybbuk. Directed by Sidney Lumet (12 Angry Men, Fail Safe, Dog Day Afternoon, etc.), it was a TV adaptation of S. Ansky's play [PDF] (see "How it Transformed American Jewish Theatre") based on traditional themes (see "A Jewish Monsters and Magic Reading List"). It featured modern dance choreographed by Anna Sokolow, who adapted the play nine years earlier (see "Sokolow's Impact on Dance"). A 1937 Yiddish-language film adaptation is also notable. Other Play of the Week episodes included Medea, The World of Sholem Aleichem, The Iceman Cometh (dir. Sidney Lumet), Thérèse Raquin, and Waiting for Godot. Incidentally, related folklore merges with many fantasy sources in the CC-licensed "New School Revolution" RPG, Cairn by Yochai Gal.
SF/F published this year that somebody loved
Enjoy reading and recommending science fiction and fantasy prose, art, TV, film, and more published in 2022 with a crowdsourced list of Hugo Award-eligible works, people, magazines, etc. It currently lists 164 short stories and 29 novelettes, most of which you can read for free online, along with more than 130 novels, 19 graphic stories, and dozens of magazines and podcasts. This collaborative spreadsheet is administered by the fans who run the group blog Lady Business. If something you loved isn't in the sheet, please add it!
"The warlock said, 'These are not new jokes.'"
Three fantastical stories about trying to heal. "Isabel said, 'I think I’m being possessed.' You said, 'You’re not being possessed.' You also said, 'Don’t be so dramatic,' which you would later look back on and regret." "Spirochete" by Anneke Schwob (please note the content warnings on that page) has a demanding friendship and a chronic illness. “Did you regret what you said before Carl passed?” "Reprise" by Samantha Lane Murphy (please note the content warnings on that page too) portrays the end of a car ride, over and over. "Traditional witches and green witches don’t always see eye to eye. With a life on the line, Berthe is very persuasive." "Berthe the Green Witch" by Catelyn Winona (Caffeine and Magix on Tumblr) features a snob getting comeuppance. [more inside]
"resentment is an essential survival skill"
A few short scifi pieces by BIPOC authors whose work I love and I frequently recommend. "As a low-quality person waiting for slaughter, Helena understands how those cows feel." "A Series of Steaks" by Vina Jie-Min Prasad (January 2017) (previously) portrays a beef forger, stuck with an awful job, who makes an unexpected friend. "I’m a very expensive prototype but there will be efficiencies at scale." "Left of Bang: Preemptive Self-Actualization for Autonomous Systems" by Vajra Chandrasekera (April 2017), on training in surviving and committing violence, is short and brutal. [more inside]
"I can’t tell you what a relief it was to find this place!"
Two short speculative stories, written by people of color, that use a fantastically cozy teashop and restaurant to depict comfort and care. "Speaking of the service! They’re LGBTQ+ and undead-friendly, obviously, so that’s a plus." "Review for: Izakaya Tanuki" by J. L. Akagi praises a hard-to-find ozoni vendor. "Who’s that interesting hominid you were talking to?" In "Liz's Tea House" by Rodrigo Culagovski (MetaFilter's Own signal), space newbie Ana stumbles through a lot of beloved scifi stories on the way to making a home for herself. [more inside]
The 2022 Hugo Awards
The 2022 Hugo Awards ceremony happened last night! The ceremony, hosted by Charlie Jane Anders and Annalee Newitz, can be viewed on Youtube. You can also check out the full list of winners and the full voting statistics. [more inside]
“How could there be only one method?”
The Ghost of Workshops Past: How Communism, Conservatism, and the Cold War Still Mold Our Paths Into SFF Writing by S.L. Huang is a long, historically grounded critique of creative writing workshops that follow the University of Iowa model. While the examples Huang takes come primarily from the science fiction and fantasy workshops, her criticisms and proposals are widely applicable. Over the next few days Huang will be sharing various facts and observations she had to cut out of her essay on her Twitter feed, starting with this thread.
UK LeGuin Prize shortlist is out!
The prize honors a book-length work of imaginative fiction with $25,000. "Since Le Guin’s death in January, 2018, her son and literary executor, Theo Downes-Le Guin has been thinking of ways to honor his mother’s work, and share her art and ideas with a new generation of readers and writers." [more inside]
"I want my life to flash before your eyes."
"And every minute you spend with me is a minute that they too get to look for beauty." "The Unweaving of a Beautiful Thing" by atb depicts a battle between a witch and Death. It was posted to the Effective Altruism forum but is much more about character than calculations. 'There were two words that Superman lived by, and they were “pay me”.' Over on Archive of Our Own, "A Common Sense Guide to Doing the Most Good" by cthulhuraejepsen is an unfinished narrative of "Clark Kent, effective altruist" that addresses "the Crank Problem".
[Addition: “Faeries are weird.” I did not disagree.]
A Record of Our Meeting with the Grand Faerie Lord of Vast Space and Its Great Mysteries, Revised.
A not-strictly-linear Science Fantasy short story by A.T. Greenblatt, from
Issue #350 of Beneath Ceaseless Skies.
"I don’t personally vet every prophecy that comes through these halls"
Catelyn Winona (Caffeine and Magix) has published several short stories or vignettes recently that subvert epic fantasy or superhero tropes. Here are three: "No Heroes Here" ("Daz was raised by a hero. That’s probably why she isn’t one."); a piece in which the Chosen One immediately takes up the Dark Lord's offer to join their cause; and "Wizards Stole My Brother" ("Being the Chosen One fucking sucks. That’s why Erika is furious when she finds out her brother got picked.").
The 2022 Ignyte Awards Shortlist
"The Ignyte Awards Committee Is thrilled to announce the finalists for the 2022 Igynte Awards. The Awards seek to celebrate the vibrancy and diversity of the current and future landscape of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror by recognizing incredible feats in storytelling and outstanding efforts towards inclusivity within the genre. To that effect, the committee feels that these creators, creations, entities and perspectives from 2021 present the brightest lights in speculative fiction’s future." 19 of the shortlisted works are readable for free online, including many short stories and novelettes. Voting is open now (anyone can vote) and closes June 10th.
"is there a loathly lady in the tale? well SORT OF"
"The Seven Daughters Of The Cailleach Foraoise" by Dyce (Sarah Blackwell) is tagged "new fairy tales / going old school with this one / threes and sevens and animals in danger and trick questions / the lot / enjoy": "Being kind of heart, he wrapped his hands in his cloak to protect them, and freed the young fox despite its attempts to bite him." Thematically related: Kate Clayborn writes a Twitter thread on the Canterbury Tales, the loathly lady, and 'a quest to find a true answer to the question "what do women most desire"' (nitter view, Threadreader view): "i really need to say a word on behalf of my old friend the wife of bath" [Content note for mention of rape in Twitter thread.]
Hugo Award finalists include a story in tweeted images
The 2022 ballot for the Hugo, Astounding, and Lodestar Awards, awards for achievement in science fiction and fantasy, has been announced. Worldcon members submitted 1368 valid nominating ballots (up from 1249 last year and down from the heights of the 2010s); voting will open in May and the final results will be announced on September 4. Notably, "Unknown Number" by Blue Neustifter a.k.a. Azure Husky (previously) is a story that was originally published as a Twitter thread containing a series of simulated text messages. [more inside]
Feels Like I'm Dreaming
"Sold by Nobody, and Printed by Herself, &c. &c."
NYT, 03/30/2022: "A Tiny Brontë Book, Lost for a Century, Resurfaces" [archive.ph]. At the British Library, another 1829 text by Charlotte Brontë "Printed by Herself and Sold by Nobody"--"The Search after Happiness": "NOT many years ago there lived in a certain city a person of the name of Henry ODonell ..." Gutenberg text + edited version. Additional juvenilia [PDF] from 1829 discussed by Nicola Friar in "The Twelve Adventurers," "An Adventure in Ireland," and "Autobiography, Wish-fulfilment, and Juvenilia: The 'Fractured Self' in Charlotte Brontë's Paracosmic Counterworld" [PDF]. More context with an image from Isabel Greenberg's Glass Town graphic novel. See also a review of Catherynne Valente's The Glass Town Game or Friar's upcoming A Tale of Two Glass Towns and anthology.