Now here’s a blog whose time has come:
Despite the name, this blog has nothing to do with twins and it’s only sometimes about ninjas. It’s a site dedicated to promoting multiculturalism in genre fiction. Great idea! In the 90’s, I was frustrated with how fantasy was stuck in a rut of medieval-Europe Tolkien knockoffs. We’ve made great strides to break out of that, but I still see a lot of urban fantasy with white people, paranormal romance with white people, and steampunk smack in the middle of Europe.
I’ve got a wishlist of things I’d love to see a fantasy writer try:
- A fantasy epic that takes place in the medieval Arab world or Asia. More stuff like Across the Nightingale Floor, please! Or what The 47 Ronin could have been if only it had been a good movie. Sigh…
- A steampunk that takes place in British-occupied India. That would be so cool.
- Cultural mix-and-match works like Avatar the Last Airbender (the cartoon) and Firefly.
Have any of you got recommendations for good non-European fantasy writing? Anything you’d like to see?