realms of fantasy lives again!
This is the short review that I promised to write of the August 2009 issue of Realms of Fantasy, the first issue after the magazine's resurrection from potential demise. There is apparently some controversy going on about the cover art, but I will merely note here that it's not at all sexualized, except in the sense that she's an obviously beautiful fantasy person, and as a woman I am more intrigued by the exotic representation of the figure than anything else. (I'm certainly not horrified that RoF shows breasts. I see them every day, for heaven's sake.) Given that, however, it's an interesting choice for the first cover back. I can't imagine that no one thought of the possibility that a topless woman on the first cover back, otherworldly and fantastic or not, could possibly stir up controversy; that says some interesting things about how the magazine sees itself in regards to the rest of the fantasy publishing world.
Right. On to content. RoF folk clearly have fun with what they do, and it shows (the subtitle of Shawna McCarthy's editorial includes the phrase "mmm, brains"). They do a very nice job balancing slightly more obscure subjects (as in the music article) with more-well-known-but-mostly-within-the-fantasy-genre (as in the profile of Michael Hague) with popular fantasy (as in the Harry Potter spotlight). They also do a lovely job balancing all the different aspects of involvement in the fantasy realm, from music to games to art to film and fiction reviews and, of course, fiction. Speaking of the fiction, it's pretty good. Tanith Lee's "Our Lady of Scarlet" stands out as the best, which isn't really a surprise, because of her lovely lyrical style and a very original story. Dennis Danvers' "Healing Benjamin"...well, I am always wary of animal-centered fiction, because so frequently the animal dies or has other unfortunate things happen to it. This is also true here, but it's done well, in a loving way. It's a very domestic, small story, about a guy and his cat. "Digging for Paradise," by Ian Creasey, is probably my second favorite here; it's a very original story with a couple of surprising plot twists, and a main character with a distinctive voice, though the ending feels a little rushed. The philosophical question of the story is intriguing, however. Finally, the short piece "Well and Truly Broken," by Bruce Holland Rogers...an interesting and slightly eerie little spin on folklore, but the dialogue never rang true for me; it felt a bit stilted, and the story itself seems to suggest that little girls are both kind of dumb, and cruel at heart, since none of them ever even considers an alternative response to the situation at hand. (Yes, I've heard that you have to know the ballet "Giselle" to really "get" this piece. I still suspect that the girls could have been written better.) All with lovely illustrations, I might add--I am not an art critic, so I won't try, but I will say that they all seemed quite appropriate to the stories.
A couple of negatives: on occasion the layout seemed a little awkward (I'm looking at you, Harry Potter article). Ads or highlighted bits were inserted in places that interrupted the flow of text, and actually on one occasion confused me until I went back and found the two sentences underneath the ad in the previous column. In the (main, not the highlighted bits) book review section, there are no breaks or indicators when a new book is being reviewed. It's one giant continuous essay, which could cause some problems for anyone who doesn't want to read through the whole thing hoping to find a specific book. There are also occasional prominent grammar mistakes: the title of the Harry Potter article, for example, reads "The Half-Blood Prince, it's about sexual and emotional politics," which sounds like someone hasn't quite understood that pronouns take the place of nouns, and that you can have one or the other but not both. (Or at least use a colon!) And, in the same article, quotes appear around paragraphs that should be part of the body of the article, not direct speeches. If they are being spoken, though I'm quite sure they aren't meant to be, there is never any indication of who is speaking. Also a couple of small things in the fiction, though nothing major.
In conclusion, then: the content, which is the main value here, is quite good--not perfect, but certainly everything caught my interest long enough to read through, and it's clearly designed to appeal to a wide variety of fantasy enthusiasts. This was always one of the better magazines, and it's gratifying to see it back, and back so successfully. The layout and editing problems...well, they're disappointing, since this is the relaunch and should make a great first impression, and since RoF is, again, one of the largely looming presences in the fantasy magazine world. Yes, nothing's perfect, and some minor typos can slide, but...for example, the HP article title bothers me because it's so prominent. But then again, how many people in this day and age will even notice? In any case, these are all things that could be fixed with a better copy-edit at the end of the day. Overall, the revived (zombified, to reference Shawna?) Realms of Fantasy sets high standards of content and shows a willingness to explore all the possible realms in fantasy, and that's really the point of the magazine.
Right. On to content. RoF folk clearly have fun with what they do, and it shows (the subtitle of Shawna McCarthy's editorial includes the phrase "mmm, brains"). They do a very nice job balancing slightly more obscure subjects (as in the music article) with more-well-known-but-mostly-within-the-fantasy-genre (as in the profile of Michael Hague) with popular fantasy (as in the Harry Potter spotlight). They also do a lovely job balancing all the different aspects of involvement in the fantasy realm, from music to games to art to film and fiction reviews and, of course, fiction. Speaking of the fiction, it's pretty good. Tanith Lee's "Our Lady of Scarlet" stands out as the best, which isn't really a surprise, because of her lovely lyrical style and a very original story. Dennis Danvers' "Healing Benjamin"...well, I am always wary of animal-centered fiction, because so frequently the animal dies or has other unfortunate things happen to it. This is also true here, but it's done well, in a loving way. It's a very domestic, small story, about a guy and his cat. "Digging for Paradise," by Ian Creasey, is probably my second favorite here; it's a very original story with a couple of surprising plot twists, and a main character with a distinctive voice, though the ending feels a little rushed. The philosophical question of the story is intriguing, however. Finally, the short piece "Well and Truly Broken," by Bruce Holland Rogers...an interesting and slightly eerie little spin on folklore, but the dialogue never rang true for me; it felt a bit stilted, and the story itself seems to suggest that little girls are both kind of dumb, and cruel at heart, since none of them ever even considers an alternative response to the situation at hand. (Yes, I've heard that you have to know the ballet "Giselle" to really "get" this piece. I still suspect that the girls could have been written better.) All with lovely illustrations, I might add--I am not an art critic, so I won't try, but I will say that they all seemed quite appropriate to the stories.
A couple of negatives: on occasion the layout seemed a little awkward (I'm looking at you, Harry Potter article). Ads or highlighted bits were inserted in places that interrupted the flow of text, and actually on one occasion confused me until I went back and found the two sentences underneath the ad in the previous column. In the (main, not the highlighted bits) book review section, there are no breaks or indicators when a new book is being reviewed. It's one giant continuous essay, which could cause some problems for anyone who doesn't want to read through the whole thing hoping to find a specific book. There are also occasional prominent grammar mistakes: the title of the Harry Potter article, for example, reads "The Half-Blood Prince, it's about sexual and emotional politics," which sounds like someone hasn't quite understood that pronouns take the place of nouns, and that you can have one or the other but not both. (Or at least use a colon!) And, in the same article, quotes appear around paragraphs that should be part of the body of the article, not direct speeches. If they are being spoken, though I'm quite sure they aren't meant to be, there is never any indication of who is speaking. Also a couple of small things in the fiction, though nothing major.
In conclusion, then: the content, which is the main value here, is quite good--not perfect, but certainly everything caught my interest long enough to read through, and it's clearly designed to appeal to a wide variety of fantasy enthusiasts. This was always one of the better magazines, and it's gratifying to see it back, and back so successfully. The layout and editing problems...well, they're disappointing, since this is the relaunch and should make a great first impression, and since RoF is, again, one of the largely looming presences in the fantasy magazine world. Yes, nothing's perfect, and some minor typos can slide, but...for example, the HP article title bothers me because it's so prominent. But then again, how many people in this day and age will even notice? In any case, these are all things that could be fixed with a better copy-edit at the end of the day. Overall, the revived (zombified, to reference Shawna?) Realms of Fantasy sets high standards of content and shows a willingness to explore all the possible realms in fantasy, and that's really the point of the magazine.