No Recs. Just Lists.

Locus Online reported that science fiction author Thomas M. Disch died July 4, 2008 as a result of suicide after a long bout with depression. Read the article here.

Thomas M. Disch is popularly known as a science fiction writer but he also wrote horror, fantasy, historicals, poetry and even children’s stories. He has several collections of short stories and poetry.

The Genocide, Camp Concentration, 334, On Wings of Song are generally considered his best work of science fiction.

Some of his horror includes The M.D.: A Horror Story and The Sub: A Study in Witchcraft.

You may recognize his children’s books which were turned into movies: The Brave Little Toaster: A Bedtime Story for Small Appliances and The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars.

He wrote critically about plays and science fiction among other things and even produced librettos for two operas produced in New York: The Fall of the House of Usher and Frankenstein.

You can get a nice overview of his career at Wikipedia.

(Crossposted in …With Intent to Commit Horror and The Lair of the Undead Rat.)

Fantasy, as defined by Merriam-Websters is:

1. fancy, 2. illusion, 3. fantastic work of fiction

With technology stretching the realms of the possible reality, literature and imagination have adapted.  Perhaps I’m a little old-school, but I have recently discovered the “fantasy web-epic.”

A relative of the popular “web comic,” the principle of a fantasy web-epic is similar; someone creates a storyline, draws plates in graphic novel or comic book format, and uploads them to the web every so often. 

Ok.  It’s a “fantasy web-comic,” but I like epic better since it better fits the size and scale of these super-imaginative works.  These web-based storylines aren’t just your weekly strip from the paper.  They go on for months on end, sometimes years, (Roza has just passed the year mark, I think Inverloch went for several years) following the adventures and exploits of a large group of characters.

I think it’s really nifty, because it’s a creative melding of literature, art, and technology.  Sometimes, readers can even give the creator input, voting on plot twists, character attire, setting, and more.

The site I’d like to highlight today is Fantasy Realms, and my reasons for doing so are just because it’s cool.  The art is freakin’ fantastic, the story has all the elements of a strong, character-driven tale, AND, they’re friendly enough to support other web comics and epics too.  So if you don’t like what you see, you can troll through their blog and maybe find something more suited to your tastes.

Well now you can find out!

Encyclopedia Mythica

This website is a comprehensive encyclopedia of folktales, mythos, and mythical creatures as they appear in classic literature and oral traditions throughout the world.  It even has an awesome search function, so if you aren’t sure about the name, or in what tale the critter/element appears, you can look through similar/closely related articles until you find the one you’re looking for.

But I like browsing the best!

Go.  Explore!

Hi there everyone; I’m new here, but I’m going to be helping out a bit in the months to come, adding authors and info for you — the readers!

So please, don’t be shy; c’mon in and check things out — things will be moving around here pretty quick.

I’m kicking off the site with a first look through the beast’s-eye. Dreaming Methods offers interactive stories through Flash. The reader chooses which direction to go, what next to discover. It’s a fascinating site that can eat up far too many hours if you let it.

The content is sparse on the ground at the moment, but this will soon be the go-to place to find out the names of all the books in a series and which comes first, new authors, old authors, and all the fantasy you could want. We’ll have lists of urban fantasy, dark fantasy, romantic fantasy, and high fantasy. We’ll have e-books and print books, and every once in a while, we’ll feature an online magazine, book trailer, video, author interview, or other beast’s eye view at something different.

Take a look around and let me know what else you’d like to see happen here.