The following is our weekly newsletter, the Fantasy File. Subscribe here to get it in your inbox every Wednesday, and sign up at any tier on Patreon to get the full essay a week earlier than the public.

Dear listener,

Two weeks in a row? Must be some kind of record. (“It is. You’ve never managed to do this for two weeks in a row.” Jeez, it’s just an expression.)

A little explanation about how this newsletter will work. Every week, along with the links and the upcoming episode announcements, I plan to write a little something. You might even like it. But the bulk of it will be behind the Patreon paywall until it’s made public a week later. (Last week’s essay is now available in full, by the way.) So if you’re not a patron, you’ll still get access.

But I’m hoping a dollar an episode isn’t a crazy ask for all this content being thrown your way. And if you’re still not convinced, know that half the fun in all this will be in arguing with me on Twitter about my mad ramblings, and I’ll be way less inclined to do that a week later.



Are fantasy’s walls getting higher because “nerddom” ain’t what it used to be?

This question has apparently been on my mind a lot recently, even if it’s mostly been in the background. I wrote last week about the incredible experience I had playing Horizon Zero Dawn, including the incredible amount of time it took to get to what I would call the hook of the story. Before that, I put together a video essay about how every good nerd’s favorite fantasy book seems to be a worldbuilding doorstop like The Way of Kings or The Name of the Wind, or — angels and ministers of grace defend us — a massive, intimidating series of doorstops like The Wheel of Time or Malazan.

And look, I’m not complaining about those books, far from it. I love them! (Malazan excepted, only because I haven’t read it yet.) My point is not that they’re bad, it’s that they’re inaccessible. At least on a relative scale. Of course they’re not inaccessible to a nerd’s nerd like you and me, but that’s in large part because we’ve put in oodles of time and practice with other books and series, so that we understand what it takes to inhabit a secondary world like that in order to fully enjoy it.

It didn’t used to be that way, of course. Fantasy books were, for decades, simply easier for anyone to dive into, from Shannara to the Belgariad. Even Tolkien, worldbuilder extraordinaire, gave us Hobbits in order to have a familiar hand to hold throughout our Middle-earth adventure. Now we’re given Kaladin or Kvothe or Aloy and told to just hang in there, that it’ll all make sense later.

This could be for no reason in particular, of course. Everything naturally changes over time; perhaps the fantasy genre was just shaking itself up. But why then, I would ask, did it change in this particular way? No doubt there could be any number of reasons, but let me offer one.

The year 2001 was a major turning point for nerd culture. The holiday season that year saw the release of two major, era-defining movies, the debuts of two franchises: Harry Potter in November and The Lord of the Rings in December. It was like a one-two punch that sent Western pop culture into the ropes, shaking its head and wondering if anyone got the license plate on that Nimbus 2000. By the time the dust settled a few months later, popular culture was changed dramatically.

There had always been a pretty vivid line separating nerds from the rest of the mainstream culture. Even with something as widely loved as Star Wars, there were fans, and there were fans. My friends in elementary school liked Star Wars, but I could tell them which Mos Eisley docking bay the Millennium Falcon was parked in, if I could sneak it in before they left to play basketball with the normal children. (Docking bay 94, by the way.)

With the release of LotR and HP, that vivid line in the sand had just been washed over by the tide and nobody was sure where to redraw it. And if you think nerds didn’t badly want it redrawn, you’re mistaken. It’s tempting to think that we want everyone else to love the things we love. But that’s not always (usually?) the case. We want some people to love the things we love. Our people.

Humans are at root a tribal bunch, and there’s no such thing as a universal tribe, or even a very big one, by some measures . It’s just lots of little bands trying to settle down and cohere into an “us.” And there’s no “us” without a “them.” And if you sense that “they” are moving in on your turf and breaking down your walls, what do you do? Some members of the tribe might welcome the invaders, but many of us will retreat to the inner keep and set about building even bigger walls.

Fantasy books work the same way. We had comfortably high walls for a long time. Lots of people in the ‘80s and ‘90s had heard of The Lord of the Rings, but how many had actually read it cover to cover? Mellon was a shibboleth that would not only gain you entry to Moria, but also to the Nerd Tribe. Once the big nerd movies hit and made fourteen bajillion dollars, though? “They” started pounding at the gates. They even knew all the right words, like “Fangorn” and “alohomora.”

There are probably some reasons to lament this development, but personally, I think it’s great. I think there is real value in fantasy literature beyond just escapism or membership in a club (though those, too). Like any art form, a good fantasy novel teaches us something about human nature, about ourselves and our purpose, about how to relate to the people around us. And that deserves to be shared. The problem, now as always, is that some of the best examples of the genre are the least shareable. Again, I’ve made this point before , so I won’t belabor it.

And if you’re wondering, “What’s the point of all this?” well, don’t worry, so am I. And I’m not sure, other than that I wish there were more great entry points to fantasy. (Especially for adults; I think YA is fairly well covered.) We’ve got plenty of Sandersons and Rothfusses and Weekses and Eriksons; what we need is a bumper crop of Gaimans.

And now I’ve rambled on for way too long, and I have to hope my point made it through that jumble. I’m tempted to write another thousand words to clarify, but I think I’d better stop the lifeless equine walloping. If you want to hash out the finer points of all this, I’ll welcome it. Hit me up on Twitter .

Links

Last week’s full newsletter (unlocked for non-patrons)

Craig and Kenn did a very long live video

Blue Team finished Dune

And Red Team finished Night Angel #1

Coming Up (probably in this order)

3/11 – BLUE team| Dune Messiah ep.1

3/18 – RED team| Shadow’s Edge ep.1 (Night Angel #2)

3/25 – RED team| Of Turin Turambar (The Silmarillion)

4/1 – BLUE team | Dune Messiah ep.1

4/8 – RED team | Shadow’s Edge ep.2 (Night Angel #2)