I was born in 1984, and for most of my life, stories with black and white morality—in other words, stories about the struggle between good and evil, with good guys who are good and bad buys who are bad—have been considered unfashionable and out of style. This is especially true of fantasy, where grimdark has… Continue reading In Defense of Black & White Morality
Tag: shades of gray
R is for Rebel
Just as sprawling interstellar empires are a staple of space opera, so are the plucky rebels that fight against them. From Star Wars to Battlestar Galactica, Firefly to FTL, there’s no shortage of characters in science fiction trying to stick it to the man. I’m not sure how it is in other cultures, but in… Continue reading R is for Rebel
Trope Tuesday: Hoist By His Own Petard
One of the most satisfying ways to defeat the villain is to have his own nefarious scheme bring about his downfall. In Hamlet, Shakespeare described this as “hoist by his own petard,” or blown up by his own bomb. Basically, it’s a self-deposing villain whose evil plans have gone horribly right. Not only is this a… Continue reading Trope Tuesday: Hoist By His Own Petard
Winter Warriors by David Gemmell
Eons ago, in the Days of Fire, demons feasted upon the souls of men the way that men feast on cattle. Those days ended when the second most powerful demon betrayed his people, damning them to purgatory so that men could inherit the Earth. Four thousand years have passed, and the demons are beginning to… Continue reading Winter Warriors by David Gemmell
A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin
Almost twenty years have passed since the fall of the Targaryen dynasty–twenty years since the last of the dragons was seen in the Land of the Seven Kingdoms. Now, the libertine Robert Baratheon sits on the Iron Throne, blind to the conspiracies and secret combinations that surround him. In this dangerous time, Ser Jon Arryn,… Continue reading A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin