Stratofanatic's Emporium

In my quest to avoid working on my monograph, I've recently wandered down a Piers Anthony-sized rabbit hole. At some point, I might comment on his two fascinating autobiographies, but for now let me focus on his first Xanth "trilogy" -- A Spell for Chameleon (1977), The Source of Magic (1979), and Castle Roogna (1979). Of course, these three books are no more a trilogy than my cat, Sawyer, is a trilogy. That designation was a Del Rey/Ballantine marketing ploy, pure and simple, and today nobody would question that Xanth constitutes an open-ended series with stand-alone novels that feature, especially after Bink and Dor, brand-new protagonists for each new book. Still, last month I accidentally re-read these first three book as a cluster, so let me mention some general thoughts on this "trilogy" before offering more specific commentary on the books.** General Remarks -- Xanth, Oz, and World-building As a teen, I never realized how closely the world-building betwee...

I'm pleased -- ecstatic! -- to report that Fafnir: Nordic Journal of SFF Research has just won a World Fantasy Award. Couldn't be happier about this achievement. For the last three years, I've been Fafnir's (inaugural) reviews editors, and in that time the journal has undergone several major improvements from an already solid foundation. Although neither my name nor Jaana's will go on the actual award**, it's been a team effort all-around, and I'm so incredibly proud of my colleagues. I'm also incredibly proud of all our authors, reviewers, and editorial board members for their immense contributions, which is the real reason the journal has achieved anything over the last six years. This award is also an important coup for open-access publication. As far as we can tell,  Fafnir is only the second academic journal to be nominated for a World Fantasy Award, and the first to win. Adding a special flavor to this achievement is that our sponsoring organizati...