Thread by @Rachel_Gutin

The first panel I attended at #ConZealand this year was “Fantasy Today: The Best of Recent Fantasy”, with @gracikim, @gaileyfrey, and @ClaireRousseau, moderated by @redscribe

The panel began with the expected book recs, then took a turn into some much deeper topics.

This thread will include some of the many things the panelists said. I’m copying this over from my handwritten notes, so assume I’ve paraphrased unless I put something in quotes. There’s also a chance that some of these thoughts are attributed to the wrong person.

The panel began with a book rec from each panelist:

@gracikim described Legendborn by @tracydeonn (out in September) as King Arthur with Southern Black girl magic.

@ClaireRousseau said The Unspoken Name by @AKLarkwood is fun epic fantasy that subverts a lot of tropes.

From @gaileyfrey: The Mermaid, the Witch and the Sea by @emteehall is about trauma, colonialism and the cost of violence. (It also has pirates.)

From @redscribe: The City We Became by @nkjemisin is an angry book in a beautiful way.

I’ve read The City We Became (it’s amazing!), and the other three are now on my TBR list. (And I’ve already ordered two of them from my local indie store!)

And @redscribe pointed out that all of these recommended books deal with trauma, grief and politics—including gender, race and class.

Later, @gracikim shared some further recs:

Two books by @rosiesrambles: A Song of Wraiths and Ruin, and Serwa Boateng’s Guide to Vampire Hunting (out in 2022)

Wings of Ebony by @AuthorJ_Elle (out in 2021), which she described as The Hate U Give meets Wakanda.

Further thoughts on these recs:

@gracikim noted that she loves how fantasy now includes contemporary fantasy. She said it makes it so much more accessible.

@redscribe said that there are also more stories about smaller things and ordinary people.

@gracikim: cozy fantasies.

And @gracikim noted how Rick Riordan Presents is publishing stories that resonate with elements of different cultures, not just on the surface level, but one level deeper. Not just foods characters eat, but also how they think.

Works like this didn’t exist when she was a kid.

The conversation then turned to magic systems, and how @gaileyfrey’s book, Magic for Liars, doesn’t have one.

@gaileyfrey said that she didn’t design a magic system because to her, magic should be innate, and at least a little out of reach.

And @gaileyfrey said that when she was a kid, she loved a good magic system because she could pretend she had the magic, but as an adult, she wants it to be a bit mysterious. You can’t know whether you have it or not.

And @gracikim said that the idea of magic being accessible to all is powerful, and that if you define the magic too much, it almost takes away the magic.

From @gaileyfrey: part of why magic systems are comforting to some people is because rules and boundaries are comforting to some people. But for others, rules hurt them, so… “Poops to a magic system.”

Thoughts on magic:

@gaileyfrey: tell me rules so I can function, but don’t limit me. I want either rules that matter, or no rules at all.

@gracikim: If the boundaries serve no purpose, the search outside the boundaries is electrifying.

The panel then considered questions from the audience:

Q1: Do you create the magic system first, or the plot, world, etc?

From @gracikim: I started with the character and built the world around her.

From @gaileyfrey: I usually start with character. The magic is based on the character. For example, a reckless character will have big, scary magic.

Q2: How can you write a story with magic in the current times?

@ClaireRousseau: Riot Baby by @TochiTrueStory is about police brutality with magic.

@gaileyfrey: abandon the idea that fantasy is neutral and apolitical.

From @gracikim: Once you publish a book, it becomes a public resource. People read things into it based on their own baggage.

From @ClaireRousseau: You don’t want readers who want “neutral” fantasy to be comfortable.

And those are the notes I wanted to share from “Fantasy Today.” I really enjoyed this panel, and I love how the discussion went deeper than just a list of books to read. The discussion about magic systems in particular left me with a lot to think about.

I'm hoping to do threads like this for a number of the panels I attended. I'll be collecting them here: twitter.com/i/events/12922…

Happy reading!

A quick correction: @gaileyfrey 's pronouns are they/them. Sorry for misgendering up above. (And thank you to @coolcurrybooks for catching that.)