So many of the fantasy stories I encountered growing up were set in worlds that were largely modelled on medieval Europe in one way or another. Lots of white folks in feudal societies, castles and kings, that kind of thing.
My stuff gets published in some countries as fiction and in some countries as fantasy. It’s just where they think it will do best in the bookshops.
Young people looking for adventure fiction now generally turn to fantasy, but for those of a certain age, the spy thriller has long been the escape reading of choice.
I understand that sometimes when you’re young it’s difficult to remember the difference between real life and what is part of fantasy.
Heaven knows, I’ve exposed myself in my novels through the use of fantasy and imagination… now my new book is about what really happened to me… not my heroines.
I’m thinking of putting together an all-star band. I definitely have a bit of a rock fantasy.
Fraud is fraud. And consumers of any product – whether you want to buy a car, participate in fantasy football – our laws are very strong in New York and other states that you can’t commit fraud.
I don’t think I’m the world’s most die-hard sci-fi fan, but I definitely grew up watching ‘Star Trek’ religiously – all of them: the original, ‘Next Generation,’ ‘Deep Space Nine,’ ‘Voyager.’ I think sci-fi has an important place in the cinema world. Fantasy is a big part of why films actually exist.
As Faulkner says, all of us have the capacity in us for great good and for great evil, for love but also for hate. I wanted to write those kinds of complex character in a fantasy, and not just have all the good people get together to fight the bad guy.
Thierry Mugler is about the power of glamour and walking straight into the future. He’s been a god for successive generations in the fashion industry. He fused pop and high fashion, told a story in style and combined fantasy with reality.
I think I’ve had the fantasy of a ray-gun that could erase the world from the time I was a very little kid.
I was a Social Science major in college, with an emphasis in secondary education. I took as many courses on the American colonial era and westward expansion as I could. This turned out to be wonderful preparation for writing fantasy novels.
I took classes taught by an elderly woman who wrote children’s stories. She was polite about the science fiction and fantasy that I kept handing in, but she finally asked in exasperation, ‘Can’t you write anything normal?’
Fantasy gets a mixed reception – a lot of fantasy is formulaic but most of the award-winning fantasy on the contrary tends to be the stuff at the edges of the genre, rather than swimming in the middle.
So many women characters are extensions of male fantasy.
With ‘The Mummy’ it was a fantasy action adventure. You get taken away for a few hours and come out and feel revamped and ready to go into the world and enjoy your next day at work.
I’m very into fantasy films.
A fantasy of mine is to do a podcast that’s Marcel Marceau and I, and you only hear me laughing at him and trying to figure out what he’s doing.
My favorite Kanye album is ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.’
The fantasy genre has so far rather embraced me, and I’m incredibly grateful for that.
If you look at any ancient civilization, they’ve all used fantasy stories to train the young.
I lived so completely in my mind – a place of unchecked delusion and complete fantasy!
I believe excellent fantasy reflects us all, and yes, it can use those myths that underpin societies, our subconscious yearnings and longings, and perhaps our barren spirituality.
I don’t think there’s any show comparable to ‘Game of Thrones’ in terms of the way it does the fantasy element to such a high standard: everything is created with so much care and detail. You really feel like you are transported into this entirely other fictional place.
But to me, ‘Worlds’ is meant as kind of an appreciation of fiction and stories and escapism and fantasy.
Fantasy is an area where it is possible to talk about right and wrong, good and evil, with a straight face. In mainstream fiction and even in a good deal of mystery, these things are presented as simply two sides of the same coin. Never really more than a matter of where you happen to be standing.
I work in fantasy all day, so when I go home, I want to touch reality.
People read vampire novels and say, ‘Oh I want to read another vampire novel.’ People read fantasy, and they’re like, ‘Oh I love fantasy.’ I don’t know that people are necessarily finishing ‘Hunger Games’ and immediately wanting to read another dystopian tale.
I’m not sure I could write a straight urban fantasy any more than I could write a straight contemporary story. I would end up being intimidated by all the small details.
The design process usually starts as a fantasy, with ideas that I dream of and visualize. These ideas become a reality by bringing various ingredients together, from the lifestyle of my bride, her age and sex appeal, to the textures of the finest fabrics and embroideries that we produce in my family factories in India.
I didn’t plan to write YA – I had a story that simply wasn’t working as a straight-up fantasy novel.
My single-minded aim is to give existence to fantasy.
My dad always told me that I should have been an actress, but that wasn’t really my main focus. I really love to be the director, the person in charge, making my fantasy come to life. But if I love someone else’s fantasy, I’ll definitely help them bring theirs to life, too.
I have an airplane hangar with 17 cars in it. That’s no joke. I have a ‘half pipe’ in there, too – you know, like a big ramp, where I skateboard. It’s awesome. It’s the ultimate fantasy.
Science fiction is the ugly stepchild of mainstream literature, and fantasy is the ugly stepchild of science fiction, and tie-in novels are the ugly stepchild of fantasy… and on and on and on.
If I ever do anything, it actually might be some fantasy elf thing or even some cute, funny thing. Just to do something a little bit out of the ordinary. I’ve done my superhero gig.
Losing a fantasy is much harder than losing a reality.
I’ve had an ongoing fantasy about being interviewed on, like, a ’60 Minutes’-type show about this really inspiring woman that can do anything with a fake leg. And then the camera pans out, and I’m just holding a mannequin leg.
I don’t play fantasy baseball anymore now because it’s too much work, and I feel like I have to hold myself up to such a high standard. I’m pretty serious about my fantasy football, though.
When you realize my best selling books are ‘Owl Moon,’ the ‘How Do Dinosaur’ books, and ‘Devil’s Arithmetic,’ how can the public make sense of that! I have fans who think I only write picture books or only write SF and fantasy. I have fanatics of my poetry and are stunned to find out I write prose, too!
I like high fantasy as much as the next guy, but I also like a bit of grit and grime with my faux-medieval trappings.
The valley we lived in could easily be the setting for a fantasy novel or a prairie western novel. It could be anything.
A lot of the strength of an RPG world lies in its foundation: its systems, lore, and when appropriate, its magic systems. While there are elements tied to ‘Project: Eternity’ that at first glance seem to be classic fantasy, that’s intentional – we do want to recreate some elements of a High Fantasy experience.
Sharon Shinn is a lover of words and a builder of worlds. She makes science-fiction seem like fantasy. Her characters jump off the page, finding their way under your skin and into your heart.
I did a ‘Love Boat!’ And based on my trip on the ‘Love Boat,’ I said, ‘I’d just as soon not do ‘Fantasy Island.’
I have an unconscious burglar living in my mind: If I read something, it’s mine. I can read Middle English stories, Geoffrey Chaucer or Sir Thomas Malory, but once I start moving in the direction of contemporary fantasy, my mind begins to take over.
I always had the fantasy of Hollywood and Los Angeles and the beach, not realizing that Hollywood was so very far from the beach.
With epic fantasy, there is a tendency for it to be quintessentially conservative in that its job is to restore what is perceived to be out of whack.
For me, part of the fascination with making animation is you go to a place; it’s a complete immersion in someone else’s fantasy.
You experience the films through the actors, so they’re all locked into your imagination in some kind of layer of fantasy or hatred or wherever they settle into your imagination.
I think it reflects well on the state of animation that people are knowledgeable about it and love the fantasy and imagination that goes into it.
It’s people’s worst fantasy to see their partner kissing someone else, even though it’s a job and it’s not real.
There’s so much power in allegory, to form ideas and learn lessons that you can actually take and apply to real life. I think that’s why I originally really loved fantasy and reading.
It’s a tougher gig than what people think it is. The proper, real, genuine, worldwide movie stars don’t get a lot of downtime from the world outside. That’s a tougher price, I think, than what people’s fantasy of fame account for.
I suppose when I was writing ‘V for Vendetta’ I would in my secret heart of hearts have thought: ‘Wouldn’t it be great if these ideas actually made an impact?’ So when you start to see that idle fantasy intrude on the regular world… It’s peculiar.
