Fantasy written in author's present time?

In article <20030722215357.10372.00000381.TakeThisOut@mb-m05.aol.com>,
lenona321.TakeThisOut@aol.com (Lenona321) wrote:

 > So anyway, which authors besides Lewis Carroll and C.S. Lewis (living or
 > dead)
 > would you say were seamless at writing fantasy that takes place in their own
 > present time? (Then again, some would argue those last two don't quite count,
 > since they take place in separate worlds, while most of Diamond's adventures
 > take place in the real world.)

If we're going to use Carroll and Lewis as examples, then you'd have to
throw in L. Frank Baum as well, as the Oz books (at least the ones that
take place at least in part in the Great Outside World, as our world was
termed) are as contemporary as what those other two did.

But an even better choice, IMHO, would be the sadly underrated (at least
in the United States) E. Nesbit, as her books are very clearly set,
generally, in Edwardian England.

--Eric Gjovaag<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Fantasy written in author's present time? 

 >On 23 Jul 2003 01:53:57 GMT, lenona321 RemoveThis @aol.com (Lenona321) wrote:
 >
  >>
  >>
  >>So anyway, which authors besides Lewis Carroll and C.S. Lewis (living or
 >dead)
  >>would you say were seamless at writing fantasy that takes place in their own
  >>present time?

Oh, there are lots. I'd name Oliver Butterworth (_The Enormous Egg_ and _The
Trouble with Jenny's Ear_), Mary Nash (the Mrs. Coverlet books), and Robert
McCloskey (_Homer Price_) for starters. And I suppose Betty MacDonald. Wilson
Gage (_Miss Osborne the Mop_).

But these are all humorous fantasy. It gets a little more difficult when you
get well out of the tall tale category.

--Helen<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Fantasy written in author's present time? 

E. Nesbit fits the bill, I should say. Although the characters in her books
sometimes visit the past, their adventures mostly occur in their own present
time.

Joan Aiken (short stories), Alan Garner, Jan Mark (The eclipse of the
century), some of Diana Wynne Jones (eg Archer's goon), perhaps?
 >> Stay informed about: Fantasy written in author's present time? 

lenona321 DeleteThis @aol.com (Lenona321) writes:

 >So anyway, which authors besides Lewis Carroll and C.S. Lewis (living or dead)
 >would you say were seamless at writing fantasy that takes place in their own
 >present time? (Then again, some would argue those last two don't quite count,
 >since they take place in separate worlds, while most of Diamond's adventures
 >take place in the real world.)

Madeleine L'Engle, for one obvious start. Mary Norton. E. B. White.
Edward Eager. E. Nesbit. etc.

I think Springer's wrong on this, basically. There's the whole genre of
domestic fantasy, most of which does exactly what she's describing.

Deborah Stevenson
(stevenso@alexia.lis.uiuc.edu)<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Fantasy written in author's present time? 

In article <20030722215357.10372.00000381.RemoveThis@mb-m05.aol.com>, lenona321
@aol.com says...
 >
 > I was looking over the recent Tor edition of George MacDonald's "At the Back of
 > the North Wind" again (which has mediocre cover art and cover descriptions, I'm
 > sorry to say) and came across something I'd forgotten in fantasy author Nancy
 > Springer's introduction. She said that it's generally difficult to make fantasy
 > believable to the young reader unless it takes place long ago and far away, but
 > MacDonald was one such author who overcame that difficulty. (I'd say Harry
 > Potter doesn't quite count, since as more than one person has pointed out, the
 > books are really boarding-school stories wrapped in fantasy, not the other way
 > around.)
 >
 > I just wish she hadn't referred to Diamond as a "Victorian Forrest Gump" - I
 > will NOT let any child read that sentence if I can help it!
 >
 > So anyway, which authors besides Lewis Carroll and C.S. Lewis (living or dead)
 > would you say were seamless at writing fantasy that takes place in their own
 > present time? (Then again, some would argue those last two don't quite count,
 > since they take place in separate worlds, while most of Diamond's adventures
 > take place in the real world.)
 >
 > Lenona.
 >
Alan Garner is the only author I can think of who seamlessly brings
heroic fantasy into the present day. There's tons of children's
fantasies with contemporary characters, but most of them rely on some
sort of alternate world as the source of their magic. Either that, or
they keep the magic very limited and hidden in out-of-the-way corners (a
single talisman, a witch next door.) Garner is the only one to suggest
that the entire world might be as magical now at it ever was, with vast
supernatural power struggles going on behind the scenes. I'd like to see
someone else try doing stories like those.

Cory Panshin<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Fantasy written in author's present time? 

In article <MPG.198899ec86b760829896a8 DeleteThis @news.enter.net>,
Alexei and Cory Panshin <torve DeleteThis @enter.net> wrote:
  >>
 >Alan Garner is the only author I can think of who seamlessly brings
 >heroic fantasy into the present day. There's tons of children's
 >fantasies with contemporary characters, but most of them rely on some
 >sort of alternate world as the source of their magic. Either that, or
 >they keep the magic very limited and hidden in out-of-the-way corners (a
 >single talisman, a witch next door.) Garner is the only one to suggest
 >that the entire world might be as magical now at it ever was, with vast
 >supernatural power struggles going on behind the scenes. I'd like to see
 >someone else try doing stories like those.

How about Diane Duane's "Wizard.." books? Some of them veer off into
the intergalactic or interdimensional, but _A Wizard Abroad_ is very
much in the mold of Garner's stories.

--
Ethan A Merritt<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
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torve.TakeThisOut@enter.net wrote:

 >Garner is the only one to suggest
 >that the entire world might be as magical now at it ever was, with vast
 >supernatural power struggles going on behind the scenes.

Oh, I disagree there. Surely Madeleine L'Engle fits that category? Though I
wouldn't say she's a great example of seamlessness. Or rather, she avoids
seamfulness only by having gaping holes (didn't one of L.M. Montgomery's
characters say something to the effect that a hole might be an accident but a
patch was a disgrace?)

And as others have said, Diane Duane. And what about Susan Cooper? William
Mayne? (Mayne hasn't got the vast supernatural power struggles, I admit, but he
certainly gives one the sense that there is a great deal going on behind the
scenes of ordinary history.)

--Helen<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Fantasy written in author's present time? 

On Wed, 23 Jul 2003 13:35:43 GMT, Deborah Stevenson,,,
<stevenso RemoveThis @alexia.lis.uiuc.edu> wrote:

 >lenona321@aol.com (Lenona321) writes:
 >
  >>So anyway, which authors besides Lewis Carroll and C.S. Lewis (living or dead)
  >>would you say were seamless at writing fantasy that takes place in their own
  >>present time? (Then again, some would argue those last two don't quite count,
  >>since they take place in separate worlds, while most of Diamond's adventures
  >>take place in the real world.)
 >
 >Madeleine L'Engle, for one obvious start. Mary Norton. E. B. White.
 >Edward Eager. E. Nesbit. etc.


For a while I had a theory that children's authors often set books in
the time of their own childhood, instead of the time when they're
actually sitting at the keyboard.

THE YELLOW HOUSE was from the author's childhood, I'm sure. Eager did
two sets, one presumably current and one dealing with the previous
generation.

An advantage of this is that you wouldn't have to get current slang etc
right (which dates quickly anyway). I'd have to do a lot of research to
set a story in today's world of mall culture and code messages on pagers
and weapon checks in junior high schools. Neater to make the story a
period piece while you're at it.

I'm not at all clear whether Ransome's books describe the lake country
of when he wrote (1930s?) or of when he was growing up in it, or
somewhere in between (or inconsistent). A yardham remains a yardham....


Rosemary --
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.rosemarylake.com" target="_blank">http://www.rosemarylake.com</a>
fairy tales online<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Fantasy written in author's present time? 

r.DeleteThis@rosemarylake.com writes:

 >For a while I had a theory that children's authors often set books in
 >the time of their own childhood, instead of the time when they're
 >actually sitting at the keyboard.

Sounds like you don't any more. Is that how I acquired it ?

Sometimes it's particularly obvious when they want the adults to have been
through a certain piece of history. You know, contemporary kids with
parents who were World War II vets, that kind of thing.

 >THE YELLOW HOUSE was from the author's childhood, I'm sure. Eager did
 >two sets, one presumably current and one dealing with the previous
 >generation.

Yup, I was thinking of this, too (and of course he also wrote over a
period of time).

I think even those are still largely the kind of books Springer apparently
considers rare, since they're not "long ago and far away," just a reality
that's a few decades removed.

Deborah Stevenson
(stevenso@alexia.lis.uiuc.edu)<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Fantasy written in author's present time? 

I agree with Deborah; there are so many counterexamples, the theory
really doesn't hold water. Perhaps it is based ona very rigid
definition of "fantasy."

Some more authors I can think of: Rumer Godden, George Selden, Eleanor Estes.


--
"I like books... I mean some of them. I don't like the kind that gives
you the feeling they're trying to improve your mind. I like the kind that
tells you things you already almost know." -- _The Mummy Market_
Terry Pratchett strikes again: http:www.armory.com/~web/vol11.no5.html
 >> Stay informed about: Fantasy written in author's present time? 

In article <Pine.LNX.4.44.0307240452370.26230-100000.DeleteThis@Oswego.FoxValley.net>,
Glenn P., <C128User.DeleteThis@FVI.Net> wrote:
>On 23-Jul-03 at 9:53pm -0000, <r.DeleteThis@rosemarylake.com> wrote:
>
> > I'm not at all clear whether Ransome's books describe the lake country
> > of when he wrote (1930s?) or of when he was growing up in it, or
> > somewhere in between (or inconsistent). A yardham remains a yardham....
>
>Regardless, Ransome ISN'T fantasy!

Mrs. Blackett had an automobile. Does that help figuring out
the time of the book?

Why aren't they fantasy? Because nothing unrealistic happens?
Peter Duck and maybe Misse Lee are pretty fantastic.

- marty
 >> Stay informed about: Fantasy written in author's present time? 

Though some would argue whether ERB would classify as childrens literature,
I would say Edgar Rice Burroughs - Pellucidar (At the Earths Core) novels
would fit the bill. Of course the Mars and Venus novels would also, but
they are other worlds.

Tom
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 > How about Diane Duane's "Wizard.." books? Some of them veer off into
 > the intergalactic or interdimensional, but _A Wizard Abroad_ is very
 > much in the mold of Garner's stories.

Not sure why but that reminded me of Katherine Applegate's Animorphs, a
modern series I enjoyed quite a bit. I tried Diane Duane's Wizard series,
but got bogged down on the second book and have never read the third, even
though it sits waiting on the shelf.

Tom<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
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