Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss
Uncovering Myths and Legends – MythCon
Shanna's Road Journal / July 19, 2010

I recently attended Mythcon 41, which was a real change from the kind of conventions and conferences I usually go to. This was more of an academic conference, sponsored by the Mythopoeic Society. The focus of this organization is on mythopoeic literature, or transformative mythology, which is the incorporation or transformation of mythology into other stories. The society particularly studies the work of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams and other members of the Inklings group at Oxford University. The conference included a variety of academic paper presentations, as well as some panel discussions, and I was invited as a guest author to speak on some of the panels about writing fantasy fiction. The attendees seemed to be a mix of academics, fantasy fiction fans, writers and people who enjoy this topic as a personal interest. I was on one panel with authors A. Lee Martinez (author of DIVINE MISFORTUNE) and Tim Powers (author of THE ANUBIS GATES and THREE DAYS TO NEVER), discussing the topic of whether fantasy fiction should be realistic. The initial response from many of us was “Huh?” because realism and fantasy don’t seem to go together. But as we discussed, we came to the conclusion…