Attention Vincent K (Connor) fans...

[shadowkat]

Apparently the actor is now in the AMC series Mad Men - and recently discussed that role and ATS here:

http://www.tvguide.com/news/070816-01

Wales and I tried Mad Men and couldn't make it through the pilot - bored us and the sound was weird. But others on my flist and critics in general seem to adore it, so what do I know? ;-)

Comments

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

It is a problem with the fantasy genre. I have no idea why it's an unwritten rule of fantasy that it take place in Medieval Times. The only fantasy that seems to jump out of that is *dark fantasy* and/or *gothic*.
But for some reason - people have ruled you can't write fantasy without it taking place in Medieval Times. I even tried writing one - combo fantasy/science fiction but grew bored of that time period and had no interest in researching it - which all fantasy writers, or rather the successful fantasy writers - do. Some of them I think like researching more than writing.

At any rate - I have had the same difficulties with fantasy. And it is why, for me at least, so many of the fantasy novels I've read - are alike. Let's see sword, socerer, horse, princess in distress, mead, troubadoors....sigh. After a while? I get bored.

I grew tired of George RR Martin's novels because of the Medieval trappings. Loved the characters, but found the concentration on battles which lasted forever and medieval routine deeply boring after a while and he's one of the better ones.

[masqthephlsphr.livejournal.com]

People romantacize that era, but it was dirty, brutal, and most distinctly *not* magical. I suppose people want to return to a time when people as a rule believed in magic, though, because that makes a better setting for stories of magic than our era.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

I think that's what I liked about the Harry Potter and Butcher novels, the view that magic could exist in an era that isn't Medieval Times.

And I agree - they do romanticize it. Women were treated horrendously back then, as little more than property or chattle. In fact there are rules on the books stating women were considered chattle - to be done with as their husbands or fathers or brothers wished. (Shudder). It was my problem with a recent book I read by SM Stirling, that I eventually gave up on. Martin's books are a tad more realistic and less romantic in nature.

But I think you're right - there's a view that in modern times - technology is magic or science has taken the place of magic. In ancient times - science tended to be magical because it was unexplained or not understood. Da Vinci who was in reality a scientist, might have been considered by people at his time to be a magician.

[masqthephlsphr.livejournal.com]

As a rule, I'm not a big fan of history, historical novels, or fiction stories with a past-era-like feel, such as those medieval fantasies. Precisely because I would never want to live during those times. It would have been hell.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

I guess it has a lot to do with why you read books. To be entertained or to be informed or both? Or just to escape into a world that is better or nicer than your own?

Personally, I find books about time periods I would not have wanted to live in - oddly comforting. Weird, I know. It's sort of the whole - misery loves company deal - or, more likely - thank god I'm not doing that or living there - very happy to be here instead - which come to think of it, might be similar to why some people adore horror novels and may explain my own odd love/hate fascination with that particular genre.

I watch tv sometimes with the same principal - and tend to prefer to see the characters going through hell than living these blissful existences. (What that says about me? I really don't want to know or speculate about...While I hate *physical torture* per se or too much of it - I do admit to a somewhat sadistic enjoyment of painful character studies.)

That said, the Medieval age gets a bit old after a while. Maybe because it has been overdone?

I've read a lot of historicals - not overly fond of them. Not because of the time period per se but...well, most are more interested in the time period and the author's research on it, than actually telling me a story or developing a character - almost to the extent that I sort of wish they'd give up the pretense and write a non-fiction novel about the period. Examples of boring historical novelists? John Jakes and Gore Vidal. Howard Fast was sort of fun - but he likes the 1960s to 1970s - which I admit a certain fondness for. Dorothy Dunnett is equally fun - but she's pre-Elizabethan and around the time of Queen Mary - a period that I enjoy reading about. And she's into politics - which I enjoy. Diana Galbadon is just silly. Patrick O'Brien - interesting if you are interested in the Napoleanic Wars and Naval History. So for me? It depends.

But I can see why you don't like them at all.

[masqthephlsphr.livejournal.com]

It's not that I want to see people living happy, blissful existences. There are problems in every era and culture. I just have personal issues with certain *kinds* of miserable existences, and prefer my literature to explore other kinds of miseries instead.