[Gary Wassner]

Honestly, I don't think Matt's specific meaning is particluarly important. And I think Juzza knew that when he ripped it from a larger discussion. What is important is that there is this perception among the literati that traditional Epic Fantasy is somehow not intellectually challenging or that it is not considered literature. To then have fantasy authors start criticizing authors in their own genre seems just counterproductive. Perceptions are perceptions. But they do serve to enhance an already preconceived idea about the value of Epic Fantasy in general. Though they may be hard to change, KatG is so right on with her analogy to gentrification! Often we think of it as a process toward mediocrity or a journey toward the status quo despite the fact that it generally represents a physical improvement. So now we have some variety in the architechtural style and lots of different materials being used. The old traditional buildings are still there, some with refurbished lobbies, some with great roof decks and some with reinforced foundations. So why flood the basements with this crap?

[juzzza]

There are some fantasy readers out there who will point blank refuse to read Gary's novels, simply because they contain elves, dwarves and a dark lord. I was interested in how Gary tackles this and if he provides a compelling reason for them to challenge this mindset, of course some are just too stubborn... or snobby... or elitist, that's life.

I'll caveat again here, that people should read the complete interview, MWS just hates bad writing and bad plot construction.

He isn't attacking those that came before, he's just trying to write great novels, shake the genre up a little, attract new fans to the genre and of course build his own niche as 'the bear'. Gary is doing exactly the same thing but at the moment is focusing on the writing great novels part. Things like the WOTMANIA interview and the types of threads Gary posts in his own forum are his path, a different one to MWS, but with the same outcome if the readers are lucky.

I am a huge fan of both and appreciate bearish machismo as much as philosophical, humble approachability... bottom line is, fantastic books from two very different authors of very different Fantasy.

[Gary Wassner]

Thanks, Juzza. It's encouraging to hear that readers, particularly intelligent and cricumspect ones, can appreciate two totally disparate types of books.

What I find so ironic is that when I first began writing this series I never made a conscious choice to write Epic Fantasy. I just sat down and began to write. I had no idea what types of characters I would discover and I had no idea what my world would actually turn out to be. I didn't plan and plot and outline. I just simply began to write and I never stopped. I was so outside of the traditional literary community at that time. I never went to a convention. I didn't even know they existed. I never logged on to this site or any fantasy forum. I didn't know that they existed. I knew that I loved to read fantasy, particularly Epic Fantasy, and I wanted the freedom to allow my imagination to fly when I wrote. I always wrote poetry, the process of which for me is very similar; I close my eyes and feel and imagine and write it down. I was so weary and felt earthbound from writing technical articles and business related things, and from the normal process of life, marriage, raising children and surviving in this world. I had some things to say, some things to work out in my mind, and writing Epic Fantasy fulfilled those needs. It still does. I have not tired in the slightest from it and every time I sit down to write, I am exhilirated by the subject, the process and the world that I dive into. For someone to claim that it's played out, boring, over-used, or the product of intellectual laziness is simply and plainly wrong and so thoroughly off base in my case that it's astounding to me to hear it. I can't do anything but sigh a frustrated sigh and move on.