Originally Posted by Diamond
Reply With Quote
When I originally read the article, I didn't - and still don't - think it was an ad for Blando's book. The article is actually categorised as a book review, which makes it entirely justified that it would devote some time to analysing a single book. That said, I think it fails badly as a book review because
a. it meanders far and wide from the task of reviewing the book, and
b. it very clearly (at least, in my opinion) makes no effort to understand the purpose of Blando's book, but has instead imposed the author's assumptions about it.
When it comes to the question of a fantasy map having to be 'realistic' or following certain conventions, I say: yes, it does have to follow conventions, at least some of them. If we examine historic maps, we can ask: what was the cartographer trying to convey? What was the cultural/political/religious etc. views of the person who made this map? These questions, however, are much less relevant on fantasy maps. And the reason: because we have no other point of reference.
Suppose, for example, someone decided to create a highly original and abstracted map of Egypt. The cartographer may have chosen to depict the country in a way that emphasises one piece of information, and therefore gives the viewer no idea about, say, the major geographic features (the Nile, the Delta, the desert). The thing is, that's fine and it's great and it's artistic, and it is those things because we are able to check other sources. We could look at other maps which emphasise the geography, or we could even catch a plane, board a ship, or jump onto a horse and go to Egypt, to check it out for ourselves. But you can't do that with fantasy maps.
Let's say Tolkien's map of Middle Earth didn't show mountains, rivers, forests or cities. Let's say instead that it showed textile patterns in different parts of Middle Earth (I'm now imagining orcs in Mordor working in a textile factory, creating aprons for export to Rohan, or something). If all we had of Middle Earth was a map of textiles, we'd have no other way to learn about the geography - we can't look up Middle Earth's rivers in an encyclopaedia.
So fantasy maps - in my opinion - have to be better at conveying information than real-world maps. It may be fair to say that the information doesn't have to be geographic (if Lord of the Rings was a saga about competing textile companies, a textile map would actually be quite appropriate), but it much more often than not is going to be.
Lastly, thinking about little Straf and his lightsabers in Northern England has left me imagining if Star Wars had been made in a North English accent. I know that there's a Cockney Star Trek (Youtube - check it out, it's brilliant!!), but Geordie Star Wars would be the best thing ever
Wingshaw
