Fantasy: The Realms of Man and Myth

For as long as I can remember, I have been devouring books.  By the time I was ten I had already read Shakespeare, Dickens, Alcott, Wilde, Tolkien, Lewis, and the list goes on.  The story that I recall with great detail from that time is the fairy-tale “The Selfish Giant” written by Oscar Wilde.  I read it many times, along with a few of the other fairy-tales, including “The Happy Prince” and “The Nightingale and the Rose”.  At that young age, I was touched by these stories and would cry at the end every time.  It wasn’t until I was an adult and read them again, I could see the masterful imagery and profound meaning rich with religious principles and the opportunity for redemption.

By the time I was in Junior High and High School, the hunger for literature only grew and I began pulling books off the shelves in my father's study.  There was a point where my father suggested that the material was too mature or that my life's experience wouldn't allow me to appreciate what I read.  However, I continued to pull books down and devour them one after the other.  For a short period of time, I would only read novels by the Bronte sisters.  Fell in love with Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights and longed to change the fates of the protagonists.

One summer, I read more than 100 books; inspired by a competition sponsored by the local library.  In my early twenties, I selected books that would challenge my intellect and stamina.  It took me nine months to read, Richard Adams’ Watership Down, Braum Stoker's Dracula, and Victor Hugo's Les Miserables.  Some would suggest that I do not discriminate when it comes to literature due to the variety and my eclectic tastes.  If I am being truthful, I would tell you that there is literature that I will not read, and there is one novel I actually threw in the trash after reading the first couple of chapters. 

While I enjoyed Exit to Eden by Anne Rice, I was deeply bothered by her Sleeping Beauty series and would not read any of the novels after reading only a few chapters of her first novel, The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty.  The Odessa File, a thriller by Frederick Forsyth, first published in 1972, about the adventures of a young German reporter attempting to discover the location of a former SS concentration-camp commander was so morally depraved that I chucked it in the trash vowing to never read such filth.

I am not certain if I was ever shaped by the novels that I read, except that I had a growing love for literature.  Some novels caused me to question my beliefs, like Robert A. Heinlein's novel, Stranger in a Strange Land.  Other books, such as the Celestine Prophecy series, inspired me to explore amazing possibilities.  Novels such as Les Miserables and The Count of Monte Cristo made me aware of the cruelty of humankind and the struggles that seem to continue into the current century.  

My favorite genre, however, has been Fantasy.  This was an escape for me.  I loved the Chronicles of Narnia, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings series, and the Fionavar Tapestry trilogy.  I wanted to be one of the characters in any of these stories.  However, the series that I most related to were the Fionavar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay.  In the first novel, The Summer Tree, five students from Toronto travel to the first of all worlds with the mage, Loren Silvercloak and his source, Matt Soren.  Four arrive safely in Fionavar.  The fifth, David Martyniuk, is lost on the plains.  Each of the five, individual threads on the Weaver’s Loom, soon discover they are there for more than just a festival.  They will leave Fionavar forever changed.  The Summer Tree ends with Kim, Kevin, Paul, and Dave crossing the vast lands of Fionavar to rescue Jennifer from imprisonment, torture, and death.  Each forever changed becoming the Seer, The Twice-Born, The Rider, and so much more before the end of the trilogy.

I wanted to be swept away into another world by a renowned professor because I would play an integral part in this world, defeating evil.  I felt that I could relate to each of "The Five" students pulled into the "First of all Worlds".  As each followed their individual paths I could see myself; on the same journey of self-discovery.  And much of that discovery through pain and loss.  This pain and loss I felt so deeply during my young adult years.

I was in my early twenties the first time I read the Fionavar Tapestry.  I would lay on my bed; turn on David Lanz’s album, Christofori’s Dream, and read.  I read it again after my husband and I married.  March 26th of this year, I began reading it one more time; beginning with The Summer Tree. Guy Gavriel Kay, a Canadian author, was nominated for a Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature in 1985 for The Summer Tree.  At the time, my father was an editor of Mythlore Magazine, a publication produced by the Mythopoeic Society.  I have a special attachment to this series because my father is good friends with the author.  Since 1984, Kay has published 14 novels and a collection of poems.  The last novel was released in 2019.  I finished reading The Summer Tree within a week and wrote the following review for another class:  "I read the trilogy for the first time 25 years ago... reading it again has been a thrill... recognizing the Arthurian, Celtic, and Norse threads...  Guy Gavriel Kay joins the elite ranks of High Fantasy writers along with J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Charles Williams."

Cristofori's Dream

My favorite character in the Fionavar Tapestry is Kimberly Ford, an intern from the University of Toronto.  She is also the character that I most relate to.  Her transformation in this trilogy was thrust upon her, yet she accepts it.  She is the strongest, most resilient, and the wisest of the five students taken to Fionavar.  In the end, she becomes the High Seer in this fantasy.  My favorite quote regarding this character is: "Kimberly, white-haired, would say when asked that she could sense a glimmered pattern when she looked back, but one need not be a Seer to use hindsight on the warp and weft of the Tapestry..."  I had much thrust upon me as a young adult and I felt akin to this character; learning to accept what is and to make the best of the situation.

When I started writing stories I patterned one of my characters after that of Kimberly Ford from the Fionavar Tapestry as well as Arwen Undómiel.  Arwen Undómiel, a character found in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth legendarium, The Lord of the Rings, is one of the half-elven (Peredhil) who lived during the Third Age.  In my novels, The Well-Spring and The Cursed Nightjar, my heroin is a Seer and a Healer.