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I've been working on a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle and the aesthetics of the colors are pleasing as well as finding a piece. I think it must affect the brain and the neurotransmitter systems
2
JeroenNot all those who wander are lostNetherlandsVeteran
I was having a discussion with a friend, and he said D&D was a place where friends could explore the nature of evil. I thought it was a very interesting comment, because in the natural world there are only motivations such as hunger. In the D&D game worlds though there are still a number of “pure evils” such as undead, demons, etcetera, which are born of the imagination and not so easy to relate to the natural world.
0
JeroenNot all those who wander are lostNetherlandsVeteran
Last night I had an interesting dream. It was rather lengthy and I don’t remember all of it, but at a certain point I was standing outside a castle at a fair stall which had a number of boxed games you could choose to play.
It’s curious that even in a dream within a medieval, Harry-Potter-esque setting, there are games.
0
JeroenNot all those who wander are lostNetherlandsVeteran
I found this today, and as fantasy fiction books and games are closely linked, I thought people might enjoy this take on what shaped fantasy “literature”.
0
JeroenNot all those who wander are lostNetherlandsVeteran
@Jeroen said:
I was having a discussion with a friend, and he said D&D was a place where friends could explore the nature of evil. I thought it was a very interesting comment, because in the natural world there are only motivations such as hunger. In the D&D game worlds though there are still a number of “pure evils” such as undead, demons, etcetera, which are born of the imagination and not so easy to relate to the natural world.
This has stuck with me for a while. Usually that which is seen as evil is taken to be alright to kill. So an exploration of evil is often an exploration into what will be morally justified to engage in battle with.
0
personDon't believe everything you thinkThe liminal spaceVeteran
@Jeroen said:
I found this today, and as fantasy fiction books and games are closely linked, I thought people might enjoy this take on what shaped fantasy “literature”.
I'm smack dab in the demo that era was aimed at. In my teens at the mall I'd spend half my time in the arcade and the other half in Waldenbooks looking at the fantasy novels and D&D books.
I don't have any ill feelings for the type of fantasy she's talking about. I read my fair share, but quickly came to realize some books were better than others and was able to find better fare. Today with the internet its even easier to find good stuff that either steps outside the mold or fits within it.
Mass market stuff will blandly impact what people write, but it also creates a greater appetite for material making more of a potential audience for genre breaking stuff.
Just a note, she was also promoting her own unpublished novel available through other means, so she does have skin in the game so to speak.
0
JeroenNot all those who wander are lostNetherlandsVeteran
edited October 2025
@person said:
I'm smack dab in the demo that era was aimed at. In my teens at the mall I'd spend half my time in the arcade and the other half in Waldenbooks looking at the fantasy novels and D&D books.
Much the same as me. I used to spread my time outside of school across libraries and English language book stores in Amsterdam. I read an awful lot of Tolkien knock-offs, I remember reading The Sword of Shannara with some gusto at the time.
I don't have any ill feelings for the type of fantasy she's talking about.
I think it is a kind of addictive medium, just like power gaming in D&D has a certain thrill to it, climbing the ladder and gaining ever more powerful character attributes. As a teenager that kind of thinking can hook you, and it looks like Lester Del Rey had a keen eye for that flavour in writing. But I think it’s a dead end, these novels teach you very little after you’ve dissected a few.
I ended up looking for higher quality fantasy fiction and science fiction, ending up with authors like Iain M Banks and Gene Wolfe, who I read until I started my Buddhist period and I ended up dropping most forms of entertainment. Now I’m re-examining my life in entertainment.
These days what I still think is a good novel is The Count of Monte Christo. It’s older, but the quality of the writing is good, and modern writing especially of the last fifteen years post the success of Fifty Shades has been very much a mixed bag.
Mass market stuff will blandly impact what people write, but it also creates a greater appetite for material making more of a potential audience for genre breaking stuff.
Yes, perhaps. Later on in the video she talks about Michael Moorcock as the anti-Lester Del Rey, and you should see the video she made about the modern ‘romantasy’ genre. But this mere idea of going with formulas for certain genres means you are staying away from great storytelling and what makes a really great novel like The Lord of the Rings.
The leader of a corporation, a Titan of Business and Commerce?
or
The humble janitor, sweeping the halls, emptying he trash?
Is it the Warrior Hero?
or
The mother caring for her child?
What is your measure of greatness?
A question you must ask.
An answer you mus give - to yourself.
Peace to all
2
JeroenNot all those who wander are lostNetherlandsVeteran
The richest man on Earth may have an empty heart. The janitor may simply be a janitor. A warrior is just a killer. Being a mother is a worthy calling.
But greater than all is just being a disciple of a holy man, searching for the answer to life’s eternal question, who am I?
0
JeroenNot all those who wander are lostNetherlandsVeteran
@person said:
I don't have any ill feelings for the type of fantasy she's talking about. I read my fair share, but quickly came to realize some books were better than others and was able to find better fare.
It is a question though, whether we would have had more truly great fantasy novels like The Lord of the Rings if Lester del Rey hadn’t come along with his “formula”. Del Rey shaped the landscape for US commercial fantasy paperbacks for several decades, and we don’t know whether Tolkien’s attempt to create a new myth for Northern Europe may have spawned others, who took his approach to drawing from historical sources to heart to create perhaps an African myth or an Egyptian myth.
The real question for me is whether any of it has any value. I ended up dropping all of it in the wake of my encounter with Atisha’s nine point contemplation on death, in which he says you don’t know when death will come, but when it comes you won’t be able to take anything from this life with you, except your measure of spiritual attainment. And that is why the spiritual search is the most important activity in life.
Fantasy books rarely carry any significance. They are more fluffy and less “real” than say dreams or what one experiences under the influence of psychedelics, other people’s idea of a good story and nothing more. A dream at least has psychological depth and is linked to your own wellsprings of lived experience.
0
personDon't believe everything you thinkThe liminal spaceVeteran
@Lionduck said:
I ask one question:
Who is the greater person?
The leader of a corporation, a Titan of Business and Commerce?
or
The humble janitor, sweeping the halls, emptying he trash?
Is it the Warrior Hero?
or
The mother caring for her child?
What is your measure of greatness?
A question you must ask.
An answer you mus give - to yourself.
Peace to all
My answer is that none is greater than any other. We're all doing our part in the game of life and society. We all move humanity forward in our own way. Its not about putting one above any other, its about understanding and appreciating the value of each.
1
personDon't believe everything you thinkThe liminal spaceVeteran
@person said:
I don't have any ill feelings for the type of fantasy she's talking about. I read my fair share, but quickly came to realize some books were better than others and was able to find better fare.
It is a question though, whether we would have had more truly great fantasy novels like The Lord of the Rings if Lester del Rey hadn’t come along with his “formula”. Del Rey shaped the landscape for US commercial fantasy paperbacks for several decades, and we don’t know whether Tolkien’s attempt to create a new myth for Northern Europe may have spawned others, who took his approach to drawing from historical sources to heart to create perhaps an African myth or an Egyptian myth.
Right, we don't know. It could be, as in my speculation from my post the quote is from, that creating a mass audience for fantasy created the opportunity for the select group of high quality novels to find an audience.
The real question for me is whether any of it has any value. I ended up dropping all of it in the wake of my encounter with Atisha’s nine point contemplation on death, in which he says you don’t know when death will come, but when it comes you won’t be able to take anything from this life with you, except your measure of spiritual attainment. And that is why the spiritual search is the most important activity in life.
Fantasy books rarely carry any significance. They are more fluffy and less “real” than say dreams or what one experiences under the influence of psychedelics, other people’s idea of a good story and nothing more. A dream at least has psychological depth and is linked to your own wellsprings of lived experience.
I always get the sense that looking down the mountain is much like looking down your nose at the rest of the unwashed masses.
0
JeroenNot all those who wander are lostNetherlandsVeteran
@person said:
I always get the sense that looking down the mountain is much like looking down your nose at the rest of the unwashed masses.
Should one be humble for humility’s sake, or is it better to be realistic and truthful, and admit that we occupy a rarified place?
0
personDon't believe everything you thinkThe liminal spaceVeteran
@person said:
I always get the sense that looking down the mountain is much like looking down your nose at the rest of the unwashed masses.
Should one be humble for humility’s sake, or is it better to be realistic and truthful, and admit that we occupy a rarified place?
Rare isn't the same thing as superior, or uniquely valuable, or that others don't have value worth respecting.
All things are uniquely valuable. The universe would not be what it is if even one thing were removed.
This seems to be my position. I'm trying to square that with the spiritual path making one superior.
The way I see it, we're all in this together. People on a spiritual path help bring peace, love and wisdom to the world. In turn we depend on the business man to create products and services that we need, the janitor keeps things clean and sanitary, the warrior protects us from the violence of the world, the mother gives and nurtures life.
Comments
I've been working on a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle and the aesthetics of the colors are pleasing as well as finding a piece. I think it must affect the brain and the neurotransmitter systems
I was having a discussion with a friend, and he said D&D was a place where friends could explore the nature of evil. I thought it was a very interesting comment, because in the natural world there are only motivations such as hunger. In the D&D game worlds though there are still a number of “pure evils” such as undead, demons, etcetera, which are born of the imagination and not so easy to relate to the natural world.
Last night I had an interesting dream. It was rather lengthy and I don’t remember all of it, but at a certain point I was standing outside a castle at a fair stall which had a number of boxed games you could choose to play.
It’s curious that even in a dream within a medieval, Harry-Potter-esque setting, there are games.
I found this today, and as fantasy fiction books and games are closely linked, I thought people might enjoy this take on what shaped fantasy “literature”.
This has stuck with me for a while. Usually that which is seen as evil is taken to be alright to kill. So an exploration of evil is often an exploration into what will be morally justified to engage in battle with.
I'm smack dab in the demo that era was aimed at. In my teens at the mall I'd spend half my time in the arcade and the other half in Waldenbooks looking at the fantasy novels and D&D books.
I don't have any ill feelings for the type of fantasy she's talking about. I read my fair share, but quickly came to realize some books were better than others and was able to find better fare. Today with the internet its even easier to find good stuff that either steps outside the mold or fits within it.
Mass market stuff will blandly impact what people write, but it also creates a greater appetite for material making more of a potential audience for genre breaking stuff.
Just a note, she was also promoting her own unpublished novel available through other means, so she does have skin in the game so to speak.
Much the same as me. I used to spread my time outside of school across libraries and English language book stores in Amsterdam. I read an awful lot of Tolkien knock-offs, I remember reading The Sword of Shannara with some gusto at the time.
I think it is a kind of addictive medium, just like power gaming in D&D has a certain thrill to it, climbing the ladder and gaining ever more powerful character attributes. As a teenager that kind of thinking can hook you, and it looks like Lester Del Rey had a keen eye for that flavour in writing. But I think it’s a dead end, these novels teach you very little after you’ve dissected a few.
I ended up looking for higher quality fantasy fiction and science fiction, ending up with authors like Iain M Banks and Gene Wolfe, who I read until I started my Buddhist period and I ended up dropping most forms of entertainment. Now I’m re-examining my life in entertainment.
These days what I still think is a good novel is The Count of Monte Christo. It’s older, but the quality of the writing is good, and modern writing especially of the last fifteen years post the success of Fifty Shades has been very much a mixed bag.
Yes, perhaps. Later on in the video she talks about Michael Moorcock as the anti-Lester Del Rey, and you should see the video she made about the modern ‘romantasy’ genre. But this mere idea of going with formulas for certain genres means you are staying away from great storytelling and what makes a really great novel like The Lord of the Rings.
I ask one question:
Who is the greater person?
The leader of a corporation, a Titan of Business and Commerce?
or
The humble janitor, sweeping the halls, emptying he trash?
Is it the Warrior Hero?
or
The mother caring for her child?
What is your measure of greatness?
A question you must ask.
An answer you mus give - to yourself.
Peace to all
The richest man on Earth may have an empty heart. The janitor may simply be a janitor. A warrior is just a killer. Being a mother is a worthy calling.
But greater than all is just being a disciple of a holy man, searching for the answer to life’s eternal question, who am I?
It is a question though, whether we would have had more truly great fantasy novels like The Lord of the Rings if Lester del Rey hadn’t come along with his “formula”. Del Rey shaped the landscape for US commercial fantasy paperbacks for several decades, and we don’t know whether Tolkien’s attempt to create a new myth for Northern Europe may have spawned others, who took his approach to drawing from historical sources to heart to create perhaps an African myth or an Egyptian myth.
The real question for me is whether any of it has any value. I ended up dropping all of it in the wake of my encounter with Atisha’s nine point contemplation on death, in which he says you don’t know when death will come, but when it comes you won’t be able to take anything from this life with you, except your measure of spiritual attainment. And that is why the spiritual search is the most important activity in life.
Fantasy books rarely carry any significance. They are more fluffy and less “real” than say dreams or what one experiences under the influence of psychedelics, other people’s idea of a good story and nothing more. A dream at least has psychological depth and is linked to your own wellsprings of lived experience.
My answer is that none is greater than any other. We're all doing our part in the game of life and society. We all move humanity forward in our own way. Its not about putting one above any other, its about understanding and appreciating the value of each.
Right, we don't know. It could be, as in my speculation from my post the quote is from, that creating a mass audience for fantasy created the opportunity for the select group of high quality novels to find an audience.
I always get the sense that looking down the mountain is much like looking down your nose at the rest of the unwashed masses.
Should one be humble for humility’s sake, or is it better to be realistic and truthful, and admit that we occupy a rarified place?
Rare isn't the same thing as superior, or uniquely valuable, or that others don't have value worth respecting.
All things are uniquely valuable. The universe would not be what it is if even one thing were removed.
This seems to be my position. I'm trying to square that with the spiritual path making one superior.
The way I see it, we're all in this together. People on a spiritual path help bring peace, love and wisdom to the world. In turn we depend on the business man to create products and services that we need, the janitor keeps things clean and sanitary, the warrior protects us from the violence of the world, the mother gives and nurtures life.