Epic Fantasy

This week Marlon and Jake venture into fantasy: the imagined worlds of dead writers—from quests and dragons to magic carpets and pregnant kings. As they dive into the works of the giants of traditional fantasy, J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, they discuss the influence both writers had on Marlon's own fantasy epic, Black Leopard, Red Wolf, which was inspired by the epic traditions of Africa and writers like D.O. Fagunwa and Amos Tutuola. They debate how reading fantasy as a child differs from reading it as an adult, wonder why there aren't more female characters, and lament how fantasy is still mostly read by boys and men. From The Hobbit to Ursula K. Le Guin, the two have some very real takes on the make-believe. So tune in.

Select titles mentioned in this episode:

The Arabian Nights: Tales of 1,001 Nights
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter
The Gormenghast Trilogy by Mervyn Peake
The Longships by Frans G. Bengtsson
My Life in the Bush of Ghosts by Amos Tutuola
Forest of a Thousand Daemons by D.O. Fagunwa
The Lake Goddess by Flora Nwapa
The Sagas of the Icelanders
A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún by J.R.R. Tolkien
Beowulf by J.R.R. Tolkien
Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Earthsea Trilogy by Ursula K. Le Guin
Dune by Frank Herbert
Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James