Re: Randomness from Westercon (Cost of Magic, As You Know Bob)
- From: Crowfoot <pagemail@xxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 06 Aug 2007 16:42:39 -0600
"I'd really liek to clap my hands and fllod the room with light -- and,
yet, I haven't bought a Clapper." --Michael Swanwick. He went on to say
that the appeal of magic isn't power, as there are plenty of ways of
getting power, but is to "touch the numinous". The idea that there's
something beyond the perceivable world, and the idea of being able to
reach through that boundary and touch it is appealing.
"Any sufficiently well-characterized magic is indistinguishable from
technology -- and that's the problem. Science fiction happens in a
world which is fundamentally knowable; fantasy in one which is mystery
at the core." --Michael Swanwick. This was more on the same idea, and I
think talking about the use of magic systems with fairly rigid rules,
and why in his opinion that doesn't work so well.
Thanks for this -- it's excellent (in other words, I agree with it). As
a reader, I can't put up with much "codified" magic; all I can think of
while trying to read such stories is, "Ugh, academics and bureaucracies,
phooey." If magic is *not* about mystery, it's just not interesting
enough to spend my time with. But that's because my approach in
general tends toward emotion and intuition as primary methods of
engaging with the world. I'm well aware that there are many authors
who use a fascination with structure and function instead, which is just
as valid as my own way in; I just stay away from their books, knowing
that they are not for me.
In further comments on how magic retained its mystery in traditional
stories: "It maintained its mystery because it wasn't their servant --
it bashed them around" --Teresa Edgerton.
Exactly: this is the shamanic tradition, in which the practitioner is
drafted into the job and must become a hero because he or she is always
at enormous risk and often loses out to unpredictable powers with no
love for human intruders. This was precisely the attraction of writing
about the madman-shaman Setteo in the last two Holdfast books. There
was no system, at least none comprehensible to a human being; there
was only risk, and result, and therefore both suspense and surprise to
keep me as author entertained and interested.
I have learned not to be surprised any more at how often readers of
those books bring up Setteo and the Bears with eagerness and enthusiasm,
particularly since they are usually feminist readers reading books that
are written from a feminist stance. *Something* worked (and surprised
those readers, too); and it wasn't "magic school", arcane rules and
procedures, or "I am a high and mighty wizard" bombast.
Well, of course, Setteo *isn't* a mighty wizard; although his access to
a numinous other dimension does actually permit him to do a
powerful magical deed or two in this one, so . . .
Anyway, I'm firmly in the Swanwick-Edgerton camp on this, and happy
to be there.
SMC
.
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