Index
Preview:
As usual in December, I’m not going to review any new titles to refrain from fueling the commercialization of the season. So let’s contemplate what we’ve learned.
In August, we looked at some mystery genre novels and correlated the detective’s role with puzzle solving in the training of the Magician, jumping off from a diagram posted in the May issue of Wired, the Tree of Life on its side.
That diagram is about how hard science encounters magic, though most people won’t see that right away.
In September we examined how magic has impacted SF and spawned hard and soft fantasy genres. In October, we observed
how the magician’s apprentice, and the life-stage of apprenticeship is being handled in fantasy. Then in November, we analyzed the role of the journeyman archetype in forming the science fiction genre.
The apprentice and journeyman stories are all familiar territory to readers of SF/F, but I wonder how many ever consider what the master craftsman (of magic, carpentry, storytelling) does with his time, day to day.
Young people start out trying to gain position and authority, possibly power, in the world, and some are willing to submit to being educated, trained, shaped, honed, and specialized to fit the niche they aspire to. Starting out, everyone has a fair idea of what the
apprentice does—sweep floors, pay his dues—while the journeyman gets freedom and adventure, gets to prove himself against challenges.
But why bother? To what end is all this sacrifice, effort, midnight oil and toil?
When you think of the master, do you think of Gandalf? Yoda? Bobby Fischer? Dr. Who? House, M.D.? A priest or rabbi? World of Warcraft mage?
What do you see masters doing in stories? They stand aside and intone Wisdom? They utter prophecy? They penetrate mysteries by knowing what others don’t? They grant journeyman status to their apprentice and send her off to have challenging
