Yes, yes it does

Does your favorite fantasy novel pass the "Youngling Test"?

I love that the author uses Robert Jordan as the test for kitsch. I admit, I actually own (and have read) some of his books. I petered out after they became so repetitive I couldn't stand it any longer.

My absolutely favourite fantasy novel is actually The Grey King by Susan Cooper, part of the excellent 'Dark is Rising' sequence and winner of the Newbery award. It tops my list ahead of Harry Potter, which I do love, but I read Cooper in my impressionable youth, and frankly, prefer it, as I find much of Rowling's work, well, derivative in some ways, and rather wordy at times when it's not really necessary. I'm sure Harry Potter is absolutely refreshing to someone who hasn't been reading fantasy most of their life, though. And please, before you toss rotten tomatoes, remember, I did enjoy both the books and movies immensely. However, it is with great sadness that I endured the most terrible of film adaptations of Cooper's work--The Seeker, which was horrible. If only Peter Jackson or one of the many excellent Harry Potter directors had had a chance to adapt it, rather than the people who did. Ugh.

Found this today

The Internet Speculative Fiction Database

The ISFDB is a community effort to catalog works of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. It links together various types of bibliographic data: author bibliographies, publication bibliographies, award listings, magazine content listings, anthology and collection content listings, and forthcoming books.

Via @pfanderson.

Five things that Dungeons & Dragons begat

According to an article from the BBC:

1. ONLINE ROLE-PLAY GAMING
2. THE GEEK RAMPANT
3. REVIVING FANTASY MANIA (Call of Cthulhu and HP Lovecraft get a mention :))
4. TEENAGE GAMING MORAL PANICS
5. MANY-SIDED DICE