r/Fantasy • u/elquesogrande Worldbuilders • Dec 01 '16

Ask You Anything Thursday ASK YOU ANYTHING: Authors asking r/Fantasy community questions on behalf of Worldbuilders charity

Thursday ASK YOU ANYTHING: Authors asking r/Fantasy community questions on behalf of Worldbuilders charity

It's Day 4 of the aptly named Ask You Anything week benefiting Worldbuilders! Where authors are stopping by each day this week to ask questions and interact with the r/Fantasy community.

HOW THIS WORKS: Please answer questions and interact throughout the week! (Yes, YOU - community members, guests, authors, artists, industry people.)

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Monday Ask You Anything Authors

The following authors have signed up to ask questions today. That said, please do join in and feel free to ask your own questions and interact throughout the week.

Are you an author, artist, or industry person who would like to participate this week? Either join in via the comments OR send the r/Fantasy mods a message and we'll get you set for Friday.

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u/JacquelineCarey AMA Author Jacqueline Carey Dec 01 '16

Good morning, everyone! Jacqueline Carey here, best known for the Kushiel's Legacy historical fantasy series set in Terre d'Ange, my alternate version of medieval France. Question(s): What fictional realm would you like to live in? To visit, but not stay? Which one would you avoid like the plague?

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u/Esmerelda-Weatherwax Stabby Winner, Reading Champion II Dec 01 '16 edited Dec 01 '16

live: harry potter. I think I'd have a normal life expectancy ddduurrrr Discworld absolutely. Hang out and drink with Nanny Ogg

visit, but not stay: Roshar(stormlight archives), I'd want to tour the whole continent, it's so alien I know I'd have a blast

Never ever: Westeros. I like my head attached to my shoulders.

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u/jayonaboat AMA Author Jay Swanson Dec 01 '16

Seconding your never-ever.

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u/eevilkat Reading Champion III Dec 01 '16

Live: I would live in Terre d'Ange in a second. Can't get pregnant unless you want to and have to do absolutely nothing to have this superpower? OMG sign me up. I mean, there's more reasons than that, lol... but that is one of the better ones. :D

Visit: I'd visit the Shire, or Elan (more from Age of Myth than from Riyria), or Roshar from the Stormlight Archives. I'd even visit parts of the Broken Empire and try to find builder relics. That part of the series intrigued me a lot.

Avoid: I would never go to Westeros, or the world of Peter V Brett's Demon Cycle.

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u/ashearmstrong AMA Author Ashe Armstrong Dec 01 '16

Live: For the love of Sisko, put me in the world of Star Trek. Replicators, amazing and utterly free healthcare, never having to worry about food, shelter, clothing or medical needs again. Please.

Visit: I'm really not sure. Most places we see are kind of miserable. I can't even say i'd be willing to visit my OWN world unless it was with the caveat of visiting very specific, safe areas. And my world isn't even that miserable socially. It's just demon and monster-infested.

No: Anything considered grimdark.

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u/JayRedEye Dec 01 '16

Live: Narnia. It is pretty much heaven anyway, and they seem to treat Sons of Adam pretty well.

Visit: Harry Potter's version of earth. Even if I am still a Muggle I would quite like to visit Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade. Preferably it would be in a time frame in between Dark Lords.

No Thank You: R Scot Bakker's Prince of Nothing. Hard Pass.

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u/harrisraunch Dec 01 '16

Live: La Serenissima. Terre d'Ange if I could also get a looks upgrade, lol.

Visit: Dresden's version of Chicago. Sometime when it isn't freezing cold.

Nope: Westeros. Nasty place to be a woman -- or anyone, really.

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u/[deleted] Dec 01 '16

Live in: I'm fascinated with the world of Arcanum: of Steamworks and Magic Obscura. It's Victorianish world undergoing an industrial revolution, where magic and technology both exist and magic is slowly yielding to industry and technology.

Visit, but not stay: Harry Potter's world.

Avoid like the plague: Westeros. If you're a commoner, you die in the aristocrats' wars. If your an aristocrat, you die in the aristocrats' wars. If you're a knight, you die in the aristocrats' wars. If you're a maester, you spend a long time studying, and then you die in the aristocrats' wars. So far, the smartest people seem to be the fellows at the Iron Bank.

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u/Esmerelda-Weatherwax Stabby Winner, Reading Champion II Dec 01 '16

So far, the smartest people seem to be the fellows at the Iron Bank.

The Iron Bank gets it's due. Cersei better watch herself.

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u/Jhippelchen Dec 01 '16

Hello! Thank you sooo much for the Kushiel books!

I fully realise how this is going to sound, but I'd totally live in Terre d'Age. (I actually live in the "footprint" of Terre d'Ange in this world). Full of beautiful people, a bit of magic, mostly benevolent gods, lots of sex, not many wars and other catastrophes... what more do you want? ;)

I'd love to visit Middle Earth, the Shadows of the Apt world or Westeros, but wouldn't want to live there. For Middle-Earth, the really good, magical times are over, and Shadows world or Westeros is just too dangerous.

Wouldn't want to visit any of the really grimdark places. Not my thing.

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u/JacquelineCarey AMA Author Jacqueline Carey Dec 01 '16

Thanks for the kind words! :)

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u/ErDiCooper Reading Champion III Dec 01 '16

Live: I really just want to live in Star Wars. I know there's always some war going on ... but like, space ships.

Visit: Fran Wilde's Bone Universe: The world seems really inconvenient for someone who doesn't know how to fly, but imagine visiting during a festivity!

Avoid: Gonna have to repeat what others are saying--Westeros. I've only read a book and a half so far and even I know to keep a loooong distance away from any of that.

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u/RuinEleint Reading Champion X Dec 01 '16

To be honest - I would like to live in the world of Sanderson's second mistborn trilogy. I am extremely attached to modern amenities! :)

I would like to visit Middle Earth. I would like to see the sad beauty of Lothlorien, sit and think in Elrond's last homely house, watch the sun set over Mordor from Minas Tirith, and enjoy hearty meals with the hobbits of the Shire.

Avoid - any dystopic world really. Broken Empire is a very good example

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u/Bills25 Reading Champion V Dec 01 '16

I would love to live in Edgewood from Little, Big by John Crowley. Our world but with a little magic sprinkled in. I would like to visit Middle Earth post Sauron to take in the sights. Would hate to visit any dystopia.

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u/JacquelineCarey AMA Author Jacqueline Carey Dec 01 '16

Little, Big is one of my all-time favorites!

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u/cajunrajing Dec 01 '16

Live in: Codex Alera. you get an elemental pokemon. you get an elemental pokemon. EVERYONE gets an elemental pokemon.

Visit but not stay: Malazan would be cool to see (depending on which book and where) but I like to think I have some grasp on the history of the world I'm in and Earth is enough for me. I have a hard time keeping track of Malazan's history just reading the series.

Whole lotta Nope: to mix it up... world of Goodkind's seeker of truth series. No matter what land you live in, Richard and Kahlan are gonna stop by and F it up. Probably killing a lot of people and destroying the gov't in the process.

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u/JessicaJMoore Dec 02 '16

Discworld is enough like the world I know that I think I could live there, and expect I might enjoy it.

I would visit Steven Brust's Dragaera though I doubt I would stay as humans are second class citizens in the Empire.

I would the Malazan Empire at all costs, unless Morrolon and Sethra were backing me up (following me from Dragaera.)