Welcome to (Sm)August!
The line between Sci-Fi and Fantasy is so often blurred that we at The Henlo Press only thought it appropriate to slide from Sci-Fi July into a fantasy-themed August, which we will fondly refer to (Sm)August in honor of the terrifying villain from J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantastical novel, The Hobbit.
I refuse to take credit for the terrible pun, which was given to us from Henlo friend, Kody Christian. Nor do I take responsibility for going along with it as I was outvoted 2-to-1. I will however take credit for the silly little banner and for this mess of an introduction.
In the spirit of our upcoming book, The Dictionary Game: Stare Down the Moon (Support on Kickstarter Here for an early copy!) Fantasy is defined by the Meriam- Webster Dictionary website as:
fantasy
Noun
fan·ta·sy | \ ˈfan-tə-sē , -zē \
variants: or less commonly phantasy
plural fantasies
Definition of fantasy (Entry 1 of 3) 1: the power or process of creating especially unrealistic or improbable mental images in response to psychological need an object of fantasy also: a mental image or a series of mental images (such as a daydream) 2: a creation of the imaginative faculty whether expressed or merely conceived a: a chimerical or fantastic notion b: imaginative fiction featuring especially strange settings and grotesque characters — called also fantasy fiction c: FANTASIA sense the organ fantasy of Johannes Brahms d: a fanciful design or invention
Fantasy has a huge foot in the pop culture of today. Harry Potter is still going strong, despite having been finished years ago. People are still here waiting for George R.R. Martin to finish “Winds of Winter,” even with how the Game of Thrones show ended. The Witcher as a huge hit for Netflix at the beginning of the pandemic.
There is no escaping fantasy in our world today. And who would want to when there is a ton of quality content out there?
Over the month of (Sm)August, we will be sharing fantasy-themed writing prompts, blog articles, and editing advice.
Perhaps a few other exciting surprises are in store as well.
And as always, if you are writing anything, fantasy, or any genre, we would love to read it.
Happy (Sm)Agust and happy writing!
~Your Friends at The Henlo Press
P.S. I missed my reading suggestions for Sci-Fi July, so here they are now. Go read Timeline by Michael Crichton. His take on time travel was interesting and I loved how deep they got into the science of it all.
On another note. Animorphs. Go back and read them all.
How were these kids' books? Murder, PTSD, and the horrors of war, these books tackle a lot of really hard subjects. For what seems like a silly idea the people behind these books didn't back down from hard subjects. They get dark and they get dark fast. I like to think that despite the definite dated dialogue and tech you sometimes run into in reading these, that they stand up pretty well to the test of time.
Come on, Netflix. I need you to pick up a reboot. But seriously, go read these.