Tag Archives: Fantasy

Magic Monkeys

Posted on March 9, 2018 by dan

So I’m listening to The Blood of Elves and thinking about breeding magical ability and the The Wheel of Time and all that, and I realized that I’ve never seen anybody go into the population genetics of magic. What if … Continue reading →

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The Princess and the Eremite

Posted on January 19, 2018 by dan

“They cry out for their Garlander: The Princess. She hopes to ably aid their need. She knows she must with heavy heart depart what she has always known, moreover fleeing through the Wood through which her people fled, rescue her … Continue reading →

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Trolls-ish

Posted on January 17, 2018 by dan

I have watched the Trolls movie so many times, you guys… Help me Uh, I mean, ahem! <in universe voice> Trollish (Silampampsun Gi’impsun, Gi’impsun, Impish, or Turxulsun (archaic) ) is the language of the Troll People of the Melean Mountain Range. In its standard dialect, centered … Continue reading →

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Beta-readers for The Sultan’s Enchanter?

Posted on December 18, 2017 by dan

Friends, arkadashli, and arkadaşlar! My historical fantasy-romance-alternate-history is done…again! Three years ago, my agent told me to rewrite the first three chapters and send it back to her. Three years later, I have somewhat done so! If you’ve read earlier versions of The … Continue reading →

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Done with The Sultan’s Enchanter!

Posted on December 14, 2017 by dan

(which is what I’m calling Charming Lies now) (and it’s just the latest round of edits that I’m done with but it’s still a big milestone, damn it! Including breaks I’ve been working on this thing for over four years!) 204 pages, … Continue reading →

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The Thitherlands

Posted on December 1, 2017 by dan

Japanese is great! Today I was talking with my teacher about the word yo (世). In general, it means “world” as in yo no naka ni wa iro-iro na ningen ga histyou da (世の中にはいろいろな人間が必要だ, or “in this world, you need different sorts … Continue reading →

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“Goblin Phonemes and Irregular Orcs”

Posted on November 3, 2017 by dan

The inestimable Viergatch had a dream about me in which I wrote a book called “Goblin Phonemes and Irregular Orcs.” This book must come to be! But where to start? Perhaps with lentition, the process by which consonants become more “vowely.” … Continue reading →

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The Vbyinu Sea

Posted on October 13, 2017 by dan

It started with the corvids of Bulgaria, of which there are many.  Then I turned to awkwords, a random word generator I’ve played with before. One fun technique is to give the program a bank of sounds and a model for … Continue reading →

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Humans are to zebras as giant floating brain-jellyfish are to humans

Posted on July 7, 2017 by dan

https://danbensen.tumblr.com/post/162663268025/viergacht-danbensen-showerthoughtsofficial Ooh! Ooh! Okay. Creature idea! A giant floating brain-jellyfish that can move very slowly but across any terrain. In the past, they crafted darts which they threw with great distance and accuracy, but in the past 10,000 years they … Continue reading →

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Lazy-ass Fantasy names

Posted on March 3, 2017 by dan

A follow-up to yesterday’s post about lazy vrs. rigorous fantasy names: You know what bugs me? Fantasy names for things with obvious predecessors. Like fantasy-Japan being called “Naponia” or something. Bleh! It’s so lazy. Especially when obscuring those predecessors is … Continue reading →

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