Heroic Dreams - All Things Medieval

There are a lot of great fantasy movies coming up over the next couple of years. I have paid particular attention to movies that are adapted from fantasy books. There have always been successful fantasy movies but we really have to thank lord of the rings for the re-invigorated interest in taking successful fantasy books and turning them into movies.  Some of these are very well known books ( Like The Elfstones of Shannara) and many of them are children oriented in the Harry Potter vein.

Summer/Fall 2008

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian – Release Date: May 16, 2008 This is the second movie in the series and the third is planned for release in 2010. In this movie the children are whisked off to Narnia again and tasked to combat an evil villain who is preventing the rightful Prince from ruling Narnia. The official website - The book at amazon: Prince Caspian (Narnia)

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull – aka: Indiana Jones 4; scheduled for release 22 May 2008 - Famed archaeologist/adventurer Dr. Henry “Indiana” Jones is called back into action when he becomes entangled in a Soviet plot to uncover the secret behind mysterious artifacts known as the Crystal Skulls. Book at amazon.com Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

The DarK Knight – The lastest in the very successful Batman Series and the final tragic work of Heath Ledger. July 18, 2008 Official Website

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor; The latest installment of the Brendan Fraser Indiana Jones like series of movies. Scheduled for release 1 august 2008 In the Far East, trouble-seeking father-and-son duo Rick and Alex O’Connell unearth the mummy of the first Emperor of Qin — a shape-shifting entity who was cursed by a wizard centuries ago Official Site

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince : Scheduled for release November 21, 2008 — As Harry Potter begins his 6th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he discovers an old book marked mysteriously “This book is the property of the Half-Blood Prince” and begins to learn more about Lord Voldemort’s dark past. Book: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6)

Scheduled for 2009

Where the Wild Things Are 16, Oct 2009 and Forest Whitaker is the voice of Wild Thing. The adventures of a young boy named Max who, after being sent to bed for misbehaving, imagines that he sails away to where the wild things are. Max is loved by the wild creatures who make him their King, though he soon longs to be back home with his family. An adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s story. The film is expected to be live-action with heavy CGI-animated elements. Book: Where the Wild Things Are - Movie Site

The Runelords The Sum of all Men – Release date 2009 This is based on the first book of the popular series of David Farland books. The basic premise of the series is that people can gift their skills, abilities, and strengths to their lords which makes them super human. The Book: The Sum of All Men (The Runelords, Book One:)

The Power of the Dark Crystal - A sequel to the 1982 Movie The Dark Crystal. Jen and Kira , having lived for many years as the rulers of their world since the reunification of the crystal , welcome an unexpected visitor to their castle, Thurma the fire girl. From her they learn that the U-mun people, who live in the blazing center of the planet, are threatened by the death of their sun. There is only one thing powerful enough to heal the star - a shard of the crystal

In Development

The Elfstones of Shannara - Based on the Best selling Terry Brooks Shannara novels.

The Book of Lost Things - Based on The John Connolly fantasy novel High in his attic bedroom, twelve-year-old David mourns the loss of his mother. He is angry and he is alone, with only the books on his shelf for company. But those books have begun to whisper to him in the darkness, and as he takes refuge in the myths and fairy tales so beloved of his dead mother he finds that the real world and the fantasy world have begun to meld. The Crooked Man has come, with his mocking smile and his enigmatic words: ‘Welcome, your majesty. All hail the new king.’ And as war rages across Europe, David is violently propelled into a land that is both a construct of his imagination yet frighteningly real, a strange reflection of his own world composed of myths and stories, populated by wolves and worse-than-wolves, and ruled over by a faded king who keeps his secrets in a legendary book.” The Book of Lost Things: A Novel

The Elric saga - Based on the Michael Moorcock Elric series of books The series takes place in a post-apocalyptic, neo-Medieval future of crumbling skyscrapers in which science is all but forgotten, and humanity’s new advances have gone down the path of magic instead

Here, There Be Dragons - An unusual murder brings together three strangers, John, Jack, and Charles, on a rainy night in London during the First World War. An eccentric little man called Bert tells them that they are now the caretakers of The Imaginarium Geographica — an atlas of all the lands that have ever existed in myth and legend, fable and fairy tale. These lands, Bert claims, can be traveled to in his ship The Indigo Dragon, one of only seven vessels that is able to cross the Frontier between worlds into the Archipelago of Dreams. Pursued by strange and terrifying creatures, the companions flee London aboard the Dragonship. Traveling to the very realm of the imagination itself, they must learn to overcome their fears and trust in one another if they are to defeat the dark forces that threaten the destiny of two worlds. And in the process, they will share a great adventure filled with clues that lead readers to the surprise revelation of the legendary storytellers these men will one day become.” It is later revealed that these three young men are future fantasy authors (and real-life Oxford classmates) J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and Charles Williams. Here, There Be Dragons (The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica)

The Lightning Thief - Based on the first book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan. The Hollywood Reporter reminds us that ” Thief centers on a young boy who discovers that he is the descendant of a Greek god and sets out — with the help of a satyr and a daughter of Athena — on a dangerous adventure to settle an ongoing battle between the gods. Along the way, he faces a host of mythological enemies determined to stop him. He also must come to terms with a father he has never known and an oracle that has warned him of betrayal by a friend.”

Septimus Heap - Based on seven-book series created by Angie Sage. The series follows two children switched at birth: a boy destined to be a wizard and a girl destined to be a princess.

Tunnels - Based on the Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams upcoming series of of books . They revolve around a teenager whose quest for his missing father leads him to a secret world of wizards.

The Subtle Knife - This is the second installment of The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials Trilogy)

Stoneheart - Based on the Charlie Fletcher novel - A 12-year-old on a class trip to London’s war museum knocks the head off a stone dragon and quickly finds himself menaced by stone serpents that adorned the museum and have come to life. The kid is saved by the bronze statue of a soldier.

The Stolen Child - Based on teh amazon best selling book by Keith Donahue. Amazon.com actually has a hand in this movie. They optioned the movie rights. A man is kidnapped by hobgoblins as a boy and is replaced by a look-alike imposter. Both the real person & the imposter struggle through their new lives and environments.

If you love fantasy and epic fantasy check out my website: The Fantasy Guide

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With summer coming around you may be thinking about embarking on a new adventure. And barring a vacation in a European Medieval Castle there are few ways as rewarding as starting a new series of fantasy books. In this post I give you my opinion as to the top 5 series of all time (longevity and popularity are the keys for this selection and I just leave Lord of the Rings right out of it. No need for me to cover that one. It is head and shoulders above all the rest and is in a category all by itself.)

I haven’t placed these series in order of importance

Terry Brooks: The books of Shannara series.

There are currently twenty books in the Shannara series and they are roughly broken down into trilogys. It all began in 1977 with the release of the first book The Sword of Shannara This series of books is often heralded as the rightful heir to the Lord of the Rings and I have to agree I read the first book when it came out and fell in love with the series. The books all take place in Shannara but cover a lot of time and a lot of different characters. If you are considering an adventure into Shannara you should start right here with the first book of the first trilogy. The second book is The Elfstones of Shannara which is currently being made into a major motion picture. The third book of the trilogy is The Wishsong of Shannara.

Robert Jordan Wheel of Time series

This is a series of books that currently number 11. The twelfth and final book is scheduled to be out in the Fall of 2009. Robert Jordan passed away while working on this final book but he has extensive interviews and work with Brandon Sanderson who will complete the work for him. It’s a wonderful series of books and is extremely large! The page count of each book goes anywhere from 700 to 1100 pages. I personally devoured the first five books in the series one right after the other. After reading the first I ordered the second and so on right through the first five. Never got a chance to go past the fifth. Had to try other things. Well written and very complex. Nice stuff but does get some criticism for tending to keep you hanging all the time. I would say this series is a bit more serious than the Shannara series. The Second Book is The Great Hunt.

Terry GoodKind Sword of Truth Series

The first book in this series is Wizards First Rule. I have read the first three books in this series and thoroughly enjoyed them. I will get to the others eventually. The Very first book (Wizards First Rule) is just phenomenal. It was released in 1994 to much critical acclaim. You may want to get the box set of the first three novels. You are going to burn through the first one pretty quick. The Sword of Truth,  Books 1-3: Wizard’s First Rule, Blood of the Fold ,Stone of Tears

Stephen Donaldson The Chronicles Of Thomas Covenant The Unbeliever:

Lord Foul’s Bane; The Illearth War; The Power That Preserves ) - Of all the series I have read this is my absolute favorite. I have read through the whole series twice. This world stands apart from the others for a couple of reasons. True it is a fantasy work with all the usual things like magic, wizards, big battles and well you know. But it is also very sharply balanced by a peculiar main character - Covenant. He is a leper and a bit of an anti-hero. For a portion of the story he doesn’t believe what is happening and he doesn’t want to be the hero. There is a very strong internal conflict in him and it goes nicely with the external conflict. Love these books. The first one isLord Foul’s Bane Book 1) and it was released in 1977. There are currently eight books in the series and two more are scheduled.

George R.R. Martin: A Song of Ice and Fire Series

This is a series of currently four books and the first book is A Game of Thrones published in 1996. There are three more books planned for the series and several prequel novellas. The fifth book in the series (A Dance with Dragons) is scheduled to be released in Sep 2008) This series of books is more contemporary than the other series; It was started in 1996. And it tends to have much more of a Medieval Europe flavor to it. Political intrigue and the maneuverings between various factions play a big part in the story.

If you are a big fan of epic fantasy you might want to check out The Fantasy Guide which gives you guides to lots of fantasy fiction including hero and heroine guides.

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I was over a friends house and the television show “Eli Stone” happened to be on. Normally I wouldn’t have noticed much of it but I am familiar with the theme that Eli has some kind of a brain disorder and he often hallucinates in ways that are very real. Anyway, I was immediately drawn to the show when, as Eli was walking down a normal street, a dragon appeared out of nowhere and swooped down on him. This was quickly followed by a knight in armor who challenged the dragon and chased it away.

And it made me wonder why the archetypes of the dragon and the knight are so deeply ingrained in our collective psyche? Well, I kind of answered the question by saying “archetype”. and it is interesting how this struggle between knight and dragon has come to represent so much to us. And it is ironic how so much of epic fantasy writing has forgotten that very point!

The archetypical struggle between the knight and the dragon has come to signify the mighty struggles that we as human beings undergo. It represents Eli’s struggle with his brain tumor and with the ethics of his profession. It also represents the struggle we all as human beings face every single day - the struggle with the mystery of living. It is truly a very big dragon. … It’s a shame we don’t get any insights about it in modern fantasy anymore. They have lots of dragons but never point out what the dragon really means. I wonder what the writer of Beowulf would say about this.

Businessman-Knight Fighti…

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