Cover Reveal!

Hello, Travelers!

We hope you are having a fantastic start to the month of April. Play any funny pranks? Or did the mischievous elves play pranks on you?

Even though today's a day of jokes, we're not kidding you by revealing our spectacular magazine cover for the first issue of Realms (pictured below). We are eternally grateful to our friend and cover artist, Laura Hackney, and amazing graphic designer, Brandon Griggs.

Realms Young Adult Fantasy Literary Magazine, issue no. 1

We are proud to announce that we have thirteen titles in this issue, including a wide array of short stories, poetry, and novel chapters. This issue also features several talented artists, who have added to the otherworldly atmosphere we have strived to create.

May 1, 2015 is only one month away! Spread the word and we will continue Realms for years to come. Thank you so much to our contributors and supporters. You have transformed fantasy into reality.

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Realms Review: 'Wicked Lovely'

If we had to pick our all-time favorite faery story, Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr easily tops the list. Full of danger, intrigue, magic, romance, and daring feats of bravery, this book, and the rest of the series, is must read for fans of the supernatural and the Fae. Marr's writing hooks you in from the start, beginning with three tantalizing rules:

Rule #3: Don't stare at invisible faeries.
Rule #2: Don't speak to invisible faeries.
Rule #1: Don't ever attract their attention.

Aislinn is the main character, a girl who can see faeries, along with her grandmother, since they both have the Sight. They follow the rules above. Why? Because faeries blind or kill those with the Sight. Unfortunately for Aislinn, a faery king has started following her around, and she's drawn into their world to potentially save the Summer Court. The Summer Court is one of four faery courts, along with the Winter Court, the Dark Court, and the High Court.
          We give Wicked Lovely five out of five stars for its originality, highly enticing plot, dark and attractive setting, and its well-developed characters. Marr has built an elaborate, believable world that the reader dives right into. We see the politics behind court decisions, and attach ourselves to the characters, feeling their pain when they must decide between what needs to be done and what is right. The author takes you on a roller coaster of emotions as you hand onto the edge of your seat, rooting for your favorite characters and hoping the real villains get what's coming to them. And some character will win you over, while others betray you.
          Even if Wicked Lovely doesn't become your favorite faery story, we guarantee it's a high quality read that'll be close to the top of your list. If Wicked Lovely captures your heart, be sure to read the rest of the series: Ink Exchange, Fragile Eternity, Radiant Shadows, and Darkest Mercy.

Realms Review

Diversity in Young Adult Fantasy

#WeNeedDiverseBooks Campaign

We love Young Adult Fantasy. That’s a given, but that’s not to say that the genre is sometimes lacking. YA Fantasy is still predominantly white, and though our industry is slowly trying include more books with diverse characters (different races, sexuality, etc.), it’s going, well, slow. With that in mind, we wanted to create this list of YA Fantasy books that feature more than your typical straight, white protagonist.

Love in the Time of Global Warming by Francesca Lia Block: A young, bisexual girl named Pen must survive post-apocalyptic California and find her family with the help of three friends.

Huntress by Malinda Lo

Huntress by Malinda Lo: Two teenage girls, a sage and a fighter, travel to the city, home of the Fairy Queen, to save their land. Along the way, they fight obstacles and develop feelings for each other.

Tabula Rasa by Kristen Lippert-Martin: This books is pitched as The Bourne Identity meets Divergent. The main character, who is half Latina, wakes up in a prisonlike hospital that’s tried to rip her memories away, but they’re returning to her.

The Fire Wish by Amber Lough: A jinni and a human trade lives in this epic fantasy set in the Middle East. They each have to play the part of the other to avoid being killed by their enemies.

The Girl from the Well by Rin Chupeco: This book centers on Okiku, a centuries-old ghost bent on killing murderers as a way to avenge her own death. Based on a Japanese ghost story, this tale grows complicated as the main character encounters a demon that’s latched onto a boy.

Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale: In this masterful fantasy set in the Asian steppes, Dashti, a maid, is locked away in a tower with her mistress, Lady Saren, when her mistress refuses to marry. As supplies run low, and an outside force threatens them, the two must make drastic decisions.

Witch Eyes
by Scott Tracey

Witch Eyes by Scott Tracey: Braden has a witch eye that lets him unveil secrets and unravel spells, but his gift soon becomes a curse when he realizes he may have to kill the boy he loves.

The Bane Chronicles by Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan, and Maureen Johnson: Follow the daunting and witty adventures of Magnus Bane, a bisexual warlock from Indonesia with class, style, and a sharp mind.

The Culling by Steven dos Santos: Lucian Spark must compete in a violent military training competition, imposed on him by a totalitarian government. If he fails, they will kill his only living family member, his four-year-old brother, but as Lucian falls in love with Digory, one of the contestants, he realizes love is the weapon used against him.

If you know any good diverse YA Fantasy reads, comment below! This is just a list we’ve made from a quick online search and from books we’ve read. If the #WeNeedDiverseBooks Campaign interests you, visit their website. 

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A Simple Breakdown of the Types of Young Adult Fantasy

Young Adult Fantasy is a broad genre like any other and has multiple subgenres. As a YA Fantasy magazine, we wanted to be able to break it down so that they’re all understood. We may have left out a couple, but we chose some of the most popular ones. Though Sci-Fi and Fantasy are often lumped together, we left out the subgenres of Sci-Fi in this list. If you feel we left out anything important, comment below and we’ll add it to our list of subgenres!

            Before we detail each subgenre, here’s a sneak peek at our list:

·      Dark Fantasy

·      Urban Fantasy

·      High/Epic Fantasy

·      Paranormal Romance

·      Historical Fantasy

·      Retold Fairy Tales

 

Dark Fantasy 

Dark fantasy is the type of story that mixes strange creatures with elements of horror. They’re both disturbing and alluring. You know that some of the characters should be feared, but you feel drawn to them anyway. An example of a dark fantasy story is The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black, which we reviewed in a previous post. In this story, which could also be classified as a dystopian novel, the U.S. has been plagued with a sudden outbreak of dangerous vampires. These aren’t the vampires we’re used to in paranormal romances, but monstrous beasts that are out to kill you.

Urban Fantasy

           

Urban fantasy is a favorite. The goal of fantasy is to make it believable, and what’s more believable than placing unnatural creatures in a setting you already know? Don’t be fooled by the title of “urban.” Urban fantasy can happen just about anywhere in our world, in any recognizable setting, be it city or countryside. The trick, then, to make urban fantasy stories relatable is to weave in supernatural characters and creatures in a way that makes sense. Take Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr for example. The main character goes to Catholic school and lives with her grandmother, but she can see faeries that no other people, except her grandmother, can see. It works because most people can’t see the faeries, and they use that to their advantage to also disguise buildings that they use for themselves in their respective territories.

High/Epic Fantasy

High fantasy, also known as epic fantasy, is a term most people know because the famous The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J. R. R. Tolkien. That’s right, high fantasy is the classic other world, and usually medieval-like, setting that is inhabited by men, elves, dwarves, wizards, dragons, and a plethora of other creatures. This subgenre is represented in YA with books like Eragon by Christopher Paolini. Eragon has been out for a long time now, but it’s a perfect example of high fantasy since the main character rides a dragon, teams up with various creatures, and realizes he must save the land from a cruel dictator.

Paranormal Romance

Regarde! Mon amour…. Who doesn’t love a good paranormal romance? It has all the electric feelings of falling in love, but with the dangerous, forbidden edge of being with someone who’s not quite human. And let’s face it, the love interest is usually drop-dead-gorgeous. Realistic? No, but it sells because we want to read about hot, steamy romances! If we wanted realistic love, we’d go to contemporary fiction section of the store. An interesting example of a paranormal romance flipped on its head is Claudia Gray’s Evernight. In this story, the main character attends a private academy and appears to be falling in love with a vampire, but everything turns upside down. We won’t spoil it!

Historical Fantasy 

Historical fantasy is a lot like urban fantasy, but it takes place in the past! A lot of research goes into these stories, which is why they tend to be so good. First the author has to research several aspects about the time period, from social norms to the way people dressed, and it all depends on the region of the world. Then the fantasy bit comes in, and for those who are truly talented, they slip their fantasy characters in there as if they belonged in history all along. Cassandra Clare mastered this subgenre with ClockworkAngel. The main character travels to London to meet her brother, but is captured by two warlocks who torture her into using her hidden powers she never knew about. Then the Shadowhunters, a group of people dedicated to hunting demons, bust her out. The fantasy story and historical setting blend so well that you can’t imagine a London without them!

Retold Fairy Tales

Lastly, we want to talk about fairy tale retellings! There’s a reason fairy tales are told and retold again and again: everyone loves them. The formula is already there, guaranteeing a loveable story, but what’s amazing about retold fairy tales is how they are told. Some of them are spun in such a different light that you might not have guessed it was based off of a fairy tale, like Rosamund Hodge’s Cruel Beauty, a retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Others are more obvious by their title, like Cinder by Marissa Meyer, but she completely makes the story her own by turning Cinderella into a cyborg and a mechanic in a futuristic world.

So tell us, what's your favorite subgenre of YA Fantasy? It's hard to pick just one!

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Why Do You Love YA?

As many of you know from our previous article early on this week, we decided to ask people why they love YA fantasy in response to an unnamed speaker who essentially said fantasy is for bums. Yesterday, we were tabling in Champlain College's student center, and many students asked about the magazine and took some of the wonderful bookmarks that were made for us. We asked those who weren't in a hurry to get to class, why the love YA fantasy, and here is what they said:

"YA has first loves, not love affairs!"

"Because YA is cool."

"It has all the teen angst, but with magic, instead of trips to Hot Topic."

"'Cause adult life is all about taxes and mortgages and mean bosses. YA has DRAGONS!"

"Because the adventures have the possibilities of being interesting, and adult fiction is boring."

All of these students bring up some valid points, and we'd like to throw in our two cents, "We love YA fantasy because it sparks imagination and leads people to do brilliant and crazy things. YA fantasy gives us the hope that if there's greatness and beauty in this fictitious world, then there must be some in ours, too."

As we've heard before, but not quite in these words, YA fantasy isn't just about dragons, it's about being able to tame or slay the dragon. If your favorite character can tame the dragon, you can succeed in the projects you work on.

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Image from: http://bit.ly/15FmM7G

Realms Review: "The Coldest Girl in Coldtown"

If you're in love with vampires and novels by Holly Black, you'll love her novel The Coldest Girl in Coldtown. Set in the present day U.S., The Coldest Girl in Coldtown explores the reaction of the world to an outbreak of vampires. Vampires are not new, but, for the past ten years, they've been public. Coldtowns are quarantined areas where outbreaks took place. The story follows Tana, a teenage girl who awoke after a massacre, only narrowly escaping the clutches of the vampires who attacked.

Black weaves a chilling tale, bringing us back to the classic horror stories of vampires. They are creatures that are beautiful and abhorrent. The characters are intriguing, well-written, and believable, traits that every reader loves. With witty dialogue and page-turning, edge-of-your-seat action scenes, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is a book you just can't put down. In Coldtown, no one is safe, and you, the reader, will feel its power dripping off the pages.

We give this book 5 out of 5 stars for its originality, lovely prose, exquisite setting and characters, and boldness in redefining the modern vampire tale. If you loved this book, check out Black's upcoming novel, The Darkest Part of the Forest, an urban fantasy tale about faeries, releasing Jan. 13, 2015!

Realms Review