#5DaysOfFiction: Day Four

[swan_tower]

One day left until the release of In the Labyrinth of Drakes! And so we move into the fourth of Five Days of Fiction, celebrating the ten-year anniversary of my first novel being published.

Today we turn our thoughts to the worlds in which the stories take place. Your question, should you choose to answer it, is: which fictional world would you most want to live in? With the stipulation that you get to choose what type of person you’ll be in that world; you won’t be J. Random Starving Peasant. (Because let’s face it, most fictional worlds would really suck if we were J. Random Starving Peasant there.)

This might not make the top of my actual list of Fantasy Retirement Destinations, but I have a very deep fondness for the World of Two Moons, aka Abode, which is the setting for the Elfquest graphic novels. Being an elf there doesn’t guarantee you a happy life — you only get to live forever if nothing kills you first, and since the time period for the main story is pretty much the Neolithic, there are quite a lot of hazards that might get you — but even a nasty, brutish, and short life as an elf tends to be at least a century long, and in the meanwhile, you’re my favorite type of elf in pretty much any story, anywhere. I love the different tribes, their different perspectives on the world . . . all of it.

Which is why one lucky respondent will receive a copy of the first Elfquest graphic novel! Let us know your favorite world in the comments, and in the meanwhile, here’s the guest answers!

***

~ I want to live in Iain M. Banks’ Culture. A space-faring utopian society that actually works? Bring it on! — Jaine Fenn, author of the Hidden Empire series

~ Iain Banks’ Culture, because no one is a starving peasant there, unless they want to be. — Sean Williams, author of Hollowgirl

[editorial note: okay, we’ve got a little theme here . . .]

~ That’s a tough one. Overall, I think it’ll have to be the Discworld. — Juliet McKenna, author of The Tales of Einarinn and The Aldabreshin Compass

~ The Discworld. I’d live in Ankh-Morpork. Daughter of a minor merchant, teaching herself witchcraft and sometimes making a muddle, which she would then need to clean up while attracting as little attention as possible. — Alex Gordon, author of Jericho (coming out tomorrow!)

[editorial note: aaaaaaaand another theme . . .]

~ Middle Earth, if I could be an Elf. Amber, if I could be one of Oberon’s children. — Alma Alexander, author of Empress

~ Well, damn. Struggle as I might, I can’t find anywhere I’d rather live than Middle Earth. I am a cliche, apparently. — Chaz Brenchley, author of Bitter Waters

[editorial note: theme number three!]

~ I’m going with the standard boring answer of the Star Trek universe, because it’s basically a post-scarcity paradise for writer slackers like me. I wouldn’t be one of those high-achieving Starfleet assholes, either. I’d write books (or holodeck adventures or whatever) during the day, and replicate myself some world cuisine at night, and live easy. — Harry Connolly, author of The Great Way

~ Also impossible to answer, but let me pick Cat Valente’s Fairyland for the moment. — Pamela Dean, author of Owlswater (due out later this month!)

~ Pern. But only if I can impress a dragon and completely overhaul the rampant sexism. Which I will do. With my dragon.

Seriously, though. There are many worlds I might want to visit, but the idea of having a psychic link with another sentient being such that I would always have that shared, unconditional love? Yeah. Sign me up. — Alyc Helms, author of The Dragons of Heaven

~ Does any writer not name their own world? Probably a few. But I would take a manor overlooking Veridon any day of the week. — Tim Akers, author of The Pagan Night

~ I think it would give me great joy to live in one of Patricia McKillip’s nested worlds, the ones that are full of music and riddles, secret libraries and ancient manuscripts, ink-stains and books, books, books. — Leah Bobet, author of An Inheritance of Ashes

~ Harry Potter, as long as I could be a wizard. — John Pitts, author of Night Terrors (due out on April 11th!)

Originally published at Swan Tower. You can comment here or there.

Comments

[beccastareyes]

I'm one of those people who would also choose Star Trek. Especially if I could bring people with me: my mom could retire and spend the days with her grandkids, I could give several friends high-tech and free medical care and new opportunities, and so on.

But seriously:
° SPACE! I'm a planetary astronomer, and the chance to not have to have each visit to a planet be a national undertaking would be amazing. I could write a research grant* and go.
° Holographic tech. Even if I couldn't go, I could fake it from the people who did go. Also, this would be really fun teaching tech.
° Teleportation. Assuming my family and friends all lived on-planet, that means I could take a long weekend with my family, even if they live halfway across the continent.
° Advanced medicine. I like having access to things that mean sickness and injury are not long-term problems.

* I assume things like 'use of space vessels' is still something that has more demand than supply, just like telescope time does now.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Belated, but: you're the winner for day four of the giveaway! Drop me an email with your address, and I'll get the book on its way to you as soon as I can.

[findabair.livejournal.com]

Well, an elf in Middle Earth would be high on my list too. But also a religious caste Minbari during the time of Babylon 5, though I'm not sure where I'd want to live, since far too many bad things happen both on Minbar and on Babylon 5 during those years.

(Opting out of the giveaway this time, since I have the prize from before.)

[alessandriana.livejournal.com]

Narnia, I think. (Or Star Trek.)

A World to Live In

[(Anonymous)]

I would love to live in Jacqueline Carey's Terre d'Ange, from her Kushiel series of books. I love the mythology, the "love as thou wilt" ethos, the different cultures. I don't think I could handle being on of the Court of the Night Blooming Flowers, but maybe one of the Tsingano, the Travelers. Most of all, I'd like to just sit and watch the world go by - kind of how I do now!

[yhlee.livejournal.com]

Banks' Culture, because (a) you can actually change your sex and (b) I could spend my life in a live-fire combat simulation for as long as I liked.

What can I say, I'm shallow.

[ashnistrike.livejournal.com]

Could I get a few thousand years in the Beyond, studying xenopsychology, before the plot kicks in?

[aulus-poliutos.livejournal.com]

Middle Earth, esp. Rohan. Or the north of Westeros. The world of Tad William's Memory, Sorrow and Thorn would be cool, too, either Hernystiri or Elvritshalla (once Isgrimnur kicked to those Norns out in the sequel). :-)

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

At least in the time period of the books, I don't think it's possible to have a good life in the north of Westeros. O_O

[aulus-poliutos.livejournal.com]

Lots of snow and ice is a good life for me. We haven't gotten a real winter here for years. ;-)

[carbonel]

So as to avoid repetition, I'll say Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar. Probably not as a Herald, but as a Healer with the healing gift. Or, for real wish-fulfillment, a Bard.