{"id":1787906,"date":"2019-10-15T19:08:21","date_gmt":"2019-10-15T23:08:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1787906"},"modified":"2019-10-15T19:08:21","modified_gmt":"2019-10-15T23:08:21","slug":"a-fantasy-maps-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2019\/10\/a-fantasy-maps-update\/","title":{"rendered":"A Fantasy Maps Update"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been a while since my last post. That\u2019s because I spent most of last week with my head down, working on a presentation about fantasy maps for a science fiction\/fantasy convention<\/a> that took place over the weekend. The presentation was called \u201cThe Territory Is Not the Map: Exploring the Fantasy Map Style,\u201d and it drew on the arguments I made in recent Tor.com articles<\/a> and in this post<\/a>. Will I let you see it at some point? Possibly, though not likely in its current form: the paint was barely dry on it when I delivered it, though it was quite well received.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, a couple of other things. Here\u2019s a piece by the author Lev Grossman<\/a> about the urge to map fictional places. It\u2019s excerpted from his essay in Deserina Boskovitch\u2019s Lost Transmissions: The Secret History of Science Fiction and Fantasy<\/em><\/a> (which came out last month from Abrams<\/a>).<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t matter that these places didn\u2019t exist, what mattered was how much people wanted them to. Fictional maps are a visual trace of the ridiculous, undignified passion that we pour into worlds that we know aren\u2019t real. They seem to confirm the ridiculous faith we place in novels\u2014to see one is to say, silently and only to yourself, See? I knew it was real!<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And the author Diane Duane has a simply massive collection of links to digital mapmaking resources<\/a> in re fantasy maps, from map generators to tools to tutorials.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been a while since my last post. That\u2019s because I spent most of last week with my head down, working on a presentation about fantasy maps for a science fiction\/fantasy convention that took place… More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[87,31],"class_list":["post-1787906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-maps-and-literature","tag-fantasy-map-design","tag-fantasy-maps","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1787185,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2019\/03\/what-does-a-fantasy-map-look-like\/","url_meta":{"origin":1787906,"position":0},"title":"What Does a Fantasy Map Look Like?","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"19 March 2019","format":"link","excerpt":"New from me on Tor.com this morning: \u201cWhat Does a Fantasy Map Look Like?\u201d This is the first of several planned pieces that will take a deep dive into the look and feel of fantasy maps:\u00a0their design and aesthetic, their origins and inspirations, and where they may be going in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Maps and Literature"","block_context":{"text":"Maps and Literature","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/maps-and-literature\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5940,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2014\/10\/fantasy-maps-of-us-cities\/","url_meta":{"origin":1787906,"position":1},"title":"Fantasy Maps of U.S. Cities","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"2 October 2014","format":"link","excerpt":"For another example of using fantasy map design language to create real-world maps, here's the work of geography professor Stentor Danielson, who draws maps of U.S. cities in the style of fantasy maps and sells them on Etsy. Boston, Cleveland (above), Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Washington are available. His Tumblr. Via\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fantasy map of Cleveland (Stentor Danielson)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jonathancrowe.net\/images\/2014\/mapsburgh-cleveland.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jonathancrowe.net\/images\/2014\/mapsburgh-cleveland.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jonathancrowe.net\/images\/2014\/mapsburgh-cleveland.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1136,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/03\/when-fantasy-authors-arent-fans-of-fantasy-maps\/","url_meta":{"origin":1787906,"position":2},"title":"When Fantasy Authors Aren’t Fans of Fantasy Maps","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"7 March 2016","format":"link","excerpt":"The\u00a0Book Riot piece I linked to in January by A. J. O'Connell dealt with the editorial decision on whether to include a map in a fantasy novel. That\u00a0article appears to have followed up on\u00a0O'Connell's piece from last August, which I missed. It explores why some fantasy\u00a0authors may or may not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Maps and Literature"","block_context":{"text":"Maps and Literature","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/maps-and-literature\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5243,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2011\/09\/the-farthing-party-map-panel\/","url_meta":{"origin":1787906,"position":3},"title":"The Farthing Party Map Panel","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"26 September 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The Farthing Party map panel (see previous entry) came off surprisingly well. I was actually shocked to discover that what I thought were my controversial thoughts about maps were actually not that controversial: I knew it was going to be a good panel when both Lila and Emmet said in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Maps and Literature"","block_context":{"text":"Maps and Literature","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/maps-and-literature\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1789658,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/11\/lord-of-maps-more-real-world-fantasy-maps\/","url_meta":{"origin":1787906,"position":4},"title":"Lord of Maps: More Real-World Fantasy Maps","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"22 November 2020","format":"link","excerpt":"Here\u2019s another map artist who draws maps of real-world places in the style of fantasy maps: Isaac of Lord of Maps has around 30 maps\u2014mostly of U.S. states, but also a few countries and one city\u2014available for sale as prints of various sizes. Style-wise they\u2019re dead ringers for Christopher Tolkien\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/lord-of-maps-ky-1024x499.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/lord-of-maps-ky-1024x499.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/lord-of-maps-ky-1024x499.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/lord-of-maps-ky-1024x499.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2289,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/06\/a-fantasy-map-of-north-america\/","url_meta":{"origin":1787906,"position":5},"title":"A Fantasy Map of North America","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"22 June 2016","format":"link","excerpt":"The latest map of the real world done in the style of fantasy maps (remember: fantasy maps have a distinct style), at least that I've encountered, is this map of North America offered by Etsy seller Aoraki Maps. (They also have one of the southeastern U.S.) The style is very\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"aoraki-fantasy-north-america","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/aoraki-fantasy-north-america-1024x734.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/aoraki-fantasy-north-america-1024x734.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/aoraki-fantasy-north-america-1024x734.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/aoraki-fantasy-north-america-1024x734.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1787906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1787906"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1787906\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1787908,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1787906\/revisions\/1787908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1787906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1787906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1787906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}