Joe Abercrombie contemplates his place in the new "sword & sorcery" wave. This is an absolute must-read, especially if, like me, you're fascinated by the new Golden Age in fantasy writing.
Really important stuff to understanding what's happening: We're reading fantasy inspired by John Milius' Conan the Barbarian... not Robert E. Howard's. David Eddings' epic series... not JRR Tolkien's. Concepts of storytelling derived from The Wire... not "Weird Tales".
China Mieville refers to all the influences - conscious or subconscious - that going into his writing as the "mind soup". And Abercrombie calls attention to the fact that that soup's ingredients are vastly different now than what they were one- or two- generations ago.
This is a heady & wonderful time for fantasy.
