Welcome to the second and greatly overdue Quarterly Fantasy Magazine. Submissions were a bit thin but we still have some interesting content to share.
In this issue we start off with a Q&A with some authors about their personal thought processes, discussing Monsters, Magic, and creating character names.
Secondly, we have an interview from @apolloartemis96 with JamesDSwinney, winner of the Fantasy Smackdown. Did you know his favorite color is brown?
Thirdly, @Crimson613 defines the less familiar fantasy sub-genres; Mythical, Fables, Fariytales, and Legends.
And finally for a lack of other options. We have a rant from Muze on Villians. Do us a favor and give him a cookie to shut him up.
I may add one last submission or activity but I haven't decided yet.
Thank you for reading and keep an eye open for future submission searches in the Fantasy Forum.
- Co-Editor Sekkan
HOW THIS ACCOUNT CAME TO BE
This e-Zine came together as a collective work in the Fantasy Club at Wattpad. When I first joined Wattpad there were plenty of stories, authors and activity, as well as lots of advertising in the SYS club, but not a lot of active groups or organizations. That has since changed, and there is now the ForbiddenPlanet Sci-Fi Group and the Dark_Dimensions e-Zine, as well as several editing groups such as editorsUNITE and other joint efforts to help one another.
My biggest concern though was that there wasn’t an organized way to help one another out with finding good resources. That was the main reason I started this account. If you go through the Library, there is a section for Writing Help, Interviews, Writing Prompts, Book Reviews, Inspiration, a general Wattpad section, and of course a Fantasy Smackdown section.
The Fantasy Smackdown section includes works from the contestants of the first Fantasy Smackdown competition. I highly suggest taking a look at these entries. They were written over the course of a little over two weeks using a total of four images chosen from eight as inspiration. I will be reviewing the top entries of round one in one of the last articles of this e-Zine.
At the initial release date of this e-Zine, the competition will be in its final round. A winner will be announced in June. Depending on many factors, we may run another Smackdown competition over the summer.
WHY SPECULATIVE THOUGHTS?
I came up with the name Speculative Thoughts because personally, my focus is not just fantasy, or any other genre. I enjoy speculative fiction. Wikipedia defines Speculative Fiction as follows:
Speculative fiction is an umbrella term encompassing the more fantastical fiction genres, specifically science fiction, fantasy, horror, supernatural fiction, superhero fiction, utopian and dystopian fiction, apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, and alternate history in literature as well as related static, motion, and virtual arts.
Fantasy to me, is so much more than just swords and sorcery, high fantasy or epic fantasy. Speculative Fiction seemed to be the term that fit what fantasy is to me. I host our activities in the Fantasy Club because that seems to be the best place, especially considering there are already organizations covering the areas of Sci-Fi and Horror.
