tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2296104283452210018.post4083620588364020999..comments2024-03-28T05:12:54.089-05:00Comments on Uncle Matt's Blog: "Dark Medieval" Fantasy in the Borderland ProvincesMatt Finchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07678557558458924177noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2296104283452210018.post-32182228495086095382016-01-06T22:28:12.388-06:002016-01-06T22:28:12.388-06:00Something neat regarding white text on black backg...Something neat regarding white text on black background is that for most people it actually is supposed to be MORE easy to read. Heuristics say the eye is attracted to brightness, white in this case. When you read black text you are fighting your eye to focus on the words while there is brightness all around. With white text on black, your eyes are naturally drawn to the text. <br /><br />May not work for everyone though.Steven Dhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17177628778051254932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2296104283452210018.post-66620619139653201122015-11-14T08:34:09.919-06:002015-11-14T08:34:09.919-06:00I wonder if the "dark" mood of Borderlan...I wonder if the "dark" mood of Borderland Provinces involves that it will be submerged into cosmic horror ala Cthulhu mythos, including the "reality as madness" theme, maltheism, or even nihilism like the Pillars of Eternity videogame does —no actual divinities, just faked ones, constructed a bit like powerful sci-fi artificial intelligences.Axel Castillahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09603801985068174718noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2296104283452210018.post-85108265464547066632015-10-22T08:31:41.329-05:002015-10-22T08:31:41.329-05:00I am interested in the thought processes that lead...I am interested in the thought processes that lead to associating either Smith or Vance with ideas like "film noir" or "dark mediaeval". They look like the complete antithesis of the modern "dark and gritty" trend to me. <br /><br />Vance and Smith may have a cynical view of human nature (which Vance views with some amusement, while Smith is closer to a straight misanthrope), but their stories are colourful, darkly comic, and often present human tragedy with a detachment and dry wit which reduces horror into absurdity. There are exceptions, mainly in Lyonesse and the Zothique cycle, and Vance in particular depicts violence against innocents as clearly abhorrent, but on the whole, they seem to represent a rather different approach to fantasy than Glen Cook or GRRM (who *are* dark and gritty to the max).<br /><br />Film noir is also hard to pin on them, since it is a movement fundamentally rooted in realism, which Vance and Smith consistently reject in their works. Smith is a world-weary exoticist and Vance writes modern comedies of manners in colourful settings. A far cry from noir and the authors it actually influenced. Fritz Leiber's Lankhmar stories, for example, are noir, and Leigh Brackett wrote noir characters in her fantasy/planetary romance stories (but then she was one of the movement's great figures through her hardboiled stories and screenplays). But Vance and Smith, I would contest this.Melanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07165894144553629675noreply@blogger.com