It's all Fantasy, you know!

For many thousand years fairytales, legends and fantastic stories have stimulated peoples minds. Some of them seem to have a true background, others seem to be just products of vivid minds of men and women who became more or less successful by telling them. Some of them have been verbally passed on and were written down in the end; others, mostly very old ones, got lost during the centuries and will never be remembered and told again. It doesn't always matter which intention or background all these stories had (and still have) but one thing is for sure: they are fascinating pieces of art with the purpose to entertain.

J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter, just to start off with it, became famous over night and the formerly unknown woman one of the richest persons in Britain. Suddenly people of all ages had to read Potter's adventures and we could experience runs on bookshops all over the world when a new sequel has been published (of course along with so much concentrated marketing to prevent ignorance that even the biggest dumbass must have realised what's going on in his little village). Suddenly German kids, usually not very fond of learning foreign languages (who needs them anyway) and not very fond of reading books (why read a book if there's TVs everywhere), started to read the new Potter in English because nobody could wait for the translation to come. What a fantastic chance for English lessons in school. Finally we teachers found a book averybody is really interested in, didn't we?

Well, let me tell you: Potter might be good and Rowling is, thanks to worldwide marketing, merchandising and the Potter movies, now probably as well known as authors like Tolkien and Shakespeare (if we want to stay in good old England). But be assured that there will always be fantasy literature which is far better than that. Among fantasy fans George R. R. Martin's series called A Song of Ice and Fire is probably one of the most gripping to read, not to mention Tolkin's Lord of the Rings, Terry Pratchett's Discworld series and Robin Hobb's Farseer Trilogies and many many others. Fantastic!

Tolkin, Pratchett and Rowling are probably the most famous examples for good English fantasy. Hobb, King, Martin and Tad Williams a few very successful American counterparts. But where the hell are the Germans? Although we like reading fantasy it seems that we don't have authors to take care of this wonderful genre, do we? We have them! Ralf Isau's series called Kreis der Dämmerung (engl. The Circle of Dawn is a good example and has a fascinating plot. Unfortunately (and as far as I know) his books have never been translated into any foreign language and that's why he probably will never be a multi-millionaire like Rowling. We don't care at all because English speaking kids and the whole rest on this planet will have to learn German to read his works and that definitely makes him special.

-ww-

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Where are these silent faces? I took them all. They all went away and now you're alone. To turn out every light so deep in me. Hold on - too late!

Will I ever see them back again or did they all die by my hand? Or were they killed by the old evil ghost who had taken the ocean of all my dreams which were worth to keep deep inside my heart?
I wish I could get them back from the everflow before they'll fade away!

Imaginations from the other side. Far out of nowhere it got back to my mind. Out of the dark back to the light then I'll break down the walls around my heart. Imaginations from the other side!

Where's the ocean's daughter? Was Peter Pan in Mordor? Noone's there to keep alive all these fairy tales.
May I return to Oz? Will I meet the "Tin Man"? "Coward Lion" where are you?
Without brain the scarecrow's lost in the middle of the lake. Stranded in the real world and left in a world with no place for daydreams - serious life! I fall into a dark hole and I can't come out!

Do you know if Merlin did exist or Frodo wore the Ring? Did Corum kill the gods or where's the Wonderland which young Alice had seen or was it just a dream?
I knew the answers but now they're lost for me!

Imaginations from the other side. Far out of nowhere it got back to my mind. Out of the dark back to the light then I'll break down the walls around my heart. Imaginations from the other side!

I hope there is a way back with my talisman, so I look into myself to the days when I was just a child.
Come follow me to Wonderland and see the tale that never ends. Don't fear the lion, nor the witch. I can't come back! I'm lost but still I know there is another world.

(Blind Guardian)