Thursday, December 9, 2010

Truth in Fiction (ranty rant)

I recently read Tanya Huff''s "The Enchantment Emporium", which I loved. I wanted to post a review about it, but every review I tried to write it my mind included this line "I think you would enjoy the story more, or at least get more out of it, if you are Wiccan, or Pagan, or at least familiar with mythologies of the Celtic Horned God." And then I realized I couldn't say that, because there is a lot of incest in this book. (The rulers of the family want to keep the power in the family, and the women of the family are attracted to men with power, so...) I was afraid that people might read "The Enchantment Emporium" and think that it was a representation of Witches or Wiccans. And it's not. But it is a very good book, with lots of good world building and doesn't suffer from over exposition :)

Anyway, so that got me to thinking how many accurate representations of Witches and/or Wiccans I've read in fiction. Keep in mind that we're talking about a religion where if 7 or more are in a group, an anthropologist shows up, and if you have more than 40 in a single place, a reporter shows up. So we're a fairly well documented group.

Two. I could think of two books. In fantasy, it would by "Wyrd Sisters" by Terry Pratchett, and in mysteries it's the Bast series by Rosemary Edghill. Now, keep in mind I haven't read everything out there, that's still a very small list.

Which leads me to wonder, if so many writers can't get Witches right, how in the world are they going to get Amish or Dine (Navajo) right? Because I really get my panties in a bunch when I hear that "Amish Romance" is the new hot genre. Research, people, research. No, watching "Witness" ten times doesn't count as Amish research. This is one time when imagination is not enough.

Anyway, I totally loved Tanya Huff's book.

1 comment:

  1. A friend of mine called the Amish Romance novels bonnet rippers. I am still laughing.

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