Great Leaders in Speculative Fiction #2 -- Kaladin, Dalinar, & "The Stormlight Archive"

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Yep, it's March, with hints of spring for some and harbingers of autumn for those in southern hemisphere climes -- but here on Supernatural Underground it's time for Instalment #2 of great leaders in Fantasy and Science Fiction!

Stormlight #1

The series I'm focusing on today (which currently comprises five books) is the Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson -- although I'm chiefly talking about Book One, The Way of Kings. I also had an impossible task deciding whether the featured leader should be Kaladin Stormblessed or Dalinar Kholin. In the end, I decided there was nothing for it but to discuss both, so here goes!

Kaladin and Dalinar of "The Stormlight Archive" Fame

The Stormlight Archive is an epic fantasy, set in the world of Roshar. As the story unfolds, we learn that Roshar has endured many cycles of cataclysmic war, but has currently experienced over a millenium of peace. It's still a world where warfare, inequalities, and injustice, are rife, however, and from the story's outset, both Kaladin and Dalinar are enmeshed in its strife. 

Stormlight #2

Dalinar is the brother of the recently assassinated king of Alethkar. Historically, he was also his brother's principal general in successive wars of conquest, with a violent and bloody past. Well suited, in other words, to lead Alethkar's armies in a war of vengeance against the enemies (Parshmen) who engineered his brother's murder.

Kaladin

Again at the story's outset, Kaladin is a young commoner with a soldiering background, who has been enslaved and serves as a "bridgeman" for the Alethkar armies. The terrain where they are fighting is distinguished by deep (and monster infested) chasms, and the bridgemen's part is to carry the wooden bridges that enable the soldiers to cross the chasms and close with the enemy. Needless to say, being slaves, they are unarmed but must go ahead of the main force, so casualties are high and morale correspondingly low.

Stormlight #3

Kaladin's morale is also at very low ebb (unsurprisingly!) when he is forced into the bridge carriers. Yet he is also a natural leader, with a gift for motivating others, chiefly through leading by example. He is also poured from the mold that I term "his brother's keeper", in that he both feels and takes responsibility for the wellbeing of those about him -- in this case, his fellow bridge slaves. Although as the backstory unfolds, the reader discovers that it's a considerable part of why he is enslaved.

What makes Kaladin a great leader, is that he not only feels responsibility but acts upon it. He is also physically courageous and tactically adept, as well as having a charisma that inclines other to follow him.  It's not just charisma, though -- Kaladin also has a gift for inspiring others to be and do better, irrespective of circumstances. Together, these qualities enable him to instill the discipline and train the bridge carriers in tactics that greatly improve their effectiveness and survival rates. 

During the course of The Way of Kings, Kaladin's circumstances change for the better. In large part because of his leadership qualities and because he has an ethical compass that endures despite slavery, injustice, and brutalization.  

These qualities continue to define Kaladan's path through the Stormlight Archive -- but as to how and why his personal fortunes change, that's in large part because both path and fate cross that of Dalinar Kholin. 

Stormlight #4

Dalinar

Dalinar, as mentioned, has a chequered past. Correction, a very chequered past, and his path requires significant personal change, from brawler, drunkard, and war leader, to statesman. In this he is guided by chaotic visions and a book titled the Way of Kings, both of which set him on a path at odds with received wisdom and the traditional behaviors of Alethkar nobility. 

Dalinar's outstanding personal quality is his willingness to remake himself. Like Kaladin, he has personal courage in spades. Unlike Kaladin, the ethical compass must be learned. Yet Dalinar persists, despite considerable private and public cost, because he perceives the new path, and the attendant changes required of him, as necessary -- not just for the survival of Alethkar and its peoples, but also Roshar.

In other words, Dalinar is a big picture thinker. Convincing others, however, firstly to believe him capable of change, then to follow his path at all, requires more and harder work. Chiefly of persuasion, cooperation, and demonstrating respect, rather than war and destruction (his previous m.o.) Dalinar's willingness to put in that work (again, like Kaladin, leading by example) is part of what makes him an effective leader. Picking and promoting subordinates on proven merit is another -- which leads us back to Kaladin.

Stormlight #5

When their paths cross, Dalinar not only perceives Kaladin's courage and outstanding leadership qualities. He also believes that he owes Kaladin a profound debt of honor. Convenience might dictate overlooking the debt owed to a slave, but having adopted the Way of Kings, Dalinar is not prepared to renege on its tenets. He pays a kingly price to uphold his honor, one that most of Alethkar's nobility would never contemplate -- because he not only sees a larger picture, but understands that it must apply equally to individual dealings as well as affairs of state. 

Dalinar is a head of state and leader of armies, and throughout the Stormlight Archive he holds his followers to a high standard. But he holds himself to it first, which is the core of his personal integrity and leadership style, and why others, however reluctantly in some cases, are prepared to follow him.

Even, as it turns out, to contesting the ending of the world and surviving the death of their god. 

~*~

About Helen Lowe

Helen Lowe is an award-winning novelist, poet, and lover of story. With four books published to date, she is currently completing the final instalment in The Wall Of Night series.
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Helen posts regularly on her “…on Anything, Really” blog, monthly on the Supernatural Underground, and tweets @helenl0we.

From the Back List - Why Weird Is the New Normal

 

Image from How to Write Slipstream Fiction - The Write Life

Welcome fans of the Sup back list.

Today we are sharing a post by Terri Garey, Supernatural Underground author who writes award-winning and critically-acclaimed urban fantasy. Here are her thoughts from February 2015 on the weird and wonderful genre of Slipstream Fiction.

Read on to discover what makes this form of writing tick!

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Slipstream Goes Mainstream, or Why Weird Is the New Normal

by Terri Garey

 

I read an article* in the Wall Street Journal the other day about "Slipstream Fiction". It was a term I'd never heard before, which surprised me, but what surprised me even more is that I've been writing slipstream fiction for years, and didn't even know it!

Wikipedia defines the Slipstream genre as: "fantastic or non-realistic fiction that crosses conventional genre boundaries between science fiction, fantasy and mainstream literary fiction". Um, hello... we authors here in the Supernatural Underground write about ghosts and shapeshifters and time travel and shadowy creatures from other worlds. We weave tales of mystery and magic, blending fantasy with science fiction, modernity with the medieval, and while the settings and characters may differ, the focus remains on the universal aspects of the human condition: the quest for self, the need for love and acceptance, the choices we make on the moral issues between right and wrong, good and evil.

Slipstream fiction is being referred to as "the New Weird", and I, for one, am very glad to hear it.  I've never wanted to be a carbon copy of everyone else - I have my quirks (I adore Halloween, avoid red meat, and talk to my orchids while tending them). According to the WSJ article*, I'm not alone, as Slipstream Fiction is a fast-growing genre, indicating that readers seem to embrace the blending of the mundane with the bizarre.... continue reading here.

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We would love to hear about your favorite examples of Slipstream in the comments.

 

The Art of Adaptation - Authors' Response to External Pressures

Crazy Chaos by Yaoyao Ma Van As

Welcome, my readerly and writerly friends! Let's talk about another form of adaptation, the adjustments authors make when turning their manuscripts into books. 

It falls under the category of 'revision' and, there are multiple reasons to do it.

Adapting for Marketability

This form of adaptation falls squarely under Category #3 listed in the original post - a response to external pressures. "It snowed so she put on her coat." 

Image from The Left Hand of Darkness

Here the snow is pressure to change some part of the submitted story. Putting on the coat is the willingness to make those changes.

Where does the 'snow' come from?

It might be the author's agent, suggesting changes that will make the work easier to sell. It might be the editorial department asking for a change that puts the work more in line with the imprint. Perhaps it is a more specific issue such as sensitivity readers catching where the book succumbs to stereotyping, racial profiling, cultural appropriation or biases (unless such writing is part of the character or story). 

Whatever the pressure, if it is meaningful to the book's publication and success, writers usually will adapt.

I mean, we want our stories to reach the readership in the best possible form.

Publishers are Gatekeepers

Remember, publishers are the gateway to the readers, even though their focus is on the business side of the equation.

The Gunslinger

NOTE: It's not irregular for a publisher to suggest changes to a work. Quite the opposite! It's expected. The editors are there to hone the story, find holes in the plot, suggest different structuring, snappier dialogue, more multifaceted characters etc. 

Most writers, famous or unknown, need this kind of support to do their best work. 

Hopefully, the suggested though often optional changes don't go too far, tipping over to censorship or removing the author's voice or style. 

Still, as said, even well-known authors will adapt. As an example, J K Rowling was asked to revise the HP series for greater suspense, repetition removal and the addition of details about certain characters. -From the Writer's Desk

It's known that Stephen King was asked to tone down the horror in some of his stories. Yikes!

Ursula K Le Guin was rejected outright for one of her most recognized works based on ... well, just about everything. The rejecting editor said:

" ... the book is so endlessly complicated by details of reference and information, the interim legends become so much of a nuisance despite their relevance, that the very action of the story seems to be to become hopelessly bogged down and the book, eventually, unreadable. The whole is so dry and airless, so lacking in pace, that whatever drama and excitement the novel might have had is entirely dissipated by what does seem, a great deal of the time, to be extraneous material. My thanks nonetheless for having thought of us. The manuscript of The Left Hand of Darkness is returned herewith."

Read the Process Online

To normalize this process a little more, Brandon Sanderson takes us step by step through his revision journey, a rare treat and up on his website for all to view. 

But sometimes it is too late for the author to adapt to changing society,  language, meaning and new publishing norms. 

When it is Too Late to Adapt

One example is the broadcaster Greg James who was criticised over a promotional video for the Roald Dahl novel, The Twits. Here it was suggested giving one of the principal characters a glass eye would make her disgusting - Rawlinson and Creamer

And, in February 2023, controversy followed a report that publishers at Penguin Random House were rereleasing books by Roald Dahl after sensitivity reader input. The changes included removing every instance of the words fat and ugly. So Augustus Gloop becomes “enormous,” and Mrs. Twit is “beastly” not “ugly and beastly.”  Some text was also added to The Witches: A passage about how witches are bald under their wigs now ends with, “There are plenty of other reasons why women might wear wigs and there is certainly nothing wrong with that.”  

Mrs. Twit et al

Do you think these are positive changes for young readers or a muffling of Dahl's edge?

Sensitivity Readers - Support or Censorship?

The same type of arguments were raised recently when Kathryn Stockett’s The Help was published in 2009. The book attracted huge commercial success but was also criticised. The key issue was that Stockett, a white middle-class American, wrote about African American maids working in white households in Mississippi in the 1960s. The book was accused by the African American community of being a "shallow portrayal of black people’s experiences in that setting and era."

And then, the 2019 novel American Dirt attracted harsh publicity for similar reasons. A story of a Mexican mother and her child's journey to the border after their family's murder, the book has been accused of clichéd writing, and tagged “opportunistic, selfish, and parasitic” while appropriating the stories of Mexican immigrants to America. 

But is Cummmins a middle-class white woman or a person of mixed race? Until the book’s release, she had identified as white but revealed in the lead-up to publication, and during the negative scrutiny, that she has a Puerto Rican grandmother. The timing may not have been perfect.

For or against, it didn't help mitigate the outcry. Cummins’ book tour was cancelled over concerns for her safety. Though, you can see on Goodreads that in spite of all, American Dirt has sold 2+ million copies.

Summary 

Ultimately, authors need to be flexible and at least consider suggestions made by their trusted proofers, editors and sensitivity readers. Better to have a chance to adapt to wider views of a rapidly changing market before the work goes to print than to try to edit editions years down the track. 

Have any of you, as readers and/or writers, seen cases where adapting to such pressures went too far? Not far enough?  

We'd love to hear about it in the comments.

xxKim

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About Kim Falconer 

Kim Falconer, also writing as AK Wilder, has released Crown of Bones, a YA Epic Fantasy with Curse of Shadows as book 2 in the series. Currently, she is ready with the third book, out in 2025. TBA

Kim can be found on AKWilder.com, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and KimFalconer.com. 

Throw the bones on the AKWilder.com site See you there!

 

Why Romance?

Upon this month of February where hearts are all aflutter and chocolates and flowers abound, I wanted to explore why, after all these years, I still have strong romantic elements in my books. Why Romance? Why not just monsters and murders and mayhem, oh my!

I LOVE crafting the love story for my characters almost as much as I love crafting the demons they have to defeat. I look at their insecurities, their hang, ups, their flaws that have prevented them from becoming a hero already. Finding someone who loves them in spite of all this what really inspires me. And then I put them together, throw a bunch of obstacles in the way, and see what happens.

I write with the truth that love is seeing the inner, ooey-gooey
marshmallow center of another person and embracing it in a graham cracker and chocolate hug. It is seeing what the other person hides from the world and accepting it. It’s knowing yourself enough to understand how you fit perfectly with another person. Add a little heat and, Voila! 

Even after twenty years of writing romance, I still am as head over heels with love as I was in the beginning. I want everyone to experience this type of truth in their life. That is what I’m going for, informing that experience of finding love, of rekindling love. Finding all the paths, and shapes, and tastes of love to hopefully help you find the one person who really understand and supports your spirit.

The only thing that has really changed is how much real estate that love story takes up in my books. The first series, Diaries of an Urban Panther, was a true romance in the sense that the main push of the story was “How are shy Violet and a warrior Chaz ever going to get together?” It was the driving force of the whole series- everything got in the way of their relationship.What does love look like when you are fated to save the world?

Nowadays, I like the world saving and mystery solving to take a front seat, while the romance becomes a supporting factor in the hero’s quest. She can’t go it without him, but it’s not driving the story like it used to. In The Merci Lanard Files, our main man Rafe is there and helpful and supporting, but the real dramatic question is usually “Who killed all these people?”

So when you pick up your next read, think about how the romance fits into the book. Is it a true romance, like Pride and Prejudice? Or is the romance a side plot that helps or hinders the main plot, like in Raiders of the Lost Arc? Or does it just seem thrown in there, like in The Hobbit (the movie)?

After all the books with all the romance, I am still falling in love with love all over again with every couple I read/watch. I probably always will. 

What are you all's favorite couples? Favorite love stories?

As always your faithful writer, 

Amanda Arista

www.amandaarista.com

facebook/Insta/Threads: @pantherista

From The Backlist: "Why Do People Like to Read Scary Stories?" by Merrie Destefano

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We love our Supernatural Underground backlist -- and it's very hard to go past this fun post from the fabulous Merrie Destefano!

Why Do People Like to Read Scary Stories?

by Merrie Destefano

The sun goes down, the sounds of the city grow quiet, and the rest of the family nestles, safe and sound in a world of incandescent light. Meanwhile, one person huddles alone in a darkened room, face turned toward a screen, eerie blue light carving shadows on her face while her fingers slowly tap out a message, letter by letter.

A writer is writing.

Wind blows outside her window, leaves gather in shadowed corners of the yard and nearby trees sway, branches creaking.

The writer is writing a scary story. 

Why do some writers always return to the dark side of literature, spinning out tales that make readers sit on the edge of their seat? Perhaps an even better question, and one that I’d like to discuss here, is why do some people love to read scary stories?

While, I can’t answer this question definitively, I can offer some suggestions.

1. ADRENALINE RUSH:
This is my favorite answer, although many of the others are just as good. We read scary stories so we can experience artificial situations of “fight or flight.” These scenarios, whether real or imagined, get your body ready for action by giving you an extra dose of adrenaline. Your heart beat speeds up, your breathing increases and your blood pressure increases—in other words, it’s like an instant dose of caffeine combined with heavy exercise. You’re ready to leap over tall buildings in a single bound, although you may be screaming “Mommy!” all the way.

2. FAMILIARITY:
You’ve been here before and you liked it. You’ve been reading scary stories for years, you have a list of favorite authors and you’re waiting in line, with sweaty palms, when his/her next book releases. You stay up late (reading these stories is always better at midnight, right?), turning pages while everyone else is asleep. But the truth of the matter is you can’t sleep, can you? Not until you know what happens next…

3. A VISCERAL REACTION:
The desire to feel something strongly—no matter what the emotion is—can drive readers to these books. Detailed descriptions of eviscerated body parts in zombie stories may not get you excited, but there are plenty of readers out there who live for this stuff.

4. TO FEEL ALIVE:
Similar to the answer above, books that put you on the edge remind you that you are alive. You’re not watching some soap opera at lunch time; you’re hunched over a novel wondering if the heroine is really strong and smart enough to survive that demon horde that’s been chasing her for the last twenty pages.

5. TO CONQUER THE DEMONS:
We all have our demons, things we’re afraid of but don’t want to admit. Things like clowns (It), menacing dolls (Chucky), the end of the world (The Stand), rampant pestilence (Contagion), rabid dogs (Cujo), vampires (Interview with a Vampire) and serial killers (Darkly Dreaming Dexter). By vicariously facing your fears in a novel, you’re able to tame them, or at least, imagine that you’ve tamed them. Until they show up the next night, waiting for you in the closet.

6. TO EXPLORE THE UNKNOWN:
There are boundless supernatural realms, where wonder and horror walk side by side—realms where people rise from the dead or where someone learns the future in their dreams or where someone is giving an extraordinary power. There’s just enough enchantment and mystery to make you want to know more, and just enough danger to make you glad this is fiction.

7. TO FEEL STRONG EMOTIONS:
Anger—hatred—fear—love—surprise—terror—repulsion—empathy…Scary stories have all these emotions and more trapped between the pages, just waiting for an innocent reader to come along and release them. Before you know it, you’re experiencing the same emotions. Again, this is similar to Number Three, but I felt that it needed to stated again. (It is my list, no?)

8. TO PROVE WE CAN SURVIVE:
Isn’t that what it’s all about? You’re secretly taking notes, so if X, Y or Z ever really happens, you’re ready. Doesn’t everyone know what to do in a zombie/alien apocalypse by now? And if so, why? Because you’ve all been making a list and checking it twice while watching The Walking Dead or Falling Skies.

9. SATISFACTION WHEN TERROR IS OVERCOME:
There’s an unbelievably sweet moment when the heroine finally plunges a stake through the heart of the last vampire—almost instantly, your muscles relax, you slump backward in your chair and then breathe a well-deserved long sigh because, without realizing it, you’ve been holding your breath and sitting on the edge of your seat, ready to run.

10. TO PROVE THAT DRAGONS NOT ONLY EXIST, BUT THAT THEY CAN BE DEFEATED:
What? Scary stories can give you hope? To quote someone more knowledgeable on this subject than me: “Fairy tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”― G.K. Chesterton. Watching a character deal with the monster in the closet can give you the courage to face up to your own monsters. Yes, tales of terror can actually be uplifting, when written with that purpose in mind.

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Fun, huh?! To read the original post, click here.

To discover more about Merrie and her writing, go here.

Above all -- enjoy!

Great Leaders in Speculative Fiction -- Where To Find 'Em & Why they Rock

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Well, here I am on February 2nd as promised last month -- which is not a huge shift, but still takes a bit of adjustment, having posted on the 1st of every month for so long. :-)

You may consider the adjustment made, though, as -- bright-eyed and full of verve ;-) -- I kick off a 2025 featuring Leaders and Leadership in speculative fiction. (That's fantasy and scifi, just in case you're wondering!)

In particular, I hope to highlight each leader's style and why others in the story follow them, starting with an enduring favorite: 

Mara of the Acoma in Daughter of the Empire

Mara is the lead character in the Empire trilogy by Raymond E Feist and Janny Wurts: Daughter of the Empire, Servant of the Empire, and Mistress of the Empire respectively. 

The story opens when a young Mara discovers that she is the sole surviving member of House Acoma, with its rulers and armies annihilated by treachery in a distant war. She has been training for a religious life, but if her clan are to survive, she must forgo that genuine calling and assume political leadership. So great a change would be daunting under any circumstances, but House Acoma has powerful enemies, bent on obliterating Mara and enslaving her clan. 

Rulership in the Empire is hereditary, so bloodline and rank are the initial basis for Mara leading the Acoma. She also chooses to accept the role, forgoing a religious calling when pursuing it would have preserved her own life. Yet without a hereditary ruler, everyone else in the clan would be either enslaved or condemned to outlawry, forgoing all honor. So the second aspect of Mara's leadership, demonstrated in that initial choice and reinforced throughout the story, is a strong sense of duty and service. In other words, it's never all about her. 

Mara's position, however, is extraordinarily weak. To survive, she must not only adapt, learn fast, and outwit her enemies, but think well outside the square. In an Empire hidebound by tradition, her ability to question custom and reshape social codes without breaking the laws, win Mara new followers and vital alliances. 

Mara's sense of duty and service inspire loyalty in others. Similarly, her acumen and success, particularly with the outside-the-square solutions, build confidence in her leadership. Mara also demonstrates considerable courage in the face of adversity -- but just as tellingly, she is merciful in victory. And it's the mercy, building on her other qualities, that eventually changes the Empire.

All in all, I consider Mara of the Acoma one of the great leaders in speculative fiction.

~*~

About Helen Lowe

Helen Lowe is an award-winning novelist, poet, and lover of story. With four books published to date, she is currently completing the final instalment in The Wall Of Night series.
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Helen posts regularly on her “…on Anything, Really” blog, monthly on the Supernatural Underground, and tweets @helenl0we.

From the Back List - Adapting to Survive

 

The transformative power of bacteria turns plastic into eco treasures. Science 2023

Once again we have a treasure of our own from the Sup back list. It runs along parallel with Kim Falconer's latest post - The Art of Adaptation - Films in 2025

Read the entire back list post here and let us know what you think of these crazy bacterium set to save the planet!

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Adapting to Survive

by Kim Falconer

 

Adapting a book to the screen has many names - remake, reboot, revision... But they all have one thing in common: the story is, in part or whole, rewritten to survive.

From the point of view of the book, this isn't always good, where 'good' equals accurate or in the spirit of.... As I mentioned once in The Down Side of Adaptation, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Jeffrey Eugenides reminds us that the book's story radically changes once it becomes visual. 

"It's no longer a book, and to try to insist on it being a book will usually make it a poorer film." - Jeffrey Eugenides

In the world of storytelling, adaptation is about the book withstanding a translation to 'motion pictures' and in the wild kingdom, adaptation means exactly the same thing... Read more.

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We would love to hear about your favorite adaptations, in the wilds and multi-media! See you in the comments.