Upwards and outwards to our interview with Milton… Incidentally, we’ve read quite a lot of Sword and Soul stories now, and there’s some damned good, rip-roaring adventure in there which anyone can enjoy. How would white folk feel if the only fantasy heroes available to them were superior-acting Han Chinese adventurers, occasionally given a ‘quirky’ or token white sidekick? Bored, we’d say, at the very least. We’re not a political site (and this is not a deliberately political post), but we have to say that we think black writers creating new black heroes is very cool. We believe that exploring stuff which is strange to us is how we learn, grow and change. The truth is, we are xenophiles rather than xenophobes. We sometimes wonder if it’s a bit odd for Argentinian artists, African-American writers and New Zealand LGBT editors when they get a call from our kennels on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales. Today we’re opening up the subjects of Sword and Soul, African-based fantasy, and Steamfunk, which sort of explains itself, with writer, editor and publisher Milton Davis. So how could we miss out on the Sword and Soul movement? We couldn’t. There comes a time when you want fantasy with a difference. And there’s enough pseudo-medieval European fantasy around to sink a fleet of dhows. Let’s be honest, you can only eat so many Conans, however much you like a barbarian breakfast.
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