(March 23, 2007) — When we’re little, our parents astound us with stories of flying carpets and evil witches. Most people find themselves growing out of their love of the fantastical when they hit high school, but those who don’t may have found themselves wondering lately why the genre of fantasy has reached a dead end. Lately it seems as though originality has disappeared in new works of fantasy. Take one novel or series and simply substitute the names from another series—it works far too often. One series may feature a meek heroine who becomes a sorceress or a meek farmer boy who becomes an enchanted-sword-bearing hero, but it seems as though nowadays fantasy authors are looking at some great guide to creating mediocre fantasy and turning to a formula in the back: take one hero(ine), add a mythic talisman, a couple of villains, a legendary creature or two, insert a doomsday war and there you go, Instant Fantasy Epic. Perhaps you think I exaggerate this; however, let me offer an example. Take the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind and the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. In Sword of Truth, a young farmer/woodcutter meets a magical woman, gets a magic sword that makes him more powerful than most kings, gets a kingdom and finds out he has magic powers and must fight against an implacable army headed by an evil man who threatens to drown the “free lands” in darkness and evil. Now take the Wheel of Time . In it a young farmer meets a magical woman, gets a special sword and finds out he is a reborn hero with magic powers who must fight evil on a sort of Judgment Day. Sound similar? These series also find parallels in Terry Brooks’ Sword of Shannara series (c’mon, a magic sword is the title) and Jennifer Roberson’s Chronicles of the Cheysuli (which also involves a magic sword and fighting against evil magic users). Vary the mythical animals in each plotline, from dragons to unicorns to talking wolves, and you have yourself four fantasy series. Now, fantasy still has its merits. It has the ability to take readers far away from the drudgery of everyday life and drop them into a world of make-believe, and despite all my complaints, books with dragons and elves in them will always find themselves on my bookshelf. Yet fantasy authors everywhere —both budding and current—would do well to improve storylines before fantasy is relegated to the landfill of the literary world.