A LOT of Fantasy stories have settings that are a version of feudal Europe, a remix of the more lurid aspects of the Dark Ages and the Renaissance, but I don’t identify much with that history. Maybe it’s my American mindset, but if I’m going to harken back to a past era, it’s going to be the Enlightenment. That period between 1780 and 1800 was just as awful as the Dark Ages in its own unique ways, but I find it more hopeful and energetic; an existential landscape where characters can make their own destinies, even in the face of prophecy. Again: American. One way that I indicate that period is the inclusion of muskets. The existence of gunpowder, though, has caused more that one avid Fantasy reader to ask, why would gunpowder exist in a world with magic? That is a GREAT question. Why would it? Who would use gunpowder if they could use magic? What does that say about that character? Or the nature of magic? Or the politics of the world? You’re asking the right questions. Keep reading.
