Several of you recommended that I break outside my normal fantasy genres in response to my ennui. So I took your advice, and found some really interesting stuff. Did you know that you can read a lot of really fun fantasy online? And even better, it comes with pictures! (And no, I’m not talking about the latest photo-shopped magazine covers of the celebrity of the week.)

I’ve known for a while that you can read fantasy comics on-line. For example, have you read Order of the Stick, a cartoon version of a Dungeons and Dragons campaign? And then there is Erfworld, a comic strip about what happens when the best Dungeon Master in the world gets sucked through a transdimensional portal to a world that actually works according to standard turn-based RPG rules. Or if you’re not into dungeon crawling adventures in your fantasy, you can go for the steampunky Girl Genius.

At this point we’re into full on graphic novels. Like the spooky industrial-celtic feeling Gunnerkrigg Court, the alt-history Templar, Arizona and the incredibly beautiful The Phoenix Requiem. Go click on that link and tell me you don’t want to know more just by the cover art. And then of course, you have The Dreamland Chronicles, a more traditional fantasy story done with CGI rendering.

Did you know this stuff was out there? I knew about Order of the Stick and Erfworld a few years ago, but these graphic novels? I had no idea people were doing that on the internet! Amazing! There’s some really great and innovative work being done here that is not getting the audience I think it deserves, just because it is being done in an non-traditional format.

So, dear readers, what is your impression of these online sources for new and exciting fantasy reading opportunities? And more importantly, which ones have I not mentioned that deserve my attention? Drop a link in the comment section, and the one I waste the most time reading will earn you a book of your choice from our stacks.

Author

  • Ruth Arnell

    RUTH ARNELL (on FanLit's staff January 2009 — August 2013) earned a Ph.D. in political science and is a college professor in Idaho. From a young age she has maxed out her library card the way some people do credit cards. Ruth started reading fantasy with A Wrinkle in Time and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe — books that still occupy an honored spot on her bookshelf today. Ruth and her husband have a young son, but their house is actually presided over by a flame-point Siamese who answers, sometimes, to the name of Griffon.