When Guy Gavriel Kay wrote his byzantine historical fantasy Sailing to Sarantium, he was stealing a title from a famous poem by William Butler Yeats: “Sailing to Byzantium.” After reading the novel last June, I took a close look at Yeats' poem to search for the items that might be said to have inspired Kay's …
Continue reading How did Yeats inspire Sailing to Sarantium?
Today, I make a special announcement: my Honours thesis "Fantasies of History: Guy Gavriel Kay's Synthesis of the Historical Fantasy Novel" has been added to Kay's official website at brightweavings.com. This thesis is the fruit of over two years of thought, and one year of hard research, writing, and re-writing. It represents the summit of …
Continue reading Special Post: Honours thesis added to brightweavings.com
On the cover of my Penguin edition of Guy Gavriel Kay's novel Under Heaven is a little circular stamp that reveals that it made the Globe and Mail's top 100 books. It must be understood that these books do NOT just include fantasy literature! This book has proven a better read in the eyes of …
Continue reading Under Heaven by Guy Gavriel Kay: Blending Fantasy and History
Matthew Rettino 