I'm Thankful for Fantasy Literature and Films.

This Sunday, I had the pleasure of chatting with Kailani B. of Damsel in the Library about fiction and films that she was “Thankful/Grateful” for. After all, this is Thanksgiving week and it’s the perfect time to talk about thankfulness. Kailani is one of the growing number of amateur authors and reviewers in the Substack community and she’s one who has some very interesting views about literature and popular culture. Some of Kailani’s critiques parallel those made by social media rage bait reviewers, for example that modern fiction needs more heroes and less deconstruction in general, but her critiques come from a place of love and sincerity. Her writing and opinions are sincere and I find that even when I don’t agree with them, I can understand them. There’s a moment in our conversation where she discusses how much she loves the 2005 film version of Pride and Prejudice (because it is … well … almost perfect, let’s be honest) and that she thinks it is better than the book. If you are wondering, this scandalous claim occurs 1 hour and 12 minutes into our conversation. As I’ve said many times, Jane Austen is my favorite novelist and I made sure to recommend Michael Chwe’s excellent Jane Austen Game Theorist as a guide to understanding how amazing the relational webs are in Austen’s work. There are more moments of agreement than disagreement in the conversation, including our shared appreciation for Garth Nix as an author.