Fantasist's Scroll

How does a fantasy culture view gambling?

That’s an interesting question…. Our own world has many different views. Some cultures see it as a very normal thing to do. Many Asian cultures, for instance, see gambling and luck as integral to society. The island of Macau is practically a giant casino. Other cultures, including segments of the United States, see gambling as a vice that ranks right up there with smoking and drinking and fornication. In other words, some folks see it as a sin.
But, what about a fantasy world? Would a non-Judeo-Christian culture see gambling as bad? Obviously, some don’t. There might even be a “god” or “saint” dedicated to gambling. One fantasy series, Book of Swords by Fred Saberhagen, has temples devoted to gambling and at least one story starts with a daring raid on the hidden treasure trove of one of those temples. Considering how well most state lotteries seem to do, this seems a fairly reasonable thing to see in a fantasy setting. Gambling has been around since recorded history. Or, at the very least, since the Roman Empire. The Bible tells us that the Roman soldiers who crucified Jesus “threw dice” for his possessions. And, there are other historical examples.
So, what are the social and economic ramifications of gambling in a fictional culture? Would it be permitted? I think most societies would have some kind of private gambling, if not institutionalized gambling like a state lottery. Games of chance have been with us for thousands of years, and seem like something that mankind cannot escape. So, too, have the people who have warned us against the evils of gambling. It could add some color to have a character who gambles and has to deal with a parental, or religious, figure who disapproves of their gambling. Or, a character with a compulsive gambling habit may, in fact, drive the plot.
In short, I think gambling is fairly ubiquitous and controversial enough to give an author some new ways to expand a story or novel, either as a plot device, or a sub-plot. Something to think about anyway.

[ Posted by mail via mail2mt.pl ]

Science fiction comes to the desktop, again.

Well, it looks like someone has finally developed a true, 3-D display. The company is called Actuality Systems and the display is called, simply, Volumetric 3-D Display. It’s still fairly primative, but it’s real 3-D without the use of special glasses. So, once again, science fiction writers have invented the future. The page of photograhs are simply amazing and worth checking out. There are just so many reasons to develop this technology that I can’t begin to list them all. But, for instance, imagine an MRI viewed in 3-D…. It’s mind-boggling, really.

Very cool.

Would you like to have the Anime Network on your cable system?

Well, they’d like to be there! If you don’t have them already, there’s a website that you can go to get them to request the addition to your local cable system. You just fill out the form and they’ll even FAX it over to your cable company for you! Pretty Cool!!
Just hit the site, then go to the thing that looks like a banner ad at the top of the website. Put your ZIP code in and follow the prompts. It’s just that easy! And, if you’re in the greater Houston area, fill out the form so we can get the Anime Channel!!

I’ve just started Teach Yourself Linguistics, by Jean Aitchison.

So far, it’s living up to the generally great reviews it’s gotten in the ConLang forums where I lurk. The chapters are short and to the point, which I appreciate this week since I’ve been sick and not getting enough sleep. Also, the writing style is much, much livelier than the linguistics textbook that I tried to read last year. I was braced for a quite boring academic discussion of linguistics for linguists, but it’s really been presented in a format for the average joe. Well, if the average joe was interested in linguistics. Anyway, you get my point. I really look forward to the rest of the book now that I’ve gotten started on it. Hopefully, I’ll get enough out of this one to finally feel comfortable trying to design a decent language for my fiction. Well, actually, I hope to design several, but one step at a time, eh?