of ancient man as a warrior who thought along nar-
rowly focused lines has proliferated through sword
and sorcery, and his gift for creating vivid and exotic
scenes has only rarely been equaled.
Gardner, Craig Shaw (1949– )
Craig Shaw Gardner began writing a series of hu-
morous short fantasies in the late 1970s, eventually
collecting several of these as his first novel, A Mal-
ady of Magics(1986), which led to two more ad-
ventures of the wizard protagonist Ebenezum, A
Multitude of Monsters(1986) and A Night in the
Netherhells(1987). Ebenezum’s problem is that he
is allergic to magic, which makes it very difficult
for him to respond when faced with requests to
cast spells for the benefit of potential clients. Gard-
ner immediately followed up with additional ad-
ventures in the Wuntvor trilogy, A Difficulty with
Dwarves(1987), An Excess of Enchantments(1988),
and A Disagreement with Death(1989). Ebenezum
and his apprentice generally succeed in making the
situation even worse during encounters with
witches, demons, and other strange denizens of his
imaginary world.
Gardner’s next set of novels was also humor-
ous fantasy, but much more original in concept.
The protagonist discovers that motion pictures are
reflections of alternate realities where the extremes
of cinema are commonplace and the “rules” of
genre films are natural laws. The trilogy consists of
Slaves of the Volcano God(1989), Bride of the Slime
Monster(1989), and Revenge of the Fluffy Bunnies
(1990). Three more humorous adventures fol-
lowed, this time poking fun at Arabian Nights sto-
ries. The Other Sinbad (1991) describes what
happens when a genie mistakenly attaches himself
to the wrong Sinbad, A Bad Day for Ali Baba
(1991) is a hilarious send up of that classic story,
and The Last Arabian Night(1993, also published
as Scheherazade’s Night Out) is in the form of a se-
ries of nested stories within stories that is amusing
in its structure as well as its content.
The popularity of funny fantasy dwindled dur-
ing the early 1990s, and Gardner’s next trilogy
took a more serious turn. Dragon Sleeping(1994,
also published as Raven Walking), Dragon Waking
(1995), and Dragon Burning(1996) transplant an
entire neighborhood from our world into a fantasy
realm where ancient magical powers are stirring in
anticipation of a momentous battle. The interlop-
ers are forced to choose sides while resolving their
own interpersonal troubles. The author perhaps
tried to deal with too many separate story lines be-
cause it is occasionally difficult to keep track of the
various subplots, but his imagined world is original
and interesting and his characters are generally
well drawn.
Most of Gardner’s other novels are tie-ins to
television programs, movies, and computer games.
He has written one new fantasy trilogy under the
name Peter Garrison. The Changeling War, The Sor-
ceror’s Gun,and The Magic Deadall appeared in- The three-part story is a serious approach to
a theme that other fantasy writers have usually
tackled humorously, the merging of a world with its
dominant technology and another where magic is
the underlying structure. The imaginary world of
the Castle is unique and intriguing, and the au-
thor’s steadily improving narrative ability is evi-
dent. Gardner also writes occasional short stories,
of which “Warm” (1993) and “Blood Ties” (1996)
are notable.
Garner, Alan(1934– )
Although he had had some fiction published previ-
ously, Alan Garner only began to attract enthusias-
tic attention with The Weirdstone of Brisginamen
(1960, also published as The Weirdstone), the first
of several children’s fantasies and the first half of a
two-part series. The child protagonists are visiting
a remote part of England when they become in-
trigued by a local legend and manage to discover
its truth, the existence of ancient warriors lying in
a coma beneath the ground waiting for the mo-
ment when they must rise to defend the world
from evil. Their adventures involve a pair of wiz-
ards, one good and one mildly evil, and eventually
they must act on their own to prevent a catastro-
phe. It is the strongest of his three major fantasy
novels and unusually suspenseful for stories tar-
geted at this age group, particularly during the
1960s. The Moon of Gomrath(1993) continues the
story with even darker twists involving a variety
of demonic possession and even some sexual awak-128 Gardner, Craig Shaw