World Fantasy Award Finalist
OverviewThe definitive edition of a cult classic by the legendary Diana Wynne Jones.Imagine that all fantasy novels—the ones featuring dragons, knights, wizards, and magic—are set in the same place. That place is called Fantasyland. The Tough Guide to Fantasyland is your travel guide, a handbook to everything you might find: Evil, the Dark Lord, Stew, Boots (but not Socks), and what passes for Economics and Ecology. Both a hilarious send-up of the cliches of the genre and an indispensable guide for writers, The Tough Guide to Fantasyland has been nearly impossible to find for years. Now this cult classic is back, and readers can experience Diana Wynne Jones at her very best: incisive, funny, and wildly imaginative. This is the definitive edition of The Tough Guide, featuring a new map, an entirely new design, and additional material written for it by Diana Wynne Jones.
A Hugo Award Finalist (Nonfiction)
The Tough Guide To Fantasyland is a nonfiction book by the British author Diana Wynne Jones that humorously examines the common tropes of a broad swathe of fantasy fiction. The U.S. Library of Congress calls it a dictionary.[a] However, it may be called a fictional or parodic tourist guidebook. It was first published by Vista Books (London) in 1996. A revised and updated edition was completed in 2006 and published by Penguin (Firebird Books), first in the U.S.[1][b]
Jones has written many fantasy novels, mainly for children or young adults, including some that simply rely upon and some that subvert common fantasy motifs. (The) Dark Lord of Derkholm (1998) is one that subverts, and a conceptual sequel. It is set in a fantasy world that maintains the cliches detailed in the Tough Guide for the benefit of commercial tourism from our world.
Origin[edit]
The inside back cover of the revised edition is a 2006 postscript by Jones, 'How I Came to Write This Guidebook'.While hospitalized in 1994, she and Chris Bell worked on projected entries for The Encyclopedia of Fantasy (Clute & Grant, Orbit Books, 1997). 'Our job was to decide whether each entry was necessary, to suggest new ones, to discuss whether some of the entries made sense (many didn't), and to provide examples in support of what each entry said.'[2]
Description[edit]
Unusually, the book presents itself as a tourist guidebook; its title alludes to the Rough Guide series, The Rough Guide to Finland and so on. Its conceit is that the fantasy worlds depicted in many fantasy novels, games, and films are identical, although tours visit different places such as provinces of Finland. In an extended metaphor, the readers (or viewers or players) are tourists; authors are tour guides, and their stories are sight-seeing tours or package holidays to this Fantasyland.[c]Also preceding the title page is a phoney list of ten 'Other Tough Guides' such as The Tough Guide to Transport in the Multiverse (mostly by Telephone Box).[3]The Guide proper begins with a generic 'Map of Fantasyland', 'How to Use This Book', and a key to the marginal symbols ('Identification Symbols'), all preceding the alphabetical catalogue: A, Adept to Z, Zombies (pages 1–234).[4]
Along these lines the Guide catalogues many of the common places, peoples, artifacts, situations, characters and events likely to be found on such a journey – in other words, the archetypes and clichés found in fantasy fiction.
The Tough Guide comprises several hundred articles organised alphabetically, ranging from a couple of sentences to a couple of pages. Short entries may convey the nature of the work in some respects (only).
There are entries for Dark Lords and what they do, magic swords and where they come from, haunted forests and what they contain, and so on. It can all be read as a thinly-veiled criticism of the fantasy genre for being overly derivative, clichéd, and unimaginative. Alternatively it can be seen as an affectionate study of the themes and ideas that resonate through fantasy writing. The tone is generally tongue-in-cheek, with such explanations as why there are Dark Lords but no Dark Ladies, why casual sex in Fantasyland almost never results in pregnancy, and why male virginity is useless whereas female virginity is highly prized.
Publication history[edit]
The first edition Tough Guide (Vista, 1996, ISBN0-575-60106-X) was a 223-page paperback. It was reissued in paperback by Gollancz in 1997 and first published in the US by DAW Books in 1998, both in paperback.[1][d]There was a hardcover Science Fiction Book Club edition in 1999 (US) and Gollancz issued a 'mini-hardcover' in 2004 (UK).[1]
The Guide was heavily revised for the 2006 Firebird / Penguin edition (trade paperback; 2007 hardcover; US only?). The guidebook metaphor was enhanced in many ways: the map was re-done, clip art eliminated, insets included (mimicking contemporary guidebook layout), 'Tough Guides' to other non-existent places referenced and listed, and so on.
About two dozen symbolic silhouettes in the margin identify 'Food' (a fork and knife), 'Cliche' (the letter 'C'), and so on.
The new front cover design mimicked some guidebooks, with 'The Essential Guide to Fantasy Travel (Revised and Updated Edition)' along the top edge and a mock rubber stamp 'Dark Lord approved!' in the illustration.[6]
Recognition[edit]
The Tough Guide was a finalist for the 1997 Hugo Award for Best Related Work, and for a World Fantasy Award, year's best special contribution, professional. It was voted third place for a Locus Award, year's best nonfiction book.[7]
See also[edit]Notes[edit]
References[edit]
External links[edit]
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Tough_Guide_to_Fantasyland&oldid=902970100'
Tough Travels is a monthly meme, re-ignited by Fantasy Faction and now hosted by The Fantasy Hive, which, inspired by The Tough Guide to Fantasyland by Diana Wynne Jones, spotlights each month a different fantasy trope for us to compile lists and have fun with. Last month we discussed MENTORS. This month’s topic is:
ELVES
‘Elves claim to have been the first people in Fantasyland. They are called the Elder Race. They did not, they claim, evolve like humans, but sprang into being just as they are now.
The Elves’ claim is borne out to some extent by the well attested fact that their flesh is less gross and substantial than that of humans.
‘In looks, Elves are taller and more slender than any humans, and very beautiful. Most of them appear youthful.
All Elves feel themselves superior to humans and make it very clear that they do not operate by human rules. This is true, in that many of them can do some MAGIC.
If you meet Elves, expect to have to listen for hours while they tell you how great numbers of their race have become so wearied with the thinning of the old golden wonders that they have all departed, departed into the West.‘
Diana Wynne Jones, The Tough Guide to Fantasyland
I apologise in advance that this is going to be a bit of a Tolkien fest! Due to the fact that I found it almost impossible to think of elves that weren’t from The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit. So lets explore the elves of Middle-Earth, as well as two non-Tolkien elves I managed think of, for some sort of balance:
Do you like my choices? Can you think of more elves I should check out? Please link in the comments below if you have taken part in this month’s topic too.
Come back next month for: SHAPESHIFTERS.
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Tough Travels is a monthly meme, re-ignited by Fantasy Faction and now hosted by The Fantasy Hive, which, inspired by The Tough Guide to Fantasyland by Diana Wynne Jones, spotlights each month a different fantasy trope for us to compile lists and have fun with. Last month we discussed MENTORS. This month’s topic is:
ELVES
‘Elves claim to have been the first people in Fantasyland. They are called the Elder Race. They did not, they claim, evolve like humans, but sprang into being just as they are now.
The Elves’ claim is borne out to some extent by the well attested fact that their flesh is less gross and substantial than that of humans.
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‘In looks, Elves are taller and more slender than any humans, and very beautiful. Most of them appear youthful.
All Elves feel themselves superior to humans and make it very clear that they do not operate by human rules. This is true, in that many of them can do some MAGIC.
If you meet Elves, expect to have to listen for hours while they tell you how great numbers of their race have become so wearied with the thinning of the old golden wonders that they have all departed, departed into the West.‘
Diana Wynne Jones, The Tough Guide to Fantasyland
I apologise in advance that this is going to be a bit of a Tolkien fest! Due to the fact that I found it almost impossible to think of elves that weren’t from The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit. So lets explore the elves of Middle-Earth, as well as two non-Tolkien elves I managed think of, for some sort of balance:
Do you like my choices? Can you think of more elves I should check out? Please link in the comments below if you have taken part in this month’s topic too.
Come back next month for: SHAPESHIFTERS.
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Preview — The Tough Guide to Fantasyland by Diana Wynne Jones
This authoritative A-Z guide constitutes an essential source of information for all who dare to venture into the imaginative hinterlands, providing acute insights into such subjects as: the varying types of virgin, why High Priests are invariably evil, how Dark Lords always have minions, and why Cooks all have filthy tempers. Whether you're a first-time visitor or a vetera..more
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Published October 5th 2006 by Firebird
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Nov 05, 2011Nataliya rated it it was amazing
Shelves: 2011-reads, favorites, book-list-for-bri, 2018-reads
If you have read at least a handful of traditional fantasy books, no doubt that most of the tropes found in this mock A-to-Z Fantasyland encyclopedia/travel guide (for a hypothetical tour of a Generic Fantasyland, organized by a sinisterly capitalized Management) will be familiar to you. You can read this book in a traditional way - front to back cover, or just pick up any entries at random - it's just as entertaining. It's hilarious and so true, and yet not condescending or malicious, and does..more
Feb 26, 2012Shauna rated it really liked it
In The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, Diana Wynne Jones doles out such indispensable advice as how to tell whether a PERSON is good or evil by their COLOR CODING, what to expect during the various stages of your TOUR, the importance of NAMES (if you don't have one, you will always be killed sooner or later. Probably sooner.), what sort of PEOPLE makes the best companions (at least one or two LITTLE PEOPLE are reccommended- they tell jokes- though the most likely candidates would probably be FEMALE..more
Sep 25, 2018Fran rated it really liked it
I like this book. That said, this is not a novel, it's a clever collection of fantastic definitions and how you can best play with them when writing (and even reading) to have the most fun and punchy results.
It won't be an interesting read for everybody, but if fantasy books are a pleasure for you, Wynne Jones's Though Guide to Fantasyland can -surely will- bring some laughs and much needed understanding of some common and not so common topics and cliches in fantastic literature. Wynne Jones sty..more
Jones was working on a fantasy encyclopedia with some other guys, and they kept making jokes about fantasy tropes. One of them said she should write her own encyclopedia. So she did. And then, after that, she used the idea of other-world fantasy tourism as the basis for the two Derkholm books, which amused me no end.
So I like the ideas here (Food: it's always stew, never a steak, never an omelet), and I agree with Gaiman that if one were to write a work of fantasy it'd be a good idea to go throu..more
Aug 18, 2013Olga Godim rated it it was amazing
This is hilarious, an absolute must for every fantasy writer. The book is a mock A to Z guide of the tropes of fantasy. Now and then, I just open it randomly for a dose of laughter, read a few entries starting with different letters, giggle, and close it again, till next time.
As I writer, I can say that if you write fantasy, you can't avoid at least some of the clichés described in all their ridiculous details in this book. It's up to you to use them in an original way, if at all possible. Of a..more
Aug 02, 2008Sandi rated it really liked it · review of another edition
I'm cheating. I'm moving this book to my read shelf and giving it a rating even though I haven't finished it. I don't think you can finish reading this book any more than you can finish reading a dictionary, an encyclopedia, or a tour guide. I can't even tell you how much of this book I have read. This is like a mini-dictionary of fantasy concepts. You'll be reading an entry and it will refer to other entries. You'll read those entries and jump to yet other ones. The next thing you know, you've..more
Nov 14, 2012Arielle Walker rated it really liked it
Absolutely hilarious. The bit about the pollinating horses is probably my favourite. (No, I will not spoil it for you. You'll have to read it to see what I mean)
Dec 20, 2011Pauline Ross rated it it was amazing
Shelves: genre-fantasy, actual-book, genre-humour, reference, 5-star
This is a wonderful, wonderful book. It’s the perfect antidote to all those terribly solemn tomes full of wizards speaking portentously, hidden heirs to the kingdom, the sort who instantly become amazingly adept with a sword, and tediously earnest quests for magic McGuffins. In the guise of a guidebook (with a map - naturally), it’s actually an encyclopedia of fantasy tropes. Instead of a proper review, I can’t do better than to give some examples:
[Quote] ENDLESS QUEST: See QUEST, ENDLESS. NUNNERI..more
May 15, 2012seak marked it as to-read
I just got this and I've only read a couple paragraphs (not even a full page mind you) and I can't stop laughing. And I'm talking about what LOL means not what you actually do.
This is literally an A to Z reference book, or even more specifically, a dictionary. No chapters, unless you count the breaks between letters. I've just gone from one thing that was mentioned at the beginning and read a couple 'definitions' that were semi-interrelated (as in one definition mentioned a word that I looked u..more
Sep 06, 2008C. rated it really liked it
At its best this is hilarious, piercing and painfully accurate. All of our favourite (and least favourite) fantastical tropes are impaled, pinned to the ground and ruthlessly ridiculed for the repetitive and overused cliches that they are. But it's also a little too much of a good thing. Hard as it is to believe, even laughing at bad fantasy gets tired after a while. Definitely one to dip into every now and again.
Dec 25, 2009Nikki rated it really liked it
A Tough Guide to Fantasyland is a wry, fun look at fantasy tropes, which any aficionado of the genre with a scrap of awareness should have noticed by now. It's not the sort of thing you can sit down and read from cover to cover, generally -- it's a reference book. It's the sort of thing you dip into, and spend a half hour here and there perusing. Aug 24, 2007elvedril rated it liked it
I miss Diana Wynne Jones, I really do.
Shelves: fantasy
This joking encyclopedia of fantasy tropes is filled with good jokes, and is really funny to browse through. However, like many works which rely upon a simple parody premise, the joke gets a little tired sometime before the end. As such reading it quickly is not encouraged.
Mar 15, 2017Laura Hughes rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Bloody brilliant. Can't believe it's taken me so long to read this bad boy!
Jan 26, 2009Moira Russell rated it it was amazing
Shelves: on-the-kindle, 2011-50-new-books-challenge, ebook
Any book that cracks me up, repeatedly, during the midst of a terrible black depressive episode gets five stars from me. A number of my Jones-fanatic friends don't like it, which surprised me. I think you have to have the right sense of nasty humour to truly appreciate it.
Nov 22, 2014Sarah rated it really liked it
Shelves: fantasy-guidebooks, fantasy, a-whole-new-world
As I mentioned while reading this book, I'm not sure how this is Dark Lord Approved as it says on the cover, but it's definitely Sarah-approved. Jun 11, 2013Mary Catelli rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Essentially, this 'fantasyland guidebook' lists a massive variety of fantasy cliches and tropes iin the format of an A-Z tourist's guide. It's highly funny in a sarcastic, laughing-at-itself sort of way that reminded me of Terry Pratchett's Discworld books. It's also a must-read for fantasy writers, both to more or less directly show you what to avoid a..more
Shelves: high-fantasy, humor, how-to-write, favorites
'City of Wizards is normally quite a GOOD thing, since only Good WIZARDS seem able to live together. . . .There have been cities of EVIL Wizards in the past. You will occasionally come across the sites of these, reduced to a glassy slag during the ultimate disagreement.'
Any reader of epic fantasy or sword and sorcery will find it hilarious. Any would-be writer of epic fantasy or sword and sorcery should probably regard it as required reading. Indeed, in an online discussion, one writer told how..more
Jul 22, 2008Scurra rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
You'd never get the impression from reading her other books that Diana Wynne Jones could possibly write anything like this - not in the humorous element, because that's evident from everything she does, but in the viciousness with which she attacks and brilliantly dissects everything that's wrong in 'fantasy'; even the acknowledged classics come in for a little bit of a subtle beating here.
I understand that the genesis for this book arose from research she did for the wonderful Encyclopaedia of..more
Jul 07, 2018colleen the convivial curmudgeon rated it liked it
3.5 Dec 27, 2018Erin the Avid Reader ⚜BFF's with the Cheshire Cat⚜ rated it it was amazing
A wry and amusing journey through many of the tropes of the fantasy world(s). I quite liked the commentary about Management and what Management will put the Tourists through and how Management has seemingly little concept of how things like seasons and geography and astronomy actually work. (Management in this instance, of course, being the authors.) I don't think this book is necessarily meant to be read straight through, or needs to be, but that's how I did it. It got a bit repetitive at tim..more
Shelves: favorites, adult, non-fiction, fantasy, humor-and-comedy
Immensely observational, acerbically witty, and endlessly entertaining. This wonderful triad of fantastically indispensable tropes make for a five-star book, in my opinion.
Any work produced by Jones is guaranteed to be subversive, whether she’s slyly inserting mind-boggling, serpentine plots within what masquerades as fairly innocuous stories, to, as Virginia Woolf so eloquently put it “digging caves behind my characters”. Jones makes you think. No take woven by her clever fingers is as simply a..more
Mar 05, 2011Smilingplatypus rated it really liked it · review of another edition
This book is a must-read for anyone who reads fantasy books, especially of the Lord of the Rings/'let's go on a quest' type. Written as though it's a tourist guide to 'Fantasyland', it hilariously lampshades the genre's recurring tropes and character types. Because of its format, it's not really the sort of book that you read from start to finish -- I tried that initially and kept getting sidetracked by the cross-references, so eventually I gave it up and chose entries at random. It would be mor..more
Aug 01, 2007Lorraine rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Hilarious! This is a wonderful book. I loved the section on Ecology (hey, it works out so prettily) and in general, it's very clever and post-modern and what have you.. not in a bad 'look how clever I am' sense but a 'look how cliched things have become' sense. To me the latter is always good.. (though I have my stances on the irony, but that's another matter, isn't it?)
Aug 01, 2017Peter Tillman rated it it was ok
Finally came across a copy [2006], but not really my sort of thing, I'm sorry to say. Has moments, but DNF. Another example of the unpredictable nature of (alleged) humor. Sigh.
Aug 12, 2009Alisha rated it it was amazing
I love thumbing through this book in my spare time and imagining Derk in some of the more outlandish themes. Derk of course being from ‘Dark Lord of Derkholm’ it does make me wonder, with Mrs. Jones’ evil imagination, why or how did he ever survive being a Dark Lord? :) Apr 25, 2010Julie rated it liked it · review of another edition
In any case this book seems to be written much like I imagine the actual ‘Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy’ would be written. It’s full of Mrs. Jones’ wry humor and it’s extremely hard to put down once you’ve picked it up. Just to l..more
Recommended to Julie by: Hey, it's Diana Wynne Jones, what more do you need?
Diana Wynne Jones provides a humorous, tongue-in-cheek guide for Tourists of Fantasyland, a generic fantasy world incorporating every element of every fantasy novel ever.. The guide gives and advice on and reveals pertinent information about all sorts of topics (from Adepts to Zombies) as well as describing how any circumstance will likely turn out. (Will you die during the Pirate Attack? Will you lose a Tour Companion in the incident involving Leather-Winged Avians? Is the red-haired girl in y..more
Feb 15, 2010Charlotte rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
The end is near - for clichees and overdone elements of fantasy that seem to be reoccuring in every second novel or RPG. Be it the omnipresent stew - because from Dragonlance to Name of the Wind, people only ever eat stew! to invisible but barking dogs in towns or rusty, nasty traps in hundred-years-old dungeons, mysteriously working without the slightest problems when our heros enter the place - in this hilarious lexicon you will find them all. Not only a good read that leaves you wiping your t..more
Dec 06, 2017Vicky P rated it it was amazing
As always, Jones is clever and pulls no punches, and the end result of reading her work is that you feel delight, inspiration, and preparedness to face boring tasks.
This book is more nonfiction than fiction, and is essentially an alphabetical list of tropes in high or epic fantasy novels (still today, I found, while reading) marketed as a tourist's guide to a journey in another world, Fantasyland. It's a wonderful companion piece to her novels 'Dark Lord of Derkholm' and 'Year of the Griffin',..more
Dec 15, 2018Charley Robson rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
As savage as it is accurate - and it is absolutely buckets of both.
Fans of fantasy will absolutely get the most out of it, but anyone who's even come within sniffing distance of Game of Thrones will find something to laugh at, from on-the-nose breakdowns of the substances and persons you'll find in Every Capital City Ever to a positively brutal vivisection of the ethno-social coding of groups found on the cardinal corners of every single fantasy map dug out of Tolkien's back garden. If you've got..more
Jun 14, 2019Julian Meynell rated it liked it
This is a comedic dictionary of fantasy tropes. I really like Diana Wynne Jones and this is a very funny dictionary. What is amazing about it is that an entire quickly moving book can make fun of fantasy tropes and still be a proper book length. Any writer planning on writing fantasy should definitely read this book just as a warning to try to be original. Anyway, it is a light and breezy bit of fluff for anyone who wants to see fantasy gently mocked. The book is sort of like Terry Pratchett in..more
Feb 28, 2017James Latimer rated it it was amazing
Indispensable for fans and writers alike, this guide to the tropes, clichés and peculiarities of classic fantasy is both funny and scathing. It would be hard for an author to avoid all the traps the book outlines, and no matter how knowingly they think they've tried, I'd bet this book has at least one entry that will catch them out..
Jul 14, 2017James rated it liked it
A satirical dictionary of fantasy cliches with some snarky side notes on things like how to write a (bad) ballad. It might be possible for someone who's humor impaired and with no knowledge of fantasy to write a really creaky and cliched fantasy novel.
It would probably sell millions. A great bathroom reader.
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Diana was born in London, the daughter of Marjorie (née Jackson) and Richard Aneurin Jones, both of whom were teachers. When war was announced, shortly after her fifth birthday, she was evacuated to Wales, and thereafter moved several times, including periods in Coniston Water, in York, and back in London. In 1943 her family finally settled in Thaxted, Essex, where her parents worked running an ed..more
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“Horses are of a breed unique to Fantasyland. They are capable of galloping full-tilt all day without a rest. Sometimes they do not require food or water. They never cast shoes, go lame or put their hooves down holes, except when the Management deems it necessary, as when the forces of the Dark Lord are only half an hour behind. They never otherwise stumble. Nor do they ever make life difficult for Tourists by biting or kicking their riders or one another. They never resist being mounted or blow out so that their girths slip, or do any of the other things that make horses so chancy in this world. For instance, they never shy and seldom whinny or demand sugar at inopportune moments. But for some reason you cannot hold a conversation while riding them. If you want to say anything to another Tourist (or vice versa), both of you will have to rein to a stop and stand staring out over a valley while you talk. Apart from this inexplicable quirk, horses can be used just like bicycles, and usually are. Much research into how these exemplary animals come to exist has resulted in the following: no mare ever comes into season on the Tour and no stallion ever shows an interest in a mare; and few horses are described as geldings. It therefore seems probable that they breed by pollination. This theory seems to account for everything, since it is clear that the creatures do behave more like vegetables than mammals. Nomads appears to have a monopoly on horse-breeding. They alone possess the secret of how to pollinate them.”
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