What is your name?"
Why?"
So I can mark your grave...

If there is one sound the follows the march of humanity, it is the scream.

This is the real magic of fantasy fiction: it can feed souls and change lives.

If you look at any ancient civilization, they've all used fantasy stories to train the young.

Many fantasy novels - 'Lord of the Rings', for instance, or 'Lavondyss' by Robert Holdstock - are beautifully written. Geoff Ryman's 'The Child Garden' is exquisite and utterly beguiling. Mervyn Peake's 'Gormenghast' trilogy is an astonishing piece of multi-faceted storytelling. So quality of writing does not condemn the genre.

Now the screams were awful to hear as men burned like candles all along the deck. Black smoke billowed over the sea. Argurios could not believe what he was watching. At least fifty helpless men were dying in agony. One man managed to free himself and leap into the sea. Amazingly, when he surfaced the flames were still consuming him.
All along the beach there was silence as the stunned crowd watched the magical fires burning the galley and it's crew.