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Welcome to my fantasy world...

15:34 / 24.12.05

Okay, so Narnia looks a bit dull, to be honest, and Middle Earth looks like you spend most of the time either hiding, fighting or drunk, oh and dirty, so very very dirty. Star Wars looks shit, either in amongst big empires, or on the edge of the world farming dew. Earthsea crossed my mind, but then it left again, and harry Potter's world, well, Potter's just too much of an idiot.

I got into a discussion with Mrs The Ball, about which world would I like to be in. As a comic reader I thought about the various comic universes - DCU is a little too dangerous, and Marvel, well, everyone has powers in the Marvel Universe (unless I could say what powers I could have, it'd be too much of a risk in either - although a Green Lantern ring would be great). Ultimately, and rather boring, I thought, I ended up saying the Star Trek universe. Not the biggest fan, I like the old show, and some of the films, but something appealed about the idea of being on a ship floating about in space, exploring new worlds etc.

So, what about the rest of you?

17:30 / 24.12.05

Oooh, ooh, Gormenghast would be lovely, as long as I get to be imprtant. Imagine being described for page upon page in Peake's billious prose:-

"His skin rippled in eldritch turns, and from his head hung a dripping mop of hair that framed his face like a grasping paw." etc etc...

17:36 / 24.12.05

I'd like to live in that magical land that shows up occasionally in the works of Neil Gaiman, that land of fancy and whimsy and colorful characters—patently fantastical, of course, but pleasant enough for all that it only exists in Neil's imagination—the land he calls "America."

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

18:55 / 24.12.05

Moominvalley.

(I just wrote a few lines explaining why, and then realised it didn't really do it justice- so to cut it short- wonderful, exciting, BEAUTIFUL places... full of mystery, and the sinister uncertainty a young moomin needs in order to grow).

Moominvalley.

Did I say that already?

Kali, Queen of Kitteh

19:24 / 24.12.05

I have to admit despite all the attendant dangers and limited life span, I wouldn't mind living in Gaiman's London Below.

Or William Gibson's future.

22:16 / 24.12.05

The Star Trek utopia sounds pretty good to me. I haven't really given it a great deal of thought but as long as I get to stay on one of those nice brightly coloured Federation planets rather than scary red planets like what them Klingons live on I think it would be cool.
Maybe that holiday pleasure planet (that I can't think of the name of right now) they used to go to occasionally when they didn't have any better plot ideas.

Or maybe somewhere in american teen-drama land. Although I'd have to spend most of my time worrying about who was dating who I would at least always have a roof over my head and an inordinately large studio apartment supported by a good income for which I don't have to work...

Brigade du jour

22:47 / 24.12.05

What a lovely idea for a thread, Benny!

Luckily for me, I already inhabit my own fantasy world. I retreat into it whenever I need to, and it's a world where everyone smiles and loves each other really. Oh, and we can fly and stuff.

22:49 / 24.12.05

LeapWorld. Because I secretly fantasise about using my melee weapon to EDUCATE slappers of the parish.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

22:49 / 24.12.05

Thing with Moominvalley is that the laws of physics there are such that wrapping up Christmas presents when you're hammered is actually really easy.

I so want to live there.

P. Horus Rhacoid

00:25 / 25.12.05

I thought maybe Gibson's future but man, possibilities for violent death abound, plus they eat krill.

Hmm. I'm going to say Douglas Adams' galaxy just because it's incredibly bizarre and has such a twisted internal logic that just about anything's possible. That'd definitely be cool, especially if I could hang with Zaphod Beeblebrox and toss back Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, plus if I died it would probably be funny.

Wait, I just remembered His Dark Materials. It pretty much has to be Lyra's world. It has armored bears, for chrissakes, and I can think of few things cooler than having a daemon. Plus, the possibility of violent/comical death or abject poverty seems significantly lower than in most other places that have been mentioned other than, perhaps, Moominvalley. And, apparently, LeapWorld, assuming I am not a 'slapper.'

Kali, Queen of Kitteh

16:41 / 25.12.05

I wouldn't mind living in Joss Whedon's future either, provided I had some sort of kick-ass duty on Serenity.

19:48 / 25.12.05

Pac Man- you spend all your time in a dark room listening to electronic bleeping eating pills and chasing ghosts.
I think Phillip Pullman's world of Daemons, armoured polar bears and Deicide would suit me best, as long as I get a funky magic item. Maybe D&D for easy access to fireballs and levitation, or a Chrestomanci world perhaps. Leaptopia if there were a benevolent Thaumotacracy or flying wizards with enchanted melee weapons who were all loyal to me, that would rule.

21:58 / 25.12.05

This is assuming you've got the means to enjoy it, right? Because being dirt poor and/or completely unable to fend for yourself would suck in any universe...

My first pick would be Clive Barker's Imajica. Loved that book.

Zelazny's Amber could be fun too, if I'd have a drop of Amberite (or Chaosite) blood in my veins.

22:49 / 25.12.05

I would, of course, occupy the role of David Hasselhoff on Baywatch/Baywatch Nights -- by day, I'm sunning myself on a west coast beach, surrounded by swimsuit models; by night, I'm a third-rate Fox Mulder! Scoff if you will. As far as I'm concerned, though, this covers all the bases.

...Fuck. The more I think about it, that's not even a joke -- that really DOES cover all the bases. And if you throw in the awesome studio apartment I don't have to pay for from Sparky's example...oh my God. OH MY GOD! GIVE ME BACK MY LIFE, DAVID HASSELHOFF!!

00:23 / 26.12.05

I'd like to visit San Andreas, just y'know, to paint the town red with peds. Otherwise, I could happily exist on Discworld. Not quite as serious as Middle-Earth, the locals are friendlier and even science marches onwards. Soon they'll probably have TVs where all the people are played by imps. Who need drugs then, eh?

00:48 / 26.12.05

I had been thinking of Layla's World too. Plenty of science, magic & erudite academic types to endlessly fascinate me. More than a chance of carving out some quiet, undisturbed existence without fear of beheading, flaying, disfigurment or magical curses (unlike other more dystopian fantasy worlds)
But then I decided upon whatever 60's voyeuristically tinged psycho-drama most of Hitchcock's films reside in. And who knows if I'm lucky I might succeed in avoiding murder and just be constantly entertained by the funny japes and suspensful predicaments of others. And what fun it would be to have your life musically scored as brilliantly as a Hitchcock film.

Haus of Mystery

00:56 / 26.12.05

I would live in the Evil Deadverse, where total bodily dismemberment of your friends or loved ones is only a second away, and Bruce Campbell is King.

A

05:20 / 26.12.05

Call me old-fashioned, but I think I'd dig that superhero sex club out of Flex Mentallo.

06:21 / 26.12.05

Lothlórien in Middle Earth. Ever since I read about the place I've always wanted to go there.

I like trees and Elves.

Bard: One-Man Humaton Hoedown

07:09 / 26.12.05

I wouldn't mind being a nova in Aberrant, or an ace in Wild Cards. Provided I could fly.

For actual fantasy? Discworld sounds good. Embarrasing as it is to say...

...so does Valdemar.

22:48 / 26.12.05

The world of George R.R. Martin's 'A Song Of Ice And Fire'. Huge place, lots of mystery. I reckon somewhere up north, in Winterfell or on the Wall.

23:14 / 26.12.05

Yikes. I loooooooooooove me some Song of Ice and Fire (the only sword n' sorcery I read), but its world seems like an excellent place to be raped, disfigured, maimed, eaten alive or some combination thereof. You're a braver soul than I, yr.

unheimlich manoeuvre

00:41 / 27.12.05

Fantasy? I'd choose an anarcho-socialist utopia. Anarres from Le Guin's Dispossessed, the Culture by Iain M. Banks or Earth in Ken MacLeod's The Cassini Division. Why? Because reading it makes it seem almost possible.

Tryphena Absent

01:03 / 27.12.05

This all sounds very horrible. I'd like to inhabit somewhere vaguely pleasant... hang on I'll just pop over to the bookshelf.

Gosh then a reasonable friend's existence in a Joanna Trollope novel is probably a front-runner at the moment. Placid, calm, a little eccentric and possible radical in a feet-on-the-ground sort of way. I like the sound of that one. Or gosh one of Mary Wesley's fantasy worlds would appeal I suppose- The Vacillations of Poppy Carew or The Camomile Lawn (not the Seventh Seal, far too dramatic). You're a bit bombed, lots of love affairs but ultimately come through it all okay, just a little tired, possibly having de-flowered a virgin along the way. Yes, much better than Narnia or any of that madness. Far too frenetic.

At a stretch I could probably manage Howl's Wales, the town in Archer's Goon (post- story) or Chrestomanci's Castle if I only had to do dinner once a week.

13:12 / 29.12.05

P. G Wodehouse's world would be good. I could live a life of farce and escapades with Oofy, Catsmeat and Gussy where my only worries would be what my valet thought of my new hat and where I would be dining that evening.
However I'm not posh or rich enough so would probably actually end up as an angry embittered member of staff, whose only release is pinching the master's cigars and topping up the whisky decanter with urine.

13:37 / 29.12.05

hmmmm...i'll give my top three:

1) The old Star Trek universe is totally rad. I would wear a minidress and carry a big clinky phasor. The men wear capri cut trousers and wicked boots and EVERYONE flirts with one another. Awesome.

2) Fantastica (Fantasia) in Michael Ende's "The Neverending Story"...the book sorta defined my childhood in a way and i really really want a talking horse.

3) The Bathhouse of the Gods in "Spirited Away"...I wouldn't mind scrubbing the floors as long as I could meet the Radish God.

14:25 / 29.12.05

Although in my adolescence I probably wouldn't have minded being a mighty-thewed barbarian in Hyperborea, grunting and sweating while being fellated in the hay by a winsome, pale serving girl, all the time keeping one hand on my sword hilt and the other on my mead, I can perhaps now see that this is neither the time nor the place for a sensitive, liberal journalist/writer like myself.

So, perhaps it would be to the wonderfully mythical New York of Mark Helprin's Winter's Tale, which I haven't read for many a goodly year but which serves up a rich and sumptuous banquet of an imaginary Big Apple in which young scamps run about amid megalithic machinery and a huge bridge spans the night sky to nowhere, while fantastical creatures lurk in the shadows.

That or Balamory.

15:23 / 29.12.05

What's the story with THAT Sax?

(off topic: a good friend just told me that he once bumped into the cop from Balamory in a a big gay london dance club. i knew it!!!)

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

15:42 / 29.12.05

I'm finding myself alternately drawn to and repulsed by Bellona from Dhalgren- if I was one of the cool Scorpion kids, all hologrammed up and spending the whole time drinking, shagging and kicking ass (with some poetry reading/writing thrown in), while cloaked in a really wicked hologram, it'd be pretty sweet.

Something tells me, however, I'd be one of the dysfunctional family living in the apartment block and going insane trying to pretend everything's still normal.

Withiel: DALI'S ROTTWEILER

17:52 / 29.12.05

Ooh! Yes indeed, inchoate. The Culture for me! What's not to love about beautiful pansexual space communists who fix other planets via sexy espionage? And have drug glands. (I need to read that section from Use of Weapons again, I think).

Either that or Gormenghast, because the world outside the castle is almost more interesting than that within, and exploring would be fantastic. Although you'd be doomed to misery regardless of your social position, of course...

I only want to have to inhabit the Potterverse if I can instigate a revolution of some description, deposing both Voldemort and the Ministry in order to establish a social order that, er, is plausible and not hideously atavistic. And also stick Harry's head on a big pike as a warning to others.

Any of China Miéville's fleeting anarchist utopias (Armada, Iron Council) would be fantastic to live in while they lasted, but probably fraught with danger. Still, exploring Bas-Lag would almost be worth it (especially as it's on an infinite plane rather than a globe, so you can just keep going...)

18:12 / 29.12.05

Yellow Submarine.

Nothing ever happens to me.

18:57 / 29.12.05

Borrower-land, under the kitchen floor.

Maybe I should change my name to Arrietty.

23:38 / 30.12.05

I'm going with Tlön - I'll set up an import-export business for hrönir.