Magic From The Margins In Long-Awaited 'Long Hidden' : NPR: As I was growing up, the fantasy worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis provided a way to escape a childhood I wasn't quite sure I would survive. Myth is powerful stuff; it opened doorways to alternate realities that helped me see more clearly the twisted power lines that dictated my upbringing. But that was my childhood: the childhood of a white, middle class girl who could relate to middle class white hobbits and the Pevensie children and the icky evil they encountered (which, trust me, was very icky).
That twisty point becomes the double edged sword upon which the fantasy tradition continuously spears itself — if it speaks to you, why concern yourself with acknowledging the grotesque gaps and silent spaces where the narratives of marginalized voices have been relegated? The collected stories in Long Hidden create a bridge between history and fantasy that allows for even deeper truths to be told.
