\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/em><\/p>\n
Mary Gentle (b. 1956)<\/h4>\n
15 High-Brow, 3 Violent, 23 Experimental and 11 Cynical!<\/p>\n
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Congratulations! You are High-Brow, Violent, Experimental and Cynical! These concepts are defined below.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Mary Gentle is a UK author whose work has received some acclaim. Her great break-through came with 1984 fantasy novel Golden Witchbreed<\/em>, which depicts the travels of a UK envoy on a planet, Orthe,\u00a0where the inhabitants have, by choice, abandoned a high-tech society for a seemingly less advanced way of life. Though nominally science fiction, the novel is generally called fantasy, partly because Orthe\u00a0has the feel<\/em> of a fantasy world. Nothing is what it first seems to be on Orthe, however, and the envoy’s journey across the planet gradually reveals a vividly imagined alternate society, where nothing is ever over-simplified or, for that matter, easy. Gentle revisited Orthe in 1987, when the sequel Ancient Light<\/em> was published.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Since then Gentle has written the White Crow<\/em> sequence, starting with Rats and Gargoyles<\/em> (1990), which has received some acclaim, not least from other writers;\u00a0China Mi\u00e9ville, for\u00a0example,\u00a0put it on his list of “50 science fiction and fantasy novels socialists should read”. She has also written Grunts!<\/em> (1992), a novel set in a Tolkien-like fantasy world, but told from the point of view of the orcs, as well as several other books.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Gentle is not one to shun away from difficult issues in her works\u00a0and is equally\u00a0unafraid of discussing and depicting violence. Neither has she settled to writing the same kind of story over and over, and, while being at her best a great entertainer, she has the ability of twisting and bending fantasy environments and themes at her will, making unafraid<\/em> a key-word of her career as a writer.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n You are also a lot like Gene Wolfe.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n If you want something more gentle (no pun intended)<\/span><\/span>, try Philip Pullman.<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n If you’d like a challenge, try your exact opposite<\/span>, J K Rowling.<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n Your score<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n This is how to interpret your score: Your attitudes have been measured on four different scales, called\u00a01) High-Brow vs. Low-Brow, 2) Violent vs. Peaceful, 3) Experimental vs. Traditional and 4) Cynical vs. Romantic. Imagine that when you were born, you were in a state of innocence, a tabula rasa <\/em>who would have scored zero on each scale. Since then, a number of circumstances (including genetical, cultural and environmental factors) have pushed you towards either end of these scales. If you’re at 45 or -45 you would be almost entirely cynical, low-brow or whatever. The closer to zero you are, the less extreme your attitude. However, you should always<\/em> be more of\u00a0either (eg more romantic than cynical).\u00a0Please note that even\u00a0though High-Brow, Violent, Experimental and Cynical have positive numbers (1 through 45) and their opposites negative numbers (-1 through -45), this doesn’t mean that either quality is better. All attitudes have their positive and negative sides, as explained below.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n High-Brow vs. Low-Brow<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n You received 15 points, making you more High-Brow <\/span>than Low<\/span>-Brow. Being high-browed in this context refers to being more fascinated with the sort of art that critics and scholars tend to favour, rather than the best-selling kind. At their best<\/span>, high-brows are cultured, able to appreciate the\u00a0finer nuances of literature and not content with simplifications. At their worst<\/span> they are, well, snobs.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Violent vs. Peaceful<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n You received 3 points, making you more Violent <\/span>than Peaceful. Please note<\/span> that violent in this context does not<\/span> mean that you, personally,\u00a0are prone to violence. This scale is a measurement of a) if you are tolerant to violence in fiction and b) whether you see violence as a means that can be used to achieve a good end. If you are, and you do, then you are violent as defined here. At their best<\/span>, violent people are the heroes who don’t hesitate to stop the villain threatening innocents by means of a good kick. At their worst<\/span>, they are the villains themselves.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Experimental vs Traditional<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n You received 23 points, making you more Experimental <\/span>than Traditional. Your position on this scale indicates if you’re more likely to seek out the new and unexpected or if you are more comfortable with the familiar, especially in regards to culture. Note that traditional as defined here does not equal conservative, in the political sense. At their best<\/span>, experimental people are the ones who show humanity the way forward. At their worst<\/span>, they provoke for\u00a0the sake of\u00a0provocation only.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Cynical vs Romantic<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n You received 11 points, making you more C<\/span>ynical <\/span>than Romantic. Your position on this scale indicates if you are more likely to be wary, suspicious and skeptical\u00a0to people around you and the world at large,\u00a0or if you are more likely to believe in grand schemes,\u00a0happy endings and the basic goodness of humankind. It is by far the most vaguely defined scale, which is why you’ll find the sentence “you are also a lot like x<\/em>” above. If you feel that your position on this scale is wrong, then you are probably more<\/em> like author x<\/em>. At their best<\/span>, cynical people are able to see through lies and spot crucial flaws in plans and schemes. At their worst<\/span>, they are overly negative, bringing everybody else down.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Author picture by the talented artist “Molosovsky”. Visit http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/people\/25360041@N06\/<\/a>\u00a0for more!<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/div>\n I’ve never read any of Mary Gentle’s work. I’ve heard good things — and bad things — about Grunts<\/i>. That said, I have<\/i> been curious about it. Maybe I’ll track a used copy down and give it a shot. :h2g2:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I saw this on some friends’ blogs earlier in the week, and being such a follower, I decided I would play. If I were a fantasy author, who would I be? Your result for Which fantasy writer are you?… Mary Gentle (b. 1956) 15 High-Brow, 3 Violent, 23 Experimental and 11 Cynical! Congratulations! You areContinue reading “On My Authorial Tendencies”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[445,4107,4102],"class_list":["post-2390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-memes","tag-fantasy","tag-memes","tag-writing","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2390\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.allyngibson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTake Which fantasy writer are you?<\/a> at H<\/span>elloQ<\/span>uizzy<\/b><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n