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11.
AOTW: Do you plan on seeing The Fellowship of the Ring, the first in The Lord of the Rings trilogy when it comes out in December? Should Tolkien get the award for undisputed master of the genre?
Sherwood Smith: I will go see it only after I am reliably informed that Tolkien's language hasn't been massacred. I don't think I could bear it if, for example, Galadriel said to Frodo, over her fountain, 'It's not about the ring, Frodo, it's about war.' Gag. As for master of the genre, of course!
Nancy Springer: I don't watch movies, because they make me shake and give me severe stomach cramps. I seem to be allergic to movies. And TV. So no, I won't be seeing the LOTR movies. Tolkien was a big influence on my early writing, but would I entitle him Master of Fantasy? No. I don't think so. But then, I don't limit fantasy to "genre" fiction. For 'master fantasist' status, I'd nominate Margaret Atwood, or Toni Morrison, or Homer, Ovid, Chaucer, Jonathan Swift, Kipling, Oscar Wilde, Shirley Jackson, Mark Twain, Lewis Carroll, Kenneth Graham, James Thurber, T.H. White, E.B. White, Beatrix Potter, Dr. Seuss, Ian Fleming, Dickens, Ann Sexton, Tennyson, Spenser, Shakespeare, or any of many other literary greats, all of whom wrote splendid works of fantasy.
Nancy Farmer: The only people in the world who are not going to see The Fellowship of the Ring are living in caves in Afghanistan. Of course Tolkien is the undisputed master of the genre.
Tamora Pierce: I bow to Tolkein --- he was my introduction to fantasy and the god-like being whose books I read obsessively from middle school through college, the main writer to shape the way I write --- but I wouldn't designate him *the* master. What about Homer, or Shakespeare? What about the Grimms or Hans Christian Andersen, or Uncle Remus? And at the result of getting brickbats tossed my way, I think Guy Gavriel Kay outdid Tolkein on Tolkein's own ground with his Fionavar tapestry (The Summer Tree, The Wandering Fire, The Longest Road).
Mark L. Williams: Yes, I'll be taking my aforementioned 7-year-old son, Elijah, to see it with me, and yes, if Tolkien doesn't get the award, then who?
Carol Hughes: Yes, I'm planning on seeing the movie. Can't wait. And never mind Tolkien, I think Peter Jackson should be awarded some amazing prize for even attempting to bring it to the screen. I have no doubt it will be superb. Jackson is one of the finest directors out there and I'm sure he'll make even Tom Bombadill interesting which is more than Tolkien ever managed to do. (Actually I just heard that Tom Bombadill has been cut from the movie version --- smart move Jackson!)
Meredith Ann Pierce: I'm very much looking forward to The Fellowship of the Ring. Tolkien is indisputably a quintessential master of the fantasy genre. He's one of my very favorite fantasy authors. I know many, many other fantasy buffs who feel the same way. I can't call him "the" master of the genre (meaning "the best"), because I could never choose just one of my many favorite fantasy authors as "the best." But he is certainly one of the best. I just hope the movie can do the original novel justice! Let's keep our fingers crossed.
Patrice Kindl: Master of High Fantasy, perhaps, but I am a low fantasy lover and writer. I will either see the movie in theaters or later in video.
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