# Ethnic minorities in fantasies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 11, 2001, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethnic-minorities-in-fantasies/86844 "2001-10-11T18:37:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2001, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethnic-minorities-in-fantasies/86844/41 "2001-10-15T23:34:52Z")
The title character in “Lord Demon” by Roger Zelanzy and Jane Lindskold is a Chinese-type demon, and all the human characters he deals with are Chinese Americans. Some of them are major characters, though the demon is of course the central one. Good book, by the way. It turns out that in the magical realms of the demons, Feng Shui techniques can have some real impressive results (like summoning dragons). ---
**Author:** ![tisiphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tisiphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tisiphone)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2001, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethnic-minorities-in-fantasies/86844/42 "2001-10-16T02:47:16Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Yue Han \* > \*\* > Err, how? Do the rules just work differently in different places? Or for different people? I can’t see how you can do this without one side or another’s mythology getting slighted. Going back to the ghosts fearing spit, how do you rationalize the way that works in Asia (or your Asia-analogue) but not in the Western-type place?_ > > I’m sure its possible to juggle mythology, but its easier to just ignore it and create an all-white world, so the majority of fantasy is going to take the cheap way out. Not a good thing, IMHO, but an answer to the question of the OP. > > I will look around for the books mentioned here, but my local bookstore is limited. Vermont doesn’t like big chain stores, which is super, until you want a Barnes and Nobles. _grumble_ > > –John > \*Actually I can see a solution to this quite easily, its the same thing used in modern vampire novels: if the magical creature thinks something will hurt it, it will. But that requires thought. \*\* _chortles evilly_ Read 'em and find out… No, that’s nasty, an apalling number of them seem to be out of print. You hit on one of the devices used, another is to set the story up wholly in the alternate mythos, and the third is that each creature is affected pretty much by it’s own mythology. For spitting on the ghost to work, it would have to be a Chinese ghost. And it could only haunt someone who was Chinese or had some connection to China. This also tends to go along with the idea that the farther a creature is from its native habitat, the weaker it is. Your second paragraph is why I tend to avoid genre novels most of the time, and why I will never waste shelf space on anything by Dennis McKiernan. If you’re going to rip off Tolkien, be honest about what you are doing and do it well… Good luck, and if you should come across a copy of Charles de Lint’s “Mulengro: A Romany Tale”, I’ll swap you a copy of “Leopard’s Daughter”… ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2001, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethnic-minorities-in-fantasies/86844/43 "2001-10-16T02:48:17Z")
I just thought of another: Steven Brust’s “Jhereg” series. The main character is human in a land where humans are an oppressed minority. ---
**Author:** ![Yondan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/278dde/32.png) [@Yondan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yondan)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2001, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethnic-minorities-in-fantasies/86844/44 "2001-10-16T03:10:40Z")
Brust is def one of my very favorite authors. I think he is one of the finest fantasy writers in America today. Yet I must point out that Vlad, while human in a largely Dragaerean society, is basically a character based on white European model, and so therefore a poor example for this particular thread. However, the stories are **terrific**. ---
**Author:** ![tisiphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tisiphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tisiphone)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2001, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethnic-minorities-in-fantasies/86844/45 "2001-10-16T04:19:56Z")
It still brings up another reconciliation device I forgot. Invent your own mythos. Done with wildly varying success by a whole buncha people. Brust is pretty good at it. I’ve just finished the third book in Michelle West’s Sun Sword series, and I really am enjoying it, if you’re looking for something epic…and they are at least in print. Oh, and “The Paladin” by CJ Cherryh has just been rereleased, so there’s some small hope it may reappear in your bookstores soon. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethnic-minorities-in-fantasies/86844.md?page=2)