Category Archives: accessibility

Low Fantasy

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Old Skool--I think not.

I think I’ve got it now… or is it just an ‘old skool’ trap?!

Tangier Gardens—what is it , where did it come from?

I wanted to make this post a pithy one-liner; but I can’t. 

Why? 

Because it is about my strange, significant life changes since retirement as a Landscape Architect, and since my stroke. So I hope you can get into it because many of you, as I, have the same deep love of landscape or landscape architecture.

It took me five years to write my first novel, Tangier Gardens: out of the classroom into the real world… via plant portals. It has taken another five years for me to figure out how that story actually fits into the nebulous domains of literature and publishing. Following is how I understand it.

Short answer: Tangier Gardens is low fantasy—oh, but what is that? 

I hesitate to rely on Wikipedia but after numerous cross-checks, I concluded they have the most concise/appropriate definition: 

“Low fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy fiction characterized by magical events intruding upon an otherwise normal, rational world. Unlike high fantasy, which occurs in entirely imaginary worlds (like Middle-earth), low fantasy stories are set on Earth or a recognizable historical landscape where the supernatural is a rare, hidden, or disruptive force. 

Key Characteristics of Low Fantasy

The Setting: Set in the primary, real-world (or an Earth-based historical period), meaning the laws of physics and society generally operate as we expect them to.

The Magic: Magic is clandestine, mysterious, or rare. It doesn’t shape the entire world (like dragons flying through the sky as a normal occurrence); instead, it exists in secret or feels uncanny.

The Scope: The narratives are often grounded, focusing on individual survival, gritty realism, or localized conflicts rather than saving the universe or continent-spanning wars.”

In conclusion: While low fantasy stands out as an intriguing, ever-present Tangier Gardens thread, it isn’t the whole picture. 

Striving to become a professional landscape architect, CJ, the Tangier Gardens protagonist, is unexpectedly overwhelmed by deep cultural roots–landscape legends. He wasn’t looking for legends—they found him.

Legends—from the Moors, from West Africa, from the Sahara—genies, fairies, charms where real life comes in contact with reality just beyond human understanding.

Paranormal? Metaphysical? Myths? Allegories? Fables? Legends? All are found in the landscape—where an ever-vibrant blend of human life and culture thrives—one step beyond. 

So what do we have: love of landscape, gardens, plants, landscape architecture, exotic geography, international adventure, horticulture and botany, and a protagonist’s personal and professional struggles through life. 

Tangier Gardens then is travel fiction with low fantasy. 

Hell, I ain’t famous but I sure had fun writing about where I’ve lived… exotic foreign places where I’ve worked, places I’ve called home.

Please share this with your friends having the same love of landscape.

The Foreshadowing

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The summer’s dark green in the forest trees–only a few days of cooler weather and showers will bring…

 

Amanita muscaria–fly agaric

The iconic red and white mushroom, Amanita muscaria, found in all temperate climates under groves dominated by pines, birches or spruces, is most widely known as the fly agaric.

Easily identifiable by young and old, but confusing.

Poisonous, but edible if properly prepared.

Hallucinogenic–happiness and euphoria.

Myths, fairytales.

Delighting people from time immemorial.

Prominent in Alice in Wonderland, the Smurfs and Mario, the Italian plumber.

So…, what will it be for you?

Go out and find one first.

Under its cap even the little ones are safe.

Luckier than a four-leaf clover.

Band of Zwergs playing sweet music–have they eaten the mushroom?

At home.

…Always Watching…

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They are… always watching…

…always watching…

I live in a heavily touristed mountain region. Guests from around the world in 2026 come for an hour or two to see the Jungfrau. The Jungfrau? A mountain? 

Then the modern tourists are off to their next destination. Few are aware that this Jungfrau Region has been walked by the likes of Tolkien and Byron. Tolkien and Byron visited when the only means of transport were their own two legs. They walked. They slept. They walked again—over days. For them this region was life-changing. Why, you might ask?

Because, as one put it: “I saw the mountains but the mountains did not see me. I wasn’t there long enough.” Let me interpret. The enormity of these mountains, the enormity of their physical presence is the clue. They have a time frame, nay, a speed of communication that does not fit into today’s tourist drive by.

Byron captured it in Canto 3 of his ‘Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage’. Tolkien captured it in the Rivendel landscape in his ‘Lord of the Rings’. The Jungfrau Region mountains’ mood and communication comes via their microclimate, their clouds,  their waterfalls—sunrise, sunset, moonrise over days, weeks, seasons.

They are… always watching…