When I was nineteen, I hopped a Yugoslavian freighter, and jumped ship in Casa Blanca for no other reason than it sounded like a romantic and adventurous way to get across the Atlantic. I didn’t have any idea about where the journey would end up taking me. Months later while I was travelling in Europe, my older sister was back in the States studying with Joseph Campbell at Sarah Lawrence College. I wrote to her telling her that I was becoming interested in Indian philosophy. She was excited about her professor’s work, and on a hunch she sent me a copy of Campbell’s book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces. When I began reading the book, I remember feeling that I …
Why I Write Fantasy by Jonah Rosestone
People need wonder so they can connect to something greater than themselves. Everyday life can be very disheartening. Many of us toil away at jobs we dislike, or at best we are indifferent towards. Certainly, a lucky few are on top of the world working their dream jobs, but for the rest of us commoners, we are where we are because our professions were thrust upon us, or because they were our only opportunities in life. When we are asked in job interviews why we have chosen our paths, we say, “I do this because I want to make a difference.” But, deep down inside many of us wonder if we really can. Fantasy allows us to vicariously be part …