I've always loved poet Marianne Moore's line about "imaginary gardens with real toads in them." For Moore, it means poetry; to me, it's also a definition of the best fiction. Fantasy fiction, yes -- but isn't all fiction fantasy? A fictive place, be it a half-acre garden or a whole world, springs to life around a reader. The people you meet there, the events that happen, the objects you take in your hand, are real for as long as you're there. They live in your memory after you've left that place. And guess what -- they're not the author's doing only, but YOUR doing too -- your creation and you more...
