Fantasy bonsai

I know there are folks on here who do not look down their noses at fantasy fiction, but I wonder how many of you know that some of the best fantasy fiction being written today is being written for younger readers -- teens and so-called "young adult" readers.

One of the more prolific of these writers is Tamora Pierce, with several series under her belt. One of the recent series is "The Circle Opens." The two books I know of in that series "Magic Steps" and "Secret Magic" have as a protagonist a young magician who does bonsai with magic. The trees he makes are not called bonsai, but the styles he makes are the proper Japanese terms, and the processes (non magical, at least) are also proper.

It makes me wonder if Ms. Pierce, who lives in NYC, does bonsai herself.

Hey Jim, I remember when you suggested "This Immortal" a few years ago. I really enjoyed it. I have been reading sci fi, and other fantasy fiction for 20 years. Ill give this suggestion a shot. I know this might sound like a silly question but, have you read any of the Edgar Rice Burroughs works? I recently rediscovered him and have been listening to the audio books while I lay in bed. I have also gotten into H. Beam Piper. Interesting undertones.

Ha! ERB and I are almost contemporaries! Or at least we overlapped -- I was a teen when he died in 1950. <g> I grew up on Tarzan and his lesser works like the Martian series.

JimLewis wrote:Ha! ERB and I are almost contemporaries! Or at least we overlapped -- I was a teen when he died in 1950. <g> I grew up on Tarzan and his lesser works like the Martian series.

Ha, cool! I like his writing. Tarzan was always a childhood favorite. It was one of many stories that led me to imagine a world different then the one I see everyday.

I still hold onto my childhood fantasies of being able to see something not of this world. I get excited when I show my children something natural and new. It reminds me of when I was young and I thought creatures like jelly fish had to be from outer space. I still think they might be