Friday, January 11, 2013

Top 10 magical objects in fiction

Conrad Mason is the author of the children’s novel The Demon’s Watch, and other books.

One entry on his list of the top ten magical objects in fiction, as told to the Guardian:
The One Ring (The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien)

...probably the most famous magical object of all time and the MacGuffin par excellence. Plain gold except when exposed to fire, which makes it all the more beguiling – its secrets are locked up within. Surely the most malevolent inanimate object in all of literature.
Read about another entry on the list.

The Lord of the Rings also made Linus Roache's six best books list, Derek Landy's top ten list of villains in children's books, Charlie Jane Anders and Michael Ann Dobbs' list of ten classic SF books that were originally considered failures, Lev Grossman's list of the six greatest fantasy books of all time, and appears on John Mullan's lists of ten of the best women dressed as men, ten of the best bows and arrows in literature, ten of the best beards in literature, ten of the best towers in literature, ten of the best volcanoes in literature, ten of the best chases in literature, and ten of the best monsters in literature. It is one of Salman Rushdie's five best fantasy novels for all ages. It is a book that made a difference to Pat Conroy.

--Marshal Zeringue