Everyone says write the kind of book you would want to read. Well, I want to read a novel in an epic fantasy universe, but without the magic.
I'm curious if anyone thinks one can write fantasy without having magic, and if so... would anyone actually publish the finished product! I'm posting the question here because both Brandon Sanderson and Robert Jordan are big on magic systems. No matter how constrained or systematic magic may be presented in a novel, it has always been a distraction for me. I say that, even if I enjoyed every other part of a novel. For example, I've always been big on Tolkein, but I always appreciated the things that ground orcs, dwarves, or elves in Middle Earth, and not so much the magic. I could do without the magic. I'd rather think of those races as biological, rather than magical beings. It's the grand epic fantasy that I enjoy--the struggle for dominion over Middle Earth or some other fantasy realm.
So... would it be a fool's errand to write a book like this? I think one can still create a mixture of strange and familiar without resorting to magic. Does anyone else think this could be a successful pursuit, if written well?
