Imagined Worlds, Real Meaning

A quiet look at why fantasy endures — and what it still has to teach us.

April 01, 2025

Volume I: First Light

Fantasy has never been just a genre — it’s the art of imagining the world not as it is, but as it could be. It offers no instruction manual, no guarantees — only wonder.

We turn to it when the world feels too sharp or too narrow, when certainty wears thin and imagination begins to stir. It lets us walk through firelit cities, trace the edges of impossible maps, and hold truths too big for the everyday in the palm of our hands.

What gives fantasy its weight isn’t just the magic or the monsters — it’s the invitation. To imagine more than escape. To see the familiar made strange. And to ask, gently and without shame: what if we were more than we believed ourselves to be?

This week’s highlight is a quiet celebration of that spirit — and a conversation with one of the writers still shaping what fantasy can mean.

Curated Highlight

It's Got Everything You Want, Plus Dragons: Brandon Sanderson on the Joy of Writing Fantasy"

Published in The Guardian on December 6, 2024.

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

In this wide-ranging interview, Brandon Sanderson reflects on the expansive scale of epic fantasy, his early years writing during overnight hotel shifts, and the joy of building imagined worlds that speak to real human emotion. He shares why it’s not the spectacle of magic, but the depth of character, that truly anchors a story — and how fantasy endures because it transforms the mundane into the mystical.

Curious where to start? Check out The Way of Kings — the groundbreaking first book of Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive.

Available in Paperback | Kindle | Audible 

Recent Curation

Looking to add something fresh to your shelf?
Our latest guide features ten standout fantasy novels — a mix of critically praised new releases and upcoming titles generating early buzz for their world-building, character work, and storytelling scale:

Until next time —
The Page Sage