Originally appearing in the second volume of our Quarterly Almanac, Where to Start with Portal Fantasies is the part of an ongoing series of essays detailing where one can start with any number of SFF/popgeekery topics. For this round, we asked writer Seanan McGuire to talk about portal fantasies, inspired by her excellent novella Every Heart a Doorway. Enjoy! Where to Start with Portal Fantasies by Seanan Mcguire The term “Portal Fantasy” is often treated as synonymous with “children’s story.” A child, eager for adventure or needing to learn a lesson—or both—falls through a doorway or portal of some kind and finds themselves in a strange new world, one which happens to have been perfectly designed to teach them what they need to know before packing them up and sending them home, older, wiser, and finally ready to take up their rightful place as productive members of society. The best cure for wanting magical adventures, in a portal fantasy world, is actually having a magical adventure. This is meant to be a sort of “starter kit” essay, telling you where to begin with the portal fantasy genre, but the odds are good, if you’ve grown up reading English-language science fiction … Continue reading Where to Start with Portal Fantasies by Seanan McGuire