Some Fantasy Map Links Round Up Thing

This article by Alex Acks at Tor.com is nearly a month old now but I did mean to post a link to it because it is is very good: https://www.tor.com/2017/08/01/tolkiens-map-and-the-messed-up-mountains-of-middle-earth/ The article looks specifically at the iconic map of Middle Earth by J.R.R.Tolkien. (Also read this previous column which is less specifically about maps but more about geography https://www.tor.com/2017/06/19/what-the-world-of-the-hunger-games-teaches-us-about-global-warming/ )

More recently Alex Acks has written a more general set of geomorphological issues with fantasy maps in the provocatively titled I Don’t Like Fantasy Maps http://katsudon.net/?p=5700

A broader discussion of maps in fantasy literature appeared mid-August at Longreads here https://longreads.com/2017/08/24/fantasy-maps-game-of-thrones/ by Adrian Duab (and also links to Alex Acks’s Tor.com article)

And chasing links in that article will take you to the website home of a fun Twitter account that generates plausible looking fictional maps http://mewo2.com/notes/terrain/ Worth checking out other things there including the original Deserts of the West and the Emoji Map generator. Also, a write up on Martin O’Leary’s map bots at National Geographic http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/08/bot-fantasy-map-generator/ 

Going back to 2015 a more manual way of making less dodgy fantasy maps: https://mythcreants.com/blog/crafting-plausible-maps/ 

While I’m here and heading back further in time:

Wired article on Jonathan Roberts 2013 https://www.wired.com/2013/12/fantasy-maps-cartography-tips-jonatha-roberts-game-of-thrones/

And his blog on how to draw fantasy maps http://www.fantasticmaps.com/

A different Jonathan – Jonathan Crowe – with a 2013 article on another problem with fantasy maps: they are anachronistic and follow modern sensibility of maps rather than according to the pseudo-medieval settings of the books http://www.maproomblog.com/publications/here-be-blank-spaces-vaguely-medieval-fantasy-maps/

A collection of notable fantasy maps from io9 in 2013 http://io9.gizmodo.com/the-most-incredible-fantasy-maps-youve-ever-seen-474420566?IR=T

And last but not least a how-to from i09 in 2015 http://io9.gizmodo.com/10-rules-for-making-better-fantasy-maps-1680429159?IR=T

[ETA This article by Sarah Gailey about her map of alt-history Louisianna for River of Teeth https://www.tor.com/2017/04/14/mean-hippos-fjords-and-fiddly-bits-making-the-map-for-river-of-teeth/  ]

[ETA Paul Weimer has a new post partly in response to Alex Acks’s post http://skyseastone.net/jvstin/?p=4700 ]

[ETA Fantasy city generator https://watabou.itch.io/medieval-fantasy-city-generator ]