I was watching the Baltimore Ravens beat the Texans the other day, and for some unknown reason my mind wandered to a modern fantasy story that I enjoy – Princess of Wands by John Ringo (Baen). This is one of several stories in which faith and worship are the source of the magical energy deities use.
This begs the question – in such a universe, where does the magical power generated by sports fans go? I know that some of you are vehemently claiming that being a sports fan is nothing like worshiping a deity. To that, I say: hogwash! When it’s fourth and goal, even the most rabid atheist prays to the gods of football.
Thinking about my question, I went back over other stories that I believe fit into this same category. I can only think of two others at the moment – the Incarnations of Immortality books by Piers Anthony and the Harry Dresden novels by Jim Butcher. I don’t recall any mention of sports in the Dresden stories and it’s been too long since I read the Incarnations books.
If anyone reading this can think of another modern fantasy story that falls into this category, please post a comment. Especially if they have any mentions of sports.
In the meantime, I’m eagerly awaiting the sequel to the John Ringo novel. Queen of Wands has been announced with an August 7, 2012 release date.
Go Ravens!
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January 16, 2012 at 4:27 pm
Bear
“American Gods” by Neil Gaiman has your theme woven into it, strongly actually, as the “worship” of new things generates new dieties such as Technology and Media, if I recall correctly.
January 16, 2012 at 4:48 pm
Martin.
I can’t recall if this is an exact match, as regards whether the magic in the sport comes from the sports fans and the participants, or just from the participants (drivers and mechanics), but Mercedes Lackey has several novels in the _The SERRAted Edge_ sub set of her _Elves on the Road universe_.
http://www.mercedeslackey.com/biblio_series.html
_Born to Run_ by Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon (1992),
is in the Baen Free Library.
http://www.baenebooks.com/p-571-born-to-run.aspx
A quote
“Now, what Keighvin won’t tell you, because like most elves, he’s an arrogant sonuvabanshee, is that humans were applying magic to cars before the elves thought of it. A lot of times they didn’t realize that was what they were doing, but a lot of times they knew exactly what they were doing, especially on the racing circuit. So when the elves came on the scene, they got a bit of a shock, because there were humans out there already, using magicked cars. That’s when they decided it might be a good idea to try and join up with some of those humans.” He spread his hands. “Voila—SERRA was born.”
“But why racing?” Sam asked, still bewildered. “For the Sidhe, I mean. It seems so—foreign to what they are.”
“Boredom,” … They were bored, and racing gave them a chance to bring back some excitement to their lives, like the old combat-challenges used to give them. Brought them that element of risk back—” his face sobered “—’cause, Sam, if you mess up on the track, sometimes it’s permanent, and sometimes it’s terminal.”
January 17, 2012 at 12:44 pm
Jeffrey Smith
I think Matt Forbeck’s Bloodbowl series of books come closest to what you are suggesting. Magic, football, strange gods who are affected by the worship of the teams and fans it has it all.