OK, so I’m fresh back from an island adventure with our two friends from Italy, so I’m in a tropical frame of mind.
Thinking about it, I realize that most “traditional” fantasy takes place in forests and plains and woody places.
But what about tropical locales, like Hawaii? Were the famed “menehune” – a short people who were credited as fairies and tricksters in Polynesia, really elves?
I’ve read a few stories that touched on tropical locations (Stephen Donaldson’s books come to mind) but very little actually set in such a locale.
So my questions to you today – can elves live in the tropics? How would the stories be different? And is there an LGBT angle to the idea?