by MarkDerbyshire

Portals! Magical, mystical, or technological marvels of the ages, for the ages, and by the ages. Why so many ages? Well, that's because Portal Fantasy is, perhaps, the quintessential form of fantasy. A bold claim for a subgenre, sure, but hear me out and perhaps you'll agree by about halfway through, or maybe right at the end of this little literary diversion.

Let's get the definition in short form first – Portal Fantasy encompasses the use of a portal to move a character from one world and/or time (often, but not limited to, the 'real world and the present') to another. What is a portal? Practically anything, actually. In Alice in Wonderland we find a rabbit hole doing the job, a wardrobe moonlighting as a portal in The Chronicles of Narnia, while magical barriers like platform nine and three quarters fit the bill in Harry Potter (moving from a muggle world to a wizarding world, in his case). But Mark! That sounds pretty much like Crossworlds fantasy! Yes, completely correct. Often the two terms are interchangeable, and you'll see examples here that are often used as Crossworld examples too, but Crossworlds Fantasy doesn't (usually) travel in time, for one. Besides that, the two are actually pretty damn similar and may one day meld into one if there isn't further seperation.

In the preceding paragraph, we have three vastly different examples from various ages (those ages again!) but the subgenre goes so much further. We have the Stargate series from television, the Portal games for pc, and Gate is a great Portal Fantasy anime. If you want a bit more Bowie in your life, watch Labyrinth (1986) for a great Portal Fantasy movie. In fact, I could use my whole word budget giving you examples on this surprisingly recently defined genre.

So it's all about the portals, I hear the fictional person who runs about in my head ask me. No! Like any good genre, every element combines to give us something great. Portal Fantasy has some of the most heroic characters around, and that's great news because they're often dropped right into the thick of things as an unsung hero. Well, sometimes they're sung heroes, too (here's looking at you, The-Boy-Who-Lived). The world beyond the portal has to be different enough to our own to engage interest, and furthermore needs a measure of conflict. Cue some pretty powerful bad guys here. Solving these conflicts often helps our heroes to face their real world issues too, leaving them far better off if they return home, which they usually do. So Dorothy (Wizard of Oz) learns that our limits are often created by ourselves, The Narnia (do I need to name the book?) pals learn to get along and accept their war torn reality and Neo (The Matrix) becomes strong enough to do some really cool moves and fight the machines. Seriously, his moves are sub-zero. Not joking here.

That pretty much captures the essence of this sub-genre, which should be leaving us with some major concerns. Why does this sound like any other work we read, except that little bit about portals? I mean, let's tick them off. We've got the hero's journey. Check. Hero facing some inner weakness/demon/silliness. Check. The villain's defeat. Check. Everyone's home for a hot dinner and some celebrations. Well, mostly check. Here, my persevering reader, is where I lay down some cold, hard truth. Actually, I lay it down in the very next sentence, not right here, per se.

Portal Fantasy is the foundation of all Fantasy.

Big claim, I know. Let's give it a second for those with objections to subside. I can wait all day. Calm individuals just take this time to rest your eyes for a few seconds, perhaps...

Right, here we go. Books themselves are portals that transport you to the worlds and times they contain. Literally portals, if you watch The Pagemaster. Even ignoring this fact, any character who enters a space that is different to their own has passed through some form of portal. Perhaps it was the car that took them from that little town to the big city, or the spaceship that took them from Earth to the rest of the universe, or the mental shift that took them from this worldview to that worldview (but not those worldviews, ugh).

So, disclaimer here, everything I've just said might be total poppycock. Complete nonsense, impossible fact. But it works for me! Which is one of the reasons I decided to write a book in the genre with much more obvious portals than the metaphysical and somewhat cheatworthy "a book is a portal" one.

You see, most genres are still evolving. Little changes over time run together and give people a sense of the genre. Occasionally a literary-evolutionary work of genius is born and it defines a whole genre (misters Tolkien, Lovecraft and Verne, to name but three), but the work continues to grow. So where does the Portal Fantasy genre go to from here? Well, I believe it uses the theme of portals ever more strongly, blending with other genres as it does so. Portals for everyday items, portals for everyday travel, portals embedded in technology and schooling and health and every conceivable place they can be!

And that, in finishing, is exactly what I intend to do with much of my work.

Example of Portal Fantasy on Wattpad:
New Worlds by MarkDerbyshire

Synopsis:

Torys is beset by the nagging feeling that his life needs something more. As a hunter in the remote village of Erylos, he has been rendered nearly obsolete, and now feels he is stuck in a rut, trying to convince himself that things are all right.

When he rescues a beautiful girl from a dark feline adversary, he joins said girl (Calay) in her role of explorer to discover a world of portals and experiences that he never knew existed. Torys himself holds special powers, inherited from his parents, but who were they and why did they abandon him? What of Calay's missing father and the man named Harn Vore who usurps his position?

The two friends travel to spectacular places to find out more, from the Capital city to the city of the Lost people. On the journey, Torys unlocks powers to help him create portals, uncovers a plot by evil powers and helps fight in an epic war above the clouds.

Excerpt:

Torys slept late into the morning, and felt rather drained when he awoke. His ribs ached painfully from a particularly nasty blow that Calay had landed, and now his muscles were stiff and sore as well. He walked unsteadily to the corner of the room to get some water, recalling that he'd never asked Calay about the water cabinet in the corner of each room. He now suspected they used portals to purify the water, probably selectively allowing only the water to pass through. As he thought about it, he became aware of a subtle energy emanating from the cabinet.

Torys carefully explored the new feeling, reaching out with his portal energy and gently probing the cabinet. He felt an alien presence concentrated around the water, and realised that he was feeling the energy from a small localised portal. He scooped up some water, reflecting that his new faculty would be a useful ability to have and suddenly remembered his last attempt at tricking Calay in the lodging hall. An evil grin spread across his face.

He focused on creating a portal below the water, placing another over the door, and set them to open only when the one by the door was disturbed. His energy was already glowing brightly, despite Calay's warning that he would need a few days to recover. He was surprised by how naturally the actions came to him though. He jumped back into bed and waited for Calay to return to the room. He sniggered at the thought of what would happen to Calay. He sniggered twice, in fact.

At the sound of approaching feet, he held his body perfectly still, and waited. Calay paused for a second outside the door and then slowly began to open it. Suddenly, Torys realised he felt an odd energy above his head, but he was too slow to react. The portal Calay had just created opened above him, sending a cascade of water onto his head, soaking him from head to foot in cold water as she laughed. Sometimes, life just didn't feel fair.

Inspirations:

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https://youtu.be/dJ2YFV5atCM