Addiction in Fantasy

[hopewrites]

its not as bad as it sounds. but they taste like allege.

[P.G.Bell]

Tim Lebbon's first two Noreela novels ("Dusk" and "Dawn") feature a narcotic substance called Fletch; a sort of dry crumbly rock that's mined in the same way as gold. In its powdered form, Fletch is highly addictive and, if I remember correctly, can also induce some mystical/visionary experiences, but utterly fatal. It's like heroin mixed with LSD.

More interesting than the drug itself is the sub-culture that Lebbon builds up around it. The Fletch miners are a society set apart - they live in the mines and, because they've been passively inhaling the Fletch dust all their lives, are automatically addicted. They're outcasts from the wider society, but absolutely vital to it because Noreela's demand for Fletch is so high.

[LadyLara]

I haven't got round to reading it yet, but Steph Swainston's "The Year of Our War" is sat on my bookshelf and from the little bit I read I got the impression that substance addiction (of some sort) is a big part of the story. I remember looking at her website at the time I got the book and it seems addiction is a big interest of hers in general so anything by her might be worth checking out.

I don't know that much about it though as the book was a present and I hadn't heard of it or her before then, and I still haven't read it :/ it's definitely a fantasy book though, it even has a map at the beginning to prove it

[elfrikichino]

Wow, thanks. So many replies! I'm gonna check all these things out.
And I was thinking about the Greek mythology just yesterday for another class when I recalled a cartoon I used to watch as a kid, where Hera wears stockings, a corset and has a leash to punish Zeus when he fools around with mortals. Childhood, good times!

[jojajihisc]

"Skull-Face" - Robert E. Howard

Hash addict is cured by mysterious leper.

[Hex]

The protagonist of Stacia Kane's urban fantasy Unholy Ghosts trilogy, Chess, is addicted to drugs. It's a central part of the story, including their effect on her performance and attention, and what happens when she can't get them. The drugs come as pills, and many of the people she interacts with are dealers.

In the way the drugs are regarded by society, the dark unside where they're sold and used as rewards, it's quite close to our societies' attitude towards illegal drugs.

[Anne Lyle]

Drothe, the protagonist of Douglas Hulick's "Among Thieves", uses a stimulant called ahrami which comes as seeds that you suck or chew. I'm not sure if it's physically addictive, though, or just a habit like caffeine - Drothe spends so much of the book sleep-deprived that it's hard to tell!