title: Believable Worlds: The Rules, Role and Function of Magic in Fantasy Novels

authors: Guethert, Karl Stephen Willy

subjects: Magic

abstract: Contemporary fantasy fiction is a genre that has captured the minds of readers and authors for many decades. It places stories about fantastical events and peoples in the realms of an imaginary world that follows its own set of structural rules. Authors delve into different facets of writing to deliver an engaging and immersive story for the readers, with fantasy tropes and narrative working together to build a compelling story. The worlds that authors write about include new twists on fantasy elements and invariably include some rendition of magic within a hyper exaggerated reflection of the real world, or a completely imagined world altogether 
This thesis interrogates the role of magic in fantasy fiction. It argues that magic is fundamental to both the world-building of fantasy settings and the arc of fantasy narratives. At its best magic is fully integrated and explained, providing readers with a convincing immersive experience, although at times authors use magic more cavalierly as a convenient trope. By focusing on the fiction of the founding father of contemporary fantasy – J. R.R. Tolkien – and analysing the way in which more recent writers (in particular Brandon Sanderson, Terry Pratchett, and the creators of the Warhammer World) build on and at times challenge Tolkien’s legacy I aim to highlight the series of challenges confronting authors of fantasy fiction. They need to firstly have a full understanding of how magic works in their own created worlds. Magic intersects with every aspect of fantasy fiction — narrative, setting, character — and authors need to be able to communicate sufficient understanding of how these magical systems work without submerging their readers with dense descriptions and information overload. At its best, fantasy provides readers with a sense that the fictional worlds they enter are fully realised and, through suspension of disbelief, could possibly exist. Given that fantasy fiction is full of ever-recycling tropes (such as magical rings, magical beings, and seemingly impossible feats of courage and power), writers also have to navigate the tricky path of tapping into the tropes which readers expect and enjoy while attempting to create something new. Magic is such a fundamental building block of fantasy worlds that at times authors also draw parallels between this source of power and the hierarchies, constructs, and ideologies that dominate our own world. My argument throughout is that the best fantasy fiction achieves a deft balance between both action and explanation and entertainment and social critique.
I am a creative writer as well as a literary scholar and throughout my investigation is informed by my desire to critically examine magic in contemporary fantasy in order to hone my skills as a writer. This thesis has a creative practice element and my analysis is interspersed with extracts from my own fantasy fiction which form a dialogue with the critical elements.

text: Believable Worlds: The Rules, Role and Function of Magic in Fantasy Novels Contemporary fantasy fiction is a genre that has captured the minds of readers and authors for many decades. It places stories about fantastical events and peoples in the realms of an imaginary world that follows its own set of structural rules. Authors delve into different facets of writing to deliver an engaging and immersive story for the readers, with fantasy tropes and narrative working together to build a compelling story. The worlds that authors write about include new twists on fantasy elements and invariably include some rendition of magic within a hyper exaggerated reflection of the real world, or a completely imagined world altogether 
This thesis interrogates the role of magic in fantasy fiction. It argues that magic is fundamental to both the world-building of fantasy settings and the arc of fantasy narratives. At its best magic is fully integrated and explained, providing readers with a convincing immersive experience, although at times authors use magic more cavalierly as a convenient trope. By focusing on the fiction of the founding father of contemporary fantasy – J. R.R. Tolkien – and analysing the way in which more recent writers (in particular Brandon Sanderson, Terry Pratchett, and the creators of the Warhammer World) build on and at times challenge Tolkien’s legacy I aim to highlight the series of challenges confronting authors of fantasy fiction. They need to firstly have a full understanding of how magic works in their own created worlds. Magic intersects with every aspect of fantasy fiction — narrative, setting, character — and authors need to be able to communicate sufficient understanding of how these magical systems work without submerging their readers with dense descriptions and information overload. At its best, fantasy provides readers with a sense that the fictional worlds they enter are fully realised and, through suspension of disbelief, could possibly exist. Given that fantasy fiction is full of ever-recycling tropes (such as magical rings, magical beings, and seemingly impossible feats of courage and power), writers also have to navigate the tricky path of tapping into the tropes which readers expect and enjoy while attempting to create something new. Magic is such a fundamental building block of fantasy worlds that at times authors also draw parallels between this source of power and the hierarchies, constructs, and ideologies that dominate our own world. My argument throughout is that the best fantasy fiction achieves a deft balance between both action and explanation and entertainment and social critique.
I am a creative writer as well as a literary scholar and throughout my investigation is informed by my desire to critically examine magic in contemporary fantasy in order to hone my skills as a writer. This thesis has a creative practice element and my analysis is interspersed with extracts from my own fantasy fiction which form a dialogue with the critical elements.

year: 2016

title: The marginal willingness-to-pay for attributes of a hypothetical HIV vaccine

authors: Cameron, Michael Patrick

subjects: HIV vaccine

abstract: This paper estimates the marginal willingness-to-pay for attributes of a hypothetical HIV vaccine using discrete choice modeling. We use primary data from 326 respondents from Bangkok and Chiang Mai, Thailand, in 2008-2009, selected using purposive, venue-based sampling across two strata. Participants completed a structured questionnaire and full rank discrete choice modelling task administered using computer-assisted personal interviewing. The choice experiment was used to rank eight hypothetical HIV vaccine scenarios, with each scenario comprising seven attributes (including cost) each of which had two levels. The data were analyzed in two alternative specifications: (1) best-worst; and (2) full-rank, using logit likelihood functions estimated with custom routines in Gauss matrix programming language. Knowledge of the relative importance of determinants of HIV vaccine acceptability is important to ensure the success of future vaccination programs. Future acceptability studies of hypothetical HIV vaccines should use more finely-grained biomedical attributes, and could also improve the external validity of results by including more levels of the cost attribute.

text: The marginal willingness-to-pay for attributes of a hypothetical HIV vaccine This paper estimates the marginal willingness-to-pay for attributes of a hypothetical HIV vaccine using discrete choice modeling. We use primary data from 326 respondents from Bangkok and Chiang Mai, Thailand, in 2008-2009, selected using purposive, venue-based sampling across two strata. Participants completed a structured questionnaire and full rank discrete choice modelling task administered using computer-assisted personal interviewing. The choice experiment was used to rank eight hypothetical HIV vaccine scenarios, with each scenario comprising seven attributes (including cost) each of which had two levels. The data were analyzed in two alternative specifications: (1) best-worst; and (2) full-rank, using logit likelihood functions estimated with custom routines in Gauss matrix programming language. Knowledge of the relative importance of determinants of HIV vaccine acceptability is important to ensure the success of future vaccination programs. Future acceptability studies of hypothetical HIV vaccines should use more finely-grained biomedical attributes, and could also improve the external validity of results by including more levels of the cost attribute.

year: 2012-09

title: Maori and Pakeha at Te Aroha: the context: 2: Maori in Hauraki in the nineteenth century

authors: Hart, Philip

abstract: After the arrival of Europeans, the Maori population of Hauraki suffered a rapid decline. Some rangatira opposed Pakeha ways, whereas others adopted these for their personal benefit. Keeping ‘the peace of Hauraki’ required government agents to intervene in various disputes between hapu (Ngati Hako in particular causing concern in the 1870s and early 1880s). Although rangatira had links to both Queen Victoria and King Tawhiao, the government was relieved that most remained ‘loyal’ to the new order, and only an intransigent minority opposed the spread of ‘civilisation’ through its roads, telegraph, and the snagging of the Waihou River. A liking for Pakeha goods encouraged collaboration, with Maori joining the cash economy through their involvement in road making, gum digging, and European agriculture to raise money for, in part, traditional gatherings that for a while were more lavish than earlier possible.
Maori of all ranks were quick to stand up for their rights by using the court system, reminding Pakeha of the Treaty of Waitangi, and, in some cases, violence. Tensions were eased by Maori socializing with Pakeha in sport, horse racing, and even the Volunteers, but drinking together in hotels could result in fights, and the lure of alcohol had to be countered by temperance movements. A few Maori children attended school, with Pakeha, and for a time the government provided a (free) doctor and vaccinated them against smallpox (though some preferred traditional ‘cures’ for other ailments). For most, living conditions remained poor. Criminal behaviour was of a minor nature. Christianity had to compete with old beliefs (notably in maketu), newer ones such as ‘Hauhauism’, and by the later years of the century the popularity of the Mormons.
Examples are included of intermarriage, ‘half-castes’, and Pakeha Maori, all being notable features of the time. In a variety of ways, Maori society was sufficiently resilient to adapt and thereby to survive the impact of Pakeha settlement, which produced massive changes and dominated the region well before the end of the century.

text: Maori and Pakeha at Te Aroha: the context: 2: Maori in Hauraki in the nineteenth century After the arrival of Europeans, the Maori population of Hauraki suffered a rapid decline. Some rangatira opposed Pakeha ways, whereas others adopted these for their personal benefit. Keeping ‘the peace of Hauraki’ required government agents to intervene in various disputes between hapu (Ngati Hako in particular causing concern in the 1870s and early 1880s). Although rangatira had links to both Queen Victoria and King Tawhiao, the government was relieved that most remained ‘loyal’ to the new order, and only an intransigent minority opposed the spread of ‘civilisation’ through its roads, telegraph, and the snagging of the Waihou River. A liking for Pakeha goods encouraged collaboration, with Maori joining the cash economy through their involvement in road making, gum digging, and European agriculture to raise money for, in part, traditional gatherings that for a while were more lavish than earlier possible.
Maori of all ranks were quick to stand up for their rights by using the court system, reminding Pakeha of the Treaty of Waitangi, and, in some cases, violence. Tensions were eased by Maori socializing with Pakeha in sport, horse racing, and even the Volunteers, but drinking together in hotels could result in fights, and the lure of alcohol had to be countered by temperance movements. A few Maori children attended school, with Pakeha, and for a time the government provided a (free) doctor and vaccinated them against smallpox (though some preferred traditional ‘cures’ for other ailments). For most, living conditions remained poor. Criminal behaviour was of a minor nature. Christianity had to compete with old beliefs (notably in maketu), newer ones such as ‘Hauhauism’, and by the later years of the century the popularity of the Mormons.
Examples are included of intermarriage, ‘half-castes’, and Pakeha Maori, all being notable features of the time. In a variety of ways, Maori society was sufficiently resilient to adapt and thereby to survive the impact of Pakeha settlement, which produced massive changes and dominated the region well before the end of the century.

year: 2016