# "Thin places" in fantasy



## tegeus-Cromis (May 23, 2020)

I was thinking of the concept of "thin place" -- a place where one reality comes very close to another, say the mundane world and the faerie realm. Not necessarily portals, but places where one can feel the presence of another world impinging upon one's own, and at least promising the possibility of a crossover or communication. I thought this was a pretty common concept in fantasy, but a google search mainly pulls up results having to do with religion/spirituality, especially Celtic Catholicism. (So a thin place is a place where one feels the presence of the divinity, the numinous, etc, but in a theological, not genre-fiction kind of sense.) I couldn't find an entry for it in John Clute's _Encyclopedia of Fantasy_ either. (His notion of "thinning" relates to something else altogether.) Am I misremembering? Is this a notion in common usage in fantasy or not?


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## tegeus-Cromis (May 23, 2020)

Some links, to show how the concept seems to be most commonly used:









						Thin Places - Mark D. Roberts
					

Thin Places: A Biblical Investigation     What are thin places? How should we think about them in light of Scripture?   by Rev. Dr. Mark D.




					www.patheos.com
				












						Where Heaven and Earth Come Closer (Published 2012)
					

Thin places, where the distance between heaven and earth collapses, can relax us and transform us — or, more accurately, unmask us.




					www.nytimes.com
				












						This column will change your life: where heaven and Earth collide
					

'We're in the territory, here,' Oliver Burkeman says, 'of the ineffable: the stuff we can't express because it's beyond the power of language to do so'




					www.theguardian.com
				








__





						We celebrate 'thin places' where meeting occurs | National Catholic Reporter
					

<p>Much happens in the space between. Where I end and you begin. Where day ends and night begins. Where we end and God begins.</p> <p>I grew up blocks away from the sun setting in San Francisco. The space between 39th Avenue and the ocean seemed both endless and here, right here. I was in it...




					www.ncronline.org
				




And an interesting recent blog post on "thin places" and the pandemic: COVID-19 and the Thin Place


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## Teresa Edgerton (May 23, 2020)

Perhaps more widespread is the idea of times not places where the barriers between the worlds become thin.

Although as far as fairies were concerned, when people felt they were already present all around them in the landscape, likely to be encountered at any time or place, there was no need of thin places or times when the barriers thinned.  You just started out walking and expected them to turn up in your path sooner or later (probably sooner)—always supposing that you even _wanted_ to meet them, which for the most part people didn't.


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## Narkalui (May 24, 2020)

If you're looking for recommendations, I can tell you that Elidor by Alan Garner deals with this concept extremely well


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## .matthew. (May 24, 2020)

There's the whole Hallows Eve type thing, I think most cultures have something similar (I know for certain Mexico and Japan does) and this does have a knock on effect in fantasy.

You also have the ideas of mirrors being portals to other worlds which appears quite often.

I'm sure there are more (like dreams) but the basic premise is that yes, there are


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## The Big Peat (May 26, 2020)

Unhelpful answer but I can't think of very much where the barriers are merely thin as opposed to non-existant; the end of the Northern Lights, perhaps.


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## HareBrain (May 26, 2020)

From memory, I think _A Different Kingdom _by Paul Kearney does this well. It's weird that it's the only example I can think when I feel I've come across the ideas many times.

I suppose Robert Holdstock's books about Ryhope Wood (_Mythago Wood_, etc) deal with this, in a way.


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## Pyan (May 26, 2020)

The _Tiffany Aching_ books by Sir Terry Pratchett - and also_ Lords and Ladies_ by the same author.


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## Alan Aspie (May 26, 2020)

pyan said:


> The _Tiffany Aching_ books by Sir Terry Pratchett - and also_ Lords and Ladies_ by the same author.



Pratchett uses a lot. 

He uses it in cultural, scientific, mystic, political... meanings.

Unseen University and everything connected to it. Cultural development and forces around it. Several characters. Several plots, storyworlds, archetypes...









						Terry Pratchett - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org
				




Maybe this is one reason for Terry's deep friendship with Neil?









						Neil Gaiman - Wikipedia
					






					en.wikipedia.org


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## tegeus-Cromis (May 26, 2020)

pyan said:


> The _Tiffany Aching_ books by Sir Terry Pratchett - and also_ Lords and Ladies_ by the same author.


I did read the first Tiffany Aching book. Now I remember she enters a painting at one point (_The Fairy Feller's Master Stroke_), so it would fit in another of my threads!


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## Montero (May 26, 2020)

Portal fantasy used to be very popular, new ones aren't published that often now.

Barbara Hambly was one who used portals, and thin places between worlds - her Darwath Trilogy is one, Silicon Mage ones as well.


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## Don (May 26, 2020)

On Friday this thread introduced me to thin places and the next thing you know, come Sunday, the sermon delivered on The Sunday Mass talks about it!


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## Guttersnipe (May 27, 2020)

Xanth series by Piers Anthony. The only thing separating Xanth (magical world) and Mundania (our world) is a forcefield.


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## Juliana (Jun 2, 2020)

I think it's an easier concept to find in children's fiction... There's a quote I love from E. Nesbit's 'The Enchanted Castle':



> There is a curtain, thin as gossamer, clear as glass, strong as iron, that hangs forever between the world of magic and the world that seems to us to be real. And once people have found one of the little weak spots in that curtain which are marked by magic rings, and amulets, and the like, almost anything can happen.


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