Ross Douthat’s Serious Fantasy

What does it take to get a fantasy novel published these days, if not a famous name and a great manuscript? Judging by The Falcon’s Children, a high epic fantasy by conservative New York Times columnist Ross Douthat, it seems the answer is a gimmick of some kind—ultra-violence, soft-core sex, identity politics. Douthat’s novel, the first in a planned trilogy, is being serially released on Substack after being turned down in two rounds of submissions to publishers, which speaks to the siloed nature of contemporary publishing rather than the merits of the book.