Similar could be said of dinosaurs. They, too, aren't 'real.' True, we have a trove of fossil evidence that proves they existed millions of years ago. But there's zero chance that Mum will get to see a living, breathing Velociraptor in her lifetime. The dinosaurs depicted in Jurassic Park are just as unreal* as any dragon.

These last couple of examples are what the philosopher Jean Baudrillard called 'pure simulacra' - things beyond our reality that are nonetheless imposed upon it:

https://media-studies.com/baudrillard

There are four orders (or levels) that we can group simulacra into, to define just how far removed they are from the 'real world:'

- the sacramental order, where reality is reflected;
- the order of maleficence, where reality is masked;
- the order of sorcery, where elements of reality are missing;
- pure simulacra, where there is no relation to reality.

The smoke alarm warns us to a fire that does not yet exist, and is an example of *sorcery*; the real estate photos cover up the dirt and grime of daily life, and so are of the *order of maleficence*; assuming no prior editing by the photographer on Tripadvisor, their meals are as true a *reflection of reality* *, in that moment, as we can find.

So, let's put ourselves in Granny Weatherwax's shoes, as nemeses of untruth and artifice. When the king is killed in the play, we're in the order of sorcery. The events on stage point to something that *appears* real, but isn't. After all, the actor playing the king hasn't literally been killed.

The question is no longer, "What would I want in a fantasy if I were a mum," but instead, "What book do I give Mum to train her fantasy muscle?" When I discovered Discworld in 2022, I thought I was onto a winner with the Witches novels. And maybe I was. If Mum had had the time to read them, I would've found out by now.

Before Mother's Day this year, I was enlightened by a certain fantasy book I had to read for a Creative Writing seminar. I say 'fantasy,' but magic realism prefers to be called as it is - fantasy with a 9-to-5 job. I gave Mum a story of an emperor, and his guest, an explorer who's travelled many thousands of miles to see him:

> Kublai Khan does not necessarily believe everything Marco Polo says when he describes the cities visited on his expeditions…

Kublai Khan is enraptured by these idyll cities, as though they were the refractions of a ray of light shone through a prism. He escapes his crumbling, stagnant empire into these smaller worlds - and though he struggles to imagine and build his own imaginary cities at first, he learns soon enough.

Marco Polo reveals that every city he talks about is just a part of Venice, but that doesn't rob them of their magic. No. Fantasy's not always about what's added to the real world - sometimes it's about what's taken away.

What does Mum think of Italo Calvino's #InvisibleCities? Well… she read about twelve pages on the plane before falling asleep. Twelve pages of fantasy that she didn't read before. She may not be able to go to Discworld yet, but she's training the muscle that can.