At the moment science fiction and fantasy books are not just considered to be geeky, and read by people with 20 sided dice who dress up as wizards and elves at the weekends. Popular movies have made these genres popular once again.
Throughout the decades since Lord of the Rings was written between 1937 and 1949, most of it during the Second World War such books have been constantly produced. It is only now with the movies of The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and the Northern Lights trilogy, that it is once again cool to read this genre.
The same is true of SF, another slightly tainted genre of novels, also associated with nerds. One just has to imagine the sight of a Star Trek conference to recoil from all things science fiction. However with movies such as the Matrix, i-Robot, Avatar and Inception, another generation are introduced to the genre of science fiction.
So why have these genres been tainted with the geek brush for so long? Probably because of some of the novels themselves; you have fantasy tomes such as Lord of the Rings, which to a large proportion of the population is unreadable because of the extensive descriptive passages and endless detail. No doubt a great literary work, but it is not exactly fast flowing and a page turner.
There are also many non-literary offerings which are written very badly with totally unbelievable and bizarre plot lines.
Si-fi could also be considered in this way; as some contain too much scientific information (description of electricity in Frankenstein for example) that the plot can be easily swamped. Low grade SF can also be written poorly and with farcical story lines.
However with the new wave of science fiction and fantasy books you don't have to read about dwarfs and orcs or robots. Vampires have moved from the horror genre to fantasy, and authors such as Haruki Murakami who writes seemingly ordinary books with a fantastical twist. So why not pick up one of these today? It may just open your eyes to a new world.
Throughout the decades since Lord of the Rings was written between 1937 and 1949, most of it during the Second World War such books have been constantly produced. It is only now with the movies of The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and the Northern Lights trilogy, that it is once again cool to read this genre.
The same is true of SF, another slightly tainted genre of novels, also associated with nerds. One just has to imagine the sight of a Star Trek conference to recoil from all things science fiction. However with movies such as the Matrix, i-Robot, Avatar and Inception, another generation are introduced to the genre of science fiction.
So why have these genres been tainted with the geek brush for so long? Probably because of some of the novels themselves; you have fantasy tomes such as Lord of the Rings, which to a large proportion of the population is unreadable because of the extensive descriptive passages and endless detail. No doubt a great literary work, but it is not exactly fast flowing and a page turner.
There are also many non-literary offerings which are written very badly with totally unbelievable and bizarre plot lines.
Si-fi could also be considered in this way; as some contain too much scientific information (description of electricity in Frankenstein for example) that the plot can be easily swamped. Low grade SF can also be written poorly and with farcical story lines.
However with the new wave of science fiction and fantasy books you don't have to read about dwarfs and orcs or robots. Vampires have moved from the horror genre to fantasy, and authors such as Haruki Murakami who writes seemingly ordinary books with a fantastical twist. So why not pick up one of these today? It may just open your eyes to a new world.
About the Author:
Looking to move your children away from the computer for a bit? Consider introducing them to reading for fun. Such novels for teenagers are numerous as are the quality authors, with the genres of young adult fantasy novels, science fiction and dystopian novels in the vanguard. One upcoming work like this is the Victoria Foyt's "Revealing Eden", the first novel of her "Save the Pearls" trilogy.
No comments:
Post a Comment