What do you think of when you read that word?
Faeries? (of the classical sort?
...or, Tinkerbelle?
Hobbits, orcs, ents?
Talking carnivorous plants (Little Shop of Horrors)?
Space aliens who are thwarted only when reluctant heroes ally themselves with the village idiot (Dreamcatcher, S. King)?
My mind goes straight-way to Tolkien and CSLewis. Okay, shows my age, I know. Madeleine l'Engle just wasn't that popular when I was in those formative years as a reader. The greats of sci-fi were popular, so I read lotsa Asimov, Pohl, Bradbury...but, where does sci-fi stop and fantasy begin? I didn't catch up with Tolkien and Lewis' fantasies until college, courtesy of a close friend who became even closer over the yrs (she made a darn fine mother of our children...and she and I still read a lotta the same stuff together!)
Last month, I read: a mystery, a poetry collection, a romance, 2 biographies/memoires, 2 literary novels, a non-fiction (THE YR 1000: history of England), and two thrillers. In my mind, the wider or more old-fashioned definition of fantasy embraces almost all of these works--they are the works of the writers' imaginations--even the non-fiction still requires inventiveness and aptitude with phrases and creative ways of presenting history that made it that book a fun, lively read--so fun, I read several ppghs aloud while Elizabeth (pretended to?) listened as she cooked.
Do you like to stick with just one genre of reading? What invites you to try something different? I need to know these answers, as a writer and marketer of my works...I'd deeply apprec yr comments.
Oh, and that bridges to another critical query--what moves you when buying books as gifts...but, more on that for another day.
Again, pls take a sec to comment, below. Thnx, D.
