taxman Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 One of my friends used to have great difficulty reading fiction and especially Science Fiction. For instance, if I'm reading an Iain M. Banks about worlds that are orbitals, or layer planets or people who can gland drugs etc I can just imagine it and go along for the ride. My friend couldn't imagine such things and therefore couldn't enjoy the story. She would agonize about what, precisely, an orbital would look like instead of just accepting it and getting on with the tale. She has come a long way in the 20 years or so I've known her. She never used to read any fiction whatsoever but has gradually re-tuned her mind to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esme Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 I guess there's fiction and fantasy. not really into fantasy myself. getting into sci to at the minute though, tempted to start writing it, I've got the ideas and themes but am rubbish at the padding out with future nonsense.Regarding it as "future nonsense" doesn't bode well for the book as you are showing a lack of respect for your intended readership, if you don't like the subject then maybe a different genre would be better ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scozzie Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 I'm a horror for fully getting into books. I realised it not long after I moved the Sheffield and was reading a Katherine Kerr book (I think it was about the 12th in the series. The goodies were in a castle that was under seige by the baddies and the baddies just kept chanting and chanting. It was a Sunday and I thought I should get some shopping done, so I put the book down and headed on foot towards Hillsborough. As I said, I was new to Sheffield and I fully FREAKED out when I could hear all this chanting going on. I actually asked a random on the street if they could hear chanting, or was I going insane. THATS how I found out I lived quite close to SWFC. Thank goodness for that! Several years ago, when I first started getting into fantasy, I was reading a David Eddings book on a train. Someone caught my eye and said 'I've been there - who's your Belgarath?' I said Sean Connery - he nodded and I kept reading - like it was the most natural conversational exchange between two strangers ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootsBooster Posted June 5, 2012 Author Share Posted June 5, 2012 I'm a horror for fully getting into books. I realised it not long after I moved the Sheffield and was reading a Katherine Kerr book (I think it was about the 12th in the series. The goodies were in a castle that was under seige by the baddies and the baddies just kept chanting and chanting. It was a Sunday and I thought I should get some shopping done, so I put the book down and headed on foot towards Hillsborough. As I said, I was new to Sheffield and I fully FREAKED out when I could hear all this chanting going on. I actually asked a random on the street if they could hear chanting, or was I going insane. THATS how I found out I lived quite close to SWFC. Thank goodness for that! Hahah, I don't suppose the castle-like appearance of Hillsborough barracks would have helped. Several years ago, when I first started getting into fantasy, I was reading a David Eddings book on a train. Someone caught my eye and said 'I've been there - who's your Belgarath?' I said Sean Connery - he nodded and I kept reading - like it was the most natural conversational exchange between two strangers ever. Last year I downloaded a free copy of a book called "Unholy ghosts" on my Android Kindle app. It intrigued me because the genre was labelled as "urban fantasy" which I'd never heard of before. I was hooked after a few pages and now I'm reading the 4th novel in the series. To read the description on the back, you would think it's a bunch of nonsense, but it's actually a very gritty novel with a semi-post global holocaust/goth-punk/detective horror theme Free books are a gateway drug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geezer Innit Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 I read Dark Matter a couple of months ago and rather enjoyed it. I agree that a good novel can be belivable within the terms and constraints that it sets for itself, even if those terms are not believable in the 'real world'. LoTR has already been mentioned and is a good example - the world of LoTR is so well constructed that the events that happen there seem consistent and internally plausible, even if we know that none of it is really real. Some books fall down by constructing a fictional world where the events that happen there don't fit the way the world has been created. There was a bit of that in Dark Matter - the depiction of the arctic expedition was excellent, and the atmosphere was very spooky, but the reasons given for why the ghost was there weren't fully plausible, which was a bit of a let down. I felt I had to suspend my disbelief a more than I really wanted to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fruitisbad Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 Fantasy IS fiction I get that, but there is fiction that is based in reality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johncocker Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 Fantasy IS fiction fantasy is not science fiction! ... Science fiction involves a suspension of disbelief which is different than that involved with fantasy. In fantasy, you never go back to believing that there are trolls, unicorns, witches, and so on. But in science fiction, you read it, and it's not true now, but there are things which are not true now which are going to be someday. Everybody knows that! And this creates a very strange feeling in a certain kind of person -- a feeling that he is reading about reality, but he is disjointed from it only in temporal terms. It's like all science fiction occurs in alternate future universes, so it could actually happen someday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fruitisbad Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 fantasy is not fiction! ... Science fiction involves a suspension of disbelief which is different than that involved with fantasy. In fantasy, you never go back to believing that there are trolls, unicorns, witches, and so on. But in science fiction, you read it, and it's not true now, but there are things which are not true now which are going to be someday. Everybody knows that! And this creates a very strange feeling in a certain kind of person -- a feeling that he is reading about reality, but he is disjointed from it only in temporal terms. It's like all science fiction occurs in alternate future universes, so it could actually happen someday. for me what I like about science fiction is that it can be used as a medium to explore current day fears taken to an extreme. I like stuff set in distopian futures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happ Hazzard Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 Some people are too thick. The only kind of books they can read are "autobiographies" by Katie Price, Kerry Katona or Football Hooligans. And many of them probably don't even read at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister M Posted June 5, 2012 Share Posted June 5, 2012 Some people are too thick. The only kind of books they can read are "autobiographies" by Katie Price, Kerry Katona or Football Hooligans. And many of them probably don't even read at all. Thanks, your contribution as to whether the implausibility of a novel can undermine one's enjoyment has been enlightening. There are lots of examples in popular culture (such as sci fi B movies) where the more outlandish the story or costumes the more enjoyable the experience. Which seems to go against traditional ideas of suspension of disbelief. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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