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.
Since Tolkein wrote Lord of the Rings in the 1940s many works have been constantly influenced by it and produced prolifically. It is only since films like Northern Lights, Harry Potter, and Lord of the Rings, were produced that people have turned to 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.
One of the reasons that these genres have been tainted and shunned by many is because of the books themselves. Some of them, like the undeniably literary masterpiece, Lord of the Rings, which is unreadable to many. It has excessively long descriptions, minute detail and myriad characters.
Although a work of literature it is not exactly a page turner; for some a chore, or one of the things they should read before death. At the opposite end of the market are the trashy novels often written badly with unbelievable 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 in this new era new types of science fiction and fantasy books are being introduced so you don't have to read about wizards and goblins or robots and aliens. For example horror has relinquished vampires to the fantasy genre, and writers like Haruki Murakami whilst seemingly writing quite ordinary stories give them a fantastic twist. There are many new worlds to explore, between pages of one of these novels.
Since Tolkein wrote Lord of the Rings in the 1940s many works have been constantly influenced by it and produced prolifically. It is only since films like Northern Lights, Harry Potter, and Lord of the Rings, were produced that people have turned to 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.
One of the reasons that these genres have been tainted and shunned by many is because of the books themselves. Some of them, like the undeniably literary masterpiece, Lord of the Rings, which is unreadable to many. It has excessively long descriptions, minute detail and myriad characters.
Although a work of literature it is not exactly a page turner; for some a chore, or one of the things they should read before death. At the opposite end of the market are the trashy novels often written badly with unbelievable 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 in this new era new types of science fiction and fantasy books are being introduced so you don't have to read about wizards and goblins or robots and aliens. For example horror has relinquished vampires to the fantasy genre, and writers like Haruki Murakami whilst seemingly writing quite ordinary stories give them a fantastic twist. There are many new worlds to explore, between pages of one of these novels.
About the Author:
Looking to move your kids from in front of the computer for a bit? Maybe you can get them into reading for fun. Such novels for teenagers have become more and more popular lately, with the genres of science fiction and fantasy books, science fiction and post-apocalyptic books in the vanguard. One upcoming work like this is the Victoria Foyt's "Revealing Eden", the first novel of her "Save the Pearls" trilogy.