A Good Book

Curling up with a good book, particularly in the dark and cold of Winter, is one of life's real pleasures. You can shut out the whole world for a time, forget your troubles. A good book is like a faithful friend who'll never desert you and always accomodates your schedule. It's there for you, morning, noon, or night---whenever you feel the need to read.

A book is patient. Just can't get to it? A good book will wait until you have time for it, won't get angry at being ignored, or stomp off in a huff---at least none of my books ever do! Can't vouch for all of 'em, of course.

A good book will be exactly the same next time you read it---you won't. In fact, you may find even deeper meaning the second or third time around. No matter how many times I've read The Lord of the Rings, I still find things to marvel at in its pages. Another good example of this: J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter books. If you've finished the series, I challenge you to start back at the beginning. I guarantee you'll find surprising hints and clues you missed the first time through---or even the second! Always the sign of a good writer.

Make the acquaintance of a really good book---or reacquaint yourself with one.

MRTighe

Breaking Dawn Trailer

Just saw the new trailer for the final Twilight movie, Breaking Dawn, Pt. 1, and I have to admit that I loved it; the movie looks like it's going to be a lot of fun. It seems to be pretty true to the book, which is a long one, therefore the two parts to the movie.

Now I'm well aware that Twilight, both the books and the movies, are controversial and won't appeal  to everyone---does anything? But there's something about the underlying theme that grabs me. I guess you'd categorize me as a hopeless romantic. My hubby, however, HATES that the saga makes heroes of the vampires, which are some of his all-time favorite villains. I can sympathize with that. If someone were to come along and turn my favorite hero into a bad guy, I'd probably be P.O.ed. It's sort of like Star Trek making good guys out of some of the Borg!

But in the Twilight Saga, not all vampires are good guys, and not all werewolves are bad guys. And I find the heroine authentic, vulnerable, and touchingly human. I can identify with her, her feelings of being an outcast, awkward, clumsy, and somehow out of her element. I can understand why Bella would want to become a vampire like her beloved Edward and his family, who now totally accept her.

But I realize that there are several issues that some readers/viewers despise, such as vampires who can walk around in broad daylight ( as long as the sun isn't out! ), who sparkle in the sunlight ( okay, even I have to admit that's a little on the hokey side! ), and who are "vegetarians" and therefore only drink animal blood---BIG YUCK there!

To sum up, do I consider the Twilight books in the same category as J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter? No, I don't, but I can still appreciate Stephenie Myer's books for what they are. And I certainly don't expect everyone to agree with my humble opinions. To each his own, eh?

Twihards rule!

MRTighe

Fantastic Genres

Previously I discussed science fiction sub-genres, so I'll attempt to briefly give equal time to fantasy. What exactly is fantasy, and why is it a separate category from SF? Many people tend to lump them together, including many bookstores.

Fantasy doesn't depend upon science as its foundation, as SF does. Instead of revolving around the visible, physical world with its multitude of hard-and-fast rules, fantasy delves into the world of the invisible, the impossible, the imaginative, ie: spirits, demons, prophecies, fantastic creatures, and unseen forces.

High Fantasy features strange new lands, heroic characters engaged in epic battles between good and evil, and various magical elements such as swords, rings, wands, potions, dragons and giants. The example par excellence is "The Lord of the Rings" by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Traditional fantasy has fewer laws about what is and is not possible; the reader enters an almost dreamlike world of infinite possibilities: fairies, gnomes, talking trees and animals, magical portals, etc. One good example of traditional fantasy is "The Chronicles of Narnia" by C. S. Lewis.

Dark fantasy is another popular category, and it is just that: dark! Dark fantasy abounds with frightening supernatural creatures, such as vampires, werewolves, demons---evil personified! Anne Rice's "Vampire Chronicles" are good examples of dark fantasy.

Lastly, in urban fantasy, a recent innovation, stories tend to be set in modern times, in the real world, usually in a city rather than an idyllic pastoral setting, where magic or magical characters intrude upon reality. Examples would be Tanya Huff's "Blood" books, set in Canadian cities.

Although my ventures into writing fantasy have so far been limited to a few short stories, I'm extremely fond of the genre in general. Some of my favorites are The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, the Twilight Saga, and Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse books. Harry Potter, in particular, seems to me to be a clever combination of elements from all the fantasy sub-genres!

Fantasy or SF or whatever, light or dark---keep on reading!

MRTighe

Hard vs. Soft

Not all science fiction is created equal! By that I mean that there is an SF book to suit all tastes; many sub-genres exist, so if you don't appreciate what is generally referred to as "hard" SF---which is primarily based upon advanced technology and scientific principles and theories---there is plenty of "soft" SF out there, including space opera.

Although I've read quite a bit of hard SF ( for example, Larry Niven's Ringworld comes to mind ), I actually prefer to read and write "soft" SF---as well as a bit of space opera. If you don't enjoy reading the hard stuff, I recommend Zenna Henderson's People books---actually a compendium of her short stories about a group of aliens who land on Earth and pass themselves off as humans. They have some extraordinary powers, such as levitation and causing musical instruments to play by themselves.

I dearly wish someone would base a movie on that series; it would undoubtedly bring viewers to tears. Some of those stories are so heart-breaking I can barely get through them! They are definitely NOT your typical SF. And if you like dragons, I suggest you check out Anne McCaffrey's Dragonrider series, especially Dragonflight, one of my all-time favorites. I've been hoping for many years now that these books would be filmed; dragon-tech is now so advanced ( ala Harry Potter, Avatar, and Reign of Fire ) that the movie would be spectacular! Well, I can always dream.

All for now,

MRTighe

An Equal Opportunity Reader

Right now I'm reading an interesting fantasy novel ( no, I don't read only science fiction! ) called City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. It's Book One of the Mortal Instuments series. I'm about 2/3 rds of the way through it. It's well-written, funny in places,, and obviously geared for a teen to young adult audience, but I'm enjoying it. If I turned my nose up at books out of my advanced-age range, I'd never have discovered the Harry Potter series which I dearly love!

The plot involves a group called the Shadowhunters who defend "mundanes" ( that's us ) from demons. A refreshing change from centering on vampires and werewolves as the main characters---no offense to Twilight fans as I am also one!And I don't dislike either class; I'm an equal opportunity reader! So if you enjoy fantasy/horror with a nice comic touch ( kinda reminiscent of "Buffy" ) you might want to try reading City of Bones.

Happy reading,

MRTighe

My Favorite Books and Authors

Hello again,

I just wanted to share a few of my favorites with you. It's possible you may also enjoy some of them, and it will give you some idea of what I write. First of all, I love Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. I try to read this classic, high-fantasy once a year. I find it very inspirational and unbeatable.

I also love all the Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling. She is a fantastic writer, and,no, her books are not just for kids (especially the later ones!)  I also enjoy the Twilight Saga by Stephanie Myer. Notice so far these are all fantasies of one sort or another.

As far as science fiction is concerned, probably my all-time favorite author is Zenna Henderson. I'm a big fan of her People stories/books. If you've never read them, run to the library and look them up. NESFA has published a collection of her stories in a book titled Ingathering. Her "People" are aliens from a destroyed world who are very much like us--only with a few extra "talents". Her work is the best example of "soft" science fiction I know of, beautifully written and very moving.

I also love the early Dragonrider books by Anne McCaffrey, especially the first three in the series. When I first read them, I considered them fantasy, but as the series progressed and she explained the back history of the planet Pern, it became clear that she was indeed writing SF. Sometimes the boundaries between genres are unclear, and as long as things don't get too muddled, I'm fine with that. Please note that by no means do I put myself in the same category as any of these fine writers, but I hope if you enjoy their work, you'll also enjoy reading mine.

Thanks for reading,

MRTighe