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Booking Through Thursday: Fantasy and Sci-Fi

Posted on June 18, 2009 by Walt

One of my favorite sci-fi authors (Sharon Lee) has declared June 23rd Fantasy and Science Fiction Writers Day.

As she puts it:

So! In my Official Capacity as a writer of science fiction and fantasy, I hereby proclaim June 23 Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Day! A day of celebration and wonder! A day for all of us readers of science fiction and fantasy to reach out and say thank you to our favorite writers. A day, perhaps, to blog about our favorite sf/f writers. A day to reflect upon how written science fiction and fantasy has changed your life.

So … what might you do on the 23rd to celebrate? Do you even read fantasy/sci-fi? Why? Why not?

I’m not sure I’ll do anything to ‘celebrate’…I’m not much for the “big” holidays, even.

Fantasy/Sci-Fi is the primary genre I read in. I haven’t read many of the “classics” in Sci-Fi; Ender’s Game is probably about the most “mainstream” sci-fi I’ve read. (Then again, I’ve read a number of Star Trek novels as well…)

I’ve enjoyed the Battletech books I’ve read, and I’ve read some of the more recent (2002-ish) Mechwarrior volumes (in part due to a brief period of time involved with the Mechwarrior: Dark Age miniatures game with some friends in my college days).

I’ve mentioned the Aliens series several times in earlier BTT posts–I’ve read the novelizations of the films, and about 2/3 of the novels based on the comics, and several of the Dark Horse Comics Omnibus volumes.

Some Star Trek, Stargate, Highlander, and a Star Wars novel or two can be added to the stack; and I’m sure I’ve read plenty of other sci-fi I’m not thinking of offhand…especially from the Science Fiction and Fantasy and Tolkien and Culture courses I took my junior and senior years of college.

Fantasy-wise, I’ve read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings; the primary series I’ve read in the genre, though are Dragonlance and Magic: The Gathering.

Comics-wise, it seems that a lot of the superhero stuff can be in one or both genres without being so overtly. Superman involves plenty of science fiction elements (and certainly the same sort of “suspension of disbelief”) and yet would probably be classified “comics” or “super-hero” before “sci-fi.” Ditto Green Lantern, and pretty much any of the “cosmic books” from DC or Marvel (or any smaller publisher. Runners, or the TMNT for example).

It’s also interesting to note that what was once only science fiction in some cases either IS–or is close to being–science reality. And that while something may be fantasy, that does not render it un-real.

Now, despite my opening statement…perhaps–assuming I remember–I WILL blog on the topic in recognition of the day. Time’ll tell.

Filed under: Booking Through Thursday, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: battletech, booking through thursday, dargonlance, DC, DC Comics, Ender's Game, fantasy, Green Lantern, lord of the rings, magic: the gathering, MARVEL, mechwarrior, runners, science fiction, star wars, Superman, TMNT, tolkien | 3 Comments »

A shelf o’ toys

Posted on June 11, 2009 by Walt

Been meaning to share this for awhile now. I finally acquired one of these Knape &Voght wall shelves, which meant more of my action figures ‘n such could come out of hiding/congregate upon it in the living room.

The thing pretty much speaks for itself…

Living Room Shelf #1 - June 11th, 2009

Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Toy Chronicles | Tagged: Batman, dwarf, Green Lanterns, hulk, pikachu, shadowrun, sonic the hedgehog, TMNT, Toy Chronicles, toys, transformers, usagi yojimbo, walker | Leave a comment »

Booking Through Thursday: Niche

Posted on June 11, 2009 by Walt

Booking Through Thursday

There are certain types of books that I more or less assume all readers read. (Novels, for example.)

But then there are books that only YOU read. Instructional manuals for fly-fishing. How-to books for spinning yarn. How to cook the perfect souffle. Rebuilding car engines in three easy steps. Dog training for dummies. Rewiring your house without electrocuting yourself. Tips on how to build a NASCAR course in your backyard. Stuff like that.

What niche books do YOU read?

As I look around this room, I don’t think I really have any niche books. In fact, with the rare exception (Cretaceous Dawn, for one–I ordered it after seeing a Facebook ad), my books fit (what I, at least, consider) mainstream genres. Next to graphic novels (will get to those in a moment), I have a bookcase devoted to Christian literature, while another bookcase is taken up with fantasy (primarily Dragonlance and Magic: The Gathering, with some Aliens and MechWarrior (sci-fi) thrown in.

Now, for the crowd I run with, comics/graphic novels are pretty common (and presumably most anyone reading my blog has at least some sort of interest in comics), but at the same time, it’s possible that comics could be considered a niche in this way.

I’ll take it one step further, and choose a specific comic series: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I’m eagerly awaiting next month’s release of TMNT Collected Book vol. 1 and the TMNT: Future Tense volume.

Already in my collection, I have a TMNT volume collecting the entire original run of Tales of the TMNT as well as 4 volumes collecting arcs from the current run of Tales of the TMNT. There’s a volume collecting Michael Zulli’s work on TMNT; a volume collecting the 2007 movie adaptation and its prequels; another collecting the first arc of the Dreamwave series based on the 2k3 cartoon. I have a new volume that collects the original TMNT Adventures mini-series from Archie; then four volumes from Tundra Publishing that collect issues 5-16 of the ongoing TMNT Adventures series. I have four volumes from FIrst Publishing that collect the first 11 issues and the Leonardo one-shot from the original TMNT series (In color!). I also have the adaptations of the first three films, and a random too-thick-to-be-just-a-comic/not-really-a-TPB volume collecting the “Return to New York” storyline.

Offhand, I don’t know of anyone else with a TMNT collection like this. A couple years ago when I attended an event featuring Ryan Brown, I opted to bring one of those Tundra TMNT Adventures volumes–I recall his being surprised, as he had never even seen these.

Point being…popular as the TMNT are in general, the comics seem far more a niche thing (it’s rare to even find the new, monthly-for-the-last-several-years Tales of the TMNT series in comic shops). So I guess they’re my niche-books.