What do you as a reader, get out of reading a Beyond Reality type of book?

[Jim]

I get too many things to list them all, but two are a different way of looking at the world & entertainment.

[Christine]

I'm not sure what is a "Beyond Reality type of book"? I have found so many new titles just belonging to this list. I rarely read the monthly selections since I get my books from the library and can't be sure to have them available when the group is reading them

[Kathi, Moderator & Book Lover]

For belonging to Beyond Reality:
1. Validation that lots of other people love books, love to read books, love to own books, and love to talk about books.
2. Validation that lots of other people have similar taste in books

For reading SF/F/Speculative Fiction
1. Entertainment and escape
2. As Jim said above, different ways of looking at the world, and (sometimes) exercise for my brain to try to understand the worlds about which I'm reading
3. A jump start to my own imagination--I am not a writer, but I love to daydream about the books I'm reading.

[Marty]

The science fiction I like best is about coping with differences. How we learn to cope with aliens as allegory for how do we cope with each other. And time travel and rocket ships for pure escapism. And interesting possibilities for how intelligent creatures could be.

[Justin]

I enjoy both sci-fi and fantasy because they help me escape to other worlds, just in different ways. Escaping to a world of dragons and magic can be just as thrilling as escaping to a futuristic era of space travel and interplanetary warfare.

However I do love that bit of realism, whether its from the inner struggles a character goes through which connect us to the fantasy heroes or the link of a future to the present that we know (such as the Honorverse that is supposed to be humanity's future).

[Paul]

Like some of those above, there is so much I get from Speculative Fiction, either sci-fi or fantasy. Firstly, the entertainment and escapism, but I find that the distance of SF from the everyday lends itself to Big Issues - whether it is socio-political themes (Iain Banks, Ken McLeod, Sheri S. Tepper, etc) or more general moral questions. For instance, Banks has often addressed the question about whether it is right to use torture get information, particularly in Transition. All fiction is a game of 'what if?', but SF has the freedom to take it that bit further.

I think that SF has both taken on the role of mythic (or 'fairy tale') literature as often being about morality and psychology, while much of mainstream literature in the late 20th century seemed to become increasingly narrowly focused, navel gazing and banal. It's no accident that a lot of pre-20th century social commentary literature (like Gulliver's Travels) would be considered SF if published today. Authors such as Rupert Thompson, David Mitchell and Michael Chabon are now quite happy to use SF tropes without feeling the need to deny it or distance themselves (something I've always been annoyed about with a certain great Canadian author; The Handmid's Tale and Oryx and Crake are SF, flying squid or not). I think there is a massive debt to writers such as Ursula le Guin, Kurt Vonnegut and Ray Bradbury, who consciously wrote genre books despite the disdain of many critics. (I also heartily recommend le Guin's collection of essays The Language of the Night, many of which are about this very subject).

I also third the comment about the way both fantasy and sci-fi lend themselves to exploring different viewpoints, one of the things that really any good fiction should do.

I've always thought that the mix of excitement, novelty and exploration is why fantasy (and more lately sci-fi) is so prevalent amongst children's literature, but it is one of those things that some people seem to think we ought to grow out of. I read an interview in which an author (possibly China Mieville) said that whenever he's asked "when did you start reading fantasy?" he replies "when did you stop?"

[Sandra]

Paul 'Pezski' wrote: "I read an interview in which an author (possibly China Mieville) said that whenever he's asked "when did you start reading fantasy?" he replies "when did you stop?" ..."

Good question!

[Random]

Paul 'Pezski' wrote: "I've always thought that the mix of excitement, novelty and exploration is why fantasy (and more lately sci-fi) is so prevalent amongst children's literature, but it is one of those things that some people seem to think we ought to grow out of. I read an interview in which an author (possibly China Mieville) said that whenever he's asked "when did you start reading fantasy?" he replies "when did you stop?" "

Excellent post and I have to echo it myself. I don't really have anything to add except for maybe creativity and imagination. Where else do we get the opportunity to imagine that which does not exist and has never existed.

[Stan]

Justin wrote: "I enjoy both sci-fi and fantasy because they help me escape to other worlds, just in different ways. Escaping to a world of dragons and magic can be just as thrilling as escaping to a futuristic er..."

"Thinking is the best way to travel." Moody Blues

[Syed Zeeshan]

It provides an escape from the 'realities' we are used to and conditioned to. Every reader creates their own version of the reality when they read a 'beyond reality' type of book. It opens your mind to so many new ideas, new worlds; broadens your horizons beyond infinity..

[Anthony]

Personally, I get from Science Fiction and Fantasy what I get from any book - a mental escape. Living with PTSD has made me very prone to sleepless nights or a general feeling of discomfort in public areas and such. When I find myself in such a state, I crack open a book (or since my last deployment, turn on my Nook instead) and just get lost in anything, from worlds far different from our own, to the place right down the street (in my mind at least.) Amusingly enough, even a good book about war still somehow can take me away.

[Ken]

NYKen wrote: "Hi everyone. I am just curious, as a reader, what do you get out of reading a Beyond Reality type of book?"

Not quite sure what you are trying to get at here.
What's a Beyond Reality type of book

The reason I am here is community. Most people I associate with dont read that much so this gives me an avenue to chat with people about books

[Amanda]

For me it really depends on the book itself. There are two reasons I read Fantasy or Sci Fi, and they're fairly different. One is an intellectual exploration. When a takes certain aspects of our culture and places them into another setting, for instance in larger works of allegory or satire, it is an excellent opening for new methods of thinking about life and the world around us.

The other is much more escapist - I read Fantasy for fun. So long as they don't get too formulaic and D&D (no offense to those who like that sort of thing), I really enjoy following characters through adventures in beautiful, unique settings with fantastical elements facing problems I DON'T have to deal with in everyday life. And I really enjoy strong butt-kicking female protagonists.

Feel free to visit me at www.UrbanEarthworm.org.

[Selena]

It inspires me to think outside of the box for problem solving and well as creativity.

[Susan]

I love the escapism of reading scifi and fantasy books. I read mysteries because I love solving puzzles. I read historical fiction because I love history, and I love fantasy because I like exploring new worlds and going on an adventure with the characters.

[Lynn]

Hi. I like the twist of life with imagination. Some of these authors are connected to mental waves that are not the majority. Sort of Philosophy in a good story!

[Joanne]

Reading these genres create that mental escape for every day life that is so unique to reading.
I find the older you get the less you are required to use your imagination so for me reading fantasy and sci-fi allows you to create a world around you with no limits :)

[Bill]

I think I can get everything out of spec-fic as I do any other kind of novel, whether other genres, mainstream fiction, lit-fic, classics, bio or whatever. Granted a lot of SFF is escapist, like a most movies or TV and like a lot of mainstream literature. And I need escapism from my existential trials.

But there are the special SFF books that make me think, change my ideas or how I look at the world or a topic. These are my real raison d'etre for being a reader, to open my eyes and mind. I find fiction usually more profound in doing this than non-fiction.

[The Pirate Ghost]

Wow... the book often dictates what i get out of it. There are so many things a good read can give me (or so many places one can take me). I don't know how to put it in a single post.

If I had to focus and narrow things down, I'd say I enjoy the spirit of exploratoin and adventure. Be it Sci-fi or fantasy novel, I like exploring places never before seen even if they don't really exist. I also like exploring different visions of the future or thinking inductively about how magic works and what forms it takes. It's all in the Hugh's a mad scientist excitement package.


Even though few people mention it, I also believe that a good writer, through fiction, can take a part of behing human (a part of us) and draw a clearer picture of what it's like and what we should be like. In reality, to quote Jerry Mcguire (as spoken by Tom Cruise) "Nobody ever says what they really think."

There are too many pressures that force people into image conscious writing, even when it's their goal to be "the guy" who writes it like it is to prove he's the guy who is above all of that (if you follow that, he's in it too). Through fiction, you can take a real trait, characteristic or situation and write the truth of it without offending anyone, in a way that helps us explore what it means to be human.

So there's that too.

And hell... I just like the excitement of swords, scorcery, blasters and star fighters...can't leave that out!

[Nyssa]

I like SciFi, Fantasy and Speculative Fiction because of its endless possibilities.

I love imaginative beings, the larger the variety the better. Even if you stick with the common suspects, one vampire, or fairy ,or werewolf can be completely different from another.
I find my favorite series are the ones that play on these differences the most.

The Dresden Files has 3 varieties of vampires, opposing fae, pixies, witches, wizards (yes they are different and have little to do with gender), demons, spirits, ghosts (also different), and numerous monsters.

The Hollows (Rachel Morgan) has witches, vampires, pixies, werewolves and demons which have different rules and ways from Dresden but work just as well.

The Black Dagger Brotherhood that has a whole new set of rules for Vampires, the likes of which I never saw before reading that series.

I have more to say, but just realized I have to leave for work - 3 minutes ago! :)

[Mary]

Escapism!

[J.A.]

There's a saying "Don't know who discovered water but it probably wasn't a fish" - we don't see what is all around us, the element, expectations & assumptions that surround us and always have. I like speculative fiction because it jumps outside of those parameters of our world/culture/lives that we take for granted, and takes a good hard look at them, in a way we can't do from inside. It has themes that make me think and re-evaluate, as well as that are emotionally gripping.

[[deleted user]]

Interesting opinions. I just wanted to bump up for the newer members to share their opinions about the topic. Thanks.