Do You Read Non-UF?

[Ed]

I've read every Star Wars novel that has been released (aside from the Prequel time period books). Any novel that focuses on a Supervillain/Superhero is a definite pick up. I will also read anything by A Lee Martinez or any good humorous fiction.

I am less into Sci-fi than I used to be, but good stuff is good stuff. Basically I follow writers.

[Leiah]

I have a huge collection of Star Trek and Star Trek Voyager novels that I haven't picked up in ages. Also some Babylon 5 and a few other series in a similar vein.

And of course, every time someone reminds me of something, I think of something else that I now can't remember what they were called but I remember reading and enjoying and now it is going to drive me wild until I figure it out.... (does that make sense?)

OK here goes - they came out many a long year ago) and they featured the Star Trek world, but they revolved around .. . AH! Thank you Wickipedia!! Starfleet Corps of Engineers! They originally came out in e-book format, something of an oddity for the time (but how Star Trekky!) The first was "Have Tech, Will Travel" and was written by Dean Wesley Smith and several other authors and was published in 2002.

Don't you just LOVE the internet??? LOL

[Nick]

So, I Read This Book Today wrote: "Don't you just LOVE the internet???"

Indeed. How did we ever manage to find stuff out before the internet? Did we just keep asking people until someone knew the answer? ;)

In response to the original question, I read lots of non-UF stuff. SF, high fantasy, crime, thrillers, historical... I mean, I really like UF but I couldn't limit myself to just one genre. It'd be like having pizza for every meal. Great to start with, but you'd get bored of it in the end...

...Oh, who am I kidding. I could NEVER get bored of pizza.

[Michelle]

Nick wrote: "No matter how slowly you're reading Game Of Thrones, Michelle, you can bet it's a lot faster than George R. R. Martin is writing book six! ;)

2015 at the earliest... "

Lol. Don't be too sure. I'm still only halfway through book one, and I started it last year...

[thalassic]

Ed wrote: "I've read every Star Wars novel that has been released (aside from the Prequel time period books). Any novel that focuses on a Supervillain/Superhero is a definite pick up. I will also read anythin..."

I used to read a lot of Star Wars books too although the last series I read kinda killed my interest in for various reasons. There are some really good books in the prequel era too though, even though the movies weren't that great.

Shatterpoint by Matthew Stover - Best Star Wars book I've ever read. Lots of people dislike him because he's very dark but the guy is a brilliant writer. James Luceno is pretty good too. And the Republic Commando series by Karen Traviss, starts out a little slow but the characters are so well written that it's worth the journey.

[Leiah]

Well, that whole world CAN be dark, right? Just because you skim over things doesn't mean that planets don't explode and ships don't either. . . I have to see if my library has the Corp of Engineers books.

[Ed]

I got out of Star Wars novels for a long time and then got back in and loved them. The past 5 years or so have been fantastic for Star Wars books. It always amazes me that the books I love have some really nasty critics.

[Nick]

Michelle wrote: "Lol. Don't be too sure. I'm still only halfway through book one, and I started it last year..."

Well, they *are* pretty long books. But you could probably just read one page per day and STILL be finished before GRRM publishes book six! He is not a man to be rushed.

Apparently he originally conceived the series as a trilogy, but has had to keep adding more books as he comes up with more plot. In all honesty I felt that the fourth and fifth entries didn't advance the story as much as they should have - there are too many POV characters in the later books.

[Nick]

So, I Read This Book Today wrote: "Well, that whole world CAN be dark, right? Just because you skim over things doesn't mean that planets don't explode and ships don't either..."

Star Wars can absolutely be dark. The Empire destroys a whole planet in Episode IV, after all.

"I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced..."

[chucklesthescot]

I also read horror, dystopian, tudor fiction, mountain disaster nf, some YA dystopian/paranormal.

[Mary]

Let's see.

Pretend you have a wall. It looks like two paint balls were hurled at it, leaving two big splotches with spray spreading about them. If you look closely, you see that the splotches are in fact a lot of works that fall together on the genre scales. They are the genre. Where exactly among the splatter you draw the circle to include and exclude is always a matter of fierce discussion.

I'm talking about the central point, the defining middle splotch where the works are unquestionably, archetypically of the genre.

Originally the biggest difference was that in Urban Fantasy the magic was not only real but effective. You could master the rules and play the game. In Magical Realism, magic happened. Trying to exploit was not something people dreamed of, because it was too fugitive and too much working by its own rules and logic.

Thus in the days when you used Urban Fantasy to mean What Charles de Lint Wrote. Nowadays it has shifted closer to Paranormal Romance, when they don't actively overlap.

[Mary]

I forgot to add that both are, of course, set in what purports to be our world. And involve magic of some kind.

[Leiah]

Mary wrote: "Let's see.

Pretend you have a wall. It looks like two paint balls were hurled at it, leaving two big splotches with spray spreading about them. If you look closely, you see that the splotches ar..."

Great description Mary! I agree - as an obsessive follower of Mr. de Lint, I have drawn somewhat the same visual in my mind - but you explain it much better!

[Linda]

Absolutely. To be honest, until recently I mostly read classic literature and non-fiction like biographies, books on specific topics like Mark Kurlansky's books, things like that. I'd read some popular fiction on occasion that came highly recommended.

But now I read a lot of mysteries, thrillers, and now urban fantasy.

[Lindsey]

While probably 60-70% of what I read would fall under the UF heading, I also read a variety of other genres. I also enjoy more classic fantasy, dystopian/sci-fi novels, YA fantasy, non-fiction memoirs, thrillers/mysteries, and general fiction/literature.

[MadameZelda]

I love cozy mysteries and espionage thrillers too.

[Jeffery]

Weirdly enough, I read almost all UF (with some sci fi) or Non-fiction science titles. Polar opposites, but they go together I guess.

[Yolanda]

I too would get bored just reading one genre, though I love all fantasy. I also read thrillers, historicals like Bernard Cornwall and mysteries

[William]

I love fantasy but I also read mystery, manga, comics and sci-fi

[Mia]

I like to read a lot of different types including mystery, sci-fi, romance, thrillers, horror, self-help, how-to books, biographies,poetry ... I'm all over the place.

[Jalilah]

Fiona wrote: "Jalilah wrote: "I love UF but I do need to take a break.
I also love historical fiction and my big love, even before urban fantasy, is Magical Realism."

Hey, Jalilah. I've been researching Urban ..."

Sorry, for my very late reply Fiona! I have not visited this group for a while because I did not read a lot of urban fantasy this year, so I just saw your post now.
As for your question regarding my opinion about the difference between magical realism and urban fantasy, well, I think good literature is often difficult to neatly categorize, I think there is a difference.
The main difference for me is the approach to the magic or supernatural occurrences as well as how the other characters in the novel react to them.
In magical realism the magic is often just accepted and no attempt is made to try and explain it, where as in urban fantasy there is usually an rationalization for it. In magical realism the characters often do not really react to the supernatural where as in urban fantasy the characters definitely do. Often in urban fantasy the supernatural is the conflict or at least part of the conflict of the story where as in magical realism it is usually just an aspect of the story not the main part of the plot.
An example in Like Water for Chocolate, the leading character has the ability to put her emotions into her food causing other people to feel them. When she makes a wedding cake for her beloved who is marrying her sister she sheds a tear that falls into the batter causing all the wedding guests who eat her cake to feel their regret for lost love and cry uncontrollably. If the same thing happened in urban fantasy there would probably be some kind of explanation of HOW the character does this, she might be a witch and use her ability to put spells on people. Or a special task force might find her and do experiments on her to find out how she does this. In Like Water for Chocolate, no one questions her ability to do this.
See what I mean?

[Julia]

There's another definition, kind or type of magical realism: it is usually set in places and among people who have been maligned, sidelined or hurt by colonialism, manifest destiny and race/ class warfare. See: Like Water for Chocolate, Flight, Kindred, Sister Mine to name some.

[Nicola]

Ed wrote: "I've read every Star Wars novel that has been released (aside from the Prequel time period books). Any novel that focuses on a Supervillain/Superhero is a definite pick up. I will also read anythin..."

I hate that some people think ghostwriters and authors who write in an already established universe aren't "serious" authors. I've never done that kind of writing myself, but I wouldn't turn it down if the right job came along. Some of the best sci fi I've read has come out of Star Wars!

[John]

I will pretty much read anything that's well written. I guess I got thirsty when I was a kid and never lost the urge.

But my biggest preferences are fantasy, science fiction, mysteries and thrillers.

[John]

Absolutely read other things. Too much sugar rots the teeth.

But on the serious side, if that's possible, there's so many different genres I love that it's hard to stay on one, unless the others just aren't available to read.

I still have a stack of Clive Cussler novels to read, but I've been so busy writing that I'm still too far away from doing that stack. Though I eventually will when I burn out on the fantasy science fiction stuff.