Fantasy Aficionados discussion
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Achive
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What Are You Currently Reading?
I'm reading "Fevre Dream" by George RR Martin.
Shannon wrote: "I'm reading "Fevre Dream" by George RR Martin."I read Fevre Dream 3-4 years ago and still remember much of it- it was a great book. I hope you enjoy it.
ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Ala, that is so dang CUTEwe are proud
About halfway into The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb: A Novela fictional account of one of the famous P T Barnum "lilliputians" who married General Tom Thumb aka Charles Stratton and had a successful career with Barnum in her own right. Great historical fiction! Might be reading We Never Talk About My Brother once I'm done with this one.
I liked that Beagle collection, Amanda.
Carol wrote: "I liked that Beagle collection, Amanda."I'm a big fan of The Last Unicorn and saw it on the shelf, it looks good :)
I'm reading Daughter of the Forest, a beautiful retelling of one of my favorite fairy tales, 'The Six (the number and species of birds used varies) Swans', and listening to The Magicians on audio.
Lady Danielle "The Book Huntress" wrote: "I'm reading Daughter of the Forest, a beautiful retelling of one of my favorite fairy tales, 'The Seven Swans', and listening to The Magicians on audio."What do you think of The Magician so far? Are you going to read the sequel when it comes out?
Tasula wrote: "Shannon wrote: "I'm reading "Fevre Dream" by George RR Martin."I read Fevre Dream 3-4 years ago and still remember much of it- it was a great book. I hope you enjoy it."
I'm about halfway in and liking it so far.
Kevin, at first the writing seemed pretentious, but then I got pretty sucked in. The scene where Quentin takes the written test for the special school had me laughing like crazy. The Magicians is a great book to listen to on audiobook.
My God! I'm still slugging through Dance with Dragons. It's been three friggin weeks! LOLI'm almost done, though. Lately, I've been too busy on the weekends to read, hence the extra long reading time, but I hope to be done sometime in the next day or two!
*whew*
Almost there, Jason!
Then you can join in the discussion :P
Then you can join in the discussion :P
Almost finished with Storm's Heart AND my new Kobo Touch ereader came today! Looks like its time to rejoin my regular scheduled programing. :-)
Jason wrote: "About freakin time, eh? lol"Yes!! About freaking time! I would have gotten it sooner if I'd sent you on a shopping trip to Watermans, lol.
I just started reading The City & The City, my first China Miéville.
Tracey wrote: "I just read the description: Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - and Lord Peter Wimsey "who plays an important role under a thin disguise" -?? I want it."LOL! DO you know I never read the description?
I was reading Devices and Desires until yesterday, when I realized that at half-way through, I have not been pulled into the story, and only one of the characters is remotely interesting.
Tracey wrote: "LOL - I was just about to say "I never could get into P.D. James" when I realized it isn't this Devices and Desires you meant!"That book sounds more interesting than the other one! I'd rather read a nice murder mystery than something about engineers.
Just finished The Source of Magic so I can start to read Queen of Sorcery, as I've been dying to ever since I finished Pawn of Prophecy
Finished Geist, (which I LOVED!) and am about 3 hours into Sheepfarmer's Daughter on audio. Trying to decide which book to pick up next...The Desert Spear or Shadow's Edge.
Started Hounded yesterday. I like it okay, but I just don't think I'm an UF fan. They all kind of blend in my mind. I love the dog though, and the old widow. Do you think these kind of UF books are PNR for males?
Finished Hammered yesterday. Dunno what I'll read next.
I've got a pile of BotM's sitting here, along with another pile of random ones, and I just can't be arsed to decide.
Ah well.
@Traci - PNR is just UF for women :P
I've got a pile of BotM's sitting here, along with another pile of random ones, and I just can't be arsed to decide.
Ah well.
@Traci - PNR is just UF for women :P
I'm trying to decide what fantasy to read next. Probably The Warded Man. I just started Uncle Silas.
Ala wrote: "@Traci - PNR is just UF for women :P "Once again I find my gender loyalties tested...
I'll be starting We Never Talk About My Brother today and have Eragon and my Golden Compass omnibus ready to read in the near future too.
The Summer Tree. Bought this, The Wandering Fire, and A Song for Arbonne last month at a library sale for ¢25 each. I didn't think I'd like Kay but I'm really liking this book so far. I'm very close to ordering the third online. And wiping out my Borders of the Kay books I saw yesterday. I haven't gotten into any books this week, I think I gave up on three maybe even more, and I haven't felt much like reading so finding a good book comes at the right time.
Colleen ~blackrose~ wrote: "Ala wrote: "@Traci - PNR is just UF for women :P "Once again I find my gender loyalties tested..."
Not true. PNR is UF for people who like romance.
@Ala - :-P
I'm reading The Warded Man. I'm enjoying this much more than I expected I would!
I'm sorry..."for me" PNR is PNR, not UF....just saying. To each, I guess. :)
Mike (the Paladin) wrote: "I'm sorry..."for me" PNR is PNR, not UF....just saying. To each, I guess. :)"
You know, I agree with you. We should keep them in their own categories - that's how they started slipping into the fantasy sections to begin with. They should always be shelved in the romance section.
I thought it was pretty obvious but...you all know I was just giving the guys a bad time, right?
The need to categorize so minutely and specifically just confuses me. *is getting old*
MrsJoseph wrote: "Mike (the Paladin) wrote: "I'm sorry..."for me" PNR is PNR, not UF....just saying. To each, I guess. :)"
You know, I agree with you. We should keep them in their own categories - that's how th..."
I think PNR is mostly a blend of romance and (Urban) fantasy so it should be in both categories. I don't see why it should be an either - or situation.
Is the plot for a large part driven by romance? -> romance shelf.
Is the plot (at least partially) driven by fantastical elements? -> fantasy section.
Is it set in a modern day more or less urban setting? -> urban fantasy.
Does it have all of the above? -> paranormal romance
Yes, I like to put things in specific genres, but I don't why see it has to be only one genre per book.
@MrsJoe... I'm with you and Mike. You should see my shelf organization. Every book needs zipcode so I can find it again--too many shelves. I have called lots of the modern stuff like "A Gathering of Evil" as more of a "Hybrid" but now days what book couldn't be? But that brings up a different question. If you have read any of the Edgar Rice Burrows "Out of the Abyss of time" and that Casparov series, a lot of it is more fantasy than science fiction as we see them today. If catagorizing is too complicated, doesn't that mean the catagory system need to be simpler? Can't change the books. But that brings us back to... okay maybe I'm not so much for... I'm confused. I'll have to go catagorize my answers next time.
FYI: I'm giving "Hounded" a try (reading now) It came well recommended. :{)}
Re: the genre thing - I agree that it's often not really an either/or situation. There are books which have elements of urban fantasy which are also PNR.That said, there's a lot of books which seem to be marketed primarily as urban fantasy which have a much higher PNR content than some people want. It would be nice if there were more clear indications available to those of us who would rather skip the PNR-laden field of UF books.
As to the cover for Hounded, I agree that a more out-and-out romance book would have a beefcakier guy. But, arguably, some of the covers for the PNR UF with female protagonists isn't necessarily a typical romance cover, either. For instance:
In the tradition of having scantily clad women with a weapon, which is apparently so ubiquitous we've had entire discussions just about that type of cover, is it so hard to envision that Atticus - while not scantily clad definitely portrayed as somewhat beefcakey in the picture - pulling out his sword is along the same lines, though of a milder variety?
Well, the reason I don't like the PNR crossing into the UF shelves is this conversation right here. It shouldn't have to happen because most PNR that has a high enough fantastic element to get near UF also has a GIGANTIC sex element...which will put off people not looking for suggestive/erotica. Which then puts people off of UF...and has my co-workers wives recommending Twilight to me.@Colleen - I can see what you mean about the female cover...but she is still a lot closer to nekkid than Atticus. And he's not beefy (to me), he's rather thin.
But yet again this problem happens because PNR is creeping into the UF shelves. We've had millions of guys on covers with swords. Never before would a reader look at a cover and see a tousle-headed skinny guy with a shirt on and a sword and think "PNR!" But in today's genre classification problem this book gets a bad rap for a very (IMO) true to the book cover.
I'm sorry, I accidentally enlarged toe book cover and forgot what the whole thing was about and had to re-read have the string. (I vote yes for the new cover!)On a more serious note... to the romance or not to romance question. (aside from the yes vote mentioned above). Nearly all books (Though certainly not every single book) includes romance as a strong plot driver. For that matter what TV show (fiction-entertainment) doesn't involve some sort of romance? The list is short for sure. So what should the criterion be for catagorizing a book as a romance? (I'm sure there is some that make sense).
As for book covers, the follow the time honored traditon that a) Sex sells. b) aim for your target audience (gender) c) if in doubt go back to a)
Another tidbit to throw in this mix. I attended a conference not long ago where the subject of "Sexual Health" came up. It turns out somebody actually did a study to find out why people have sex (not relationships. Nobody knows how those happen). The survey found out that the top five reasons men have sex, are identical to the top five reasons women do... the number one for both was "I found the other person attractive." Refer to a) for book covers... just my 2 cents from the bottomless pocket of pennies.
@MrsJ - Ok, he's not beefy... but he's still, apparently, the "sexy" or "hot Irish guy with a sword" - *pant, pant*At this point I'm not entirely sure if it was the cover itself (though I admit it didn't appeal to me when I first saw it), or the drooling and panting behavior of some of our members which first lodged the "this looks PNR to me" idea in my head.
I think some of it has to do with the framing of the shot, though.
@Hugh - Sure, sex sells - except for when it doesn't, and if MrsJ is accurate then there are people driven away from UF precisely because of it being overly-sexualized.
There's also the issue of the difference between romance and "romance". A lot of books I've read have romantic elements in them, but don't cross the lines into PNR-type euphemisms.
But, then, I disagree with your original assertion that nearly all books include romance as a "strong" plot driver. Many of the books I've read have romance as secondary, or even lower, elements, and are not the primary focus at all.
And, generally, that's what defines the romance genre - a) sex vs romance and b) being a primary focus.
When I posted I wasn't being all that serious. If they start trying to shelve everything separately we'll undoubtedly miss books we'd like (though with the number of "unread, to be reads" I already have...well, you all know where that goes). The book cover painting dichotomy has already been brought up. I skipped over Poison Study for months, maybe years because I assumed from the cover it was PNR. However it turned out to be a fantasy (I still haven't read the sequels, but they're on my shelf). Same with Hounded. Just looking at it, I would think, "okay, romance". Then again I've picked up a few I thought were UF and found them to be (in my opinion) heavy PNR. And there's another snag. What I call PNR others will call UF. So far as I'm concerned there is no question that Dead Witch Walking is PNR. But I picked it up on the recommendation of someone here who was adamant it was UF and NOT PNR.
So, I'm pretty much not into romance of any kind. I'll probably some books PNR that others wouldn't... I think it may end up being subjective, but FOR ME once a book moves over into the PNR category I cease thinking of it as UF.
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Fantasy Aficionados
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I even joined a buddy read - only supposed to read 4 chapters a night but that's not really happening, lol. I should finish by tomorrow if So You Think You Can Dance has a sucky night tonight.
*Note: I don't care if you guys hate PNR, I love love LOVE this series!* :P