I was supposed to post this on the eleventh. I am very sorry it’s late. Can we pretend, just this time, that it’s actually the eleventh and I’m not late? Just this once?
I write fantasy and paranormal romance under this pen name. I also write space opera/science fantasy under a completely different name.
This is my favorite genre to read. Kind of.
I’m learning over the years that if there isn’t a decent, heart-felt romance in the fantasy or science fiction I’m thinking about reading, I’ll just stop. Most of the time. There are exceptions, such as A Game of Thrones by G.R.R. Martin. I managed to get through the first three books of that series before I began wondering what the heck was going to happen and if there was any shred of hope left in his books. I looked at the fifth and sixth and gave up. I’m waiting to see how the series ends before I pick it back up again.
Maybe I look for romance because it’s usually a sign that there’s going to be some hope at the end and that I’ll walk away, ready to fight my own challenges in my own life because I’ll believe it’s worth it. That’s what fantasy and science fiction are to me, a way to remind ourselves that there’s hope. We don’t have to just survive. We can live.
I also happen to enjoy graphic novels, and that sense of hope is exactly why I loved reading The Watchmen. For all its darkness, it had the best ending, and the best reason for not giving up, that I’ve ever seen without someone quoting scripture. In spite of all the misery and pain and death, there was still hope.
So, I guess I was wrong when I first started writing this post. My favorite genre is Any Book That Contains Hope.
What about you?
Amy Keeley 