Fantasy

Since I wrote a post about reading SF, I figured I should do the same with the fantasy genre.

Looking back, I probably read a little more fantasy than I remember. Lord of the Rings was a standard, and I’ve mentioned before about how many times I read the Chronicles of Narnia before I even exited elementary school.

I never liked the hard fantasy with evil wizards and lots of magic spells, but tended to remain in a different section of the genre. Once I started thinking about it I remembered reading the Pern series by Anne McAffrey and several of the early Xanth books by Piers Anthony. I read them so long ago I couldn’t tell you specifics about any of them, but at least in the case of Anthony I remember the humor and unseriousness. The Pern premise was interesting enough to keep me going for several of the books.

I also read The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant and the subsequent follow-up trilogy. I tried to read the final four books, which came out much later, and got bogged down. About 5-6 years ago I also tried to re-read the originals, and made it almost to the end of the fifth book. It was a fascinating, complex series. My lack of perseverance is my fault to bear.

So, like I said, I read more in the fantasy genre than I recalled. What influence did it have on me? I guess those books and series reinforced the fact that when I write something, anything goes. Plus, the supposed boundaries of a genre don’t keep you from telling a good story.