Comments on: Why Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Are Lucky

By: PJ Hoover

PJ Hoover — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 01:18:24 +0000

Very interesting, Anna! I never thought about it this way, but I look at a book like FOREST and I LOVED the world. That said, the characters had me connected and caring, too, which may be why it’s my best read of the year thus far.

By: annastan

annastan — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 11:53:22 +0000

Well Karen and Jonathan, I’m glad to hear I’m not alone in reading for the world above other things. The characters have to be interesting and the premise has to be believable, otherwise I get bored, but the world is what I always want to hear more about.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 00:19:34 +0000

The world’s the thing–at least for me. I love well-written characters, but I love them more when they’re in a world I can explore. If the world’s in the spaces in between our world, like Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere or American Gods, that’s cool. Also worlds, like in Neal Stephenson’s Anathem, that are familiar and foreign at the same time resonate. Or anything by authors with some variation on the spelling of Neil.

By: Karen

Karen — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:22:46 +0000

That’s interesting to what your friend said about the Forest book. I loved it for the fact that it had zombies in it and the world was so dark. It was like escaping to this world without any risks or danger.
While others found it depressing, I found it fascinating.

I love the characters too—but I must say without the zombies, I probably wouldn’t have picked up this book. It was the premise that hooked me.

I guess I just love the world-building aspect of sci-fi and fantasy. This is probably why I read it more than other genres.