Many many years ago when I first discovered the wonders of genre fiction I simply loved it for what it was and didn’t think much about WHY I loved it. I read any and everything, including the occasional raid of my older brother’s room and the Tarzan and Conan books he favored. If it was something other than day to day life, I read it.
In the late 70’s I discovered a bookstore in Berkeley called Dark Carnival and the love of genre began in earnest. As a side note I see that Dark Carnival is still in business all these many years later and it makes me stupid happy!
Anyway, it was at Dark Carnival that I discovered: Ursula K. Le Guin, J.R.R. Tolkien, Michael Moorcock, Arthur C. Clarke, Douglas Adams, Ray Bradbury, Philip K. Dick, Robert Henlein just to name a few. It sounds a bit dramatic to say this but it really was life-changing for me to have all these fabulous writers in one place and more importantly, to realize that I wasn’t remotely alone in the love of fantasy/sci-fi.
As I gobbled these great writers down, I started to muse on why I loved genre fiction and it became quite obvious. Here you can take the problems of the world, racism, sexism (all the isms really), move the problem to another planet, place or time and tackle it without backlash. You can take the issue and look at it from whatever angle your imagination allows and uncover its hypocrisy and absurdities with impunity.
Fast forward 25 years and while finishing up Patricia Briggs’ most recent novel Fair Game I realized that she is very, very good at weaving the ‘ism’ issue into her stories. Her stories are plot driven and engrossing but not fluff. She broaches the subjects of prejudice with straightforwardness and without lecturing. As if to say ‘Here it is’, hate of otherness simply BECAUSE of otherness exists. It may be towards a female coyote mechanic, shifters or fey, as opposed to the real world prejudices of race, religion, sexual orientation, but it still exists and it still makes no sense.
No comments:
Post a Comment