The One About Sci-Fi/Fantasy

I am not a big Star Wars fan.

Actually that is a lie. I am not a Star Wars fan at all. In fact, other than liking Star Trek: The Next Generation, I’ve never been a fan of that type of story.

I say this because, until my mid 2o’s, I always assumed the genre of “Sci-Fi/Fantasy” was purely meant for all things exactly like Star Wars or Star Trek, and involved futuristic robots, airships and the like.

You see, in elementary school I loved to read. The books I read though, were stuff you’d expect an elementary kid to read. The only thing outside the norm was that I was a big R.L. Stein fan. I don’t just mean his Goosebumps stuff either, but his Young Adult books as well.

After my dad died, I lost my life in music and never really read again. In fact the first work of Fiction that I can remember reading after all that time was Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I had seen the movie on opening weekend and loved it. A friend of mine suggested reading the book and so I went and bought it. I made it about half way through the thing before it got shelved and started collecting dust. It wasn’t because I wasn’t enjoying it, but more because I couldn’t find time.

Then, on one of my many trips to the local Border’s (R.I.P), I decided to find a new book to read. I spent about 30 to 40 minutes going through all the suspense and drama books on the shelves. Almost picked up a Steven King book but decided against it. I eventually made it to the SF section and started to avoid it. “I still need to finish HGttG!” I thought to myself. Plus I wasn’t wanting anything “Sci-Fi-ish) at the moment.

I then looked down at the bindings on the shelf in front of me. Since I was at the end of the aisle I was at the A section of authors. There was this cool binding that looked like it had blood on it and I pulled it out. The book was Joe Abercrombie’s The Blade Itself. It was book one in the First Law Series. I read the back of the book and looked at the cover. I remember vividly thinking, “Fuck it. I’ll go with this, it has a cool enough cover.

I then read the book. It blew my mind. I couldn’t put it down. Every night before bed I read for an hour or two. Lunch at work? Reading. On the pooper? Reading. I was enthralled with this world. I then had to share it with a friend of mine, whom I knew loved these kinds of books. He as well was blown away. I had no idea that books like this existed.

It was then that I learned what Science Fiction/Fantasy really meant in relation to storytelling. I was in love.  Two months later, Abercombie’s second book in the series came out and I bought it on release day. Eventually buying his third the same way. I had been so overwhelmed by my introduction into the genre that all I could think about was his stuff. I was too afraid to step out of what I knew I liked. So I re-read his books to pass the time, and then I finished Hitchhiker’s Guide.

The same friend who I introduced to The First Law Series, then told me about the Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks. Blew through it and loved it. After that, it was on. Brandon Sanderson, Peter V Brett, Weeks, Abercrombie… these guys where awesome. Then I read Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss’ and was amazed. His follow-up, Wise Man’s Fear was even better.

What’s so strange to me is that this world that I am beginning to put pen to paper to has been in my head since not long after high school. I just thought the only category for it was “Fiction”. I was unaware at the time that it had a home, and that it was populated with some of the greatest authors of all time.

After spending the last 10 years reading over 100 books from all genres, I finally have decided that my world that I have built in my head, needs to be shared with everyone else. Even if it’s only to say that at least I told it, I’ll still know that someone somewhere will read it. Even if it’s just the people I know

The One About Sci-Fi/Fantasy