[clockwirk]

Fantasy/Sci Fi really...
I just got done watching an episode of Battlestar Galactica and I was struck at how well done that show is. It's arguably one of the best shows on television. That sentiment seems to apply to a lot of Fantasy/Sci Fi these days. Quality seems to have hit an apex at the same time as creativity is flourishing. I think of Martin, Erikson, Bakker, Mielville, Gaiman, plus newbies like Lynch and Abercrombie, and TV shows like Battlestar, Lost, Heroes, etc... It seems like there is always something great out there to get into.
Anybody else share my positive state of mind about the genre? Do you agree that we're in the 'Golden Age'? If so, why do you think that is?

[Wayne Batson]

Hey, CW

I totally think we are in Fantasy's Golden age. And I don't think there will be an end anytime soon. There are a zillion reasons why, IMHO.

On the surface, I think that generationally, we are now dealing with a lot of young folks who whet their teeth on Harry Potter, who have now had children and are passing along the love of fantasy to them. The Lord of the Rings movies too had a generational impact. The entire entertainment industry saw that Fantasy can be critically acclaimed (what was it 14 Oscars for Return of the King?) and score MONSTROUSLY at the box office.

And look at what we have to look forward to, movies of: Narnia, Eragon, His Dark Materials, Inkheart, The Hobbit (by Peter Jackson's hand, I pray), etc. Each one of these that hits at the theater, spawns interest in the books, and then the readers of those want to know what else is like them.

Aside from being an author, my day job is middle school reading teacher. And I can tell you from observation that Fantasy is by FAR the hottest genre among tweens. Look at the NY Times and Amazon YA bestsellers. A staggering 8 our of 10 titles are fantasy titles.:eek:

If this generation loves fantasy this much, what fun the next generation will be.

Under the surface though, I think readers are flocking to fantasy:

1. To escape the problems of life
2. To vicariously live heroic lives
3. To discover worlds where virtues still have meaning

Not to be a cynic, but when the world seems to be going to h-e-double toothpicks in a hand basket, people can find an anchor point in fantasy. Ironic, isn't it?

[algernoninc]

if this is the golde age, does it mean that it cannot possibly get better? i'm a pathologic optimist, and i say the golden age is still to come. i have some small issues even with the modern masters you mentioned :rolleyes:

I digg the comment about worlds where virtues still have meaning.

[clockwirk]

if this is the golde age, does it mean that it cannot possibly get better? i'm a pathologic optimist, and i say the golden age is still to come. i have some small issues even with the modern masters you mentioned :rolleyes:

I digg the comment about worlds where virtues still have meaning.

Absolutely it can get better. I guess what I mean is that the environment is right for individual authors to be excellent and creative. How else could we have a full on series based on The Dresden Files and an HBO series in the works for ASOIAF. The SFF community at large wants to be challenged by the authors, and it's willing to pay to make it great. I don't think that it means that all of the authors writing now are flawless, but they all have a staggering amount of potential, a community who will require them to be fresh and creative, and some financial backing to keep doing it.
And...they haven't really yet been commercialized to the point of becoming stagnant.

[Konrad]

I do think that the golden age is a time where moviemakers and such have found out that you can make more money. Isn't that how it always works? :)
But as a f/sf-fan then I say "lets dig some gold":D .

And I wonder, in Sweden it's not popular reading any type of book (in my age) and schools are trying to find new ways to get teenagers to do just that. Is that a problem everywhere or just here?

[Lowlander]

Growing up in a small town in Belgium I discovered fantasy in the local library. The choice was very simple : they had David Eddings, Steven Donaldson and Hickman & Weis as mainstream fantasy. If you wanted something more alternative you could choose between Tanith Lee, Jack Vance or Roger Zelazny. I think that's the great bonus of reading fantasy today : there is so much variety. It's perfectly possible today to read 30 fantasy novels a year without encountering a single elf or dark lord.

Are we living in a golden age ? Clearly never before has there been more fantasy published than today. But let's be careful. A lot of the material published today is mediocre or poorly written. I'am a little bit afraid that sooner or later the "fantasy hype" will go downhill and many publishers will be forced to downsize their output.

[JamesL]

This is a really interesting question. There's no doubt that this is a period of massive growth for the genre. I remember, not so many years ago, that in my local newsagents the only fantasy they had filled one shelf and only the big names appeared - Williams, Brooks et al. Now, whenever you go into a bookstore the shelves (note the plural) are practically collapsing under the weight of dozens of books by dozens of authors.

The downside of this boom in fantasy is that a lot of the stuff being published is depressingly sub-standard. You have to take the good with the bad. I'm not sure whether this is a golden age for fantasy, but there's no denying it's a big period of growth that doesn't show any sign of dying out just yet, and for all of us fans that has to be more of a good thing than bad.

[JBI]

Fantasy is still getting started. When books by terrible authors stop making best seller lists, and the standard of books in the fantasy genre increases, then we will be in the golden age. Too many books are published now simply because they are about dragons and wizards.

As for sci-fi, my general opinion is that science fiction "ain't what it used to be". I enjoy reading classics far more than the stuff being published now a days.

Once fantasy takes the next step, and evolves into a more literary form, then perhaps we will be in a golden age. Though I must commend magic realism authors such as Salman Rushdie and Gabrielle Garcia Marquez who have taken non-realist literature to the next level.

There still are too many books of low quality being published, and until that stops the golden age will need to wait.

Plus fantasy is generally new-ish in terms of popular fiction. The genre only recently began evolving. Until we have seen where the genre is going, there is no way to label anything "golden age".

[JohnH]

Definitely in a Golden Age as far as I am concerned. Have been for some time. Certainly a bit before Lord of the Rings ever made it to the big screen or Harry Potter took off. Both, in fact, seem to have enjoyed a lovely give-and-take with the benefits of such a Golden age. Helping to broaden and strengthen in some regards; most likely both acheiving success far beyond what they might have outside of such a phenomenon.

And sadly, both go a huge way at undermining much of the aspects of the very golden age of fantasy, some of at least are enjoying and continue to enjoy. Neither LOTR or Harry Potter really bring such a vast new audience looking for new fantasy that outweighs or compltely counteracts the damage both do to the perception. Without HP and LOTR, would Eragon have been published? Let alone made into a movie? Would Robert Newcombe enjoy bestseller status? Would the glaringly obvious ripoffs of both HP and LOTR proliferate and stand as false identifiers of the genre? It took years for the false stigma of Brooks and the franchising bland horror that was Weis and Hickman to wear off. Somewhat. All in all, I'm not sure that HP and LOTR do less harm than good. Certainly overall, looking back over the last ten years or more, the genre has enjoyed such a huge success in expanding and deepening and coming into it's own that both mainstream sucesses owe more to the already established Golden Age as I see it, than the other way around.

I'm not sure exactly when the Golden Age began. I certainly know it existed back in the mid '90's. All you had to do was walk into a Borders or a B&N superstore and head to the genre section and see several cases, not just shelves, devoted to just the new releases. To see hardcover offerings in the dozens in new books every couple of months.

And of course, even Brooks and Weis-Hickman, for all the damage I think they did with their work being rather low standard and incredibly deriative even of itself, helped trigger the growing awareness of the genre. If only, ironically, preparing a large loyal readership to want more. Want better. Want variety and want it in quality publications.

Thankfully, I see such a Golden Age not only having existed for some time now, but also neither being static nor finite. It can evolve and fluctuate, but I don't think it has to end. Or reach a certain point and stop.

The internet not only has created a new means of communication and appreciation between fans and authors and publishers. It has also created a growing awareness of the genre and what it has to offer that I don't see simply going away or dropping off suddenly. If there is a weary backlash, it will be in those niche trend markets that attract the flavor-of-the-month seekers anyway. Those desperately looking for the next HP or LOTR. And those who follow and bite at whatever the rest of the school of fish are feeing on. When HP ends the groupthink desperate to belong and be a part of the popular phenomenon will move on to something else. The same readership that created an atmosphere that saw the nurturing of such will continue. Albeit expanded by those who came to fansty through HP and LOTR and saw them both for what they truly were and decided to explore deeper and farther.

[foolofgold]

I don't believe its possible to view our current time period as the 'golden age' of anything. It seems only correct to look back on a time and say, "Boy was that the golden age of fantasy or what? Remember when Martin had us waiting (correction: loooooooooong wait) on the edge of our seats for A Feast for Crows? -Hobb was setting up the ending for her Soldiers Son trilogy? -Rowling was finally wrapping up her Potter books?" On the other hand we could be saying thirty years from now, "Pshh, A Song of Ice and Fire, thats childs play compared to whats coming out now."

We must remember that we are reading fantasy in its infancy. The Lord of the Rings was completed only sixty years ago. Sure we can say fantasy fiction predates Tolkien, be it didn't become popular fiction until the 80's. Only now is fantasy fiction being accepted as popular. Sure, A Song of Ice and Fire is brilliant, and Hobb IMO is virtually flawless, but I think we have yet to read the best fantasy.