[wastra]

Question primarily for hte older readers here:

Does it seem to anyone else that as you age, you become far more critical of fantasy that your read?

I've found that books I read and enjoyed when I was a teenager, or even in my early 20s, don't hold any interest to me anymore. I get bored with books about 13 year olds saving the world. I grow tired of the same repetitive storyline over and over and over (see Terry Brooks).

I find myself looking for writers now who are original to a large degree. I seek ones who purosefully stray from the "Little kid who becomes a Hero" stories just because they seem...trite.

Uh oh...I'm sounding like my father.
Maybe I'm just fretting my next birthday or something...

[Rob B]

I think with anything, as you get older you will become more critical.

But yes, I remember thinnking when I first read the original DragonLance chronicles, it was THE best fantasy out there. Of course I was a teenager and have read a shed load since then.

{hint: try Matthew Stover, John Marco, China Mieville or Michael Moorcock}

Beat ya to it Shehzad!

[Penumbra]

I think it was Mark Twain who said that when he left for college, his father was the dumbest son-of-a-bitch on Earth, yet, upon graduation was amazed by how much his father had learned in the interim. Yes, age definitely does make a difference which is why publishers target their audiences. My latest novel, The Find, is a fantasy tailored for young to older adults, but definitely not children. In fact, since it was just released at iUniverse.com, I would appreciate it very much to hear anyone's comments from these forums. My website is: http://rieserbooks.homestead.com/rieserbooks.html

Please forgive my taking advantage of your question, wastra, but, being essentially penniless, I need to find little opportunities where I can. Perhaps someone will enjoy the novel. Its sequel, Pathandu, will be out in late December or January.

[Sojourn]

I think we all tend to become more critical of ANYTHING as we grow older, so naturally our reading material suffers from our growing criticism and cynical attitude to quality writing and quality writers. It's only natural.

Then again, maybe it's not just plain criticism. I mean, we outgrow the sort of clothes we wear, so does that necessarily mean we're more critical about pre-teen or teenage fashion? I think we just lose interest, as simple as that. After all, experience comes with age and as we are exposed to more sources of fantasy/sci-fi, we tend to acquire new tastes. Like trying home-brewed coffee for the first time, and saying, "Mmmm, I quite like this. Never going back to plain ol' instant coffee again".

[Valada]

Hmm, maybe we're referring to creeping conservatism? You know, the kind where you wake up one morning saying, "Yeah, of course I'm a radical", and then realise that you too have the mortgage, two kids and another on the way, the Japanese car, and all the latest in consumerist articles. Only kidding, I was just trying to stir the proverbial...

Maybe it isn't that you grow more critical, but simply an increase in experience. You may think that your suburb is the best place ever when you're a kid, and while you may always have fond memories of it, chances are once you've been overseas you may have some altered opinions. Likewise with books. The more you read, the more you realise what exists out there - after all, taste and quality are relative values, and the more you have to relate them to (in wider experience), the more divergence in results you'll get.

Or you just do a uni degree in literature, analyse every book to the nth degree, and never look at anything quite the same again!

[Bardos]

As you grow, you change. So your tastes change also. But somethings basic in your characters do not change. E.g., from an early age, I didn't like humanoids (elves, dwarves, halfling, orcs, etc) in fantasy, but prefered original races; I still do. (Well, I'm no grandfanther now, but....)
Also, I thought Terry Brooks was repeating his plot from when I was 14! I enjoyed him ok, but I did see that he was Tolkien copycat and a... repeater of plots.

I remember thinnking when I first read the original DragonLance chronicles, it was THE best fantasy out there. Of course I was a teenager and have read a shed load since then.

Same here. http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/smile.gif

Hmm, maybe we're referring to creeping conservatism? You know, the kind where you wake up one morning saying, "Yeah, of course I'm a radical", and then realise that you too have the mortgage, two kids and another on the way, the Japanese car, and all the latest in consumerist articles. Only kidding, I was just trying to stir the proverbial...

But I think you're saying something very important here. http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/wink.gif

[Peregrine]

Interesting topic.

Partly this may have to do with the creeping conservatisim that seems to affect humans, (and I would venture to say other mammals too - less playful, more serious, more grumpy), as the years roll by.

More importantly I think that as we get older wider experience refines our tastes. This can work in reverse though - the first fantasy book I read was the Lord of the Rings and I think that seriously affected my enjoyment of many of the Tolklones since. More recently I can cite that having recently read fairly literal translations of Norse Sagas, Beowulf and then Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in old English - (And that I swere for sothe, and by my seker traweth) - I found serious difficulty in more recently picking up and reading one of Eddings Sparhawk books. The difference in quality is just too great. I find myself more interested in reading Tennyson or Shakespere now. Go figure.

Another secondary influence is that we all get sick of the same old thing. It happens to be best of us - and the best of stories. Read a bunch of crime novels lately? Getting a little tired of silly little Belgan men with waxed hair? Seen Star Wars just one too many times? We all have a threshold for how much is too much. Here's my favorite example. For a while I worked part time in a bookstore. It was when the Matrix was first out on video and we had it on loop tape above the counter. Now this was fun for the first couple days. But I tell you after five weeks of it I never want to see that #$@*@*%$#@# Neo ever again!

Hmmm, mostly that was just rambling,

Peregrine

[Shehzad]

Beat ya to it Shehzad!

Darn!

Question primarily for hte older readers here:

Am I included (24)?

To answer the question, i think FF pretty much summed up my impressions. Tolkien still stands up there, and Dragonlance is still good, but others have withered with time.

[allanon]

Good topic!
F.ex. when I was small[9-13years old] J.R.R. Tolkien and Terry Brooks was definetly my favourites.
Now I think that they are just good. My favourites are Ray Feist,Eddings,sometimes Jordan.
But,as you now,my lists are pretty interesting,because they are often changing...

[Caly]

I guess I don't have much new to add, b/c I think everyone else is so right. Back in the good old days of my youth I thought RJ was The Man and nothing could top WoT. Now that I read it, I wonder what I could possibly have been thinking. RJ is just an example, not the only one by any means. I got into fantasy as an adult instead of a teenager though, so I think I missed out on a lot of the books that would appeal more to teenagers.

When I was a teen I was into a lot of horror and mystery novels. I've re-read a few and I wonder what I could have been thinking. Tastes definetly change. The more a person read the more critical a person becomes I think. It is a simple fact of maturity combined with exposure to more and more novels. If you've never read a spectaculor novel like something by GGK you don't know what you are missing.

Babble babble babble.

Oh, and the same goes for movies. The other day Mighty Ducks was on and I watched it for old times sake. How could I have ever adored that movie? And Dirty Dancing! I used to watch that movie every day and now I am embarrased just watching it.

Time to shut up. Good topic though.

Caleyna, www.fantasyfreaks.org (http://www.fantasyfreaks.org)