In my book meanderings over the years I have discovered a new species of reader: what I call the Young Science Fiction & Fantasy Reader. Note the word "young." That's because this is strictly a youth phenomenon. I have never known a science fiction/fantasy reader over the age of 30. Reading science fiction and fantasy is something that a normal person should outgrow, like bed-wetting and calling old girl friends at 2 a.m.
But alas, they are out there---those young science fiction & fantasy readers. I was once one myself back in high school. I caught the disease from a then brother-in-law (there is a lesson here: don't let -brothers-in-law influence you) but I out-grew it by the time I started college.
I need to talk to my anthropology professors again. No longer will I ask them about the latest theories on cannabalism. I can ask if they are familiar with this new species of homo sapiens, the Young Science Fiction & Fantasy Reader.
Young Science Fiction Readers are the type who will keep mice in their basement for pets. They have a pronounced inability to carry on normal small talk. Ask them what they've been up to lately and they'll look at you like you're speaking Swahili. They stare into space a lot but can never tell you what they are thinking about when they do so. Acne is a major health problem well into their late 20's. Young Science Fiction & Fantasy Readers work in and patronize health food stores. If you see a young person in a health food store holding a book, I'll bet my mortgage that it's a science fiction/fantasy book.
Recently I saw a couple in the science fiction/fantasy section of a local bookstore. The guy looked like a black-haired Drew Carey with a U of Alabama shirt and black shorts. The girl had shoulder length blond hair and tilted her head 45 degrees each time she turned to her friend to say something.
They were having this SERIOUS conversation about the books, picking up this book and that book, reading the backs of them to each, talking about authors. I was stunned. I did not know that anybody COULD have a serious conversation about sci-fi/fantasy. But they were going at it.
I felt like grabbing a notebook and asking them if I could follow them around the science fiction section taking notes as if I were an anthropologist observing some so far undiscovered tribe on some newly discovered island.
And let me say this. Young Science Fiction & Fantasy readers read ONLY science fiction and fantasy. If you ask them if they've read Faulkner or Proust, you'll get that Swahili look.
And the science fiction/fantasy section of the bookstore. Have you ever looked at that stuff? You don't have to see the people. Just look at those weird books and you'll stay away from the people who read this stuff.
Manga? Quest? Poltergiests? Tolkien? Well, okay, maybe Tolkien. We were reading Tolkien when I was in college in the late 60's and early 70's. Then Tolkien made a comeback with the movies. I'll give you Tolkien, and Jasper Fforde, but NOTHING ELSE.
When I am in a bookstore with a science fiction/fantasy section, I always take a look at the people in those aisles. I feel like I'm in a sci-fic/fantasy alternative universe being around these people.
2 comments:
I agree with this to some extent. I was so glad when we did away with our Sci-Fi section. But, I will say this. There are some good pieces of science fiction, like Ray Bradbury for example. And more recently, Jonathan Lethem. But yes, for the most part, it is as you say. I think my major problem is like you said, they only read science fiction. How can anyone only read one genre? You don't learn anything by reading the same thing over and over. It frustrates me as a bookseller and as a book lover. And I hate to disappoint you Fred, but we used to have SEVERAL sci-fi readers over the age of thirty. They were super scary and I tried not to be alone with them in an aisle for too long!
I don't blame you. Sci-fi readers over 30 could morph into reptillian form at any time, or so I've heard. Avoid at all costs.
Yeah, I suppose you're correct about good old Ray Bradbury. There's another exception to the rule! Jonathan Lethem I've never heard of.
P.S. I suspect that sci-fi readers over 30 were abused as children. Or else they were embarassed nerds as children like Karl Rove. (I wouldn't at all be surprised if Karl Rove read sci-fi)
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