Let's stop sneering at fantasy readers

They might be the zit-ridden little brothers of science fiction geeks, but fantasy readers still deserve our respect.

This article was posted by Sam Jordison on The Guardian books blog. You can read the entire piece here.

Here's an excerpt:

As has often been noted on this site in the past, it's not always easy being a science fiction fan. Even though the genre has produced some of the most forward-thinking, influential and linguistically advanced literature of the past century, most people still regard it as the preserve of lonely men who know a little bit too much about computers and not quite enough about personal hygiene.

But even SF fans have it easy compared to followers of fantasy. These are the people Red Dwarf fans sneer at for being nerdy. They are the zit-ridden little brothers of the SF geeks, whose even-less-healthy obsessions include trolls, giving Anglo-Saxon names to phallic weapons, and maidens with magical powers.

There are probably good reasons for pillorying fantasy as the genre of eternal greasy adolescence. It's also been easy to patronise the writing because of its literal lack of years. Although fantasy can lay claim to being the oldest style of writing, with a lineage right back to Gilgamesh and Homer, we now generally think of it as the creation of the baby-boomers, of writers who read Tolkien in the 1960s and never quite came back from Middle-Earth.

Follow the link to read the rest. . .