The Quick Guide to Becoming a Well-Rounded Fantasy Reader

Posted by Meg

Science fiction author Ray Bradbury, who passed away this month, had a lot to say about reading. One of my all time favorite quotes by him acknowledges the importance of reading when writing.

“You must read dreadful dumb books and glorious books, and let them wrestle in beautiful fights inside your head, vulgar one moment, brilliant the next. You must lurk in libraries and climb the stacks like ladders to sniff books like perfumes and wear books like hats upon your crazy heads.”

There are all different types of people involved in the fantasy world, and not all of them want to be writers. The biggest thing that connects us is our love for the written word. Here are some ways that you can up your participation in the world of reading and writing fantasy:

1. Cons

Justin at Staffer’s Book Review put together a little roadmap helping fantasy fans who want to go to cons and get the most out of them. Justin was at ConFusion and Balticon this year, and put together a post on ConFusion as well.

2. Read

Seems simple, right? The tough thing these days is the vast sea of books, articles, magazines, tweets and blog posts there are, not to mention how little time folks have to read these days. A solution may be in order. Lev Grossman, author of The Magicians and The Magician King, talks about how to read while you walk in a new article in Time Magazine.

3. Write Reviews

Okay, so you’ve read a lot of books, perused the book blogs and started tweeting. What now? Whether you are just reading them or writing them yourself, book reviews can be a great way to continue to dig into a book you loved (or hated!).

Another reason to read and write reviews is that book blogs are becoming more important. Newspapers and magazines reviewing books less and less and sometimes ignore science fiction and fantasy altogether. Authors, publishers and readers are relying more and more on blogs for reviews and press. Writing a review for a book you loved is a great thing you can do for an author without spending a dime. A great place to get started reading and writing reviews is Goodreads. You can also follow author reviews and blog posts.

Check out these book reviews for some Demon Cycle inspiration:

• Speculating on SpecFic recently posted a review of The Painted Man that talks about how the beginning acted as a hook for the rest of the novel.
• Following the Nerd also posted a review of The Painted Man, discussing the horrific effect of the demons.
• Xi’An’s Blog has a new blog post up about the difference between cultures in The Painted Man.

4. Podcasts

Podcasts offer a great way to learn about the industry, authors and listen to creative people talk about work and book reviews. It can also be a good way to get your own voice out there.Whether you are tuning in or podcasting yourself, they have a lot to offer in terms of reading science fiction and fantasy.

Peat’s Preferred Podcasts

• Adventures in SciFi Publishing
• The Functional Nerds
• I Should Be Writing
• SF Signal
• Sword and Laser
• Writing Excuses

Check out the Consumed Podcast for a discussion of The Warded Man and how Peat uses fantasy tropes to his advantage. The conversation shifts into a broad literary fantasy discussion and the group covers some juicy topics including prologues, exposition in fantasy writing and what The Warded Man might look like as a movie.

So whether you are preparing for a con, writing a review or just dusting off one of your favorite epic fantasy books, just remember that you are connected to a larger community of book lovers and fellow fantasy geeks.

Posted on July 6, 2012 at 11:35 am by megelizabeth
Filed under Desert Spear, Fans, Meg, Reading, Warded Man
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