Further inquiry regarding female taste in sci-fi & fantasy

[HoopyFrood]

Originally Posted by Dr. Atomic

HoopyFrood - Would you be okay if romances or "chick lit" (ugh, what a name...) ended with some sort of zombie apocalypse?

Zombie apocalypse? Hell yeah, that's the best kind!

[Mouse]

Hate chick-lit and romance too! Much rather have a good book with lots of blood and guts! Also cannot stand chick flicks! Much rather have a good martial arts film!

[HoopyFrood]

Yeah, give me blood, guts and gore any day (in both books and films )

[Mouse]

Definately!
Also, any book where dead people come alive and start wandering about is great! In fact, looking at my selection of books next to me on the shelf, most of them seem to have dead things that come alive in them . . .

[apokalypsis]

Originally Posted by Mouse

Definately!
Also, any book where dead people come alive and start wandering about is great! In fact, looking at my selection of books next to me on the shelf, most of them seem to have dead things that come alive in them . . .

Hurrah for Tim Burton's Corpse Bride and Laura Moon (in Gaiman's American Gods)!

[apokalypsis]

Originally Posted by dwndrgn

All I want is interesting characters and a good story. I don't care if they are female, male or generic.

Umm, what's "generic"? Is that as in asexual? Reproduces by cellular division? (Got a little lost there.) Or would that be like creatures that are both female and male at the same time?

[Nikitta]

Originally Posted by HoopyFrood

Zombie apocalypse? Hell yeah, that's the best kind!

Someone should write a book or make a movie with zombie ninjas*. I'd read it.

*concept came up during an odd discussion.

Okay, so they might be more fun than scary, due to the "natural" slow tempo and clumsiness of zombies not going very well with being a ninja, but I still want to see a book or movie with them.

[HoopyFrood]

Mind you, the Zombies in the remake of Dawn of the Dead are able to run, (and that's evil, at least before you could run away from them, but now they chase after you!) and the ones in Land of the Dead could use weapons, so perhaps Ninja zombies wouldn't be so funny after all!

[Alurny]

Originally Posted by Mouse

Hate chick-lit and romance too! Much rather have a good book with lots of blood and guts! Also cannot stand chick flicks! Much rather have a good martial arts film!

You sound like my best friend

[littlemissattitude]

Oh, let's see...to begin with, as much as I love science fiction and some subgenres of fantasy, I read more non-fiction than fiction. I don't know if I read it because that's mostly what I write, or if that's mostly what I write because it is mostly what I read. It's one of those chicken/egg things, I suppose. And I'll read almost any subject, although my favorites are history, science, anthropology/archaeology, religious studies (from an academic point of view, rather than from a devotional point of view) and political science.

As far as fiction (aside from sf/fantasy) goes, I don't read that much mainstream fiction. I'm much more likely to read mainstream fiction if it touches on one of my non-fiction interests. For example, I recently read a mainstream novel called Resurrection because it a) had archaeologists in it, b) was set in the past (post-WW II), and c) had to do with the Nag Hammadi texts. It also helps if it has some quasi-sf/fantasy aspect, such as The Time Traveler's Wife, which was one of the best books I read last year.

I like mysteries and police procedurals, but I'm particular about which ones I read and mostly stick to certain authors...I like Faye Kellerman, Jonathan Kellerman, Kathy Reichs (in whose books anthropology/archaeology is a key aspect), Stephen White, and Robert B. Parker (but only his "Spencer" novels). Oh, and Tony Hillerman and his novels about Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn. Some Native Americans have issues with his depiction of Indian culture and characters, but I guess since I'm not a Native American I don't see the problem, and I quite like those books of his that I've read. Every once in awhile I'll happen on a new writer who gets added to the list, but not often.

Romance...meh. I read a lot of what we called "gothics" back in high school, writers like Victoria Holt, but I outgrew those sometime during high school. I do like books in which there are romantic relationships, but not often novels that are part of the "romance" genre. I discovered Kage Baker's "Company" novels when I picked up the first one and thought it sounded interesting because it was an odd combination of romance novel, historical novel, and science fiction.

I'm not even really sure what "chick-lit" consists of. Is Bridget Jones' Diary an example? I liked the movie, but never was able to finish the book.

Horror is another genre that I'm very picky about. Love Stephen King, although I haven't read many of his new things simply because I haven't gotten around to them. And I love Clive Barker (what did somebody say earlier about him..."fun and twisted"...he is that. Although I couldn't read The Great and Secret Show because he didn't do his homework as far as I was concerned...he used the name of the place I grew up as a location but didn't get the geography right, which ticked me off horribly. I've read some Dean Koontz and like some of his books, but I don't pick his work up on a regular basis.

I've never read a western. Well, I did read one Louis L'Amour novel, but that was The Haunted Mesa, which was set in contemporary times and is actually a fantasy novel...there's time and/or interdimensional travel involved.

Adventure is fun, and I'm fairly well addicted to Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt novels, despite the inherent sexism in some of them, especially the earlier stories.

I could go on...don't worry, I won't. I guess it all boils down to the fact that I'll give almost any genre a try, but I'm sometimes very difficult to please.

[HappyHippo]

"Adventure is fun, and I'm fairly well addicted to Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt novels, despite the inherent sexism in some of them, especially the earlier stories."

My other half has a shelf of these, I'm terribly snobbish, and refer to them as 'Spot goes Shopping' books. However, I will read them when I run out of my regular fare. It's a guilty pleasure, like belgian choc ice cream eaten whilst in pajamas.

I prefer fantasy to sci-fi, and the bulf of my libraary is in these genres, but I do read 'meaty' romances, as a mills and boon only takes half an hour and no brain cells! I also like historical stuff, biographies, hmmm... cereal packets, posters, tv guides.

I can and will read most things!

I've read a couple of Clive Barker's things, but found them really disturbing, and I enjoy sagas, purely due to the length, I like really getting into a character. 'Chick-lit' is a balnket term, I suppose like sci-fi; it covers a HUUUUGE range of authors, topics, books... some are trash, some are gems. (heretically, I'd count LOTR as trash, and William Shatner's 'Tek' books as gems! which tells you alot about my taste) And I'll attempt to read anything once, just because I can't stand the sight of an unread book.

[littlemissattitude]

Originally Posted by HappyHippo

It's a guilty pleasure, like belgian choc ice cream eaten whilst in pajamas.

That's exactly my position on Cussler's books. I read them, but I won't use one of them as my "carry around" book.

Barker...well, some of what he writes is, you're correct, quite disturbing. But I thought that was the whole thing about horror. Just me, maybe. I don't find most horror "scary", but Barker is the only writer, ever, to have something he wrote give me a bad dream. But, if you like sagas, you might want to tackle his Imagica sometime...amazing book, over 1000 pages long. Some editions are sold in two volumes, it is so long.

[Kitera]

Hmm reading just romance by itself is often tedious. I enjoy more of the action/adventure types of novels with a mix of fantasy, comedy and romance. Those are the best and most enjoyable in my opinion.

[Mouse]

Zombie ninjas?! That sounds brilliant!

[Nikitta]

Originally Posted by HoopyFrood

Mind you, the Zombies in the remake of Dawn of the Dead are able to run, (and that's evil, at least before you could run away from them, but now they chase after you!) and the ones in Land of the Dead could use weapons, so perhaps Ninja zombies wouldn't be so funny after all!

There's a remake of Dawn of the Dead? I need to see that!