| Re: What is your ideal concept of fantasy?
Actually, readers have been saying they are tired of the same old quasi-medieval fantasy for at least the last twenty years, but our buying habits continue to say otherwise.
I could name dozens of fantasy novels where the setting was either not medieval or not European, but most of them did very poorly in terms of sales, while the Robert Jordanses and the David Eddingses of this world continue to sell very well indeed.
The problem may be that when readers say "I want something different" we all have a pretty clear idea of what that something different should be and it's a different idea for each of us. When something different does come out but it doesn't fit that internal description, the average reader ignores that and buys the latest Eddings instead. Neither one is exactly what he wanted, but at least with the Eddings he knows what he is getting.
Of course the price of books these days is also a factor. Why take a chance when books are so expensive? |