Senseless Musings

I read fantasy and Sci-Fi books. I have for a long time, started with The Chronicles of Narnia and Lord of the Rings and has gone on from there. I often wonder why I find these paticular genres so engrossing. I mean, I've read fiction, non-fiction, historical fiction, philosophy, histories, technical manuals, and theology but as a genre, I keep find myself drawn to Sci-Fi and fantasy.

I can justify some of it. Sci-Fi ends up being some of the most interesting in social commentary, as it can create a future or distant world in which one thing or another has happened or some system is in place, and make a point about it, good or bad. The same with fantasy. But that's not really why I read it.

I think it's the escape from reality. I'm a cynical realist by nature. I find humanity to be depraved, I think that the best system is the system that minimizes overall corruption as it's impossible to completely eliminate. My overall idea of the world is none to pretty. Now, I don't hold such cynicism to the individual to the degree I hold it to the general population. I tend to give individuals the benefit of the doubt. But failures don't surprise me, in fact I tend to expect them, as I do it all the time and I'm no better nor worse than the average person. And if that's true, then the world is a pretty dark place.

So maybe Sci-Fi and fantasy is a way to escape this reality for a moment, to see good versus evil. To see triumph. Maybe it's also the sense of adventure that's more believable because it takes place on another world. Modern fiction I ahve a hard time accepting as most of them mean that our police/governments are so grossly incompetent at handling ordinary situations that we are in danger of serious harm at anytime. I can suspend disbelief much easier if the nature of the universe demands such. Maybe at heart I'm more a dreamer than I let most people know. I do often wonder what I might have done had I been able to share my creativity.

Or maybe I just find them entertaining. That's probably the most important thing.