Monday, March 28, 2011

Life Is Stranger Than Fantasy Fiction

This is the cover to the January 1953 issue of...Image via Wikipedia
Some people are relunctant to regularly read fantasy novels -- even books where 98% of the plot is reality-based -- because they find it difficult to accept the "fantastic" element. In this case, fantastic means odd, fanciful or supernatural. In many cases the 2% fantasy is based on science speculation, such as other dimensions, wormholes or alternative universes. In all of these examples, however, respected science predicts they are actually possible.

Current news items re-inforce my point. For example, today it was announced that scientists at the University of York have recovered the remains of an Iron Age man's brain, buried in soil that remarkably preserved critical soft tissue. Most experts would tell you the chances of finding a partially preserved brain that old under those circumstances were highly unlikely. But they did. Here is a link to the news release: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110328101108.htm

In another current example, here in America each spring universities compete in a winner-take-all basketball tournament called March Madness. Sixty eight teams compete until a champion is crowned. We are at the moment down to the last four standing, called The Final Four. Two of them are extreme long shots and the other two were not expected to get this far. Odds makers are quoted on ESPN, the American sports network, as saying the finalists are so improbable that he placed the odds of it happening at 1-in-300 million. But it did happen. Fantastic. Here is a link to the story: http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/28764/so-just-how-unlikely-is-this-final-four

So take a chance and broaden your horizons. The next time you consider reading a really good, fast paced novel, consider a good fantasy novel, instead of the usual detective or political thriller fiction. The odds are, the fantasy plot is believable and the experience will be enjoyable. For example, try Gettysburg Passage, a fantasy novel just $2.99 from Amazon. Read the reviews here.
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