Thursday, May 30, 2013

The Prezi chart is certainly ambitious ( I would never think to come up with something like this unbidden). I have lots of issues with it, however, I respect the author for his efforts. My first issue lies with the science fiction area. Personally I think that both science fiction and fantasy should stem from a new category, Speculative Fiction which is a broader term encompassing any works which are fantastic, supernatural or futuristic. Science fiction should be just that, books based on science or technology - real possibilities not leaps into the fantastic. I don't think that fantastic, superhero, strange monster fiction should be included in this category. Nor should dystopian fiction which is not based on technology be included. Fantasy and science fiction are equal and distinct categories.Next,most magical realism is literary fiction, not fantasy. Many works of contemporary fiction contain elements of magical realism.John Fowles, John Barth, Salmon Rushdie, Lionel Shriver are not fantasy authors, they convey complex human conditions in realistic terms including fantastical elements. They border on the crazy and the surreal, sometimes because of the narrator's unique point of view. By and large they transcend most sci fi and fantasy. Personally, I think that some of the southern gothic writers , Faulkner, Carson McCullers, Flannery O'Connor fall into the magical realism category -- certainly not as a subset of fantasy. Perhaps this particular type of fiction should be considered coequal with sci fi and fantasy under speculative fiction. Or, perhaps it needs its own free standing category under a new category of literary fiction. Finally, I disagree with classifying animal mysteries, culinary mysteries as subgenres of mystery -- they are all cozies and that is where they belong -- there is an endless list of special audience mysteries--plus size, antique store, scrapbooking -- and they all belong under the cozy category. These criticisms are easy to make, it is always easier to criticize than to create so I commend the author for his efforts, it has given me lots of insight into the world of fiction reading.

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