Last month,

our new columnist, Julie, wrote a review, of sorts, about the new Harry Potter movie.  It got me thinking about the broad appeal of the "Potter" series of books and movies -- and, further, about the popularity of the Lord of the Rings films, Star Wars and others. 

 

It's interesting that Fantasy and Science Fiction are often so very marginalized in our culture (readers and viewers are almost universally pegged as 'geeks' or as some weird comic-booky subculture); and yet, I suspect there is at least as wide an audience for J.R.R. Tolkein as there is for Louis L'Amour.  Readers of Westerns, however, are not generally painted as bootwearing, gun-toting wannabe cowboys.  I know, I know... it's likely because the passionate fandom of Fantasy and Sci-Fi tends to dress up in abnormal ways at certain times (like cloaks, or stormtrooper costumes), whereas 80% of the population between the California State Line and the Mississippi dress like characters from "8 Seconds."

 

But still.

 

The reality is, as marginalized as fans are, fantasy and science fiction are mainstream.  The top blockbusters are almost universally science fiction, and nearly everyone has read Harry Potter or The Lord of the Rings.  But why?  What is it about fantasy that is such a draw, even for adults?

 

I submit that, for many, it is about being allowed to use our imaginations.  Day to day, in work or at school, we deal with facts.  With figures.  The "real world" is nearly opressive in its "there-ness."  In the news, on television -- that is, even at home and relaxing -- we are assaulted daily but the mundane sights and sounds that make up our normal lives.  And it isn't as though having a real life is such a bad thing.  It's simply that, sometimes, we need to get away.

 

Sometimes, a vacation to the real world, fraught as it is with paying for gas, tickets and rooms, dealing with snotty agents or attendents and crowded lines, just isn't as satisfying as we need it to be.  Sometimes, at least in our minds, we need a good trip to space, or the future, or the magical past.  Sometimes, we need to vacation in Narnia or Endor.

 

Not that the genre is pure Escapism.  Far from it!  Indeed, the best stories are those that make us think, make us feel, or teach us a lesson.  Stories like our feature this month, Melanie Ann Billings's "Playing with Monsters," in which childhood daydreams take on their own horrifying reality -- a story which can simply entertain us or, if we let it, can remind of us the spiritual battles we face daily.  And it is those traits that are shared by other great stories in this month's collection, like the "Windrider" serial, by Becky Minor (this month, you can enjoy the second installment).

 

So enjoy the stories.  Take from them what you will.  Maybe you need an escape; maybe you want to dig a little deeper.  Either way, we're glad you're here.