Thursday, September 17, 2009

A Question For Our Readers

So.... with all the whine about the publishing of yet another dull anti-Catholic book, I was wondering why that has to be.

Gosh, there are so few good NEW stories around, not like there used to be: Chesterton, Doyle, Sayers, Carr, E.E. "Doc" Smith... Buchan's Thirty-Nine Steps, Janney's The Miracle of the Bells, Morley's The Haunted Bookshop, Juster's The Phantom Tollbooth, Brinley's The Adventures of the Mad Scientists' Club, and so many others - even Dr. Thursday's The Three Relics:


Oops, sorry - that last one doesn't count. Not yet anyway. (Don't you wish it did count?)

(The irate reader grumbles: Hey Doc - I though you had a QUESTION for us.)

Yeah, I do. Hold your mouses, I had to set the stage, even if it's a toy theatre.

So, here's the question. What do you enjoy in a story? What kind do you prefer? Short, novel, trilogy, series? What would you want to read - if it was something NEWLY written? Should it be mystery, thriller, sci-fi, fantasy, western, historical.... What time period? What style? (Fill in additional details here.)

Please tell us.

Yeah, I have lots to work on, but I think maybe if SOMEONE gets busy writing some good stuff, there will be less whining. At least we will start to have a clue about what Chestertonians like.

P.S. If you are wondering what I like, you might get a clue from the above list. But I had to stop somewhere. And there are other books I like which don't count as fiction, alas. Sometimes I am surprised by the CRC Handbook - or Gray's Anatomy - or even Liddell and Scott...




P.P.S. Yes, I know I have also promised that book about the Pope - but that also needed its stage to be set. I think I may be ready to start work on it very soon, though I may also have to write a prequel or two. We'll see. Someone promised to nag me to get it done, and I have not heard any nagging.

3 comments:

  1. Maolsheachlann, Ireland9/17/2009 2:49 PM

    A fantasy, please! That would be very Chestertonian. Even a fantasy rooted in everyday life. The best thing about fantasy is that it CAN, paradoxically, celebrate ordinary life unlike many more "realist" fictions. Any wardrobe might open onto Narnia....

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  2. Well, for me, it would be all of the above! I just like a good, thought-provoking read! I am turned off by nihilism, vulgarity and triteness. I want to like at least some of the characters in the story and I want good, consistent character development. But I think other than that, I'm pretty open minded. If I were going to rate the genres in the order I preferred, it would be: historical, western, mystery, fantasy, sci-fi, thriller. You forgot romance! I'm a girl, so I like them as well.

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  3. I would like to see something about a time other than our own or the future...not historical fiction and not fantasy (magic in a past period would be OK). You don't see such things anymore :(. And I love Shakespeare-style humor...romantic princess-rescuing plots...themes that are not obvious...i could keep talking :).

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