Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Forums

One of the things that has always struck me as ironic about SF/F fandom is the tendency we all share to stick to what we know when picking out a new book.  We want to fly into space on incredible adventures of discovery but we only want to do it with the authors we know.  Contrary to our thirst for adventure we gravitate again and again to the big names, the safe bet, and shy away from the unknown.  Stick with what you know and there's less chance you'll be let down.

There are many reasons we fall into that trap:  the comfort of familiarity (when we find a good author we want to read more of them);  the expense; and the loss of time. When we take a chance on a new author we roll the dice with that precious leisure time and our hard earned money.  Our friends, to whom we look for recommendations, are in the same boat.  Like us, they're waiting for someone else to take that risk and report back about what worked and what didn't.  Who doesn’t like a sure thing?

Of course these are all valid reasons to stick to the big guns but they're also very limiting.  We deny ourselves the singular experience of finding a new favorite author or book and limit our own horizons by excluding the many fine authors we've not tried.  Our conservative approach also limits the choices we have in another way.  We reward the publishers who stick with the "safe bets" and make it that much harder for the new authors out there to break into the scene.

These artificial limits we impose on ourselves can also lead to "genre fatigue."  Once we've read the best books by our favorite authors we start getting to their lesser works which inevitably leads to disappointment and loss of interest.  For many this leads to the flawed assumption that there's nothing good left to read.  "They don't write 'em like that anymore."  Our nostalgia for The Grand Masters further keeps us from expanding out into uncharted territory.

So how can we overcome the pull of our favorites and expand our repertoire?  I'm glad you asked.

Here are 3 rules of thumb I've come up with for your consideration:

1. Only read books that are nominated for the top SF/F awards.  This is the rule that lead to the creation of WWEnd.  Look for the books that have garnered multiple nominations across awards as an indication of quality.  Every award out there has its own criteria for selection, voting procedures, biases and flaws.  If a book has been nominated for 6 of the top 10 awards odds are it's got something going for it.

2. Your next read should be a different author than the last.  There are exceptions to this rule.  Books that are part of a single story line for instance.  You can't very well walk away from a cliff-hanger!  If it's an episodic series, try inserting something else in between and come back to that series later.  Use the awards and author listing to find a new author to try.  Look for the authors that have been nominated year after year across awards.

3. Your next read should be in a different sub-genre than the last. This is the best of the bunch as far as I'm concerned.  Jumping from Hard SF to Space Opera to Dark Fantasy will help keep things fresh and interesting and will force you to try somebody new.  Look over our list of sub-genres for ideas.

Give these rules a try and see where they lead you!  I've used them to great effect for years.  They've lead me to works by Robert J. Sawyer , Richard K. Morgan , Neil Gaiman and John Scalzi among others.  Some of these authors are now on my favorites list!  On my reading list now are Jonathan Carroll , Kathleen Ann Goonan and Adam Roberts .

There is so much variety and wonder to be found if we can just take a leap of faith once in awhile.  There are 482 authors in the WWEnd database to choose from.  Why limit yourself to a couple dozen old favorites?  Take that journey into the unknown.

- Dave