Two Encounters

[lurkerkate]

This morning, waiting for a meeting, I sat down and picked up a book; Owlflight, by Mercedes Lackey, which I find useful for filling up small doses of time without me worrying about being so engrossed that I can't put it down when I need to. A short while later, a co-worker came up; let's call her R

Comments

[spoothbrush]

Sure, Owlflight is kind of "fantasy trash" but that's not a bad thing... I enjoyed that series quite a bit more than her previous few Velgarth novels, actually, because it was a nice step out of the "Look, the same small group of people JUST SAVED THE WORLD AGAIN!!!!!" She was heading down the road to Anne McCaffery Doom.

[lurkerkate]

See, the problem is, she doesn't know the book in question. She doesn't know the author in question. She just made that judgement based on the slipcover art. And made it fairly clear (at least, to me) that it wouldn't have mattered if I were reading Lackey/McCaffrey/Eddings mind candy or one of McKillip's/deLint's intricate tapestries, Terry Brooks copperplate or Terry Pratchett satire. To her, if it's fantasy, it's trash. And here I thought people only used those negative stereotypes on romance!

[spoothbrush]

Mmmmmmmmmmm, mind candy.

[rbb]

You do have to admit that the cover art is pretty bad. For just about all of her Valdemar books, come to think of it.

[catamorphism]

R: I didn't think you read that fantasy trash.
[snip]
R: Well, I thought you'd read stuff like The DaVinci Code.

lolgasm

[jennaria]

Now, now. The DaVinci Code is technically not fantasy, except in the sense of being Shit Dan Brown Made Up. After all, while it's centered around issues related to the Christian church, it subscribes to the conspiracy theory variant on Christianity, which is markedly low on miracles/magic/whatever you choose to call it.

[juliasexta]

I agree that it's not "fantasy" and will even admit that I enjoyed it, but I'm pretty sure it counts as "trash" in terms of literature.

Okay, maybe one step above romance novels. :)

[leanne_opaskar]

Doubt's not a bad thing. It's there to be sure that you're thinking. I believe that to eliminate it entirely would not necessarily be a positive thing.

But I know how you feel. I've been there too, and still end up there sometimes. Usually, when I hit that state, I think back to the last time I really talked with the Boss, and even if it doesn't entirely fix the problem, it reminds me of why I believe what I do. Then I pick up and go on from there.

As for another reason it's easy to doubt? Well, because people make fun of other people for having "invisible friends", that's why. (; At least Jesus is one of the most commonly accepted invisible friends out there ... but that doesn't mean that it's not tough to deal with.

And I don't know about you, but for me, contact comes and goes. Sometimes it's very close, sometimes it's more distant. It's much like any other relationship ... but since you don't have concrete, tangible contact, it's much harder to define and be certain about.

Just my thoughts, anyway ...

[lurkerkate]

contact comes and goes

That's exactly how I feel! When the contact is strong, I feel an irresistable calling toward the church and the ministry in some form; when the contact is weak, I go through massive periods of doubt. Of course, being a thoroughly trained skeptical scientist doesn't help there. (hugs)