fantasy book reviews science fiction book reviews

We are well into the digital age of publishing. Almost every book is available from an online source and nearly every author has an internet presence. Contacting your favorite author is as easy as posting a comment or firing off a quick e-mail. More often than not, your favorite author will send you a reply in a reasonable amount of time.

This was not always possible. Back in the olden days (15 years ago)  fans had to write letters and lick stamps, and if even if you got a form letter in response it was something to be treasured. Authors had this mysterious air about them. I always imagined my favorite writers holed up in a dusty office hunched over an antiquated typewriter. I now know that this was likely not the case, but the thought of Isaac Asimov tweeting about a burrito he ate on Tuesday for lunch seems kind of obscene to me.

What if J.R.R Tolkien had a blog? What would his day-to-day ponderings be like? Surely it would be epic on a scale I can’t even fathom. I think my misgivings about author accessibility are possibly childish. I should grow up a bit and be glad we’ve shelved the mystique that used to surround the titans of SFF literature.

I can now not only read amazing works by geniuses like Rothfuss, Scalzi, and Martin, but I can also gain insight into who they are as individuals. I can spot correlations between the person posting cat pictures on their facebook page and the amazing works of fiction they produce. It actually provides another level to admiring an author that wasn’t an option before.

What do you think? Do you miss the days when the back cover bio was all you really knew about your favorite authors? Does the political and diary ramblings of your favorite authors detract or add to their body work?

Author

  • Justin Blazier

    JUSTIN BLAZIER (on FanLit's staff since September 2009) is a Cyber-Security Analyst/Network Engineer located in Northern Kentucky. Like many fantasy enthusiasts, Justin cut his teeth on authors like Tolkien, Anthony, and Lewis. Due to lack of space, his small public library would often give him their donated SFF books. When he is not reading books he is likely playing board games or Tabletop RPGs. Justin lives in a quiet neighborhood with his wife, their daughter, and Norman the dog.