I can sympathize. My mother is completely like that with books. She's never understood why I want to read fantasy books over, say, Faulkner. Now, I like Faulkner, but really most of the time I just want to read something entertaining that doesn't tax my brain too much.
Make her read Ender's Game. I dare her to find that book cheesy.
Or Babylon 5, seasons 2 1/2-4.
It's true that there's an awful lot of bad sci-fi out there, but really that's true for any genre. My mother is also adverse to anything fantasy or sci-fi related that is not LotR. One of these days, I'm going to have to make her watch Buffy. She keeps catching bits of it and thinks it's ridiculous. Buffy is a tough one, because it does have cheesy, campy moments, but once you watch a few episodes, you realize there's a lot more to it.
It's funny; my husband and I were just having a conversation the other day about how cerebral sci-fi can be. Often, characters and plots are neglected in favor of some abstract concept that the author wishes to explore.
Oh my goodness, I didn't realize we had the same mother!
She can take SOME not-Earth books. For instance, she really loves a lot of the more classic fantasy like the Narnia Chronicles or LotR. Even the (first movie) Matrix.
Her main problem seems to be (beside having distaste for some the more farfetched concepts like tentacle-faced people, etc) that science fiction (and fantasy too) lends itself too easily to a deus ex machina intervention
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Or Babylon 5, seasons 2 1/2-4.
It's true that there's an awful lot of bad sci-fi out there, but really that's true for any genre. My mother is also adverse to anything fantasy or sci-fi related that is not LotR. One of these days, I'm going to have to make her watch Buffy. She keeps catching bits of it and thinks it's ridiculous. Buffy is a tough one, because it does have cheesy, campy moments, but once you watch a few episodes, you realize there's a lot more to it.
It's funny; my husband and I were just having a conversation the other day about how cerebral sci-fi can be. Often, characters and plots are neglected in favor of some abstract concept that the author wishes to explore.
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She can take SOME not-Earth books. For instance, she really loves a lot of the more classic fantasy like the Narnia Chronicles or LotR. Even the (first movie) Matrix.
Her main problem seems to be (beside having distaste for some the more farfetched concepts like tentacle-faced people, etc) that science fiction (and fantasy too) lends itself too easily to a deus ex machina intervention ( ... )
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