Anton Strout- Proudly a Reluctant Adult
by antonstrout on Feb.16, 2010, under Anton Strout and Amber Benson
Welcome to the Amber and Anton hour, err two week, at Babel Clash. *slips Babel Fish in ear* First and foremost, I’d like to thank Borders and Morgan for inviting us. Amber promised this would be as good a place as any to harass me, but she’s such a sweetie, so I’m sure she was kidding. At least, I hope she was.
So the first question that Morgan threw to us was: Does reading science fiction and fantasy make you a “reluctant adult”? What about the authors working in these genres? Should these “reluctant adults” tackle “serious literature” instead? How’s that for a loaded question?
As a founding member of The League of Reluctant Adults, I am clearly biased about this. For years, most of us who engage in fandoms of any kind always got dirty looks from outsiders. Even now people walk by my office, look at all my geek posters and fifty or so action figures on my desk like they are visiting the two-headed goat with the traveling carnival.
But I do think that thanks to the internet and the number of television channels on the dial these days, cultural awareness of our nerdly niches have become more mainstream. Why? I think much of it has to do with gaining understanding. Outsiders can read up, ask questions, explore geekdom on their own, and at the end of all that, i think they find themselves able to identify with a lot of what they encounter.
Take True Blood or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Yeah, they have vampires and all that paranormal stuff, but at the heart of them, what drives them? Relationships, trying to get through their daily lives, problems that people can identify with…
I mean, I’ve always dreamed of being a sexy Louisiana waitress that falls for vampires… but I digress.
As for should us reluctant adults tackle “serious literature” instead? I’m going to go to food for this one. Sometimes you want to go to Morimoto’s restaurant. he’s an Iron Chef and the food is exquisite, pricey and worth every penny. Sometimes I hanker for Chik-fil-A, which is fast food, not pricey and I have no idea who dropped my waffle fries in the oil. Regardless, Chik-fil-A is exquisite in its own way. It fills my need. I don’t really wonder if the chefs at either restaurant should be changing roles. I’m just happy they excel at what they do and that it feeds me.
I see a lot of flame wars out there where the literary authors poo poo the mass market writers and the mass market authors poo poo them as well. I don’t see the need for it. I think the differences are what help to keep everyone fed out there, depending on their appetite. I strive to write the best books I can, but are they literary? Hell to the no. I won’t pretend that I go there, but hopefully they are damn fine entertainment.
Related posts:
- Are you a reluctant adult? We’re off and running with a brand new topic. Does reading science fiction and fantasy make you a “reluctant adult”? What about the authors working in these genres? Should these “reluctant adults” tackle “serious literature” instead? How’s that for a loaded question? ...
- Wrapping up another round Amber and Anton, thank you for contributing to our discussion on Babel Clash. Please take this opportunity with your last couple of posts to share any information with us that you’d like regarding Cat’s Claw and Dead Matter. Also, please feel welcome to share any news regarding other upcoming projects....
- Reluctant Adult…? Ha! I like to think that reading, in general, makes me a reluctant adult–and thank God for that. The connotation that ‘being an adult’ carries is so unappealing to me: it implies a lack of imagination that is frightening. Look, I don’t mind being responsible for my actions and all that...
- Our next guests… Thanks again to F. Paul Wilson. I’m pleased to welcome two new guests to Babel Clash: Anton Strout and Amber Benson. Anton writes the Simon Canderous novels. The latest volume, Dead Matter, goes on-sale next week. He is also an active blogger, writing for his own blog and group urban...
- More and more reluctanter Following up on what it means to be a reluctant adult, Carolyn Crane asked: Where exactly did the name of Reluctant Adults come from? Was it meant from the start as a counterpoint to serious literature? My livejournal was where I had first used the name the League of Reluctant...
February 16th, 2010 on 6:32 pm
“Sometimes I hanker for Chik-fil-A”
LOL. Interestingly, have you noticed that trend of fancy restaurants serving, you know, mac n cheese, and fries, etc? I wonder if McDonalds will start serving a tiny little sliver of meat with a curled crisp sticking vertically out of it. People would be mad.
Seriously, though, I sure enjoyed this post. Esp. your point about polarization and genre/literary poo pooing. Thank goodness there is so much diversity, and so many good authors working in the different realms.
February 16th, 2010 on 6:34 pm
Oh, but I actually had a question. Where exactly did the name of Reluctant Adults come from? Was it meant from the start as a counterpoint to serious literature?
February 16th, 2010 on 6:40 pm
I always thought that the people who made it seem like the people with the geek stuff on display were the people who were closet geeks and just didn’t want to draw attention to all the geek stuff they had hidden in their desk pedestals. Why would they do that? Well I figured that they just didn’t want to get in trouble for improper business use of a pedestal or get embroiled in office politics over whether which action figure would be better in a fight in a big vat of custard.
The rules at work say that I can have a picture of a “loved one” on my desk which does not have to be put away at night. When I was single, it was a picture of Tank Girl. Now I have a partner and have bowed to the office “norm”. I now have a photo of my partner on my desk. What of poor Tank Girl? She’s still there, proudly displayed next to my partner. I forgot to mention, I work in IT so the norm includes plenty of geekdom. Yay!
February 16th, 2010 on 6:51 pm
I agree with your point about Buffy and True blood, and shows/books like them. The diverse, complicated, and incredibly compelling relationships in my opinion make the shows. Sure there’s magic and fantastical beings, but they inevitably prove to be far more relatable, and even though their grounded in fiction, to me they’ve always seemed more real than for example, a novel loaded with words and more words that quickly gets boring. I’ll take the more interesting, exciting, and vastly more entertaining works like yours any day
February 16th, 2010 on 8:19 pm
Breahna-
You give my heart the warm and fuzzies!
February 16th, 2010 on 8:21 pm
Carolyn-
When I first moved to NYC, I lived down by Wall Street, which has a McDonald’s with a piano player and table service… same menu, but a fancy touristy version of the chain. Very Bizarre.
February 16th, 2010 on 8:56 pm
I’m still a freak among my family and friends because of the books I read and am now writing. I wrote a short story about zombies with my husband and my dad said he “couldn’t finish it” because he just doesn’t get into zombies. BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I was insulted though. He’s likes things realistic:)
I actually don’t like being told what I should regard as a literary classic. It makes me cranky. Don’t books touch us all in different ways depending on our circumstances, our personalities, and our needs?