WHERE THE WEIRD WORLD’S AT PART 2
Alex Davis evaluates the current commercial scene in fantasy fiction
FANTASTIC REALMS
Last month, we spent some time discussing the current creative state of play in fantasy fiction, concluding that the genre is expanding and trying new things and generally undergoing a very strong period in artistic terms. That appears to be the consensus from fans, readers and writers within the genre, and there seems to be a growing sense of respect from the wider literary world to boot – although there is arguably still some ground to be made there.
However, it’s fair to say that artistic quality and commercial appeal are not always the same things, and what a mass audience may want is not always the most challenging or artistic of work. Oscar winners rarely pull the same kind of money as summer blockbusters, for example, but could fantasy fiction be an exception to that?
Is the current creative boom and range of new and emerging talent leading us into a brave new era in the commercial sense also?
Sibling rivalry
Almost invariably, the first gauge that leaps to mind to measure the relative success of fantasy fiction is how it’s doing against its fantastical siblings, namely science fiction and horror. It was recently reported by The Telegraph that horror sales have recently hit a four-year high (https://writ.rs/horrorsales), and it’s positive to see that upward trend, with the genre, which generally falls behind its ‘fantastical’ counterparts, visibly emerging from a well-acknowledged slump. Science fiction has been in a strong place for a long time, and remains a very solid presence in bookshops as well as in the worlds of independent presses and selfpublishing. However, at the time of writing, fantasy fiction seems to be topping them both off.