My love of science fiction & fantasy started at a young age. Maybe that's why it made such an impression on me.
The very first Fantasy book that I picked up was The Last Battle, by C.S Lewis. It is the last book in the Chronicles of Narnia series. I will always remember the moment that I spotted the book at the local library. Its a memory that is vividly
etched into my mind; reaching up, pulling the book off the self, holding it in my hands. The cover was fantastic - a gorgeous unicorn with blood dripping down his horn.
How funny that my journey into the realm of fantasy began with an ending.
I soon learned that The Last Battle belonged to a series. I went back to the beginning, to book one,
The Magicians Nephew. Pretty soon I had devoured all seven books. And read each one at least three or four times. And then of course my appetite grew and I moved on to Middle Earth. Tolkein captivated me. Utterly and entirely.
I wanted to be an elf so badly. And live in Rivendell. Or be one of the shield maidens of Rohan. And then when the movies came out..... oh man, I was entranced. I remember walking to the closest movie theater (which took me quite a while) to see The Fellowship
of the Ring.
A natural progression followed: DC & Marvel comics (Batman & Superman were my favorites, as well as X-men). I fell in love with Graphic novels also.
Sin City, by Frank Miller is a visually stunning masterpiece. Enders Game by Orson Scott Card (naturally).
Stephen R. Lawhead. I have to pause here for a moment. If you have not any read books by Stephen R. Lawhead, please stop reading this and do so immediately.
I fell down the SRL rabbit hole for quite a while. It was one of those times where I read one of his books and loved it so much that I looked up everything else he had written and gobbled those up too (you know what I'm talking about).
Lawhead wrote some really incredible stuff. Like, holy shit this is epic and I love it to pieces
incredible. My interest in his books started because I was really into Merlin, King Arthur, and the Knights of the round table. Its all I wanted to read for a while. I read the classics of course,
The Once and Future King by TH White. But then I also read any version of the story that I could get my hands on. For example,
The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley.
But Lawhead took it to another level with his Pendragon Cycle series. He went way back, to Atlantis, giving Merlin an epic history. Lawhead not only developed Merlin into the character we know and love, but he also made him a King and a
badass warrior. The battle scenes in these books are superb. Like, you can smell the blood off the page.
So good. He also did a high fantasy series called, The Song of Albion. So amazing. Rich in Celtic lore, bards, harps, swords, battles.....perfection.
Then, while I was in college, I had to take a humanities course as an elective. My professor assigned a few classics to read. This is when I stumbled across the glorious gem of a book that is,
Frankenstein by Mary Shelly. This is, to date, my favorite
book of all time. And it is where my love of monsters began.
After Frankenstein, I read Bram Stoker's Dracula. And then I proceeded to devour anything and everything related to monsters. Vampires (Anne Rice
of course, Stephanie Meyer, The Anita Blake series by Laurell K. Hamilton), Werewolves (Fool Moon
by Jim Butcher is my favorite to date - best wolf out massacre
EVER, The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan is also pretty cool), Zombies (Walking Dead comics were my jam for a while).
Of course, I love Harry Potter. What JK Rowling did in that series, to this day, still amazes me. The richness in the world that she created is beyond fantastic. What a shining example of the beauty of imagination. Although, I'm still waiting for my letter
to Hogwarts (sigh). I would be in Gryffindor for sure, possibly Ravenclaw. Hell, I would even be happy to be in Slytherin, let's get real.
I also greatly enjoyed The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Oh yeah, I would volunteer as tribute any day. Let's do it.
To compound my reading, I was also delving into cinema. Where do I start? Star Wars! Although I have blocked the prequels from my mind (self induced amnesia). Terminator (the original and judgment day, lets pretend the reboots don't exist), Aliens, Predator
(my favorite cinematic monster), American Werewolf in London (so much love). Blade runner, Stargate (epic), Fright Night (the original), Jurassic Park (the film and books), Zombieland (rule #2, double tap), Buffy the Vampire Slayer (yes the
cheesy TV series that aired in the 90s, shut up its awesome), Supernatural (oh how I love the monsters in this show), True blood (immortal eye candy)...
I could go on and on. Recently, All systems Red by Martha Wells
has been added to my list of all time favorite science fiction novels. Oh Murderbot, how I love you.
Science Fiction and Fantasy covers such a huge spectrum. And all of it is awesome. There are so many books, comics, graphic novels, movies and TV shows that I have failed to mention. But my love for it all runs deep, to the very core of my spirit and soul.
What is so special about Science Fiction and Fantasy? Man, that's hard to pinpoint. I guess its like opera or sushi, you either immediately love it or you don't. There is just something about it. Combining the normal with the abnormal. Taking mundane life
and adding magic to it. Some adventure. Danger. Suspense. I just... love it. That's all there is to it. And I always will.
I hope my book, Dark Touch, takes you away from the mundane day to day. I hope it lets your imagination run free for a little while and sweeps you away into an exciting, thrilling and suspenseful journey.
I'll meet you there. ;-)
Warmly,
Elle Lewis
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