Written by Jason Koop.
Here at Book-Bat, you’ve probably noticed that we focus a lot on fantasy in books. In fact, you can find evidence of this in our name and our podcast, which is mostly about Christian fantasy books.
I’ve noticed that in our podcast, we’ve done a lot to espouse the positive traits of fantasy, and dispensed facts about some of its more historical writers. But one thing that we haven’t devoted much (if any) time to is answering the question:
#1 Where can I find fantasy?
#2 What is “good” fantasy? And how do I find it?!?
Ah yes, all very good questions. And the answer is… There is no one size-fits-all answer. But rest assured, my dear reader, that I – Jason Koop the first – shall take upon the endeavor to provide you with some points to getting started.
On this blog post, I’ll take a crack at that first question: Where can I find fantasy?
The first places to start are – while quite obvious – surprisingly effective if you give them a chance.
The library. Whether your local public, church or school’s, these provide the excellent opportunity to “test out” many different types of stories and authors with no monetary cost (unless you get hit with those late fees, which feel worse when accompanied by the librarian’s look of disapproval). Let’s go through those three briefly.
Your school’s library has the obvious perks of the books being aimed at your age group (assuming you’re still in school, of course). Having it unavailable during the summer can be a downer, depending on how you plan to spend those hotter months.
The church library comes with the obvious perk that it is more likely to have something that has overtly (or maybe more subtle) Christian themes and tones. Selection may be limited, though, and last I checked, most church’s aren’t into the whole inter-library loan shtick. So you really are at the mercy of your church’s librarian (shout-out to Karlissa for going above and beyond to greatly improve this in my church). Availability might be limited to days and times of service, so spontaneity in just browsing is greatly reduced.
And finally, your public library is a great – and often underappreciated – resource. Not only will it likely have the greatest selection immediately available, but many do participate in inter-library loans, so you can still get your hands on a book that they don’t have. The biggest downside is often the size of selection. Quite the opposite of not having enough, often there’s too much, to the point where it can be overwhelming just to pick something.
But say you’re not really into the whole “borrowing” thing. Especially the aspect of being expected to return it within a limited window. What about those of us who like to have books to own and do with as we please? To take our time with – and possibly place the book in positions of risk – and to take on all those creases, nicks and such that they accumulate with age.
Well, let’s turn the proverbial page to… bookstores!
Another more obvious one, but one we tend to easily overlook in today’s age of ordering via the internet. I mean, why bother going to an actual bookstore when we can just find whatever we want online and order it in through some outlet like Amazon? Ah, my friend, while the internet is indeed a wondrous and powerful thing, there are some things that it simply cannot replicate. Such as actually seeing books in a physical space. Seeing something that strikes your fancy. Or maybe being taken in by an amazing book binding (it does happen). Whether Christian, mainstream or even thrift, I find physical bookstores can breed a sense of discovery sadly lacking in the online-verse.
Okay, now that we’ve knocked out some of the obvious ones, let’s quickly fire through some other options:
Free book stands – I’ve made it a habit to peruse them whenever I come across one.
Garage/yard sales – The lottery pick of all; you never know when you might get lucky.
Your friends’ shelves – Weigh the risks before raiding, a damaged book can do even more to the relationship!
I’m sure there are other options, and I’ll leave it for you to mention them in the comments below! Next week, I’ll tackle the question: What is good fantasy?
