After years secreted in the book closet, columnist admits addiction to sci-fi and fantasy

Date published: 1/6/2008

ALWAYS a bit self-conscious about the books I enjoy for escape and entertainment, I found myself even more so years ago when my then-young daughter addressed my reading tastes.

"That's one of those books Dad reads," she told a friend. "You know, the ones with the funny pictures on the front. Of aliens, funny monsters and spaceships."

The nerd-alert went straight to Code Red.

I was thinking about that moment this week while cruising the sci-fi and fantasy section of a local bookstore.

Down to only two unread paperbacks, I was worried.

I walked past the new fiction section, the newsy and high-profile biographies and general fiction.

I went deeper, back to the sections where you'll find what many of us are reading well into the night.

These are the sections that hold the romances, mysteries and sci-fi tales that take us from the everyday world into a place where anything and everything is possible.

In the sci-fi and fantasy section, these tales often appear in trilogies that keep successful authors in triple the moolah and bizarre cover art.

I don't remember the first sci-fi novel that pulled me into the fold.

But soon I was reading Robert Heinlein, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke and others.

Then one Christmas break in my early teens came "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien.

For several straight weeks, I holed up in my room with the thick paperbacks.

Someone had given us a big box of sugared almonds for Christmas, and I remember stretching out on my bed, stuffing almonds into my yap and marveling as the valiant band of heroes moved through Middle Earth.

Yes, I'm one of those dweebs who just can't get too much of hobbits, orcs, elves, wizards, magic, etc.

Occasionally, I'll read more conventional fiction, a biography or something to do with the real world.

But I find my way back to the fantastic worlds of "Dune," the dragons of Pern or the various factions in "The Wheel of Time."

I don't like the especially violent fantasies, the overly technical sci-fi stories or the new vampire tales that often have covers bordering on the pornographic.

What I love most are the sci-fi or fantasy tales that create worlds where things work, well, differently from our real world.

Say, planets where dolphins rule, where animals are part of the ruling party or where magic is a currency traded for power or social good.

I'm a little less embarrassed about my habits these days.

But recently when family arrived for Christmas, I found myself sliding my latest book under a newspaper.

I worried that the cover art of an elf and dragon might push the grandmas over the edge.

Date published: 1/6/2008