[LMB] SciFi vs Fantasy

[M Hämäläinen]

From: "Beth Mitcham" <mitcham.beth at gmail.com>

  I think it will be pretty hard to find any book (not just a
> romance) where the couple doesn't think each other is attractive.


It's one of the reasons why I don't care for boy-meets-girl romance. The
older I get, the more uncomfortable I am with the way that most male MCs
force me to look at other women as sex objects or at least possible sex
partners.

From: "Paula Lieberman" <paal at gis.net>

>
> Monarchs and presumption monarch tend to dynastic/political marriage, in
> which the breeding and possessions and political and familial etc.
> connections of the chosen spouse, take precedent over all else.



Of course. I do have a shiny, new Minor in History.

But Chalion isn't history and in most fantasy books nobility is seen as hte
Beautiful People. For me, at least, Iselle, Bergyon, Pallie, and Beatrize
reinforce the pretty people thing.

Also, I didn't see that the king (whose name escapes me) was forced to marry
Ista. The only reason for Ista's marriage was that the king needed an heir.
So he wasn't forced to marry a close relative or to forge a political
alliance. I don't see why he wouldn't have chosen the prettiest high
nobility virgin around.


From: CatMtn at aol.com
>
>   [Fawn] didn't appear to have droves of admirers,  which would
> be expected if she had been.


Any admirers would have had to deal with her family... :) A boy asking for
Fawn's hand would have been met with "but she's just a baby" -comments. Fawn
wouldn't have necessarily known about it at all.

At any case, Herself does have loads of beautiful women in her sci-fi books,
too. I don't know why they stick to my mind more in fantasy.

Mervi