Categories
Writing process

Going through a stage—thieves in spec fic

Robin hood
Another famous robber, not quite fantasy, but almost. Robin Hood. This one looks a bit like Alan Rickman when he played the Sheriff of Nottingham, don’t you think.

A book, which shall remain unnamed, had come well recommended.  A thief on a job stumbles into trouble and gets caught up in a plot to save the kingdom.  I read the blurb, and wasn’t sure about it, so I read the blurb out to Sherylyn.  “What do you think?”

“No,” she said.  “I’m over thieves in fiction.”

She’d nailed the problem.  No matter how good the reviews were, it sounded like a fantasy we’d read a hundred times before.  Is it just me, or does every second book you pick up in the spec fiction area nowadays have a thief as the hero?

A week after that, we went and saw Aladdin.  Will Smith as the genie was great.  (Certainly one of my favorite Will Smith roles.) 

The movie was okay (especially the genie), but I found it hard to warm to Aladdin, and came out thinking, ho hum, just another movie about a thief.

Which is totally unfair, because that’s what Aladdin is about.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *