Coming of Conan the Cimmerian by Robert E. Howard
With Ichabod Brooks & the City of Beasts out, I’ve been thinking a little about the books and characters I enjoy. Mostly, the ones that tend to be over the top and would probably be seen as guilty pleasures. Now, I’ve been told that everything from comic books to sci-fi/fantasy in general fall into this category. Maybe it’s because some people define guilty pleasure as something you take joy from that you should feel a little ashamed about. At least that’s a definition that I can gather from the word and how people react to certain things that others do. Have I lost you yet?
Video games used to be my big guilty pleasure, but it’s been more anime and TV these days. I outline while the things are on, so it isn’t a full indulgence. Still, there are a handful of books that I re-read at my snail’s pace. I own the one at the top of this post, which I read through a bit before giving Ichabod his first adventure. For me, a guilty pleasure is pure escapism to a different world and I pay little attention to how it translates to reality. I want to drift away and relax when I enjoy such things. So I head for simple stories with fun characters or at least a world that is beyond the norm. Sadly, I’ll admit to not indulging as often as I used to.
It is curious how this type of thing works. One would expect to not feel guilty about having fun with something. It makes you happy and relaxes you, so why should you feel bad about taking pleasure from it? As long as it isn’t hurting anybody, there shouldn’t be that guilty part. Yet that’s the phrase for some reason. Let’s be honest here. Nearly every form of entertainment can be put into this category by somebody. I tend to go more for the campy stuff when I really want to boost my mood. For example, I will stop on ‘Flash Gordon’ if I find it on TV.
So, I’m just going to open the floor here. What do you think of guilty pleasures and do you have any literary ones? Favorite characters or books that give you that twinge of ‘I really shouldn’t be reading this’?
Legends of Windemere 
My guilty pleasures are the wicked crime novels and psycho thrillers. I love getting deep into a psychopath’s head. Like Thomas Harris does with Hannibal. I’m really enjoying the one I’m writing. And I’m really such a nice girl. You would never know if I didn’t tell you. 😉
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I have a feeling that a lot of people enjoy those. If anything that would explain why crime novels and shows are always popular. Glad to hear that you’re enjoying being on the other side of the book with your current project. 🙂
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I don’t. I read a ton of Conan books years ago, including ones by DeCamp as well as Howard. I still enjoy comics, but get most of them as webcomics these days. Read a bunch of Star Trek books too. I’m not going to let someone shame me into reading Russian tragedies, just because I should. I read a whole series of books called Myth Inc. and loved them. Leisure time is suppose to be enjoyable, not a chore. Read what you enjoy.
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I haven’t read webcomics in a while. Unless you mean the digital comics from Marvel and DC . . . still no there. Now that you mention the Star Trek stuff, I remember there being tons of novels on TV shows and movies. For example, I remember finding some Xena novels that I gave to a family member. Wonder if they still do novelizations like that.
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I’ll bet they do. I seem to remember seeing a Buffy novel somewhere, but that goes back a few years too. Webcomics are usually free, and you get a page a week or thereabouts. Some of them are pretty good.
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My wife has a few Buffys, an Angel (I think), a CSI hardcover, and maybe a few others. I know I have a bunch of Spider-Man novels from the 90’s too. Are you talking about the comic strip type of stuff like Penny Arcade and Ctrl Alt Del? Those are what I remember, but I’ve learned that people might think of other things.
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I’m not where I can dump a link conveniently, but look up Girl Genius it’s one of the most popular. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention my friend Sean Harrington’s “Spying With Lana.” He’s helped me out quite a bit.
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I did read some of ‘Spying with Lana’ when you posted about it before. Definitely looks like a fun comic. I’m curious if they eventually turn into physical comics after enough pages are produced and there’s a stable fanbase.
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They both do that, and have them for sale.
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I don’t feel guilty about reading any of the following: A Princess of Mars; Keeping It Real (Justina Robson); any Batman or Justice League graphic novels I can find; The Eternals (Neil Gaiman’s version). The list goes on and on.
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Princess of Mars is what that John Carter movie was based on, right? Suddenly blanking on the author.
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I love watching cartoons to unwind. Bob Squarepants or Dexter’s Laboratory, anyone? *crickets* *whispers* Powerpuff Girls?
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Loved Dexter’s Lab. Courage the Cowardly Dog and Samurai Jack were other great ones from that era.
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Ah, the classics… Hey, how about the Simpsons, or Futurama?
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Haven’t watched Simpsons in a while, but loved every episode of Futurama. Miss that show.
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Yes, I like Powerpuff Girls. A lot. And so does my clone, who’s the one who introduced me to the show in the first place. Favorite episodes include “Down and Dirty” and the one where Bubbles thinks she’s Mojo Jojo. And the one where Princess tries to be a Powerpuff Girl, too:
“You can’t just BUY super powers!”
“Oh, yeah? Tell that to Batman!”
🙂
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ROFL – what a great line 😀
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Oh my god – Flash Gordon…I used to love that! If I’m completely honest I don’t view the tv shows/movies/books as the guilty pleasure. If I enjoy watching/reading I’m not ashamed or even embarrassed by it (whatever ‘it’ is). The guilt part comes from sitting down to watch or read, when I know I should be doing something else. Never feel guilty about writing though – even when there’s a ton of ironing to do! 😀
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I’m noticing that a lot of people say this. Maybe the ‘guilt’ doesn’t come from us, but the perception that other people have? It’s an odd term since it implies that you should feel bad about enjoying something that you like.
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I know. It is odd, isn’t it? I think you’re right too. We’re not the ones who feel guilty about the pleasure 😀
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Ever get the feeling that some people try to use guilt as an emotional weapon more than letting it come naturally?
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Absolutely!
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I’ve never liked the concept of guilty pleasure, if you like it then you shouldn’t feel ashamed! Although the closest to that for me is playing video games, specifically the Zelda games — the guilt come from the fact that when I do play them I end up wasting far too much time that should be spent on more productive things (like writing!)
Otherwise the closest to a literary guilty pleasure I’ve had was when I finally got around to reading Twilight. I didn’t really enjoy it at all, but I was so embarrassed to be reading it that I wouldn’t take the book out in public! The books I love to read I have no guilt over – some faves are all things Neil Gaiman, In The Night Garden by Cathrynne Valente, and anything by Terry Pratchett.
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Love Zelda, but I haven’t played beyond Wind Waker. Money and time kind of trapped me at the Gamecube/PS2 era. I do wonder where the concept of guilty pleasure came from. It’s such an odd thing if you think that gets tossed around. Though looking at the phrase, it does sound like it should be something you feel ashamed of enjoying.
I’ve heard people say that about Twilight, but more about 50 Shades. Never touched either, but I don’t think I’m the demographic.
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I’m not the demographic either, but I read Twilight as a writer, out of curiosity to see if I could pick out what it was about the book that captured as many’s people attention as it did. It was interesting from that point of view, but I won’t be subjecting myself to any more in the series. Not sure I’m up to reading 50 shades, even for research, it sounds so terrible! (sorry to anyone reading this who likes both books – different strokes and all that)
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Sometimes you just have to accept that people like something and not try to figure out why. I do that with a bunch of things that I don’t want to subject myself to. Leaves more time for the fun stuff. 😀
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Haha that’s true. The fun stuff’s the best!
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I don’t really get the “guilty pleasures” thing, especially when it comes to reading. However, I’ve been told many times over the years that I should feel ashamed for reading science fiction/fantasy at all. I’ve been told more recently that I should feel ashamed for reading sci-fi in which characters have lives and feelings and don’t just going around blowing stuff up. (I much prefer stories in which stuff is blown up by fully rounded people instead of emotionless cardboard cut-outs. Emotionless cardboard cut-outs make terrible heroes, IMO. 🙂 )
One of my favorite science fiction novels is A Civil Campaign, by Lois McMaster Bujold. Pseudo-Regency science fiction romantic comedy with a side of scientific mishap and political intrigue– what’s not to love? I’m not supposed to like that novel, though, according to People Who Think They Make the Rules ™ — I’m supposed to feel guilty for reading it at all, much less reading it four times so far.
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Science fiction/fantasy gets the ‘guilty pleasure’ tag a lot. That’s weird about people thinking you should be ashamed for liking well-rounded characters. I’ve been told the other way around where watching mindless action movies she make me ashamed. Think this topic is going under ‘people are weird’.
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It’s because I’m male; we’re “not allowed” to want well-rounded characters and action that happens for a REASON instead of merely “looks good for the movie.” Why, if I went around telling everyone that I liked a romantic-comedy sci-fi novel, that could put a hole in the worldview that insists male readers are afraid of Real Feelings and stuff… *rolls eyes*
People ARE weird. Especially humans. (Apparently my weird sense of humor is flaring today. Hope that doesn’t offend.) It’s “wrong” for me to like action movies of any kind, but it’s also “wrong” for me to like movies that aren’t mindless action. It’s “wrong” for readers to enjoy stories of explicit grown-up activities (trying to keep my comments “safe for work” or whatever the term is), but it’s also “wrong” to choose NOT to read such novels. (Seriously, how is it “misogynistic” to say, ‘No, I don’t want to read Game of Thrones OR Fifty Shades, because I find much of what happens in those novels distasteful’?)
After nearly four decades spent trying to understand Why Humans Do Stuff, I STILL don’t get most of it. Heck, my clone has a university degree in Why Humans Do Stuff (he’s an anthropologist), and even he can’t make sense of a lot of it.
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All I can figure is that many people have the mentality of ‘I like this and you should too’. With people having less social forethought as the years go on, they are more prone to bluntly push their likes/dislikes on other people. At least that’s all I can figure out.
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I don’t know if it counts a a guilty pleasure or not, but I found the Sword of Shanara series to be so predictable that I really thought “I shouldn’t be reading this.” at one point (I did however, read all of it!)
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Not sure. It’s usually in regards to something you really enjoy, but feel ‘guilty’ about enjoying. That sounds more like true dedication to the art of reading. 😉
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