From next Wednesday, June 19, a new post series will begin here on “…Anything, Really”,  focusing on SFF television series and films, both past and present.

The initial series will comprise seven features and run every second Wednesday over the next few months. It will be brought to you by Rebecca Fisher: writer, reviewer, all-round SFF fan, and in particular, lover of SFF and related shows and film. But initially, I thought the ideal introduction would be for Rebecca to tell you about  herself and her take on the TV/film series.

So without further ado…

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Rebecca Fisher

Introducing Rebecca Fisher, Having Fun With Speculative Fiction TV and Film

Though my full name is Rebecca Fisher, I’ve had my username ravenya03 for so many years now that the two aliases are virtually interchangeable. I’m a twenty-something writer who has yet to make any sort of living out of it, but having just finished my first novel, I’m enjoying the sensation of my brain not constantly nagging me to get back to work on it. For a little while at least, I plan to concentrate on less strenuous mental activities, and Helen is kind enough to let me do so on her blog.

My main interest is fantasy/sci-fi film and television, and in preparation for this short bio I’ve been absorbing a lot of articles from various writers who seek to defend and justify the popularity of the genre. They discuss how it provides analogies for real world problems, or how it can tap into archetypes that linger in our subconscious, and the way imaginary characters and their situations can provide cathartic grief or vicarious triumph in the reader/viewer.

Well, I won’t deny any of that, but these theories discount another far simpler reason for why (I think) fantasy and sci-fi is so appealing to so many people: the sheer enjoyment that is derived from creativity and imaginative power. This genre can be a source of inspiration to its consumers and a means of escapism from the hum-drum routine, but it’s also just plain fun.

This is what I hope to focus on in the forthcoming articles I’ll be writing for Helen’s blog: the enjoyment to be had in escaping the winter cold with a portable DVD player (best $50 ever spent) and whatever fantasy/sci-fi based media I can get my hands on. By writing about them afterwards, hopefully you’ll discover a show or film to enjoy that you wouldn’t have seen otherwise.

As for my qualifications… well, I have an MA in English Literature mainly because I was able to get away with writing my thesis on C.S. Lewis and Philip Pullman. More importantly, from where I’m sitting right this moment I can see a bookcase full of my other favourite authors: Patricia McKillip, Philip Reeve, Susanna Clarke, Garth Nix, Meredith Anne Pierce and Lloyd Alexander, a few of which have had their works adapted for the screen. Television-wise I’m currently making my way through Once Upon a Time and Xena Warrior Princess, but I remain a big fan of Avatar: the Last Airbender, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Gargoyles, The Legend of the Seeker and (though this is a more love/hate relationship) Merlin and Robin Hood. For those interested, I contribute reviews to Fantasy.Lit, a large website that specializes in fantasy/sci-fi books as well as to Amazon.com and my own LiveJournal.

But my objective here is to have some fun, which shouldn’t be too hard considering my enthusiasm for this project.

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Are you looking forward to this series? I sure am!