open windowI’ve been on a Terry Pratchett reading (and listening) kick of late, after a client recommended the quirky, hilarious, and touching Wee Free Men to me.

Sir Terry was a successful fantasy author, now passed away as of this March, and in one of his essays, articles, or speeches, he made the case for the genre.

Using a good book to escape from [insert crappy real life thing here] is just fine, so long as you’re escaping *to* something worthwhile.

“Fantasy is escapism, but wait… Why is this wrong? What are you escaping from, and where are you escaping to? Is the story opening windows or slamming doors? The British author G.K. Chesterton summarized the role of fantasy very well. He said its purpose was to take the everyday, commonplace world and lift it up and turn it around and show it to us from a different perspective, so that once again we see it for the first time and realize how marvelous it is. Fantasy – the ability to envisage the world in many different ways – is one of the skills that make us human.”

I like this reminder, that I can employ escapism as an open window, to see beyond my real life challenges to how it can and might be.

Photo compliments of samuiblue at FreeDigitalPhotos.net