Is sci fi and fantasy only for the rich and intelligent?

[Lahkesis]

I doubt you'll find obscure or a wide range of Sci-Fi/Fantasy books in Wal-mart on the physical shelves, but you buy books from their website and I'm willing to bet you can find more palatable authors on their shelves. For example, you might find Brandon Sanderson but I doubt you'd find R. Scott Bakker or Steven Erikson. One of the primary reasons for this would be how the story is told. Wal-mart is fairly known for their stance on appearing 'family friendly'. I'm willing to bet they don't buy many books that are explicit or violent etc. Grim dark has been quite prevalent and even books that are less grim dark are still likely too violent for Wal-mart to sell in stores. That being said, you can buy them from Wal-Mart.com and have them shipped to the store. Example: Despite the fact that you'd never see a Steven Erikson book in Wal-mart, you can buy the series on walmart.com.

You're more likely to find YA Fantasy on Wal-mart's physical shelves because it speaks to their family friendly branding.

[Nellise]

I doubt you'll find obscure or a wide range of Sci-Fi/Fantasy books in Wal-mart on the physical shelves, but you buy books from their website and I'm willing to bet you can find more palatable authors on their shelves. For example, you might find Brandon Sanderson but I doubt you'd find R. Scott Bakker or Steven Erikson.

Another reason you're less likely to find some of the better known fantasy books is their size. Erikson books are 700 to 1000 pages each I think, Sanderson's adult books are similarly large. Many sci-fi and fantasy novels are quite long compared to other genres. Romance and crime novels are generally 300-ish pages. There's only so much space they can put the physical copies and a non-dedicated bookseller is probably looking at volume over content.

[Deleted]

Didn't realise Barnes and Noble was only for the affluent, i'm surprised they've been letting me shop online without even a credit check.

[Klingers]

I know you're talking about books, but you can apply the same logic to TV programs... But I like to reverse it.

I think intelligent people just appreciate gripping, well-written stories with great characters that make you think. For many years that was almost exclusively restricted (in the mainstream) to science fiction. Nowadays there's a reason shows like Breaking Bad and Dexter and even 24 go to Comic-Con. Non-genre shows can be just as gripping to the same audience as science fiction if the quality's there. We never had a problem with crime shows, we had a problem with formulaic procedurals.

Now if only they can crack that nut for Medical dramas...

[Pattiecakes]

The way I hunt for books is like this;
1) Library
2) Borrow from a friend
3) Wait for the book to be available in option 1 or 2
4) If I can't wait, I look for sales
As you can tell by my list I am not a collector of books. I have read the few books I do own many times but I could easily donate them all and have none. The story is important to me and not the physical book sitting on a shelf or in a box somewhere. For those looking to start a collection or find that special story, the last place you should start is Walmart. I would check Goodreads.com, Amazon.com, Used Book Stores, and Proper Book Stores because frankly the prices are usually not all that different.
"More often than not they're the same books that end up becoming movies down the road (Hunger Games, Divergent, 50 Shades, Twilight, Harry Potter, etc.). " - Aurabolt. You listed nothing but teen fiction and I certainly wouldn't use that category for good movie adaptations. There are thousands of movies based on highly reviewed and received literary works of all genres. A quick online search would show you that many of the best movies were first books.

[Stormcall]

and even books that are less grim dark are still likely too violent for Wal-mart to sell in stores.

I'm not so sure about this. I mean I could buy John Wick at Walmart, and it has around 75 or so people getting shot in the face, many at point blank range.

You could also buy The Raid 2 there. The final major fight in The Raid 2 involves 2 guys dueling with karambit knives(a curved, clawlike blade). The hero, at the end, stabs the villain in the abdomen, uses the knife to pull the guy to his feet, then twists the knife and rips it sideways, spinning the guy around in the process. Then he delivers a slash across the back and kicks the guy down, then lifts him back up delivers 3 deep slashes to the right arm(aiming at the shoulder joint, elbow joint, and wrist). Then he stabs the blade into the guy's left forearm, and rips the embedded blade all the way up into the guys shoulder. And then, for the coup de grace, he stabs him in the throat, twists the blade, and rips it sideways. The scene is incredibly brutal and bloody and could pretty much pass as a Mortal Kombat fatality. The same movie features a girl literally crushing hammers into guys heads, and using the claw portion to rip out throats. Family friendly Walmart had no problem selling that, so...yeah, their stance doesn't actually match up with their reality.

[Deleted]

I believe there are actual studies that claim that people that read are smarter than those that don't. I always felt that I owed much of my success at college and grad school to being an avid reader (I am usually reading 3-5 books at a time plus news/ blogs etc). I mostly read sci fi/ fantasy, spiritual, astronomy and earth science.

As for Walmart: they just sell whatever they think the typical person in their clientele will buy.

What'cha readin' for?

[AceofH]

Yet that is not what the vast majority of people consider them. You say fantasy, and 95% of the public is going to think Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, GoT, Conan the Barbarian, Wheel of Time, D&D, WoW, etc etc etc...not Captain America, not The Avengers.

Also, the title was edited. It originally just said sci-fi, not fantasy...and truth be told, superhero movies fit into sci-fi more than they do fantasy, and even THEN the average person isn't gonna name The Avengers or Thor or Antman if you ask them to name 10 sci-fi movies.

i challenge you to find 95% of the public who can even tell you what Wheel of Time is. to this day i find fantasy fans who don't even know what wheel of time is, so if they don't know, how the hell is non fantasy fans even going to know what it is?

[Elim Garak]

Fantasy is for the rich, Sci-fi is for the intelligent.

[Icaras]

I feel like books for sale at Walmart are more of an impulse buy thing. People are most likely not going to go to Walmart with the intent of buying a book, but may grab something that catches their eye like a trashy romance novel or the latest Dan Brown novel. Probably a lot of the same types of books you will see for sale in airport gift shops.

I feel this hits the nail on the head, at least as far as department stores are concerned. While we don't have Walmart here in Australia, the stores we do have are basically the same, and I think they realize that when folks are actually shopping for books, they'll go to a proper book shop.

Hence the department stores tend to stock the kind of generic crap you normally don't shop for on purpose, but spot and think "Yeah that looks like it'd make a good birthday/xmas present" when your not really shopping for anything in particular.

[cyberglum]

What'cha readin' for?

"So I don't end-up a fuckin' god-damn waffle waitress!"

I miss Bill.

[Deleted]

"So I don't end-up a fuckin' god-damn waffle waitress!"

I miss Bill.

Yeah me too

[Faroth]

walmart's goal is quantity over quality. they would rather sell 10 trashy romance novels than 1 good scifi book. and as bad as I assume those trashy novels are they sell alot for cheap.

They're also the top selling genre of book month after month.

Source: Working at a retail bookstore for 4 years.

The only thing that ever rivaled Romance sales was manga during its explosion. Even then, they fought neck and neck for the #1 category in sales many months.

[Stormspark]

Sci-fi is directed at a more intelligent audience yes. But being rich has nothing to do with it...

[Deleted]

It's reversed. Star Trek for example is completely based on what marx / marcuse etc. predicted about automation.

Fantasy however has far greater ends - Terry Pratchett for example did a lot here. But far more interesting is what H.P. Lovecraft did - his anthropology is basically "human mind is not special at all and can almost randomly get overpowered by anything" - creating chaotic beings that outdo whatever capacity mankind's existence could have. You can analyze it but it would never get out there.

[purebalance]

Pretty sure Wal-mart always has the bestselling books of any genre.

No, you can't contradict the OP's racist/classist etc agenda and hate on Walmart with the truth..... /s