Episode 601: Contemporary Fantasy

Reading With Libraries Episode 601 logo

Thank you for joining us on SEASON SIX of Reading With Libraries! It’s a new season with new genres to discuss (and some we’ll revisit!) and we’re so glad you’re here to join us. This is our book group podcast, so we are here to share beverages and books!

We are the Central Minnesota Libraries Exchange. At CMLE, we work with all types of libraries. So, sharing books is important to us, and this book group gives us the chance to talk about all kinds of books with you!

This book group podcast is for everyone who likes books – including our library people who need to recommend books to patrons who like all kinds of different subjects. It’s hard to be an expert on ALL of the great books out there! So we pick a new genre each week to chat about and hopefully provide you with some insight into what may be an unfamiliar area for you!

This week our Podcast Correspondent is Ariel Kirst, from the Great River Regional Library System. Ariel is a frequent part of this podcast, and we are so happy to have her with us to start off this new season!

This week we are excited to discuss the genre of Contemporary Fantasy!

Beverages:

Each week we like to connect the theme of our books with our beverages. So this week we are drinking common beverages with an added secret ingredient. A real-world drink with an unexpected twist!

Aperol Gin Punch

  • Secret Ingredient: Aperol – “I think of this liquor every summer. It has notes of orange and rhubarb and a mild bitterness,” says Cliffe. You can even swap this ingredient out in some recipes. “Lighten a cocktail that calls for Campari or other bitter liquors with this slightly-less bitter relative. Or just make a spritzer and enjoy.”
  • Gin Punch Recipe: 
  • 5 cups gin
  • 3 cups Aperol
  • 1 cup Yellow Chartreuse
  • 1 3/4 cups freshly squeezed lime juice
  • 2 1/2 cups freshly squeezed grapefruit juice
  • 3/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
  • 10 dashes orange bitters (optional)
  • Ice
  • 1 750-mL bottle sparkling wine, chilled
  • 2 oranges, sliced in thin round slices
  • In a large punch bowl or beverage dispenser, mix gin, Aperol, Chartreuse, lime juice, grapefruit juice, and orange juice. Add bitters and stir. Add several cups of ice, stir, and let chill, 15 minutes. Ice should dilute the punch slightly. Top with sparkling wine, stir gently, and garnish with orange slices. Serve over additional ice

Aviation

  1. Add all the ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake for a full 10 seconds. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with an edible violet and enjoy.


Carrot Mimosa

  • Secret Ingredient: Carrot juice
  • ⅓ to ½ cup chilled carrot juice (either freshly pressed or a bottled brand such as Bolthouse Farms)
  • ½ cup dry sparkling wine (such as Prosecco)
  • Carrot stems or parsley sprigs (for garnish)
  • Add carrot juice and sparkling wine to a champagne glass.
  • Garnish with carrot stems or parsley sprigs and serve immediately.
  • Note: Start with a ratio of slightly less carrot juice to sparkling wine and adjust the amount of carrot juice to suit your preferences.
  • This article originally appeared on PEOPLE Great Ideas

Genre Discussion:

So we’ve got our delicious beverages, let’s learn more about the genre of Contemporary Fantasy. Like we mentioned in the intro, Contemporary fantasy “is a subgenre of fantasy, set in the present day or, more accurately, the time period of the maker. It is perhaps most popular for its subgenre, urban fantasy. Book Riot tells us “The author trusts the reader to take a leap into what is impossible in our world, and suspend disbelief. Thus they’ve created a believable world where the impossible is possible. You just have to make the jump.”

We have talked about several different types of Fantasy genres – and there are so many more to explore. Wikipedia defines Contemporary Fantasy as “stories set in the real world (often referred to as consensus reality) in contemporary times, in which magic and magical creatures exist but are not commonly seen or understood as such, either living in the interstices of our world or leaking over from alternate worlds.” 

There are a few very popular subgenres of Contemporary Fantasy, and those include Urban Fantasy and Low Fantasy. There is a lot of overlap across these terms, and they are sometimes used interchangeably. But we want to focus on the distinction between these genres.

  • So, Contemporary Fantasy is a story set in our world. Most people don’t really know about it.
  • Urban Fantasy is the same thing, but is generally understood to be focused more in big cities, so it’s a subgenre of the overall Contemporary Fantasy genre
  • Low Fantasy is similar, but it may have less reliance on magic, and can sometimes overlap with a soft style of Scifi.

So if you want to read about fantastic things that might be just around the corner, hidden from our sight, Contemporary Fantasy is your genre!

Suggested Reading Resources:

Our Book Discussion

We have our beverages, we are familiar with this week’s genre, let’s get to the book discussion! 

Conclusion:

Thank you so much for joining us on Reading With Libraries! You know that it’s always better in the book group when you are here with us.

Join us next Thursday with another genre, more guest hosts for our book group, and more books to share and discuss. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast so you don’t miss a single episode! 

And if you want to hear more about the work we do in libraries or expand your library skills, check out our podcast Linking Our Libraries!

Bring your book ideas, bring your beverages, and join us back here on Thursday!