I like writing ideas, and reading them too. They don’t have to be big, or new, just well said or not entirely obvious. But books that have no ideas, just action, or just human interaction, leave me quite unfulfilled. They need SOME meat to think about. But I also like reading action-adventure. I can write it OK, too, I guess. Mostly I like the ideas. But sometimes the ideas I come across are unsettling. Seeing some of the dark side of men is fine, to know there is evil there, but too much of it is a major turn-off. Watching people discuss the destruction of my nation and culture before out very eyes is sobering / enraging / saddening / depressing / disquieting, because it is all too real. If I were to mention this to ANYONE I work with… well, maybe save one… they’d just laugh it off or think I need to adjust the antenna on my tinfoil hat. So how does one think about, mull over, or discuss such things?
Books like Howard’s Conan adventures are “just” adventures, yes, not exactly a philosophical tour-de-force. But deeper analysis reveals much more. I’d like to think that there are ideas present in my own works that are worth reading, and maybe learning for some people new to them for the first time.