There are some things which are very common in both science fiction and fantasy, and one of them is the power fantasy and its parallel, the escape fantasy.

I got to thinking about this because RavenCon put me on a panel about The Last Starfighter which, of course, necessitated a rewatch of a movie that is basically a power and escape fantasy for people who are good at video games.

It’s a nerd power fantasy and that’s why it sticks in the mind of people who care about being good at video games.

But a lot of adventure fiction is about a power fantasy. So I figured I’d talk a bit about it.