Virtually every book ever written has some sort of message or messages. Even the escapist pulp variety once so popular — and now making a comeback — has some insights for us. What about books that go to the other extreme — authors who wish to overwhelm us with their commentary (and authors who think that’s what books should be)? Are these losing favor? Author Mike Duran seems to be leaning in that direction:
The more I grow as an author and a reader, the less I am interested in “heavy-handed message fic.” Of course, stories have messages. And writing stories for the “betterment of the world” seems like quite a noble endeavor. Nevertheless, when such an intention becomes the over-arching agenda and leads to “heavy handed message fic,” I’m checking out. I read to be entertained, inspired, disturbed, and moved. Nit-picking over an author’s race or gender, the number of ethnicities represented in their books, or the sociological or environmental issues they manage to tackle, seems like a wrong-headed approach to story-telling. Give me good, old-fashioned pulp over pretentious preaching any day.
Entertaining books. What a concept!
And on 
Darrick Dean 