It Takes You There… and Then

I’m a science fiction reader, one with hundreds of back issues of Analog and Asimov’s magazines and a library full of science fiction dating back to Hugo Gernsback. Back when I was in Catholic school, the nuns made it pretty clear that SF wasn’t for girls (heck, they weren’t wild about it for boys either, but they allowed guys to read it). When I’d try to take SF books out of the school library, there’d be this little raised eyebrow and a gentle shake of the head. So, I learned early on that I’d have to read it in my brother’s Boy’s Life magazines or get them out of the public library. Which I did.

What worlds they opened up to me! Over the years I’ve sailed to distant lands, faraway planets, sampled alien cultures, and learned science along the way. Oh, and read about different ways of thinking about things. It has opened my eyes to things the way travel does, only in this case, the traveling is across space and throughout time.

So, what are my favorites? Where to start? I began with Edgar Rice Burroughs and some of his Barsoom adventures. Then, I moved on to Robert A. Heinlein’s juveniles. I think the first one was Red Planet, about a couple of boys growing up on Mars. I quickly worked my way through Heinlein’s easier books. By the time I was in high school, I’d graduated to some more mature ones (with politics and everything in ’em). In college I started reading his Stranger in a Strange Land. That led me to read Isaac Asimov’s works, and then I was off to the races. Today I’m reading a lot of Bujold’s work in the Vorkosigan universe, and not too long ago, I spent several months on Dune, reading the books and watching the Sci-Fi channel miniseries (Dune and Children of Dune) on DVD.

Lately I’ve been trying my hand at writing some of my own SF, but so far haven’t sent anything out for publication. I will sometime, but for now, I’m still having fun exploring. and, not for the first time have I noticed (and appreciated) that good storytelling is essential to SF. It’s not just scientists in white lab coats rubbing their hands together in stereotypical geek fashion. As with science, SF talks about LIFE.