“When you hear the splash of the water drops that fall into the stone bowl, you will feel that all the dust of your mind is washed away.” Sen no Rikyu
“The ultimate authority must always rest with the individual’s own reason and critical analysis.” Dalai Lama
“I can believe anything provided it is incredible.” Oscar Wilde
One thing that I inherited from my Dad was a love of reading. To this day I often have two and three books that I am reading at the same time. When I was very young I discovered a new type of book or at least it was new to me. It was in a genre called science fiction. The book that started me on my wild ride into science fiction and fantasy was by Tom Godwin and was called The Survivors. The haunting “Ragnarök calling” from the end of the book when the people who had triumphed over adversity let the people responsible for their fate know that they had survived and were fighting back even now, after all these years, moves me.
I know many adults look askance when their children get involved in science fiction and fantasy and are even more disturbed when they find out that you don’t outgrow it. A love of science fiction and fantasy will stay with you forever. Once you have been exposed to worlds beyond this small planet of ours you can never go back to the way you were.
It was probably fate that made my first science fiction story one where people were fighting against odds to survive. It reached into the part of me that has always been a fighter. For me “equal rights” means equal rights for everyone regardless of race, color, creed, religion, sex, or sexual orientation. It taped into a vein of writing that explored that ideal.
My all time favorite writer was the late Arthur C. Clarke. Childhood’s End was my first introduction to the idea of evolved beings. It is a theme that has been explored many times including one of my favorite characters, Q, from Star Trek. I’ve read many of Arthur C. Clarke’s books. I remember staying up until the early hours reading 2010: Odyssey Two. We had Christmas at my house that year and even though it was getting towards midnight by the time everything had been cleaned up I thought that I’d read a chapter or two before retiring. I ended up finishing the book, as I couldn’t put it down.
One of the sweetest people I have ever met was Ray Bradbury. I have his autograph on my copy of The Martian Chronicles. What I love about Bradbury’s writing is the lyrical almost poetical writing. He is a man who really knows the power and beauty in language. I think his book Something Wicked This Way Comes is one of the most chilling books I have ever read. Fahrenheit 451 still speaks today about those people who want to ban books.
I was privileged to know the late Marion Zimmer Bradley. We had met many years ago at a science fiction convention where I was working and she was a guest. One of my favorite quotes came out of that convention. Another guest was Harlan Ellison and after he had made a crude proposition to me and walked away laughing Marion told me “I knew Harlan when he was a snot nosed kid and now he is a snot nosed adult.” Her Darkover novels were an important part of my fantasy reading.
Two of my favorite fantasy writers are Anne McCaffrey and Ursula Le Guin. Anne’s dragon rider books are wonderful. The fact that you have to have the beautiful gold queen dragons to survive is icing on the cake. Her Crystal Singer books speak to the singer in me and to my love of music. Her Freedom series brings me back to my roots in humans fighting to survive and succeeding in spite of the odds. Ursula Le Guin is just a beautiful writer. The Left Hand of Darkness, The Word for World is Forest, City of Illusions, the Earthsea books. Her writing is so lyrical and powerful. She is an incredible writer who should be read more often.
Isaac Asimov’s most famous books are his Foundation and I, Robot series. He was known as much for his science as he was for his science fiction. Orson Scott Card has written some very intriguing stories. I first encountered him in the old Omni magazine with the short story A Thousand Deaths. Roger Zelazny’s Amber books are ones that I have reread many times.
One greatest things that science fiction and fantasy did for me was introduced me to the world of outer space and astronomy. I have followed mankind’s attempt to reach the stars since I was a small child. I will never forget sitting in front the television and watching as Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon or the pictures that came to us from Mars. I took a class in astronomy at our local city college and will never forget looking through the telescope and seeing for the first time a close up look at beautiful Saturn and her rings.
A world that many dismiss as silly is in reality a window to the world of science. I have known many scientists over the years. When I ran my science fiction conventions I always made a point of trying to have science panels and invariably those scientists got started with science fiction. I am willing to bet that more then a couple of the people working on New Horizons and Kepler first started as children reading the science fiction that we still read today as adults. After all once you reach for the stars the mundane just doesn’t cut it any more.
“The ultimate authority must always rest with the individual’s own reason and critical analysis.” Dalai Lama
“I can believe anything provided it is incredible.” Oscar Wilde
One thing that I inherited from my Dad was a love of reading. To this day I often have two and three books that I am reading at the same time. When I was very young I discovered a new type of book or at least it was new to me. It was in a genre called science fiction. The book that started me on my wild ride into science fiction and fantasy was by Tom Godwin and was called The Survivors. The haunting “Ragnarök calling” from the end of the book when the people who had triumphed over adversity let the people responsible for their fate know that they had survived and were fighting back even now, after all these years, moves me.
I know many adults look askance when their children get involved in science fiction and fantasy and are even more disturbed when they find out that you don’t outgrow it. A love of science fiction and fantasy will stay with you forever. Once you have been exposed to worlds beyond this small planet of ours you can never go back to the way you were.
It was probably fate that made my first science fiction story one where people were fighting against odds to survive. It reached into the part of me that has always been a fighter. For me “equal rights” means equal rights for everyone regardless of race, color, creed, religion, sex, or sexual orientation. It taped into a vein of writing that explored that ideal.
My all time favorite writer was the late Arthur C. Clarke. Childhood’s End was my first introduction to the idea of evolved beings. It is a theme that has been explored many times including one of my favorite characters, Q, from Star Trek. I’ve read many of Arthur C. Clarke’s books. I remember staying up until the early hours reading 2010: Odyssey Two. We had Christmas at my house that year and even though it was getting towards midnight by the time everything had been cleaned up I thought that I’d read a chapter or two before retiring. I ended up finishing the book, as I couldn’t put it down.
One of the sweetest people I have ever met was Ray Bradbury. I have his autograph on my copy of The Martian Chronicles. What I love about Bradbury’s writing is the lyrical almost poetical writing. He is a man who really knows the power and beauty in language. I think his book Something Wicked This Way Comes is one of the most chilling books I have ever read. Fahrenheit 451 still speaks today about those people who want to ban books.
I was privileged to know the late Marion Zimmer Bradley. We had met many years ago at a science fiction convention where I was working and she was a guest. One of my favorite quotes came out of that convention. Another guest was Harlan Ellison and after he had made a crude proposition to me and walked away laughing Marion told me “I knew Harlan when he was a snot nosed kid and now he is a snot nosed adult.” Her Darkover novels were an important part of my fantasy reading.
Two of my favorite fantasy writers are Anne McCaffrey and Ursula Le Guin. Anne’s dragon rider books are wonderful. The fact that you have to have the beautiful gold queen dragons to survive is icing on the cake. Her Crystal Singer books speak to the singer in me and to my love of music. Her Freedom series brings me back to my roots in humans fighting to survive and succeeding in spite of the odds. Ursula Le Guin is just a beautiful writer. The Left Hand of Darkness, The Word for World is Forest, City of Illusions, the Earthsea books. Her writing is so lyrical and powerful. She is an incredible writer who should be read more often.
Isaac Asimov’s most famous books are his Foundation and I, Robot series. He was known as much for his science as he was for his science fiction. Orson Scott Card has written some very intriguing stories. I first encountered him in the old Omni magazine with the short story A Thousand Deaths. Roger Zelazny’s Amber books are ones that I have reread many times.
One greatest things that science fiction and fantasy did for me was introduced me to the world of outer space and astronomy. I have followed mankind’s attempt to reach the stars since I was a small child. I will never forget sitting in front the television and watching as Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon or the pictures that came to us from Mars. I took a class in astronomy at our local city college and will never forget looking through the telescope and seeing for the first time a close up look at beautiful Saturn and her rings.
A world that many dismiss as silly is in reality a window to the world of science. I have known many scientists over the years. When I ran my science fiction conventions I always made a point of trying to have science panels and invariably those scientists got started with science fiction. I am willing to bet that more then a couple of the people working on New Horizons and Kepler first started as children reading the science fiction that we still read today as adults. After all once you reach for the stars the mundane just doesn’t cut it any more.
The picture is called Childhood's End.
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