Sci Fi and Fantasy Dreams

I started reading science fiction back in Junior High (now referred to as Middle School). Art, this tall red-headed guy, sat behind me in math. Art was a sci-fi buff. He was always reading sci-fi. And the year we were in the same math class he was reading through the Ray Bradbury books. I'm not claiming to be smart, but math was a no-brainer in junior high. If we finished our work early we could read, so Art and I did a lot of reading. And the books Art was reading seemed really good. So, when he finished reading a book he'd loan it to me so I could read it. This was back in the 70's, and we read every Ray Bradbury we could get our hands on. I loved The Martian Chronicles, but Something Wicked This Way Comes was my favorite.

Then I got into Isaac Asimov and his themes on the laws of robotics. How many of us know the three basic laws of robotics?

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

The conflicts resulting from these laws were fascinating and they presented very human conundrums. I haven't done much research on Isaac Asimov, but I'd bet he has a bit of psychology and sociology in his background.

From there I moved on to Robert Heinlein (The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress), then Ursula LeGuin (The EarthSea Trilogy). At the time the Tolkien books were in their second coming. I resolved not to read them, though, until my uncle gave them to me for Christmas. And then I was hooked. I couldn't put Tolkien down until I'd read straight through The Silmarillian. Then along came the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (Stephen R. Donaldson) and The Shannara series (Terry Brooks). Two almost polar opposites in the Fantasy genre, yet surprisingly similar.

In college my fun classes were literature. The first lit class I took that was not required for graduation was "The History of Science Fiction and Fantasy". There were about 30 books on the mandatory reading list, starting with Frankenstein. It was, and still is, one of the most memorable and enjoyable classes I've taken. We read and discussed a wide range of sub-genres within Science Fiction and Fantasy. I especially enjoyed the lectures covering time travel. (The complexities of time travel boggles the mind and imagination even today!)

Not only did we discuss the sub-genres, but we also discussed and learned about the authors, the world climate when the books were written, gender roles, and more. The class was so much more than a literature class. It was a history class, a sociology class, a psychology class, and a literature class all rolled into one. Understanding the author's background and the world in which they were living was critical to understanding the reasoning behind the themes addressed in the books. For example, H.G. Wells. His background was one of the working class in the late 1800's. And understanding H.G. Wells's socialist leanings, we understood better why he pursued his vision of Utopia. But then when we read The Time Machine, it is amazing how his visions of Utopia devolve into chaos. We had several heated discussions as to whether he truly believe society as a whole was headed toward chaos.

What I find truly fascinating now is that science fiction and fantasy have been steadily gaining popularity. Not too long ago, folks who read sci-fi and fantasy were labelled geeks or nerds. Now, these genres are almost commonplace. We see this in the movies and their popularity. The new movie Looper, for one, is a time-travel action movie. And who can forget 12 Monkeys? And then there's the romantic time travel movie The Time Traveler's Wife. Then there's the classic, Young Frankenstein; a comedy, a parody, a satire. And, of course, The War of the Worlds - radio, original movie and remake. And then there's my current personal favorite, Prometheus.

I don't know how these writers do it. To come up with entirely new worlds, species, peoples, cultures, languages, and more. To be able to picture a universe, a world and describe the outlay along with the coming up with species and characters that ensnare us and hold our attention and make us care about the outcome. Carl Sagan's novels explored the existence of God within the infinite cosmos. And are we really alone among the stars? If not, who, what, where? The questions, oh the questions!

And I think that's why I enjoy science fiction and fantasy. I am transported to different worlds with different peoples and fantastic creatures. And for the length of that book or series the impossible becomes real.

A few Science Fiction/Fantasy authors you may be interested in (if you haven't already read them):

Piers Anthony
Isaac Asimov
Ray Bradbury
Terry Brooks
Arthur C. Clarke
Philip K. Dick
Stephen R. Donaldson
Robert Heinlein
Frank Herbert
Ursula LeGuin
C.S. Lewis
Anne McCaffrey
George Orwell
Tim Powers
Terry Pratchett
Carl Sagan
Mary Shelley
J.R.R. Tolkien
Jules Verne
Kurt Vonnegut
H.G. Wells
Michelle Sagara West