January saw the end of two of my favorite events of the year, The 2015 Sci Fi Experience hosted here at Stainless Steel Droppings and Vintage Sci Fi Month hosted by Andrea at the Little Red Reviewer. I will wrap those up after the break.

As these two science fiction related reading events come to a close, another one has begun.

The Definitive 1950’s SF Reading Challenge, hosted on the World’s Without End website as part of their Roll Your Own Challenge project, is a challenge based on the work of one of my online friends, James Wallace Harris.

Using a database that collates rankings from a wide variety of online sources, Harris has created definitive lists of books for several different decades. This challenge utilizes his rankings for the decade of the 1950’s.

The challenge is to read a book from each of the ten years, beginning with 1950, in chronological order, chosen from the books in Harris’ database. Though you do not have to predetermine the books you will read, I had a fun time creating my tentative list. The books, in order of publication (and hence reading order), are:

Continue reading When One Door Closes… →

(Space, created by Stephan Martiniere, used with permission)

“For my part I know nothing with any certainty,
but the sight of the stars makes me dream.”

~Vincent Van Gogh

The sight of the stars makes me dream as well, and has done so for as far back as I can remember. The phrase “littered with stars” was inadequate to describe what my young eyes experienced as I gazed upwards on dark Nebraska nights–the sky untainted by the pollution of city lights. America’s space program was in its glory days and my young imagination was fueled by the reality of space travel as well as the fantastical imagery of shows like Star Trek, Star Wars, and Battlestar Galactica. It is little wonder that science fiction became my first love and that my younger years were spent lost between the pages of books by Harry Harrison, Larry Niven, Brian Daley and Alan Dean Foster, dreaming of the days when I too would be “boldly going”.

I just celebrated my 46th birthday a week ago, and I have long since made peace with the realization that I won’t be piloting a light freighter alongside a Wookie, or shouting “beam me up, Captain”, any time soon. That has not diminished the excitement I feel when traveling within our solar system or beyond through the pages of a good book or the via the imagination of creators of science fiction television and film, or when gazing at the awe-inspiring science fictional art created by artists like Stephan Martiniere.

Eight  years ago this excitement lead me to invite other readers to spend time together to:

a) Continue their love affair with science fiction
b) Return to science fiction after an absence, or
c) Experience for the first time just how exhilarating science fiction can be.

Thus The Sci-Fi Experience was born, and the time has come for all good women and men to boldly go forth once more…

Continue reading The 2015 Sci-Fi Experience →

(Art by Melissa Nucera)

“Come away, O human child: To the waters and the wild with a fairy, hand in hand, For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand.”

~William Butler Yeats

The calendar in the Northern Hemisphere may officially designate March 20th as Spring, but the forecast of rain, sleet and snow beginning Thursday and carrying through the weekend makes that difficult to believe. Over the voice of wind and cold I can still here that voice telling us that it is indeed time to once more “come away”.

It is that voice that beckons us to Middle-earth and Newford, that calls out from the gap in the village of Wall and from the world of London Below. It is the voice that packs so much promise into four little words…

“Once upon a time…”

Perhaps you too have heard that voice whispering on the spring wind, or perhaps Old Man Winter continues to drown out the sound; either way that time has come: Once Upon a Time is here!

Thursday, March 21st begins the seventh annual Once Upon a Time Challenge. This is a reading and viewing event that encompasses four broad categories: Fairy Tale, Folklore, Fantasy and Mythology, including the seemingly countless sub-genres and blending of genres that fall within this spectrum. The challenge continues through Friday, June 21st and allows for very minor (1 book only) participation as well as more immersion depending on your reading/viewing whims.

Don’t like the word “challenge”? We have something special just for you.

Come away, and I’ll tell you more…

Continue reading Once Upon a Time VII →