(image from HDWallpapers (dot) com)

John DeNardo over at SF Signal just posted this meme and I thought, what is good for him… 😉

Evidently Guardian has been running a series called 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read.

They have broken these out into various sections, including one for Science Fiction and Fantasy that contains 124 Must Reads. Lists of this sort always generate controversy and this one will probably be no different. I imagine that, like me, you will be surprised at some of the books that are categorized as ‘science fiction and fantasy’. No complaints from me, though, there are some great books on this list.

Okay, one complaint. I really haven’t read many of the novels that ‘everyone must read’!

Just for fun I decided to do the meme myself. Bold titles are those I have read, and, to throw a twist in, italicized titles are books I actually own and have on the to-read shelf. Be prepared to discover how not-well-read I am!

I would love to see your comments about what you have or haven’t read, your thoughts on the list, etc. If you post this yourself, let me know and I’ll link to you here in the post.

Continue reading 124 Sci Fi and Fantasy Novels Everyone Must Read! the Meme →

*Updated with Chat Information at End of Post*

It is Friday.

But not just any Friday, no siree! It is the Friday before the Out of This World Mini-Challenge, hosted by yours truly as a part of the tribute challenge (Dewey’s Books Challenge) that Chris and Robin are hosting for our beloved Dewey, community-developing blogger extraordinaire, who passed away in November. The blogging world at large did not know that Dewey was very ill and in a great deal of pain. You wouldn’t have been able to guess by the things she posted and the many and varied community building activities that she hosted through her site. She was an amazing woman, and many of you were very close to her. I am honored to be able to host this mini-challenge as a remembrance of Dewey and most especially for those who feel the loss so strongly. I personally know the strong bonds of friendship that can be formed in this community and how the sudden loss of one of those bonds can be devastating. Whether you knew Dewey or not, I hope you will take a moment as you participate in this fun, science fiction short story challenge over the weekend, to say a prayer for Dewey’s family, who suffered the greatest loss and have the biggest burden–to soldier on in this world without wife and mother to comfort and to hold. This is for you as well.

As this is Friday I did not want to let the opportunity pass without showing some great art, and what greater art is there than the universe itself…or at least the enhanced views of the universe. So, throughout this post you will see out of this world images as well. All images come from the European Homepage for the NASA/ESU Hubble Space Telescope site. This site contains page after page of high definition images already set up for desktop wallpaper.

And now, on with the show!

Continue reading Out of This World Mini-Challenge →

One of life’s great pleasures is going to the door, opening the mailbox, and seeing a package waiting for you. Even when you have ordered something for yourself and are expecting it, the culmination of that anticipation is a delight. You open the package and inside you find….another box. When you untie the string and lift the lid, what will you find inside?

Continue reading Is there a Doctor in the House? →

…in which your humble host takes you on a journey to promote 2 worthy reading challenges, one science fiction mini-challenge, and the SF Site Readers’ Choice Awards.

Continue reading The Sci Fi Experience: Tuesday Travels… →

“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.”
~Edith Lovejoy Pierce

Hope.

That is what a day like today can bring. True, it is merely another Thursday. Just another day on the calendar. Magic did not settle upon our lives at the stroke of midnight. All our problems have not disappeared, all of our dreams have not suddenly come true. And the fact is that neither of those things will be happening any time soon. But they can and will happen.

Opportunity.

This ‘day like any other day’ is truly a chance for us to stop, to reflect, to record on paper, and in our hearts, the changes we would like to make, the things we would like to accomplish, the dreams that we would like to make come true.

Continue reading Greetings from 2009 →