Most people think of anyone over fifteen that reads scifi as being some anti-social freak that spends his days dressed like Darth Vader, playing video games in his parents basement, and masturbating to internet porn in his spare time. Well…..that is true in some cases. However, most adults that read science fiction do so for the same reasons they read Thoreau, Hemingway, and Mark Twain. Because it allows you to go places, and do things that would otherwise be impossible.
The first time I read Walden it was like I was strolling along the shore having a conversation with my buddy Henry. In For Whom the Bell Tolls, I was fighting for a cause I believed in. When Captain Bixby shouted orders to the crew in Life on the Mississippi, I heard the men’s shoes hammer on the deck as they hurried to their stations. It’s the same thing with science fiction. A good writer can use his imagination to carry you to unexplored worlds. He can make you hear and feel the vibration of warp engines or sense the excitement of first contact.
Science fiction is just like any other genre, there is good and there is bad. Good scifi lets you use your imagination the same as good fiction of any sort. So, the next time someone gives you that “funny” look when you mention your latest read, just know they are probably an illiterate poser.
You’ll have to excuse me now. I need to have my Star Trek uniform dry cleaned and my Spock ears sharpened. Live long and …..whatever.
Gnostic Science Fiction 