Reading: Fanzines
Music: Misc. John Hiatt
Link o' the Day: Rewind

I came across this today in a back issue of Dwain Kaiser's fanzine, "Nonstop Fun Is Hard On the Heart." I thought it was interesting, and it led to a realization.

Why Science Fiction Will not Die
by William Rotsler

We no longer tell tales of mysterious new islands, of Oz and Atlantis and El Dorado. When the world was mostly mapped we started telling stories of Hollow Earth, of Mars and Venus and star worlds, of time before history and in the most distant extrapolations of mankind.

Now that we have some scientific facts we tell stories about the great unexplored human mind, the deepest sea, the furtherest star, distant galaxies, evolved homo sapiens, other dimensions, alternate time lines, and the gods in space.

Science fiction will always be just over the horizon, pathfinding, stretching our imagination.

Good. Sometimes you hear science fiction writers complain about being stuck in the ghetto of genre writing. There are some writers who prefer the term "speculative fiction" or spend a lot of time cultivating a reputation as a "literary" writer.

But at some point today--I forget exactly when, it's been a chaotic day--I recalled a topic of discussion elsewhere about the number of high schools, colleges, and universities which offer courses in science fiction. I don't recall the number, but it was easily several thousand.

That's not bad.

Now ask yourself--how many courses have you seen devoted to romance literature? or the western? historical fiction? I know you come across a few focusing on horror (usually gothic) and mystery fiction. But SF leads the pack.

Sounds like legitimacy to me.

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Today's link leads to one of the best radio shows that ever done was ever 'round--Rewind. The program ended on March 28th of this year, but the archives go pretty far back and it's worth a listen.

* * *
I'm very annoyed with my day job. Today was the sort of day that makes me think of that wise phrase, "a lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine."

A few years ago I decided that working weekends, overtime, and sacrificing myself for my job simply wasn't good for my mental and physical health. Besides, sacrifice got you nowhere at my company. Instead, I decided that my job wasn't worth wrecking my life, so I ceased to worry about it. I go in in the morning. I leave when my time is up. That's it. My job is probably the least most important part of my life these days and exists solely so I can pay bills.

To me, it's was liberating. I quit drinking. I began writing. I began having a life and friends again. Life in general had improved immensely. Maybe one didn't lead to the other, but there's a string of connectivity there someplace.

But due to lack of planning on some people's part, I'm going to be pulling some extra hours this weekend on a weekend where I have much better things to do. I agreed to do it--not as a sacrifice to the all-holy job, but because it would make my own life easier. Less stress on Monday at the very least. And the people I work for aren't all bad. They let me come in on off hours if I need to use their high-powered computers and printers for a personal project. They don't mind if I skip out early on most Fridays, and don't give me too much grief if I decide that I have a cold on Monday.

So the way I see it, while their timing stinks, it all evens out and my karma remains in a healthy balance.

But man, you should have heard me gripe earlier today. I'm glad I had a few hours of physical labor at home to calm myself down.

And now I head to bed with a clearer mind and a calmer heart.

Yay, me!