Foundation

this is rad

I started reading Prelude to Foundation by Isaac Asshole Asimov and found it to be totally unbelievable. (Supposedly genius characters putting complete trust in total strangers.) I read the first 50 pages and put it down. I'm used to sci-fi being both gripping from the start and believable given the constraints of the (D)universe.

Instead, I am reading Foundation by the same. (It is the one that was written first in the series, although Prelude is the first chronologically.) This one makes a lot more sense to start with as it does a fairly good job of setting up the universe. (It's kinda like reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe first rather than The Magician's Nephew even though the events in the latter happened first. It seems rarer to have this problem so much these days as series are planned at conception, like Harry Potter as well as that unfortunate series.)

I'm already pretty into it. And really, with the weather so gray and dreadful (as it's been and threatens always to be), what could be better than a good sci-fi story?




Note: I considered titling this post An Exercise in the Overuse of the Parentheses. 

What I Wore :: Dune Edition

This outfit is inspired by Dune: khaki and orange for the sand and sun of the desert planet, blue for the spice melange. Oh, and an awesome prop, huh? (THANK YOU, JOSH!)

If you ever see me wear khaki again, please slap me in the face. It is not to be tolerated. In fact, you can slap me for this time. I deserve it.

Confession: I'm a Sci-fi Nerd

So not like any and all sci-fi and I'm not all hung up on the whole sci-fi vs. fantasy debate like Roman in Party Down. But:

At first, it was just the original series. I just read the first three or four books. But I couldn't help myself. I love the Dune universe. As you can see, I have gone beyond the books penned by the original author into the realm of his son and some guy named Kevin.

And let me tell you, this is not my only excursion into the world of sci-fi lit. I started with Ray Bradbury* as a teenager. I got everything, everything I could. When I exhausted the local library, I went to used bookstores. I even went so far as to buy at least one or two new from Barnes and Noble, funded by babysitting. 

My first car was purchased for a dollar from David Weber, the author of this series.

My interest bent toward the graphic novel/comic side for awhile with a bit of Alan Moore and some Niel Gaiman (who I don't think counts at all, but whatever. People seem to think that sci-fi refers to anything that has to do with outer space, but I disagree. It's more about imagined possibilities in the future of technology and science whether on earth or elsewhere. Therefore Gaiman doesn't really count, but Moore kinda does, but Gaiman was still part of the journey, so there.).

I don't care about Orson Scott Card's personal views, I like his books. I want to read every single book related to Ender and his game and his associates, et al. And then I want to continue in the Seventh Son series.

I feel like this post would be lacking and close to downright offensive if it did not include Isaac Asimov and H. G. Wells, but I'm afraid I have not read enough of their work to say it has shaped my own imagination. But, I can feel the pull of Asimov's Foundation trilogy even as I type...

But first I have to finish Dune.

* May he rest in peace while his remain wait to be transported to Mars when technology finally catches up with his imagination and where he always wanted to be anyway.