The Writer's Guild meeting is going to be held at Plant Cafe, where will meet the very prominent and successful science fiction writer, Jack McDevitt. Mr. McDevitt writes in the field of science fiction and has many distinguished awards and nominations, including a Nebula Award for Best Novel (2007 for Seeker). I have met him once before, at a book signing he did at Read Me again Books. He was very friendly and open, and I very much look forward to meeting him again.
My love affair with science fiction began very early. We would visit my grandparent's lake front cottage in Southern Michigan, and my Grandma Martin would give me a handful of change and with that change I would go down to a grocery/pharmacy/hardware store that was close by, a store to service all the most immediate needs of the lake community. That clutch of change could buy me a couple of comic books and a clutch of candy. But I also saw something else that I was compelled to try. Splurging the incredible sum of 35 cents, I bought a Worlds of If Science Fiction Magazine. The issue was December 1963, and it featured what it promoted as Larry Niven's first short story. I was eight years old.
Larry Niven became one of the brightest lights in the science fiction genre, including the Ringworld series, and a number of popular collaborations with Jerry Pournelle (Footfall and The Mote In God's Eye being among my very favorite science fiction books.
I followed Worlds of If closely, even to the point of subscribing by 1965. I also got a Worlds of Tomorrow magazine that featured Phillip Jose Farmer's introductory River World story, To Your Scattered Bodies Go. There were many compelling and wonderful stories in Worlds of If. I loved Keith Laumer's Retief stories. I read Robert Heinlein's The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress in serial form, I read a fabulous story about a treehouse that goes to Mars.
Television also inspired me into science fiction. I loved The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits, although sometimes I had to watch through partially covered eyes. Local channels would show old movies in the afternoon, movies with giant monsters, or space ships and aliens. Star Trek was amazing, and I remember begging and pleading to stay up for it.
I discovered H.G. Wells and Jules Verne. I particularly loved H. G> Wells, with classics like The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds. In 7th grade, I decided that I would write under the pen name of T.M. Strait.
Movies at the theater were a little slower coming. I enjoyed Planet of the Apes, Soylent Green, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and other gems when I could find them. But science fiction movies, to me, did not reach their full potential until years later with Star Wars. Much of that movie I watched with jaw open and tears of joy. That was one I had been waiting a long time for.
Since the age of eight, I have always dreamed of being published in one of those pulpy science fiction magazines. I have tried off and on throughout the years, with no success. Will Jacques being kind enough to publish my short story Waiting for the Last Train, even illustrating it, in his online magazine Ghastly Door, is a partial fulfillment of that dream, and I am very grateful for that.
The pulps still exist, at least a small handful of them. Maybe I should brush off some of my stories, maybe even put together something new, and give it one more go. Hey, you never know. Maybe the 57th time will be the charm!
UPDATE:
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| A great picture from a fabulous meeting. Here is a picture of our budding novelist Leslie Crane in the middle, with Jack McDevitt and his wife, Maureen. He was a great speaker and very friendly! He has inspired me to once more hit the breaches of the science fiction magazine market and try once again! |
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