Something Creative
Just over a week ago I was on Twitter (I know you’re shocked) when I saw a conversation among some friends about books that should be read. Now being the naturally curious person I am (okay when it comes to books I’ll jump in w/both feet) I asked the guys (the 3 talking were? are all male) to make some recommendations as I was looking for something new to read.
To say that I got bombarded is an understatement. I got books, authors, genres thrown at my head so fast I could barely keep up. In true bookdork fashion I scribbled it on paper (then promptly added it to my Evernote account so I can access it anywhere) and proceeded to ask questions about why these were recommended. I got the standard answers people give when they are passionate about their reading material: the best books I ever read, true classics, I can’t believe you’ve never read those, etc. Seeing those responses only fueled my desire for new books.
When I finally took a break from the interweb I ransacked my collection of paperbacks (if a book has an interesting cover chances are I’ll buy it so I have a lot of books….most I only read once) and stacked up many that I no longer had a desire to keep. Off I went to the local used bookstore to trade (turn in all the books you don’t want, the lady tallies up what she’ll give for them & gives store credit.) for new packets of magic & wonder.
Of course I was going WAY off my normal path of reading material. Although I have a pretty wide path of material from memoirs to mysteries to classic myth to poetry & everything in between. One of the few genres I don’t really read or know anything about is scifi/fantasy….(also horror & bodice rippers…) not from dislike mind you but because I know so little about the genre.
Thus my education began. I was told to check out Anne McCaffrey for what was described by more than one person as truly excellent in scifi/fantasy. This lady wrote A LOT of books. I’m going to be busy reading through them for a while. I was also turned on to (but have yet to read the following: David Drake, Andrea Norton, Robert A Heinlein, Storm Constantine & Terry Goodkind).
While my search at the local used bookshop began I also ran across two names I am familiar with in theory but have not read much of their work—Ray Bradbury& Issac Asimov. I had seen/been involved in a discussion of literature a few days previously regarding Asimov’s legendary “Foundation” series. When I saw all but one of the series (missing the last one) I grabbed them up along with a nice copy of “Fahrenheit 451” by Bradbury. Even to a virtual scifi ingenue’ such as myself I knew these to be “serious” science fiction works. As a student of literature I’ve read my fair share of excerpts from the writings of Asimov. I believe it was in high school that I first read Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics:
- A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
- A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
- A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
-
http://innfromthenight.com Terence Smelser
