Okay, I have my LJ blog but thought I'd try this. I hate that I can look at someone's blog or even my own and then can't get back to editing my page without having to hit the return button. Why not keep a header with the menus in it? Gah!
And how do I find anyone's post unless they've invited me? What if I wanted to read all posts about giraffes? Double Gah! Double annoying. How can anyone say this is the best blogspot for writers if you can't be found? Grrrrr.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Maybe Science Fiction was Always in My Blood
I was researching Mars to write my SF story (which I did finish in the nick of time for the Baen contest), and it got me to thinking (plus mentoring and talking about fantasy and SF) about my first awareness of "out there" as a child. I was maybe nine or ten and we lived near the edge of the city at that time. I grew up in Calgary in the northwest part and Spy Hill was a hilly range to the north of us. It was farmland with some horses or cows but mostly just rolling hills. As kids we'd wander up there and shoot bow and arrows or just walk around. As teenagers we went up there to smoke illicit things.
But between those times, Spy Hill was a bit too far away and our street (we were three or four blocks from Spy Hill, not that far) still had some undeveloped lots. One was really the street behind us but if I walked up the alley I could reach the grassy knoll with foxtails, dandelions, bluebells and quackgrass growing on it. In early evening (because I can't fathom that I managed to get out later in the night) I'd go up there alone and lay down in the grass.
The sky was amazing in those days. Being near the edge of the city, with not yet the amount of light pollution from all the surrounding communities, you could truly see the Milky Way and the depth of stars. I would stare up in peace and quiet (something my wartorn home life lacked a lot) and wonder about life on other planets, what was out there and just how far did infinity go. I desperately wished for the UFOs to go by so I could catch a glimpse and just maybe they would save me from my life.
It was a peace, a beauty so resolute that I look on this memory now and feel as if it was never real, as if I only made it up. But I remember it so clearly. It was such a difference from the dysfunctional family I lived in, my island of calm that I don't think I ever shared this special place with anyone. It was my sanctuary, my secret garden of plants and stars, and remembering this today actually brings tears to my eyes that I had these moments of beauty that kept me sane.
And maybe that was the first seed that had me move into the worlds of speculative fiction, to catch the wonder and austerity of the universe, real or imagined.
But between those times, Spy Hill was a bit too far away and our street (we were three or four blocks from Spy Hill, not that far) still had some undeveloped lots. One was really the street behind us but if I walked up the alley I could reach the grassy knoll with foxtails, dandelions, bluebells and quackgrass growing on it. In early evening (because I can't fathom that I managed to get out later in the night) I'd go up there alone and lay down in the grass.
The sky was amazing in those days. Being near the edge of the city, with not yet the amount of light pollution from all the surrounding communities, you could truly see the Milky Way and the depth of stars. I would stare up in peace and quiet (something my wartorn home life lacked a lot) and wonder about life on other planets, what was out there and just how far did infinity go. I desperately wished for the UFOs to go by so I could catch a glimpse and just maybe they would save me from my life.
It was a peace, a beauty so resolute that I look on this memory now and feel as if it was never real, as if I only made it up. But I remember it so clearly. It was such a difference from the dysfunctional family I lived in, my island of calm that I don't think I ever shared this special place with anyone. It was my sanctuary, my secret garden of plants and stars, and remembering this today actually brings tears to my eyes that I had these moments of beauty that kept me sane.
And maybe that was the first seed that had me move into the worlds of speculative fiction, to catch the wonder and austerity of the universe, real or imagined.
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