Gotta get back in time
Friday, May 4, 2007 at 08:52AM 
I went through a huge sci-fi period in my teens. I devoured every Philip K. Dick novel or story I could find - this was thanks to a wonderful grade 8 teacher, by the way, Mr. Tunbridge, if you're out there in cyber-land, I don't think I ever properly thanked you. I was especially drawn to stories about time travel, or any sort of time distortion.
Dick's Time Out of Joint was a fave, as were books by Robert Silverberg.
I didn't really get into fantasy much, not reading Tolkien's work until my 20's (at the time I wondered, how the HELL did I miss these brilliant books?). But the point I am making is I pretty much left this genre behind when I was 21. I remember the last book I read even - it was Demon, the last of a trilogy by John Varley, Titan and Wizard being the other two. I was in art school and I remember a project being due on Monday, but I was so deep into this damn book that I really could not put it down. Monday morning the book was finished, my project was not.
But I didn't quit sci-fi because it was the crac cocaine of literature for me, I just grew disinterested. Over the last 20 years I've read less than a handful, usually only when one is suggested for my book club. That's what happened this month. I finally got around to reading a book by Orson Scott Card, a writer I have heard a lot about but never actually read. Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus is an interesting read - and I lucked out, it's about time travel, or time visitation at least. People in the future can scan through the eons of time and study the past through machines that seem a cross between a computer and those old viewmasters. The writing is not bad - I am not being snobby here, just that when I have picked up a few novels in this genre I have groaned at the wooden dialogue and scantily clad space-babes being chased by alien monkeys. Not that I mind the space babes.
I digress.
I am still fascinated by time stories, in fact I have written a couple myself. Writing them and reading them makes me feel young, like I am travelling back to the past. I kind of like that.
Reader Comments (2)
I know you know this, but I feel obligated to note: clunky, wooden dialogue isn't exclusive to SF.
And I'm pretty sure that the scantily-clad babes with ray guns are now grandmothers, faintly embarrassed by their history.
Yes, you're right, I know this. A smack in the head for me.
But I still miss the space babes... and the ray guns.