Me

It has been pointed out that my about page doesn’t actually say much about me, and that I should rectify that unfortunate lapse.  So here we go.

I am a mom and a wife, and before I decided to stay home and try to get better at both of those jobs, I was in the social work field.  I have done various social work jobs over the past 10 years (wow, has it really been that long?) including working with kids, mentally ill adults, delinquents, and law enforcement relating to child abuse.  I have a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science, which I don’t use at all, and a minor in art, which I use very rarely.  I love food, especially spicy foods and new dishes.  I recently embarked on a bread-making adventure, and have successfully made 2 loaves of homemade French bread (I was relatively successful anyway).  I have a fairly large family, and an even larger “extended family” of people who I am not actual related to by blood but claim as family by choice.  Many of them share my interest in science fiction and I hope will visit my blog.  Also, as you may have noticed, I like to insert comments and expand on previous statements by using parentheses (I know some people find it distracting, but I like it and it’s my blog, so deal).

That should do, at least for now. 

Arthur C. Clarke – a different space odyssey

I just finished reading Rendezvous with Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke.  I didn’t really know what to expect since (gasp) I had never read anything by him before, and I only saw the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey once.  It was a very enjoyable read that even those who prefer the so called hard-core scifi would probably approve of.    Best of all, it kept me guessing pretty far into the story.

Rama is the name given to an unusual astronomical entity, at first thought to be a meteor.  It is soon discovered that this “meteor” was constructed by an alien race and is heading straight toward our solar system.  A spaceship and crew are of course dispatched to investigate, and the story focuses on their exploration of the interior of Rama, and on the reactions of a group of human scientists and diplomats.

My hubby Nathan (who I am trying to convince to post reviews here also) has read all of the Space Odyssey books, and based on his comments (mostly that the first one was good, but the rest plagarized the first more and more as he went along so that by the end it was barely worth continuing to read) I haven’t bothered much with Clarke as an author.  But Rama changed my mind and I will be on the lookout for more books by him.  I suggest you give him a chance as well.  You might be pleasantly surprised.

A Little TOO Hardcore

Now, many people accuse me of taking a narrow view of what is really science fiction.  Most of them think anything outside of the traditional fiction category somehow can be called scifi.  I hate that.  It truly annoys me for people to talk about magic and dwarves and gods come to whatever realm the book is set in as scifi, because the sci stands for SCIENCE.  That implies that somewhere behind the crazy abilities or wild happenings there must be an explanation that does not include divine intervention or “magic”.

With that said, I just found a blog that I think defines the genre a little too strictly.  Geordi Calrissian does specifically state that he is talking about hard-core scifi, so I guess I can give him a little leeway, but still, to limit it to technology that is capable of being built with what we have today?  That severely limits the fiction – you know, what the fi in scifi stands for.

I will, however, take advantage of the booklist he provides.  I have read a couple of the books on his list of hard-core scifi, and if the others are as good I should be very pleased with them.  Check out his list and his opinions at

http://geordicalrissian.wordpress.com/2008/12/05/do-you-do-hardcore-sci-fi/