Caity's SF & Fantasy Links
I guess my Dad is responsible for my loving science fiction so. He always enjoyed it, and way back when in the mid '60s he watched a poorly rated NBC series called Star Trek. I think some of you might have heard of it. Anyway, it came on at 7:30 PM, and my bedtime was 8:00, halfway through the show. At some point he decided it was worth letting me stay up for. The very first episode I remember seeing was The Trouble With Tribbles. Think about that episode, which centered around small fuzzy creatures that were too adorable to dislike no matter how much trouble they caused, and then picture me at say, seven years old, and how I would have likely reacted. I see you understand.
The show eventually moved to 10:00 PM, which was way too late for me, but a few times I remember coming out of my room saying I couldn't sleep, and getting to watch the show sitting close to my Dad. I remember seeing Plato's Stepchildren, and loving the character of Alexander. It was around that time that 2001: A Space Odyssey came out in the theaters, and my Dad took me to see it. I remember just being in awe and wonder of that movie. I started reading science fiction... lots of it.
I read lots of Asimov, Heinlein, Bradbury, and Clarke,, who were considered the grand masters of science fiction, but none of them became favorites of mine, except for maybe Arthur C. Clarke. I likes "softer" science fiction better, and my favorites are Roger Zelazny, Ursula K. Leguin, Douglas Adams, C. J. Cherryh, John Varley, Stanislaw Lem, Kate Wilhelm, Dean Simmons, James Gunn, Frank Herbert's Dune, and especially Zenna Henderson.
I don't like fantasy as well as I like science fiction, but J. R. R. Tolkein's works are incredible, and I love his writing. One of my prized posessions is a North American first edition of The Silmarillion. I also like the fantasy done by Roger Zelazny, I guess because it always had some science fiction blended in.
When I was 13, I discovered Doctor Who, which was being syndicated on some commercial TV stations. I though Jon Pertwee's portrayal of the Doctor was brilliant, and fell in love with the show. I know it's incredibly campy, but Doctor Who is still my all time favorite, and I have tons of it on videotape, along with other trashy British SF, like Blake's 7, Star Cops, Red Dwarf, and of course, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Of course, the last two are really comedies, as are Douglas Adams' books, but in a way, so is Doctor Who. It's stuff that's just plain fun, and lets me forget the stresses of daily life.
So... I'm breaking my links into two categories: TV/movie and print science fiction, which, to me, are two very different things.
Coming Soon: My favorite Science Fiction and Fantasy sites..