“Olde Sci-Fi Fan,” as you may have already assumed, has a double meaning.
I’m old and I love sci-fi, and some of the sci-fi I love most is older than I am, old enough to warrant the ‘e’ in “olde.”
Future Fiction, in particular, is not mere escapism, but the collective mind of humankind planning it’s next moves. From cautionary tales to flights of fancy, it is the act of an entire species contemplating the future. And it is also fun escapism, just like daydreaming about one’s own personal plans can be both an escape and planning.
I’ve noticed with some distress that dystopic and apocalyptic sci-fi have become more and more dominant in recent years, and optimistic visions of the future are being squeezed out. I say “dominant” rather than “popular,” because I question whether popularity is really what’s driving this trend. Cautionary tales, and even end-of-the-world survival stories definitely have their place, and serve an important role in our collective future-planning. But taken too far, it represents a kind of collective depressive spiral.
I suspect that many believe optimistic science fiction is silly and that only dystopic future fiction is “serious.”
Screw that.
We need optimistic visions of the future. If we can’t imagine a better brighter future, how can we possibly create it? For that matter, where do we find the will to even go on?
The future does not have to be horrible. It can be wonderful.
And even if we, as a species have gotten off track (and I think we have), it doesn’t have to be so forever. One of the saddest but also most hopeful things any human being ever said was “This, too, shall pass.”
Sci-fi can be, among other things, weird, wonderful, hopeful, and most of all… FUN.
With all that in mind, I’m here to share some of my favorite olde sci-fi stories, movies, novels, authors, artists, as well as my own artwork, musings, contemplations, observations, rants and ramblings, and the occasional short (or very short) story of my own.
I’m on a quest to rediscover and re-ignite the joy of science fiction, and I invite you to join me.
Let’s have some fun.