A Far Out Fantastic Site

Credit: Pixabay.com It’s that time of year again for Intergalactic Expo , one of Sacramento’s biggest local sci fi cons. I was trying to rent table space there to sell my books but unfortunately it didn’t work out, mostly due to pricing and lack of space. Let alone lack of tables. I told the facilitators of the con that I would be willing to bring my own blanket and lay it out on the floor or lawn somewhere along with my merchandise like they do at middle eastern and North African bazaars but they said it would demean the con’s reputation. Good grief! It’s a sci fi con, anything should go! Well okay, almost anything. They can’t have real light saber duels or somebody could get hurt, not to mention that there probably isn’t a way to make real light sabers yet. So, Star Wars fans, you’ll have to settle for glass and plastic ones. I just thought my suggestion of the blanket would add to the exoticism of the con’s theme. So you won’t see me there. Or at least not as pr...

Credit: Universal Studios/Pixabay.com I said that I would talk about one of the other panels from last Sunday’s Intergalactic Expo . The panel was author J. Daniel Batt’s “The History of Science Fiction”. It was really neat and more informing than I thought it would be. Like the panel on steampunk that immediately followed, this one discussed the many definitions of science fiction which his own seemed to be a very broad but inclusive one. Also like with the steampunk panel, the root question that is at the bottom of all science fiction was brought up: “what if?” As in what if a certain scientific phenomenon was to occur that never has before, such as interdimensional space travel. But another underlying element of the genre was also talked about: fear. And so J. discussed how fear of the unknown, such as unexplored reaches of space today and unexplored regions of our own earth centuries ago, has inspired storytelling. He said that because of this, science fiction and horror ...