Once my dad handed me a copy of Robert Heinlein’s The Star Beast my fate was sealed. I would forever be a serious sci fi guy, not a typical fan.
I remember drawing a spaceship during Sunday School once and another kid goes, “That doesn’t look like the Star Trek Enterprise.”
“It’s not supposed to be,” I said. “I made it up.” He just said, “Eh, you just don’t know how to draw it right.”
Story of my life. Always out of sync with what’s popular.
As I got older, Dad and I shared books, browsed for hours in used bookstores. Our house became a library.
He turned me onto people like Arthur C. Clarke, Hal Clement, Isaac Asimov of course, Theodore Sturgeon, Alfred Bester and Clifford Simak.
On my own I found writers like Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. I read tons of Golden Age stories. All those books changed the way I think.
I still like “regular” sci fi for an escape, but it’s more like candy. I need science fiction that blows my mind.
OK, so it was a little bit derivative.
One of my trippy sci fi things that no one else got. Organic spaceship. Cool right? (Messed up the sky and gave up.)
I love when a high concept series or movie gets popular. I was so happy when Amazon saved The Expanse, though I wish they’d had more episodes to flesh out the last season.
I also loved Prime’s take William Gibson’s The Peripheral. More Gibson please!
I’m even more impressed when someone pulls off something like that on the cheap.
Everything Everywhere All at Once was everything I wanted and more. Big ideas, social commentary, existential questions, not to mention funny as hell.
I’ll watch anything The Daniels make now. Don’t sleep on Swiss Army Man, btw. It’s weird, but it’s deep. Deeper than you think.
I hate when people think I’m a snob about this stuff. I like what I like. Plus it reminds me of those times I shared with Dad. The only sad thing is he’s not here to discuss it with.
The Legendary Pink Dots – Rainbows Too? Edward Ka Spel’s mythos is steeped in high concept science fiction. One of the many reasons I’m obssessed with the Dots.
Late Boomer's Den 
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