November Sci-Fi Month- Intro Bio of Darlene Smith sci-fi/fantasy blogger

I would like to introduce myself, I'm Darlene Smith and I've been a science-fiction fan for over 30 years.  Yes, it's been along time of reading and watching science fiction. It's a journey for the imaginative.
 I wasn't a sic-fi reader until my husband, Larry introduced me to science fiction fantasy with Watership Downs and then he gave me a totally different book, I Robot by Issac Asimov.  I thank him for this, it started this joy of reading sci-fi books. This enjoyment of science fiction is that it takes you into the unknown where your imagination is guided to the stars.  The genre is one that you can leave your mundane world behind and be catapulted to another that can be an extension of humanity or to a far different one world.

The first book I read was I, Robot which is Asimov's collection of short stories, this is where the three laws of robotics is first introduced and is continued in his following novels.

Another author that I really like is David Weber, his Honor Harrington series is wonderful because of his main character is a strong woman who was genetically engineered and is an officer in the Manticore Navy.  Weber also added fantasy to his novels with Honor having a telepathic bond with a tree cat from her native planet.

Then there's William Gibson who wrote Neuromancer, a futuristic novel where people can jack into cyberspace (the internet). By jacking in, there's a jack in your head and are directly have an interface with the net. I would think that The Matrix writers got many of their ideas from this book.

Star Wars is first trilogy were amazing for the time. The first movie, or IV to be percise, New Hope blew me away when I saw it in the movie theater in 1977.  It was the blend of sci-fi and fantasy.  I then went to see the next two movies with anticipation and excitement.  

And of course I have to mention the greatest sci-fi television show that launched generations to go where no one has gone before, Star Trek. It spawned 4 spin-offs, 9 movies from the original and the Next Generation, and two that are with same name of characters but has a different time line.

Science fiction is a wonderful genre for looking at the alternative futures of our species where we reach for the stars.  We may never gain the outer reaches of our solar system but it is nice to be able to read or watch the dreams of others.