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Kitchen Table Kibitzing, June 23, 2023: Science Fiction and Fantasy [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2023-06-23

The other day, there was conversation here in the Kitchen about Star Trek being based on Westerns. And that got me thinking about the genre of science fiction and fantasy.

When I was a kid, I ate that stuff up. I had a subscription (well, my parents had one for me) to the Science Fiction book club and every month, volumes of speculative fiction arrived. Bradbury, Asimov, Silverberg, Heinlein, Clarke, Zelazny, LeGuin, Niven, Harrison, McCaffrey, Vonnegut…so many authors. We were living in Space Race central at the time. Southern California was home to many companies who were working on rockets or satellites or some such project. The “future” was in the zeitgeist.

x Remembering Dad on Father’s Day. Making sure Spock’s sideburns stay as pointed as those ears (with an assist from the great Fred Phillips.) Love always. #StarTrek #LLAP pic.twitter.com/P382FMSa8u — Adam Nimoy (@adam_nimoy) June 18, 2023

And Star Trek happened. Yes, it was cheesy but it caught the imaginations of kids and adults alike. And about that time, Lord of the Rings became an obsession of many — and fantasy became linked with the genre of science fiction.

x The only correct answer.. 🫡

Han 🤝🏻 Leia 🤝🏻 Luke https://t.co/cj6qlUknXg pic.twitter.com/oMkjtbvt4Y — StarWarsOnly (@StarWars0nly) June 22, 2023

By the time I was in college, Star Wars became part of popular culture. Oh, all these things are part of our culture now, as are many things from sci fi books. And let’s not forget the Marvel Universe. (I love the Guardians.)



I know many of the sci fi shows have been compared to westerns, from Firefly to The Mandalorian. Hey, they are adventures with some shades of gray between good and evil. But one thing the genre has always done has been to provide a vehicle to talk about societal issues without naming names, so to speak.





These days, I’ve been reading more female sci fi/fantasy authors. Barbara Hambly is a favorite and I’ve been enjoying Mary Robinette Kowal’s books. My all time favorite urban fantasy series is by a man, however — Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London. For a space adventure? I like Nathan Lowell’s Golden Age of the Solar Clipper books. They make me feel I’m on a voyage.

Do you you enjoy sci fi/ fantasy on the page or on the screen? Please share your favorites. And as always, share your day, your weekend plans, your menus! This is an open thread.

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