Hello, everyone. I just discovered this forum through a web search and am happy to be here. Not only would it be great to be among a group of bright, educated and friendly people, in general, but I have learned the hard way how horrible people can be on social media platforms like Reddit. I would never expose my writing or myself to the slings and arrows those wolverines hurl at you should you so much as breathe. ;-) Myself, I am a 59 year old man, retired, artistic by nature (I'm a musician, but love all forms of art), who is also a science and technology junkie. I read articles about the latest developments in science and technology every day, as well as books written by physicists and computer scientists. (I have a degree in computer science.) Physics, out of all the sciences, is a particular passion of mine. When I was twelve years old, out on Long Island for the summer, where my family and I spent days on the beach, I went with my father to the local bookstore because he wanted something to read while sitting on the sand. We must have passed the science fiction section because he stopped, reached for a book, and put it in my hands. It was The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury. I would never be the same. Not only did this initiate a lifelong love of good science fiction (i.e., well-written fiction combined with well-researched science), but Bradbury's poetic style, his prose poetry, drew me right in. It almost ruined me for most other authors, of science fiction and other genres, because it gave me that same floating, blissfully hazy perception of things that I get looking at Monet's water lilies or Van Gogh's impressionist paintings. That soft light and array of hues that elevates the mind and spirit, that transcendence. In any case, here I am, hoping to make some new friends and share thoughts and experiences.
But you stumbled in here instead. Well, welcome, whippersnapper. I'm 61. That's something like the effect I experienced after reading Gene Wolfe's New Sun series. I thought I had reached the pinnacle, and that there was nowhere to go but down from there. Then I found Jeff Vandermeer. And much more recently I read Fahrenheit 451 (maybe you've heard of it?) I had read some Bradbury in high school, at least The Illustrated Man, and I think the other short was called The Veldt. Pretty heady stuff, maybe a bit too rich for me at the time. But more recently I really loved Fahrenheit. Poetic prose indeed. Nice to have you here among us. Hope you stick around and enjoy it.
You beat me to it. We is a well edumacated bunch here. Several here have a Piled Higher and Deeper from da school of hard knocks.
Welcome! This seems to be one of the rare online spaces where people are capable of posting very disparate views without descending into spirals of frothing vitriol. Doesn't seem to be any Mean Girls-esque cliques either. You can get some quality critiques over in the workshop. I've received some valuable feedback on several pieces, and of course you're expected to pay it back in critiquing the works of others, which I've found is also an invaluable writing experience !
