A beginning

There has always been a strong connection with myself and books.  The way they can change who and where you are just by reading its pages has always felt like some kind of magic to me.  Although I love reading in general there is one genre that has captured my imagination beyond all else.  Sci-Fi.  As a teenager I would steal my Dad's novels and read them well into the night.

Living with him created a whole new obsession with reading that I had never imagined.  I would be sent off to bed at 8.30 every night with one beautiful loophole.  I could read as long as I wanted to.  I spent many late nights reading until the words became smudges on a page, my eyes burned and all that was left was to dream of the adventures I had read.  Above all Philip K. Dick was my biggest science fiction inspiration.

And so I am lead here.  Book stores are closing their doors, the digital age is upon us.  I would like to think that people read just as much but that they own digital copies now instead.  They must be missing so much.  I remember reading books from my Dad's book shelf, pages yellowed and marked by water.  It always made me smile.  I can remember him telling me about falling asleep whilst reading in the bath, reading until he couldn't keep his eyes open any longer.  Much like me.  I would find inscriptions in the inside cover of the old books, Dad had bought them from all over.  Library stamps, prices written in pencil.  All have stories of their own.  And the beautiful dusty smell of time.  These are the things that I will miss.

So to preserve my love of not only the stories in science fiction, but also the books themselves, I have taken it upon myself to collect them, read them and write about it here.  Perhaps it won't occur in my lifetime but a world without physical books is inevitable.  I just hope that you, as you read this, realise what a treasure they are.  Read them.  Enjoy them.  Breathe them in, in every sense of that word.  And finally, share that feeling.  Pass that on.  Be like my Dad, a true Sci-Fi Hero.