Introduction!

I like Vanessa's idea of an intro post! So, here we go...

I've read a lot more fantasy than sci fi, but I've read reams of both. For the majority of my childhood, I much preferred books to friends - and I was a pretty weird kid, so that worked out pretty well, except in developing social skills. I grew up watching the original Star Wars trilogy more than anything else - after my brother got the VHS box set, we'd watch about one a day.

I'm actually a lot nerdier than I rated myself in class, just not in science fiction. Of the books on the syllabus, I've read Ender's Game and Dune, as well as a few sequels of each. I've never read any of Ursula LeGuin's scifi, but I did read A Wizard of Earthsea. (I didn't like it much - the Disposessed is much better so far). Some authors I've read a lot more of are Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, Diane Duane, Piers Anthony, Jane Yolen, and Lloyd Alexandar... just to name a few. As you can probably tell from that list, I tend to stick to a lot of young adult literature. And as long as I'm talking up my nerd cred, I should mention that I spent my high school years in deep worship of all things anime. I'm not quite so crazy anymore, but I do still read manga occasionally.

As for a few real life things about me... I grew up in Pittsburgh, city of three rivers. If I show up with bruises, don't worry, I'm not in an abusive relationship: I just play rugby. I'm pretty excited about analyzing the books we're reading from a historical standpoint, but I've never done it before, so I'll probably be the one piping up with a more literary analysis - except when we get to gender or sexuality issues. It's pretty hard to shut me up on those topics.

I'm looking forward to working with everyone - this is going to be a great class.

First Class

Welcome to our first blogging session! I know we all met for the first time the other day, so I was thinking I would start off my first blog with a little more about myself in addition to the only thing we learned about each other in class, which was our total level of nerdyness.

I am and have always been a native of California. Though I am rather proficient in the ways of Sci Fi, I think this class will open some new insights for me. Traditionally I always read these books as an escape from the happenings within the real world. This class will happily force me ( and the rest of us) to examine a tangible connection between those two elements of the plausible and the tangible. It was a harsh realization to note how nerdy I was compared to the rest of the people in the class based on our scale of how traumatized we were when the show Stargate was canceled. I had always assumed that more people read these books. I am very interested to see how our views of science fiction are changed over the course of the semester.

I would like to know how many of you have read the books on our list before, and if so which ones. I personally have read Enders Game as well as Dune. The rest on our list is new material to me. Other than that, what are the other types of books that you all have read? I know i tend to read more fantasy than fiction with authors such as Robert Jordan or Melanie Rawn. How do you think your reading in this class will be compared to what you normally enjoy in your spare time? Have a great one, stay dry, and enjoy your new blog.