Slan made me fall in love

Slan was the very first "grown-up" science fiction book I read. I was lucky to have a mother who adored books and reading. She taught me that I could never, ever be bored as long as I had a book to read. I could go anywhere, be anyone, at any time, past, present, or future. When I was about eight years old she gave me her copy of Slan by A.E. Van Vogt to read.

I loved it and never looked back. I still devour science fiction and still visit my old favorites from the "Golden Age" of science fiction.

I'm delighted that Slan is still in print - it was originally published in 1946 in serial form in the Science Fiction magazine Astounding.

I've re-read Slan many times over the years and it holds up well. It's definitely a product of its time - but that doesn't mean it's not relevant today.

My love of science fiction continues - so much so that I took every college course I could on the topic.

I learned that Science Fiction isn't about aliens out in space - it's always about people here on Earth, because that's all human beings know. Even our wildest imaginings are constrained by our reality - but we can dream!

All science fiction addresses one of three premises:

1 - What if?

2 - If only....

3 - If this goes on....

Tiny little sentences that encompass the entire world and all of space, time and imagination.

I'm always surprised and delighted by the creativity of science fiction writers. I've tried most of the sub-genres of science fiction; cyberpunk, dystopian, alien invasion, space exploration, etc. and there are books in each that I've thoroughly enjoyed.

The "Golden Age" of science fiction was from about 1938 to 1946 - before my time, and probably yours. I was lucky enough to have a mother who introduced me to some of these classics.

During this time there was an explosion of publications, books and magazines, exploring the new genre of science fiction.

While all fiction represents its own time, science fiction allowed writers to explore ideas, society, and politics from a different perspective. Some Golden Age novels hold up to modern times better than others, but many still have lessons we can learn.

It was during this era that Isaac Asimov developed his Three Laws of Robotics in "Caves of Steel," the first book featuring robot R. Daneel Olivaw.

Now that we have robots, wouldn't it be a good idea if we incorporated Asimov's 3 Laws?