When
children grow to become adults, they tend to lose their imagination. They
forget how to play. Even if a child has siblings, the imagination can be a very
powerful part of the child’s mind. A good storyteller never loses the ability
to imagine… to create a whole new world of wonders. Most create these worlds in
their heads and write to convey what they think of. A few, however, create
these worlds within the physical world. Just be careful if you do this; it
could possibly lead to a white jacket that buckles in the back.
I spent
many years of my youth being a prolific reader and writer of many [award
winning] unpublished stories. Of course, they didn’t really win awards, but
they were still very popular with teachers and other kids my age (a brief
moment of nostalgia there).
I
remember the days long passed (past?) of using my machete to fight my way out
of hordes of tall plant-monsters on an alien world and of the hand-to-hand combat
with something invisible.
I remember that I was unaware at the time that one of
the giants watched with amusement from the safety of their fortress. When I was
a teen, I was allowed to stay at the space station alone when the commissioned
officers went to the nearby moon for something. Oh, the adventures I had when
that space station was attacked while I was on watch.
Don’t
tell anyone, but I enjoy the gift of a childlike imagination even today. Almost
every day, I’m piloting my small spacecraft through the great expanse of
darkness. Although in this century, you’d think the speed limit would be faster
than point six or point seven the speed of light. This is, of course, more
entertaining and fun when it’s nighttime (switching between the long-range and
short-range sensors when encountering another spacecraft. The waves given off
of the long-range sensors are detrimental to the ocular wiring of androids as
well as the retinas of humans and aliens). It’s even better when it’s snowing
(for obvious reasons).
Well,
there you have it. Always imagine, always play, always write… and publish;
because if you don’t, people will just think you are crazy.
Joe Stewart is a Science Fiction writer and occasional poet. Stewart is a member of the Monrovia Writers Group.
A lifelong resident of
the State of Indiana, Jim Cangany is proud to call himself a Hoosier. The Magic Coin was
a fantasy that involved a king, some bad guys, and, not surprisingly, a magical
token. The
youngest of eight children, he grew up in a household full of books and people.
Thanks to the influence of his older siblings, Jim gravitated toward fantasy
and sci-fi when looking for something to read. He wrote his first story at age fourteen.
A school project, The Magic Coin was
a fantasy that involved a king, some bad guys, and, not surprisingly, a magical
token.