City in Flight, part 1

When I was 7 years old, I began reading science fiction novels — the kind for grown ups, not the ones from the children’s section. See, I already knew enough science to get personally affronted when I read a story which featured kids flying to the “green and tropical planet Venus” in their treehouse. I remember throwing this book in disgust and marching around the house going “It’s hot enough to melt lead on Venus! And how did they breathe in space?!? What were they using for oxygen?!?“

Aren’t you glad you weren’t my parents?

Anyway, what got me into science fiction was the TV show Star Trek — the original series, mind you, not the later soap-operas-in-space. My parents saw a book at K-mart, oddly, which said “Star Trek” and bought it for me. It turned out to be one of a series of novelizations of the Star Trek series written by James Blish.

This wasn’t a children’s book; it was for adult readers, and I loved it.

Well, that did it for me. No more kids’ section. From James Blish I found Larry Niven, Fred Pohl, Isaac Asimov, and the great classic giants of SF. These led to the authors who more or less shaped my outlook on life — Roger Zelazny, Harlan Ellison, and the countless steady contributors to Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine.

“City in Flight”, the sixth song on my new Jamendo album, handmade, is dedicated to James Blish, the author who started it all. I have named it more or less after one of his most widely read series of novels; I’ll have more to say on that in part 2, tomorrow.