I never knew my grandpa as a reader. By the time I came along he had four grown daughters and a kingdom sized number of grandchildren. He worked as a draftsman until he was in his early 80’s and to me and my brothers he was a gardner, a traveler and the world’s Greatest Grandpa.
My mom talked about his days as a reader which I’m not sure were before or after she was born, but the one and only thing I remember from that conversation was his comment that everything he had read of the science fiction genre—all the gadgets and predictions and the whole spectrum of the sci fi authorly imaginarium—had pretty much come true in his lifetime except the time machine (I say pretty much because I can’t remember if it was ALL or ALMOST ALL).
As often as people like to make fun of sci fi geeks, this makes for a good moment to pause. How powerful is the imagination? The human imagination has brought about many wonderful things like libraries, antibiotics, chocolate mousse and artistic productions that move us deeply. But it has also brought along devastation in the form of atomic bombs, biological warfare, and scams.
I suppose we could remember that we don’t have knowledge of what’s good without bad evening out the scales, but I’d rather not go down that rabbit trail right now. I want to dive into a summer of imagination.
I’ll also be editing/preparing my newest novel to be launched in the fall. As one who, as a child, was accused of having a very vivid imagination, I take great delight in covering these ideas for the next two-three months. I’ll be exploring all kinds of imaginative things while dropping hints (title, cover) about my up-and-coming book. I may also be looking for a few more ARC readers, so if you’re familiar with my work and enjoy it, stay tuned.
sherryrossman 