There were also Trixie Belden books to be found in that old bookcase, and I took to Trixie and her sleuthing partner Honey right away. It seems I've been reading sci-fi and mysteries for well over forty years. There's something comforting about pleasant occupations that don't change.
In more recent times, Tom and Trixie have been succeeded--never replaced, of course--by Charlie Moon and Honor Harrington, creations of James D. Doss and David Weber, respectively. These authors are extreme adepts, masters of the pen in their respective genres.
Sadly, James left us last year. When my sister, an extreme mystery fan, bemoaned the fact that there would be no more Charlie Moon mysteries, I shared the sentiment and told her I liked to think of James wandering about Canyon del Espiritu with Daisy Perika, Charlie's aunt, and her spirit friends, most notably, the pitukupf. Thanks for the memories, James.
David, thankfully, is still going great guns with his Honor Harrington series. She is my favorite Weber character, and I have been saying for years, "The Honor Harrington books should be made into movies. They'd be better than Star Wars! I'm sure they'd be difficult to make, technically, with all those starships and weapons spread around the entire explored universe, but I bet Hollywood has the cinematic chops for it now, after Star Wars, the new Star Trek movies, The Matrix, and Avatar."
Well, it seems David and friends heard me. Honor Harrington is coming to the big screen next year! How phenomenal is that?! But I have. . . a few unsettling questions. Who can they possibly find, what supernaturally talented actress can they cast who will do justice to Honor? That's a lot of pressure, both for the casting director and the actress. Wow.
How will they handle the treecats? Which book will they start with? And my ultimate fear--what if the movie's not as good as the book? "Dudette," as Clicker (from my own humble book, Remover of Obstacles), would say, "It can, like, never measure up to the ginormous proportions of fine storytelling in those books. Not happening, Dudette." Too true, Clicker. Too true. But we can hope.
One of the things that serial sci-fi TV shows and movies do very well is to create that "comfortable circle of friends" that is the goal of my own books. I would have watched William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, Patrick Stewart and Jonathan Frakes until they were a hundred years old if they still kept making Star Trek movies. And now I'm gradually taking to the new guys, Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto. I'd watch more Star Wars movies. A sequel to Avatar. Some of the new TV sci-fi series are very promising.
It's all about the characters and their ongoing celluloid lives, their "continuing mission," if you will. They are, simply put, old friends, and I don't want them to go away! I really believe that this is the primary reason sci-fi and mystery series do so well. Oh, sure, the special effects--the battling warships and the scary aliens in sci-fi, the clever forensic sleuthing and the twisted plots that eventually lead our favorite detectives to the killers--that's all big fun, but so are the relationships, the community among the characters. It give us friends, it gives a home, it gives us a most welcome distraction. It gives us a "comfortable circle of friends."
My special thanks go out to David Weber for bringing that "comfortable circle of friends" into my home, especially this last year which has been a dark one for me. I've read his whole Honor Harrington series over a couple of times. Honor and his other characters have always been there for me, making a lonely time a lot brighter and bringing encouragement. After all, when things get tough, I can always ask myself, "What would Honor do?"And when I need a little help to get going on a tough project, I can almost hear Honor say, "Let's be about it." Thanks for the characters, David!
Here's your Jude Hayes snippet:
“I was starting to say—she looked down her nose at Andy—that Severo-sensei was more gifted than anyone I’ve ever seen on the mat—including the direct students of O’Sensei.”
Andy shook his head and said with uncharacteristic gravity, “No argument there. He’s brilliant.”
“Was it me, or does he have some kind of unusual energy, er, I mean ki?” I asked.
Gayle blurted out, “Oh, extraordinary ki and an absolutely immovable center.”
“It’s almost like he can move you with his mind,” Andy mused.
“You watch too many sci-fi movies, Andy,” I commented dryly, though I understood completely what he meant. Something about Severo-sensei seemed almost … mystical?
He sniffed. “For your information, O lowly junior student, ki isn’t all that far from ‘The Force.’”
“And that would make Severo-sensei what—Obi Wan Kenobi?” I jeered, though the reference no longer seemed so far-fetched, I secretly admitted to myself.
“The younger Obi Wan, maybe. But with even smoother moves.” He laughed.
I grinned back and we both glanced significantly at Gayle, declaring in unison, “Princess Leia!” Andy pointed at Gayle’s hair. “And look!—she even has a braid like Carrie Fisher wore in Star Wars!”
No comments:
Post a Comment