Sci Fi Novels – a Book That Changed My Life – Part 1

Michael Crichton and “The Andromeda Strain”

Back in 1978 I was just a seventh grader with no idea about sci fi novels.  In fact, Michael Crichton’s “The Andromeda Strain” sci fi book was my first encounter with the world of science fiction books, but it rocked my world like nothing else.

Stay with me! Here’s the story of what happened…

I was an avid reader. Back in time, movies were scarce here where I live and the focus was on going to the school’s library and borrowing something interesting to read.

{ Begin Rant } Maybe that’s the reason why I’m so pissed when I see our today’s youngsters not even thinking first at reading, but watching movies instead  { End Rant }

Anyway, back to my story…

The room was full of books – starting from the floor right up to the ceiling – stacked on wooden racks curved under their heavy weight.  Obviously, I wasn’t as tall as I am now; so I could only easily see about half of them around me.

But boy what a curious mind I had back then…  Heck, I still have it… maybe that’s why I’m still a Sci Fi addict FAN!

As such, I spotted a small wooden crate that served as a replacement for a stair. And there I was, in mere seconds, right on top of it, probing upper, farther than I could do it before at the eye level I had initially…there was something staring back at me that unleashed the real me!

No more Chemistry books.

No more Biology… or Math… or darn History!

But a whole new realm of something else, labeled: Science Fiction (even if my native language is different, they were still using the English words for it)

I seriously think that was a turning point in my whole life.

If I weren’t to find that stack – and subsequently the book I’m talking about – in a rather harder to find section of the library… who knows? Maybe I could have discover Sci Fi later on, but the impact might have been different. But that’s an other story.

As such, I was thrilled at the thought that I would be able to read something most of my colleagues may not even dreamed about (in fact it is ALL about dreaming, isn’t it so?) I scanned the titles. I can’t remember them now, after so many years (31 passed already, man… life goes so fast!)

As we were living in the Commie Era, most of them were Pinko Soviet Books, you know…

But then, I saw “The Andromeda Strain” by Michael Crichton and that was it: the magic moment!

The book had black covers and an intriguing image: A naked person, wearing a gas mask with a blonde doll toy strapped to his chest.  My heart started beating like mad!

The editor has chosen a nice graphical logo for the collection, a pen tip with wings. I know it was originally published in May 1969, but the translation I was looking at was rather fresh (1976) and the book was probably never touched before, because I could smell the fresh ink!

One of the greatest joys of reading books that I cherish is to really take them close to the nose and deeply inhale the smells of paper and ink. – BEWARE; I hear it is a dangerous habit! I just can’t stop it myself, but I’m not your guardian – don’t take my advice!

Now you may ask:

“Well, well… All good, but what’s so life changing in this story?”

Let me tell you the transformation that happened in me….not only did I discover Science Fiction books, but I began with one of the world’s best Sci Fi novels ever written (Michael Crichton’s first, and a unanimously appraised top Sci Fi book, the SF king’s best seller!)

In fact, it was so good that I couldn’t bear the thought of giving it back to the library. These views of fantasy books were pure art and science fusion, and I was unable to let go, without starting a war…

IT WAS THAT life changing!

Have you ever wanted some thing so bad, it ached?  I mean, I wanted it to freeze up the land until February so I could keep this great work of pure genius. If a mere human boy could love these stories, I was living proof.

I’ll tell you exactly what happened and how things evolved from there in my next post.  But don’t worry, no rat finked on me, nor did I use some thin veiled excuse…or maybe I did!  (I’ll give you a hint…I can still borrow books!)

I have to run now, but before I publish this I just want to mention this…

Dear reader, please leave your comments below.
I’d love to see what YOUR own experiences were, and how You made first contact with Sci Fi novels.
What was YOUR first Science Fiction book and why was that life changing for YOU?

Thanks!

StevieVee