Every once in a while I go back to reading science fiction. (I am a mystery lover.) This genre fascinates me because I consider sci fi writers to be on the cutting edge of our possible future. And like all readers of mystery I want to know how riddles get solved. Sci fi writers answer the riddle of who we will become at some future date.

This week I pulled a paperback version of Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game off my bookshelf. I don’t remember when I bought it, but it must be some time ago because the pages are yellowing.  He writes about world politics, living on other planets and mind control.

But one simple image fascinates me…the desk you can write on. Kid’s write on their desks. They use this instrument to send messages. And they carry their desktops around to write on, study with and to do their homework. Doesn’t this sound like the wildly popular tablets we are so fascinated with? This book was written in 1977.

I don’t know about you, but I got my first computer in 1983. It was an IBM machine with no hard drive and two floppy 5-1/4″ drives and definitely not portable. I thought I was in the forefront of modern technology. Who would dream that 29 years later I would write my stories on my Android tablet or my IPad?

What are your best sci fi reads?

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