As you may well be aware, Horror is my first love in fiction. I did start this website afterall. What I don’t talk about often enough though is my second love, Science Fiction.
Before there was Horror in my life there was Sci-Fi. I grew up an avid fan of the Star Wars films (before their bastardized special editions) and Star Trek: The Next Generation. One of the first “adult” novels I ever finished was The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein. As I grew, so did my love for good science fiction.
I remember being 9 and watching the first season of Babylon 5. It was the first time I had ever grown attached to characters before. I watched the show every week and took notes on all of the sub plots and “b-characters” that I found interesting. A few years later I started watching Deep Space Nine. It was truly a good time to be a young fan of science fiction.
When I was 11, everything changed. I remember watching Alien for the very first time. I was absolutely floored with the way that they took the best parts of Science Fiction and mixed it together with horror. The claustrophobic space vessel, the fear of shadows and the unknown, the fear of being hunted. It was an exhilarating experience.
From that moment on I sought out any and all sci-fi/horror movies I could find. I was extremely happy to track down Aliens and then Alien 3 in my fathers VHS collection but I wanted more.
I was lucky that my father had a large VHS collection. I was luckier that most of them were horror movies so it was easy to find copies of The Thing, Scanners and The Fly.
To this very day The Thing is one of my favorite movies. I watch it once a month and was incredibly pleased with the version that came out a few years ago with Mary Elizabeth Winstead.
One of my favorite aspects of both genres is the exploration of the unknown.
In Horror it is the exploration of unknown feelings, actions and desires that have fueled my favorite novels and movies.
In Sci-Fi it is the exploration of unknown technology, planets, and life forms that fueled my favorite authors.
When a good writer combines the vast emptiness of space with the fear of being alone and mixes in a touch of claustrophobia it makes for a beautiful story.
This concludes part 1. Parts 2 and 3 will go up Wednesday and Friday.