Hello everyone!
I discovered Escape Pod earlier this year and am currently working my way through past episodes trying to get caught up to the present. (hmmm, sort of my life story
)
Firstly, I'd like to say how
wonderful the whole Escape Pod enterprise is and say thank you so much to Stephen and all those who have a hand in bringing these stories to us. As a long time SF fan, I can hardly tell you how delighted I was to stumble upon these terrific stories (I also hope to catch up on Pseudopod and PodCastle when time allows).
I'd also like to take a moment to thank all the listeners who so generously support Escape Artists. Although this is not easy to admit in public, I'm one of those who would like to donate but simply can't at the present time. Living on a fixed income, especially with the recent increase in grocery prices, it's becoming difficult to simply make ends meet. So, again, I'd like to say how much your support means to someone like myself. (Hopefully, there will be a time in the future when I will be one of the people bringing these stories to everyone.)
I developed some disabling conditions in my late thirties, but over the last few years I've slowly started a career as an artist. I also take care of my elderly father. Balancing the art work with errands and caregiver duties and flare-ups, I don't always have have the time and energy to post, but please forgive me when I do...I tend to be long winded with all the ideas I've been saving up
I think I was prompted to finally say hello today when I got thinking about how I was introduced to science fiction. It's funny, but although I watch little television these days, I realized television must have been my earliest exposure to SF. I remember avidly watching the original
Star Trek series with my mother when I was around seven. I was probably not reading at magazine or novel levels yet, so that must have been the first! There were also series such as
The Time Tunnel,
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea,
Batman and
The Wild Wild West...all shows that if not outright science fiction, brought us whole new worlds to experience. And how I loved that! I don't clearly remember the first SF book I ever read after this exposure, but I do know I never stopped
These days I remain primarily a reader, but also love listening to stories. Radio in our area doesn't always have what I want and our Library's audio books aren't very comprehensive. So Escape Pod was a wonderful discovery for me! It's perfect to listen to while I'm working on a piece or simply doing housework. The quality of the stories is generally terrific, and I truly enjoy Stephen's comments and slice of life stories.
I may not post again for awhile (Dad's recovering from some recent surgery so it's been crazybusy) but I look forward to spending some time here and joining in some of the great discussions.
Bye for now,
Rae