I’m Escaping from Prison. Want to Join Me?

~ J.S. Pailly

Hello, friends!

For this first blog post of 2020, I’d like to share a quote from one of the greatest authors of all time.  As you know, lots of people take a pretty dim view of fantasy and science fiction, and they take an even dimmer view of those of us who enjoy those genres.  J.R.R. Tolkien had the perfect response for those people:

Why should a man be scorned if, finding himself in prison, he tries to get out and go home?  Or if, when he cannot do so, he thinks and talks about other topics than jailers and prison-walls?

J.R.R. Tolkien

Of course Tolkien found his escape in a world of Hobbits and magical rings.  Me?  I find my escape in outer space.  Here on Earth, we humans have created a world of money and politics, of materialism and egotism and self-centered posturing, of winning and losing and grinding each other into the dust.

Okay, maybe it’s not all bad.  There are pleasant things about this world we humans have made for ourselves too.  But still, can you really blame me if, from time to time, I choose to think about or talk about or write about what it would be like to get the heck off this planet?

I know some people will still judge me for my love of science fiction and my obsession with space exploration.  They’ll call me foolish or childish.  That’s fine.  People can say what they like.  I intend to keep dreaming and keep wondering and keep exploring the universe in my own semi-imaginative way.

And friends, you are welcome to join me on this adventure, if you want.  All you have to do is click the subscribe button!

Next time on Planet Pailly: why can’t scientists agree on what the word metal means?

11 thoughts on “I’m Escaping from Prison. Want to Join Me?”

  1. Happy new year James!

    It’s hard for me to imagine my life without speculative fiction, both on the sci-fi and fantasy side, and for space opera in particular. Or the interest it engendered in me for science and technology, the magic that actually works.

    Looking forward to the metal post!

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    1. Thanks, friend, and happy New Year to you as well! In the absence of speculative fiction, I guess I’d gravitate toward something else. Ancient mythology, perhaps. But I think we all need a little escape from reality sometimes.

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      1. There is something special, I think, about science fiction in particular. On the one hand, much of it is just as much fantasy as the stuff explicitly labeled so, but it has a forward looking nature that I think distinguishes it, even when the vision is dark.

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  2. Hi there James, happy new year to you. There’s no judgment here, the importance of thinking out there cannot be underestimated and our lives wouldn’t be the same without it.

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  3. Happy new year, James. I totally see where you’re coming from, and it’s always amazing to me how… hatey people need to be and how people feel like they need to be. Rather than making things of their own, they slag other people who are doing what they love. I don’t get it. I love seeing what you write and draw. It’s good to see you back from your break. Here’s to a great new year, good sir.

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