For the life of me, I was a hardcase sometimes growing up. No wait, it's actually stubborness ... and I still process that trait.
A case in point was my lack of desire to read. Of course I could read, I just didn't see the point in picking up a book and reading it. I read Mad magazine and comics, but books?! NEVER!! I mean, only geeks and eggheads read books. It was bad enough the schools made us read those damn textbooks, but as a pastime - forget it.
My Dad actually tried to introduce the joy of reading fiction to me when I was fourteen. He bought me a collection of C.S. Lewis books - The World of Narnia - in a nice collector's box. His intentions were good and true, but what doomed this wonderful gift was his request that I read one of the books and let me know what it was all about.
That smacked of a book report!
I actually started reading one of the books - I can't remember which one - but, I didn't finish it. I know I probably disappointed my Dad that day.
That all changed when I was 16. I was put on a bus to travel over 4,400 kilometers (pronounced kill-aww-meh-ters not kill-a-me-ters - for you media types) for a summer's stay at my Uncle's new house (he was building it himself) in the Interior of British Columbia. What an adventure! What excitement!
What boredom.
Four hours into the four day trip I was so bored I could have cried. Thankfully, there was a stop in North Bay, ON - "Gateway to the North"! I was desparate - anything to keep my mind busy would be fantastic. The bus stop didn't have much to offer, no Mad mags, no puzzles or games, nothing that could stimulate a teenager. Then I saw a metal carousel full of books. I thought maybe, just maybe, there was an Archie comic pocketbook that I could buy.
No - just my luck. Just novels.
But, something caught my eye. It looked like a young kid with a hunting knife jumping through a portal / timewarp / doorway onto a what appeared to be an uninhabited planet. Strange. Now why would he be doing that?
A case in point was my lack of desire to read. Of course I could read, I just didn't see the point in picking up a book and reading it. I read Mad magazine and comics, but books?! NEVER!! I mean, only geeks and eggheads read books. It was bad enough the schools made us read those damn textbooks, but as a pastime - forget it.
My Dad actually tried to introduce the joy of reading fiction to me when I was fourteen. He bought me a collection of C.S. Lewis books - The World of Narnia - in a nice collector's box. His intentions were good and true, but what doomed this wonderful gift was his request that I read one of the books and let me know what it was all about.
That smacked of a book report!
I actually started reading one of the books - I can't remember which one - but, I didn't finish it. I know I probably disappointed my Dad that day.
That all changed when I was 16. I was put on a bus to travel over 4,400 kilometers (pronounced kill-aww-meh-ters not kill-a-me-ters - for you media types) for a summer's stay at my Uncle's new house (he was building it himself) in the Interior of British Columbia. What an adventure! What excitement!
What boredom.
Four hours into the four day trip I was so bored I could have cried. Thankfully, there was a stop in North Bay, ON - "Gateway to the North"! I was desparate - anything to keep my mind busy would be fantastic. The bus stop didn't have much to offer, no Mad mags, no puzzles or games, nothing that could stimulate a teenager. Then I saw a metal carousel full of books. I thought maybe, just maybe, there was an Archie comic pocketbook that I could buy.
No - just my luck. Just novels.
But, something caught my eye. It looked like a young kid with a hunting knife jumping through a portal / timewarp / doorway onto a what appeared to be an uninhabited planet. Strange. Now why would he be doing that?
Curiousity got the better of me and I decided to read the back of the book:
It was just a test . . .
But something had gone wrong. Terribly wrong. What was to have been a standard ten-day survival test had suddenly become an indefinite life-or-death nightmare.Now they were stranded somewhere in the universe, beyond contact with Earth . . . at the other end of a tunnel in the sky. This small group of young men and women, divested of all civilized luxuries and laws, were being forced to forge a future of their own . . . a strange future in a strange land where sometimes not even the fittest could survive!
What!? What test!? How in the hell did they get to this alien planet? Just how in HELL were they going to survive???
Okay. Slap yourself upside of the head. You're actually interested in the contents of this evil brick of paper? You do know it has words in it, right!? No pictures - just words.
But, some mysterious force ... maybe a temporary spacial anomoly (I learned that term later) ... found me at the counter paying for this novel. Next thing I knew I was back on the bus eagerly opening the book to start to find out just exactly was happening to these people.
I devoured the book. I think I finished it before we got to Thunder Bay - well, maybe Winnipeg (I wasn't an overly strong reader).
It was magical.
It was what got me reading.Thank you Robert for your amazing works.
Thank you Dad for your attempt to get me to read ... I know it was done with love - that's never ever been doubted. I smile when I look back.
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