Here at the Beginning

When Derek suggested a few days ago the he, Curtis, and myself collaborate on a Blog dedicated to all things geeky, I was thrilled to accept. What could be better than an ongoing discussion about the things I find most entertaining with my two oldest, closest friends?

If you've read my blog in any detail, you know that Derek and I go way back. Way back. We went to elementary, middle, and high school together. He was present at my wedding, and I've been to two of his. Derek introduced me to comic books and Progressive Rockⁱ. We had our first RPG experiences together in the early 80's with Dungeons and Dragons.ⁱⁱ I introduced him to Champions after our respective first years away at college. And if memory serves, we saw all the Star Wars movies together back in the day.

Curtis and I go back at least a decade as well. We met through a mutual friend and quickly became the core of a long-running gaming group. Curtis introduced me to Rush, Rocket Scientists, and the intricacies of Variable Power Pools. He started collecting and watching Babylon 5 based largely on my recommendation; now I'm borrowing the boxed sets from him to see the episodes I missed the first time around.

For many years, Curtis and Derek knew one another mostly based on my descriptions of each to the other. They finally met in person at my wedding reception. Derek was one of our ushers, and Curtis was handling the music. They have told me independently that when they finally did meet, they recognized each other at once. Kindred spirits, I suppose.

The three of us have diverse - sometimes radically diverse - opinions and tastes in music, sports, politics, spirituality, and a hundred other areas. But one thing we share is our love of speculative fiction in its various forms. You've read the header above. Fantasy literature, science fiction, comic books, role-playing games, and other such diversions lead us to think about all the wonderful or dreadful things that might be. They beckon us to look at the world around us and ask, "What if?"

This is one of the reasons I like these literary forms so much. But much more importantly, these common interests have made me closer friends with each of these two fine men. And in the end, I think that's why speculative fiction is so appealing to me: it has the power to bring together people of divergent backgrounds and opinions and give them a way to connect and communicate. We may not agree what the future or the ideal world should look like, but we are thinking about it.

So, my esteemed colleagues Derek and Curtis, thank you for the roles you have played in my life. I am so much the better for having known the two of you. It's a pleasure to collaborate with both of you here.

And to our loyal readers (if any), welcome. You have friends here. After all, we geeks have to stick together.

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ⁱPerhaps Prog is not 'geek stuff' per se, but it is often something that appeals to unconventional minds.

ⁱⁱAdmit it. We all started this way, didn't we?