So I’m on the last day of my honeymoon. We took the train down to Miami, spent three days there, then went on a cruise to the Bahamas. Here are some things that are awesome about cruises:
- Unlimited food
- Unlimited ice cream
- Unlimited loss of money
Okay, so that last one isn’t so awesome. But I do have good news: my credit card limit is only $13,000. Also, my equilibrium is so out of whack that my hotel room is rocking back and forth. Fun stuff.
Anyways, I know the readers of Sector 930—who, coincidentally, are also the authors—probably don’t give a crap about my honeymoon. A subject they care more about would be the science fiction short story I read on the cruise. I found it in the ship’s library. The science fiction selection was scant, but I found A Meeting with Medusa by Arthur C. Clarke (joined in a two-fer with Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson, which I have just found out is the second book in this trilogy (I didn’t read it)).
I also found a collection of short stories in a book called Worlds to Come, published in 1967. It had some stories by Clarke, Bradbury, and others. I didn’t read it.
About Medusa, it starts out with a guy named Commander Falcon. As soon as the image in my head looked less like Captain Falcon and more like a real person, I could read the rest of the story.
That involved a giant, 0.5 km long airship in its final test flight before being opened as a cruise ship. It was full of awesome things like super smart chimpanzee assistants and giant gas balls. It was totally awesome because it was a cruise ship, and I also happened to be on a cruise ship. It also reminded me that we did not have any super chimps.
But then a horrible accident happened and the ship crashed and Commander Falcon was crushed and torn to pieces and then was put back together as a cyborg. While I admit the fact that Commander Falcon was a cyborg was kind of awesome, the fact that the cruise ship crashed in a ball of flame and all the chimps died was kind of not awesome, especially because I was on a cruise ship.
The rest of the story was about Falcon’s trip through the atmosphere of Jupiter in a giant balloon seven years later, blah, blah, blah.
I also finished So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish, and now I only have Mostly Harmless left to read. I’ve been reading this series off and on (mostly off*) for about 8 years!
The point of this story is: thank you all for being a part of my wedding. It meant a lot to me. I love you all. Also, I love you Kristin, and thank you for letting me write a blog post on the last day of our honeymoon.
For those interested, the previously mentioned books are on this guy’s lists:
- A Meeting with Medusa, top short stories, #123
- Red Mars, top books, #48
- Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, top books, #4