Welcome!

“He who has a why to live can bear with almost any how.”

The philosopher Nietzsche said those words.  This blog will be part of my “why.”

Like many other people, I am trying to move forward in life despite the current strife of our times.  And like many other people, I have experienced considerable professional setbacks, leading to a feeling of being “trapped.”  In order to deal with this situation in a positive way, I have decided to stop worrying about “what makes money today” and write about subjects that have fascinated me since my earliest memories.

From the time of age 6, I devoured b-grade sci-fi movies like gumdrops.  There is still most likely the outline of a young boy on my parents’ living room carpet, right in front of the TV.   I watched everything from Ghidrah the Three Headed Monster to Mars Needs Women and later such staples as Star Trek and Star Wars.  Early in first grade, I started watching In Search Of and learned about UFOs and Bigfoot.  I was shocked to find out that the concepts of science fiction were not so fictional according to certain accounts.  I asked my town’s librarian for books on these encounters.  She showed to the books were but cautioned, “You shouldn’t waste your time with that stuff.  It’s all junk made up by crazy people.”  So I did what any kid would do upon hearing that.  I read every book there was on the subjects…

And have been ever since.  Now I’ll be writing about them.

So what can you, gentle reader, expect from Strange Horizons?  You’ll get daily postings on matters pertaining to science fiction, astronomy, futurism, higher consciousness, cryptozoology (the search for “hidden” animals like Bigfoot), transhumanism (the merging of humans and machines), and most definitely UFOs.  For those who like their posts up to the minute, you can follow me on Twitter at any of the links provided.  Think of me as your “Julie the Cruise Director” on the Love Boat that is Ray Kurzweil’s singularity.  Except I don’t do cocaine as Julie did.  Well, maybe not as much anyway.

If nothing else, I hope to make you think.  I approach every case of the unknown with more than a healthy amount of skepticism…but I always keep an open mind.  Things are going to get stranger for us in the coming times and we should be ready.  For as the great Criswell said in Plan 9 From Outer Space:

“We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future. You are interested in the unknown... the mysterious. The unexplainable. That is why you are here.”

I just can’t refute that logic. 

On my earphones right now, something else that has stayed with me almost all my life: the music of Duran Duran.

Follow me on Twitter: @Jntweets