Tubasaluki: Quoting music since 2003

When I was growing up, I wanted to be a writer. I wanted to pen novels with dynamic characters who had witty dialogue. I even had a pen name, for surely my books would be so amazing that using my given name would flood my home with phone calls day and night with the calls of adoring fans.

Modesty, I do not know you well.

The first author to spur this desire to write was Michael Crichton. I think my first introduction to him was watching Jurrasic Park. I was a dinosaur geek. Prior to wanting to be a writer, I wanted to be a paleontologist. I loved dinosaurs. They were fascinating, and here was a movie about them coming to life. I only saw about 1/5 of the movie, as my fingers were blocking the rest of it. I was terrified of these beasts, but the premise remained pretty cool.

After that, I read the book, deciding that it could not be as scary as the movie. After all, raptors were not going to be knocking on my door. The novel was just as good, even better in the movie. And in these words felt the same emotions I felt in the theater. There was the wonderment of seeing the first dinosaurs, the curious sense that something was amiss when the rain starts to fall, and yes, even my heart beat a bit faster when they were attacked by the t-rex and the raptor. I distinctly remember wondering why the movie did not include pteredactyl attacks. That would have been AWESOME.

Crichton opened up this world to me, and I read as much of his work as I could. I read Sphere, Andromeda Strain, The Terminal Man, and Congo.I read Timeline, Lost World, Prey, and Next. I loved his work. I was jelous when my characters were not as awesome as his, my plots never came together as smoothly. On the other hand, I developed a love of writing, which continues to this day and led me to my interest in journalism.

In science fiction circles, Crichton is sometimes knocked because he doesn’t paint this rosy picture of the future where technology makes everything better and saves us from the aliens. To hell with that. Crichton wanted grey goop to be a reality in his books. He wanted dinosaurs to run amock, he wanted cures to turn into violent diseases. He wanted science to challenge his characters in amazing ways. Sure he sometimes took a pessimistic view on sciences, but he could tell a great story.

Crichton passed away today. On any other day, it may have been bigger news. But a day after a historic election, he will not be remembered the way he should be.

If you’ve never read his books, pick one up. My favorites are Congo, Sphere, Andromeda Strain and Prey.

I’ll be making a stop at the library tomorrow to pick up one of those.

Alan