The Year of Change

This is one of those years when everything is going to change. Okay, maybe not everything. I mean, I suppose the sun will continue to rise in the east and all of that. However, a lot is going to change. In my house, anyway. It's like this big shift is going to happen.

1. My oldest is going to turn 18, graduate from high school, and, presumably, go on to some form of higher education. We're still working on what form that will take. There's the issue of the girlfriend that complicates the whole school thing and where he will end up since, of course, what they're trying to do is make sure they end up at the same place or, at least, places that are close together. Probably, though, he will continue to not drive, so that won't change.

2. My younger boy is becoming a teenager! Like next week! And he will be moving on from middle school to high school. Assuming he gets his applications finished. Yeah, applications for high school. Which is not to say that he won't be going to high school if he doesn't finish his applications; he just won't be going to where he wants to go. But he's going to be a teenager NEXT WEEK!

3. My daughter will be becoming a middle schooler. The days of elementary school will be behind us. She's already not looking forward to having to take creative writing from me, because she does not want her dad as a teacher.

And the cat.. well, I'm pretty sure the cat has been going to super villain school and is well on his way to trying to take over the world. I'm not sure when he's taking classes since I'm pretty sure it's not at night. I am sure, though, that keeping people awake all night is going to be his strategy. He's practicing on me.

Of course, none of that really has anything to do with science fiction other than that it makes me feel as if my life has veered into some alternate dimension where I don't have kids anymore. I mean little kids. I'm supposed to have little kids that want to cuddle with me and take naps and be sweet and lovable and stuff and, instead, what I have are these pre-adults that just want to get away from me in the morning without any of their friends seeing them getting enforced hugs. Okay, that's just my daughter. My younger son actually doesn't mind giving hugs to me in front of his friends. And, well, my oldest son wants to do his best to make sure that we never even see his friends. He talks about them, but we have no proof they exist. I'm sure there's something sci-fi in that.

But, okay, what's coming in sci-fi and fantasy in 2014 that I'm looking forward to? That's a good question. In general, there's nothing I'm super excited about. I want to be excited about Guardians of the Galaxy, but I'm worried that this is the one that Marvel is going to screw up. Admittedly, part of why I'm worried is how badly DC handled Green Lantern. Of course, Guardians does have Chris Pratt, which is pretty exciting all by itself. And there's the rest of  the Marvel movies for the year (not all by Marvel, but still): Captain America: The Winter Soldier, X-Men: Days of Future Past, and The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Come on Sony, you can do better than that. Everyone else gets a cool subtitle, but you left Spider-Man with just the "2"? I thought we were past those days.

I also want to see Robocop, though I'm not expecting much.

I am the antithesis of looking forward to the next Hobbit movie.

Mostly, though, if I'm going to talk about what I'm looking forward to this year, it is getting back to work on Brother's Keeper. It has been sitting and waiting for far too long. Besides, if I don't, Briane Pagel might disappear me in one of his time travel plots. Of course, then, he would never get to read it. Maybe, I'm safe after all. Maybe, I should never finish it? That would keep me safe forever, right? If I could just persistently dangle it out there at him?
No! This is the year Keeper gets finished, and that's what I'm looking forward to.

2014: Finally Living in the Future

IN THE CHINESE CALENDAR, 2014 is the year of the Horse. This makes my wife much happier,  as she like horses much more than snakes, the animal that 2013, um, belongs to.

You know, I realize that I really don’t understand the Chinese calendar animal thing very well at all. I probably shouldn’t have led with that.

Too late though, I’ve already typed a whole bunch of words, and I can’t delete them, they are precious to me. Every. Last. One.

Even the typos.

But… I think my wife’s enthusiasm is contagious. I feel like there are things coming this year that are worth looking forward too. For you, dear reader, there is a list SF&F things to be excited about this year.

IN BOOKS: Alastair Reynolds is my main man. His next book in his trilogy of the future history of

humanity is due out in the states this year. My brethren across the pond have already had this since last September. I ALMOST bought one and had it shipped here, but I decided against it and determined to wait it out until I can get my ‘legit’ copy. It’s hard, but I’m doing it.

Brandon Sanderson is releasing the next installment in his 10 book series about, well, whatever it’s about. I don’t actually know what it’s about, but the first book was pretty awesome, and it’s been a few years. I’m very excited.

But beyond those things, I'm really excited to make a dent in my pile of books that I purchased in 2013, 2012 AND 2011 that I still haven't read yet. 

IN MOVIES: Anything by Marvel, Captain America 2, The Guardians of the

If there is a Raccoon as the star, I'm all in!

Galaxy. Then there are Marvel properties, Spider-Man 2, X-Men... ah... 7? There is that Tom Cruise movie where he keeps dying, that looks cool. There is Interstellar, Christopher Nolan's sci-fi epic.

And a whole bunch of other stuff there too. Movies sometimes have great concepts and not so great executions. My favorite movie of 2014 may end up being a story of a man eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It's really hard to tell with those things.

The Doctor is dead! Long live the Doctor!

AND IN TELEVISION: A new Doctor takes the stage in Doctor Who. SyFy has a new show called Helix coming out in a few days that I hear is really good. Agents of Shield will have to be better this year. I'm sure Honey Boo Boo will win the miss teen USA or something. Honestly, there is way too much stuff on TV. I typically let people tell me when something is amazing before I watch. 

But above all else, I'm looking forward to the things I'm not expecting. Things that hit me out of nowhere and totally capture my imagination. That's the thing that keeps me excited about the future. The unknown.