Welcome back to another blog hop, with #OpenBook. Here’s this week’s prompt.
Don’t forget to click the link to see what everyone else has to say on this week’s subject. It’s at the end of my post.
Is there a childhood toy, or book, or item that you wish you still had?
This is slightly off topic, but stick with it, and all will be explained. There’s even a happy ending.
When I was eleven, we moved from Devon, first to London, then to two different houses in Kent. I lost many friends and had to keep trying to fit in at new schools. Other stuff also happened, which resulted in my losing 90% of my childhood possessions. It bothered me for a long while; I felt as if I had no roots.
I consoled myself with the thought that I had the memories and sort of got used to it over the years.
There was one book I particularly remembered. An annual I’d had as a Christmas gift. It was full of all the random stuff that boys in the 1960s were interested in: tales of adventure, factual articles, sports and cartoon strips.
And “Sargasso in Space,” the story that originally got me interested in Science Fiction.
I’d left the book behind when we’d moved house in 1970. But the story stayed with me.
Fast-forward fifty years to just before the pandemic, around the start of 2020. I’d had Covid in January, quite badly. My doctor didn’t know what it was; officially, it wasn’t present in the UK, and I’d been vaccinated against flu. It was just a mystery respiratory virus. Only afterwards did I realise what it was and just how lucky I’d been to have had it and recovered.
On one of my first days out, when I was able to move without gasping for breath, I was in a charity shop when I saw it. Memories came flooding back.
It was a bargain at £10, so I snapped it up. I got home and read it from cover to cover, just like I had on the day when I had first unwrapped it.
It wasn’t the copy I’d once owned. That would have been too much. I know because I clearly remember writing my name on the front page of my book. Reading it took me right back.
In its pages, I found the story that had started so much.
In the intervening years, not only had it kick-started my love of reading and writing Science Fiction, it had been the inspiration for a location that featured in one of my novels. It had also provided a spin-off short story.
Of course, when I read it in 2020, it was slightly different to how I recalled it. I had the title wrong, for a start. But I like to think that what it inspired did it justice.
It’s pretty cool to think that thirty novels and 200 short stories came from something I read when I was seven.
And the short story that was inspired. You can read it here.
Like just about anyone else who made their living there, I never thought about leaving.
Until the day when everything changed, when the decision was made for me.
Now all I want to do is get back.
Let me tell you about it.
What do you think about this week’s subject?
Let me know by leaving me a comment.
While you’re here, please click the InLinkz link to check out what my fellow writers have to say about this week’s topic.
I’ll be back with another post on Thursday. See you then. Meanwhile, have a great week.
I’d love to get your comments, please leave them below. While you’re here, why not take a look around? There are some freebies and lots more content, about me, my writing and everything else that I do.
Stevie Turner
How wonderful that you found the annual that inspired you to write that great short story. If you look at the cover, it actually has an apostrophe in the correct place too (these days nobody seems to bother with them)!
Richard Dee
It has pride of place in my office. In a way, it seems so dated now, part of a world that’s gone forever. But I’m so glad I got a copy back.
P.J. MacLayne
I, too, had a mystery illness at the beginning of Covid that wasn’t Covid but sure seemed a lot like it.
Richard Dee
My Son-in-law is a doctor and he reckons that I probably had it. I certainly don’t want it again!