Smithsonian Tech

©2001 Steven Macdonald

Solar powered sail ships
Contragravity
Q-Beam clips
Gravitonic firing guns
Atom power, tapes that run

Chorus
That’s the day I wanted to see
Not this future history
Gas, coal, steam and sweat
I know we will get there yet
Orbit high
Dream of sky

Teardrop ships, robotic laws
Pinero’s lines
Monofilament saws
Arisia, Trantor too
Explore the skies
Where’s my silver suit?

Chorus

Bridge
Heinlein, Sturgeon, and Asimov
Doc Smith, Bradbury, Clarke
These and others gave us future dreams
It’s up to us to make them real

Valentine Michael Smith
Barsoom, invasion
Terraforming gifts
Flying cars,
LaGrange colonies
Tourist flights to Luna City

Chorus


I was first introduced to the concept of SF by borrowing my older brother’s books from his bookshelf (“stealing”, if you were to listen to him…).

Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, H. Beam Piper, James Hogan, and ‘Doc’ Smith (among many others) gave me worlds of imagination, lessons of morality, and a window into other ways of living and being. All of these authors helped me to survive being a teenager.

… and I still occasionally dream of being worthy of a Lens. 

Smithsonian Tech