What is Story Cottage About? Part 2

Where does anyone develop their interests and hobbies? Our parents create an environment that helps form and create us, and then we find activities that fit our talents and natural inclinations, which we either foster or ignore.

My mother paints and I remember her adding artistic and creative touches to projects and activities. She also enjoys movies involving King Arthur, and for some reason I associate her with Disney movies and programs in my childhood. My mother encouraged and helped with my artistic interests, which have waxed and waned over the years.

For as long as I remember my father has read. His reading has covered everything from historical fiction to science fiction. It used to be a treat to be able to stay up with him and watch Star Trek after the news. He was also involved in various theater groups, and I even was in a few productions with him as a child.

I learned to read at an early age. Dr. Seuss and his Early Reader books standout in my memory. I loved to read, until school sucked all the enjoyment out of it. I know this concerned my parents. I remember them talking to me about it. They kept me reading with Disney and Boris Karloff comic books, but nothing more substantial. One day they gave me The Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum and my life changed. Suddenly reading became a joy again. I began to devour fantasy and science fiction books.

I also began to notice the difference in illustrations and I developed definite preferences in the type of illustrations I liked. In middle school and high school my reading repertoire expanded to the classics, and in college and beyond I have continued to try to push my reading boundaries to other genres, but I continue to read and see connections with children's books, and speculative fiction (fantasy and science fiction) written for young adult and for adults, (what ever those boundaries or designations actually mean).

Around the same time that I was introduced to Oz, they bought me a Captain America comic by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. For many years I followed many of the superhero stories in mostly the Marvel side of things. Again around this same age, developed an interest in B horror and science fiction movies. Godzilla, the Creature from the Black Lagoon and their kind fascinated me. Being before cable and VCRs, Friday night TV had Midnight Movies and Saturday afternoon had Science Fiction Theater. I remember vividly staying up to watch the original King Kong with my parents (they were afraid it would be too scary for me).

Within a few years another I experienced another major event related to my story preferences - a small movie called Star Wars was released. Among other things, the John Williams score lead me to an interest in movie soundtracks. At this same time, one of my mother's brothers introduced me to a couple of books written by J.R.R. Tolkien.

The only other event that comes to mind that I should probably mention that took place more recently happened just six or seven years ago. I had a commute that took up 90 minutes on a good traffic day. After getting burned out on music and talk radio, I started listening to audio books. Now this is how I "read" most of the longer books, so when I mention reading I may actually have listened to the book instead. I will only mention if I listened to the book if the performance is critical to my experience, either for good or bad.

While my interests have expanded, this brief background probably will help you understand where it all started from and the references and connections I may, or may not, make in these posts.