Category Archives: Personal history

From the Ridiculous to the Sublime: My Own Journey to 2001

Posted on 3 April 2018 by Mark R. Kelly

Yesterday, April 2, 2018, was the 50th anniversary of the release of the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, still regarded as the best (or at least one of the best) science fiction films of all time, and as among the … Continue reading →

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Intro

Posted on 28 March 2018 by Mark R. Kelly

This is the blog and homepage of Mark R. Kelly, the founder of Locus Online in 1997 and of an index to science fiction awards in 2000 that became sfadb.com in 2012. I’m retired from my day job of 30 … Continue reading →

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Desert Trip: Stars and Planes

Posted on 11 February 2018 by Mark R. Kelly

This Sunday evening I am concluding a weekend trip to the high desert of southern California, to an area where I grew up as a small child and subsequently spent many family weekends and subsequent summer weeks and weekends throughout … Continue reading →

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Mrs. McPherson’s Antidote to Despair

Posted on 20 July 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

my husband is dead and it’s lonely now      though still i enjoy the bright sun in my morning kitchen where i      sit and drink coffee and remember. the kids are gone off with their own      lives and … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: Science v Stories; Religion, Conservative Resistance, and Reality; a Freeway

Posted on 13 July 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

Science Fiction, Science, and Storytelling Tor.com: Nancy Kress: Science and Science Fiction: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Many, many more people see science fiction movies than read print SF. Almost all SF movies, and much print SF as … Continue reading →

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Apple Valley Dreams

Posted on 10 July 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

From the northeast corner of Apple Valley — where the first, now disappeared, Apple Valley house where my family lived, was — you get views to the south and southwest of the hills and mountains, during the day and at … Continue reading →

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Trip Report: Apple Valley 2017

Posted on 6 July 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

Since I finished a couple posts of photos and commentary (e.g. http://www.markrkelly.com/Blog/photos/first-apple-valley-house/) about the house in Apple Valley, California, where my family lived when I was three or four years old, I’ve been gathering photos of the second Apple Valley … Continue reading →

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Frequency Interactions

Posted on 20 June 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

When I was a teenager, in the Fall of 1971 just after I turned 16 years old, and just a few months after my family had returned to California from a three-year stay in Illinois, I took a typing course … Continue reading →

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Genealogical Post: My Family Trees

Posted on 1 June 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

Over the past year I’ve been perusing family trees on both my father’s and mother’s sides, each of which goes back several generations, on one side to the first generation born overseas that immigrated to the US – i.e., “first … Continue reading →

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I Can Do Anything: Mark Haddon’s THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME

Posted on 24 April 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

Last week I posted a look back at 20 Years of Locus Online and, having asked my lead contributors over the years for their best or exceptional posts, revisited an 11-year-old essay by film reviewer Gary Westfahl, Homo aspergerus: Evolution … Continue reading →

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