The Imperial battlecruiser swept by overhead, its sharp point disappearing into the distance of the inky blackness, while I stared open-mouthed.
I was that ten-year-old boy, staring up at the cinema screen in astonishment, that afternoon in 1977.
Before them, my sci-fi diet consisted of Shatner, Nemoy, and Kelly battling the Klingons, and Tom Baker’s magnificent scarf and floppy hat as he portrayed the best of Dr Who.
Then it was Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, and Space: 1999. I wrestled with the first-world problem of deciding which Eagle I wanted for Christmas: the Eagle Transporter, or the Eagle Freighter. Back and forth my decisions went. When I ripped open my presents on Christmas morning to find both a Transport and a Freighter, my mum and dad were the best in the world.
Then, of course, it was Blakes’s 7, and I wanted a model of The Liberator. And while all my friends at school lusted after Jacqueline Pearce as the evil genius Supreme Commander Servalan, I longed only for Jenna (Sally Knyvette).
This was my world of sci-fi, dominated by film and TV.
And then Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy came, and my world exploded.
Like so many of us, I was gripped by the characters, the adventure, how outrageous, and how funny it was. After each episode, it was all I could talk about with my friends at school the next day. I bought the book, I bought all of them. And then read them again. And again. I still have those same paperbacks on my shelf
From there, I started reading other science fiction, always looking for the comedic element. I found very little, back then.
Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t exactly disappointed. I discovered HG Wells, Asimov, Arthur C Clarke, Philip K Dick and a host of others, even collecting very old editions of Wells. And from there, I started writing, trying to combine fun with adventure, and romance with daring deeds.
But it all goes back to that afternoon in 1977, the Imperial battle cruiser, the girl in the white dress with the gun, and the guy with the fastest ship in a galaxy far far away. Without Star Wars, where would my writing be?
Happy Star Wars day everyone.