Dedicated to the memory of K. H. Scheer and Walter Ernsting, who first gave us Perry Rhodan in 1961 and of Forrest J and Wendayne Ackerman, who first brought his adventures to the United States in 1969.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Better late than never.

Fifty years ago this month, on Friday 8 September 1961, the first issue of Perry Rhodan hit the stands in Germany.  Happy Birthday, Perry!

Life gets in the way.  That's my only excuse for my delay in commemorating this momentous event in science-fiction history.  This has been an even more rocky than usual beginning to a semester, on top of quite a bit of upheaval in my personal life having to do with moving my mother from my home town to my current town.  And I've been on a bit of a hiatus from my rereading of the series from the beginning, which put it even further in the back of my mind.  See more below.  Ah well.  At least the month has not entirely passed without my marking it!

I'm actually surprised that I stuck with the series for such an uninterrupted length of time as I did.  It's quite unusual for me.  I tend to flit back and forth between various series, seldom reading more than two or three volumes in any one before heading off into another.  I almost always come back, however, and I will come back to Perry Rhodan sooner rather than later.  In fact, something has just come up that had my thoughts turning back to it today - which is how I realized my oversight regarding the anniversary.  I'll post something about that when things firm up a bit.  But hopefully even before then I'll be taking up with the next sequence of stories and this blog will come back to life.

Meanwhile, just in case anyone is not aware of it, this coming week will see the great Fiftieth Anniversary Perry Rhodan Weltcon 2011 in Mannheim.  Man, I wish I could be there!

Cheers, and Ad Astra!