Getting old is sometimes a cruel experience. I have just found out one of the TV series I liked the most when I was not-so-much-a-kid-anymore is today considered “obscure” and described as “one of the lesser known science fiction shows”.

It is really a weird sensation because I know that it’s been 17 years since the series was cancelled, but in this age of total recall it should not be a problem – you can get it in streaming, you can get the DVDs.
Is there really so much good new stuff that there is no time or interest for anything older than, say, five years?

This is not an idle question – I was told a few days ago that being a writer is a bad career choice because there’s so many good books that writing anything new is basically useless.
Why should someone read a new fantasy book when there’s The Lord of the Rings?
Why should anyone write a new science fiction book when there’s Neuromancer?
Why write a new horror book when there’s Pet Semetery?

It scares the fahrbot out of me, this way of thinking.
Why paint if we already have the Sistine Chapel?
Why make movies when we already have Citizen Kane?
Why climb a mountain if someone already did?
What’s the sense of writing songs in a world in which Don’t Stop Believing‘s readily available through iTunes?

I think this is the real mark of a dead civilization – the idea that everything worth doing’s already been done.
And I think I’ll use it in a story, sooner or later.