I had a short story class tonight. We were looking at science fiction, or more specifically, the work of Arthur C. Clarke. Science fiction is something that I haven’t read very often, if at all, and I wasn’t sure what to expect. Judging from Clare’s views on it, I was expecting really geeky stuff, like Star Trek.

Deidre: *a bit confused* “He said it would be the end of the world, but then the monk said it was nothing as trivial as that.”
Clare: *serious* “No, he said it would be the end of the universe, and if you’re a science fiction fan, that’s VERY different.”

Perhaps it was, I don’t know, but I really enjoyed the two stories that we read tonight. Afterwards, Ania decided we should review two more stories written by class members. Clare and James volunteered to have them read aloud; very brave of them, I thought. Although the class isn’t highly critical, silence can be telling.

Both Clare and James were open to suggestions and criticism, and neither of them were too ‘precious’ with their work. They didn’t mind if we pointed out things that might need tidying, or made suggestions to improve readability or accuracy. It was the most enjoyable reviewing class that I’ve had so far.

Before we all left class, Ania reminded us that next Monday is a public holiday. She also said that next semester we get to have ‘tutorials’ with her, where she basically chats to each of us one-on-one about our work, for a half hour. I think they will be a lot more critical than the public comments she leaves on our work. I hope so.

Tomorrow, I get to sleep in. Can I get a, “wOOt, wOOt!”?