Science Fiction and “sword and sorcery” have been a life line for me since early in my reading adventures. I still remember the first science fiction book that I read – The Zero Stone by Andre Norton. Obviously it made a big impression as I remember it more than 50 years later, and it started a life long love affair with the works of Norton and with the genre in general. These two genres do something that most others do not. They create worlds and customs and then play them out in the lives and experiences of their characters. More often than not they are also exploring certain social problems and how they might be addressed. I am certain that this focus on societal problems and creating societies that address them in different ways is the same thing that drew me into both social movements and sociology. The authors that stimulated so much thought and fueled my dreams of the possibility of a better world are now passing one by one. As each leaves the planet, I feel a deep sense of loss and also gratitude. These creative and committed people have touched more lives, and shaped more ideas, awakened more possibilities than we will even know.