The Mind Creative DECEMBER 2014 | Page 2

Editors’s ote N The Mind Creative The art of writing science fiction is a fascinating one because it calls upon vivid imagination and needs the ability to extrapolate on unknown entities and nonexistent environments. The masters of this craft have, over decades, been able to fire up the imagination of readers and have spawned an entire generation of “sci-fi” buffs. The cover story in this issue looks at the important milestones in science fiction literature and the ten most influential authors in this genré. As part of this topic, I have also included three extremely well-crafted science fiction short stories from the pen of Fredric Brown (in the ‘Fiction Writers Corner’ section). Can cooking and culinary designs be considered as art forms? In my opinion they should be. In fact, cooking is an amazing art that calls upon imagination, creation and presentation; as does all forms of traditional arts. I am pleased to announce that the magazine now has a new section called ‘The Foodie’s Corner’ that will feature articles about this popular genré. This issue has two articles - one dwelling on the ‘art’ of cuisine and the other about the ‘art’ of eating! I have found that imaginations of a creative mind can sometimes produce results that might be a looked upon as 2 bizarre, macabre or even grotesque. I was exposed to the works of the Dutch botanist and anatomist Frederik Ruysch through a marvellous essay written by Luuc Kooijjmans. I have published extracts from this essay that will clearly show why Ruysch is widely known as the ‘artist of death’! This issue also brings back the works of cartoonist and musician Philip Hill whose ability to create illustrations based on wordplay is second to none. His works make you think hard beyond the visuals in order to decipher the underlying astute observations. This issue also has it’s other regular ‘corners’ including travelogues and two lovely pieces of poetry by Anita Desai. I would like to take this opportunity to say ‘Merry Christmas and Happy New Year’ to readers and friends of The Mind Creative. Happy reading!!