Reviews

Reviews

Sing Along as We March into a Hopeful Future
Filkers, including Roberta Rogow, sing about everything fans care about—science fiction, fantasy, science, computers, genre TV, movies, and, of course, space exploration. But I’ve noticed a unique thing about space filk: the songs are always hopeful. They may be funny (“The Cosmonaut Who Never Returned”), sad (“Shuttles Gone with the Wind”), or inspiring (“Artemis Is Rising”); but they are never cynical about the importance and future of space exploration.

I’ve played tapes of space filk to engineering teams on those long nights when you have to fix something or miss your launch window and during those long shifts when you wonder if you’ll ever connect with your vehicle again. They always get cheers and discussion and eventually sing-alongs because they capture our hopes and our reasons for being in the business.

In this volume some of Roberta’s great songs about space exploration are captured, providing us with another dose of reasons to hope. I think I first remember hearing Roberta sing “The Ballad of Mary Sue” at a convention back in the 1980s and then learned that she was a prolific writer, a great mentor to other singers, and an energetic force in the filk community. Okay, I learned most of that from my wife, but I was always there listening in the concerts and late-night filk circles, breathing in the hope, and listening for the next new song. The songs herein are old and new favorites, and they sing in my head each time I read them. Sing along as we march into a hopeful future.

—Roy Pettis
Former National Intelligence Manager  for Space at the
Office of the Director of National Intelligence

Songs of Space Celebrates Space History and Its Future
Many of the best stories tell us about things that really happened. Many of the best pictures show things that really exist. And a large number of Roberta Rogow’s songs—I was tempted to say “most,” but her output is too vast for me to say it confidently—do one or both of these things. Songs of Space includes many examples.

Space is big, and our knowledge of it keeps growing. Sometimes what we learn is exciting, sometimes it’s depressing. Either way, it can make a good song, and Roberta knows how to do it. Human exploration of space has given us stories of triumph and tragedy, excitement and loneliness. The songs in this book present all those things, along with a good dose of hope. We can build on what went well and learn from what went wrong.

My favorite among the songs here is “One Mile Closer to the Stars.” It spans history from the 17th century to the Space Age in three verses. The text presents dangers, triumphs, warnings, and an extravagant goal that humanity might someday reach.

Roberta has been a valued member of the filk music community from its beginning, and not just for the songs she’s written. She’s a professional librarian and has helped to document filk’s history. In 1986 she collaborated with Sourdough Jackson on the “Filkindex,” a catalogue of published filk to that date. She’s been on many panels at conventions on filk and its history. At the filk circles, she always has a song ready and helps to keep the momentum going.

She’s published several albums, even though her songs are mostly to other people’s tunes, making it necessary to get a lot of permissions.

You may not know all the tunes in this book. If you’re at a filksing with her, you can ask her to sing any of the songs. Or you can find some other tune that more or less fits. That’s entirely in the spirit of filk!

—Gary McGath, Author,
Tomorrow’s Songs Today:  The History of Filk Music

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