Life in Nevada or Life on Mars?
By Matt Malinowski
Frank Herbert’s Dune sets the scene with the classic line, “Arrakis – Dune - Desert Planet,” but to describe Nevada in such a complete and beautiful way is nearly impossible. An ethereal strangeness clings to our state. Whenever I feel comfortable here, something else mysterious, exuberant, or even dangerous, captures my attention. Nevada, with its otherworldly setting, and diversity of life appeals to my appreciation of science fiction and has kept me connected, intrigued, and even humbled.
Far, far away from the shimmering glow of Las Vegas, the clear night sky lights up with distant planets and the awe of the Milky Way. Meteors streak towards the horizon during the showers of the Perseids as my eyes follow the telemetry of the International Space Station making its orbit around the Earth. Under this canopy of starlight, I get lost in the mysticism of the X-Files’ Fox Mulder and want to believe.
The night sky and the comet Neowise from Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. Photo by Matt Malinowski.
The orange and crimson hues of Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area look eerily like images sent back by far-flung Martian rovers, and I imagine myself lost on the Red Planet. The roar of a speeding motorcycle draws me back to Earth and reminds me of the need to protect Nevada’s wild places because as Ray Bradbury wrote in The Martian Chronicles, “we earth men have a talent for ruining, big, beautiful things.”
On the Las Vegas Strip, the radiant neon and eclipsing digital screens of megaresorts hyper-stimulate my senses. On a rare rainy night, the urban grit of the city reflects off low hanging clouds like a scene from Ridley Scott’s Bladerunner. Close by, virtual reality attractions let visitors slip away from their own world like in Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One.
Travelers cling to their mobile phones, the modern equivalent of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Safe in the warm, blue light, the phone provides its user with author Douglas Adams’ constant reminder, “don’t panic.”
I watch their predictable behavior and wonder if a similar experience inspired Philip K. Dick to create the human imposters known as replicants in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Also watching are the electric eyes of casino cameras. The sophisticated surveillance is both alluring and alarming, and I recall the cautions laid out in George Orwell’s classic, 1984.
Where you end up when you say, “take me to your leader,” on Nevada’s Extraterrestrial Highway. Photo by Matt Malinowski.
Out in the desert, alien statues and flying saucers guard the giftshops along the Extraterrestrial Highway. Jets scramble over the mountains, while free range cows stare silently from the lonely roadside near the restricted military base and UFO hotspot known as Area 51. I look up and remember teenage hours jamming quarters into an Area 51 arcade machine, zapping malicious extraterrestrials, and watching Independence Day with friends.
At conventions, comic shops, bookstores, and coffee houses I find others like me. Those of us that are are collectively bewildered by the weird and obtuse and at some point, have tried to use the Force. Nevada feels like the backyard of science fiction, somewhere between plausible and alien, and curiously right where I belong.
Photos courtesy of Matt Malinowski.
Matt Malinowski loves history, museums, retro video games, science fiction, writing, and wildlife. He is a current graduate student focusing on Museum Studies and Digital Storytelling at Harvard University Extension School and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology with a minor in Anthropology from Penn State. His right hand has high-fived the real Harry Potter, Daniel Radcliffe, and he has stood where Ben Kenobi showed Luke Skywalker a bird’s eye view of Mos Eisley.