My affinity for science fiction

I'm now engaged in reading a lot of science fiction, with the aim of writing in the genre. I have to admit that I'm not a huge scifi fan, if you take fan to its "fanatic" etymological root. (I understand there is some disagreement of the "fanatic" etymology, and some propose "fancier" as an alternative.) I read a lot of scifi in my youth, but mostly stopped reading it around the end of middle school. On the other hand, I never miss an episode of Doctor Who.

I started reading scifi again last year. I happened to notice that there was a scifi convention (Penguicon) happening now only a few miles from my home. I didn't have any plans, so I decided to attend. I admit that my heart was colored with irony and cynicism; I anticipated a sort of nerd safari. The con stripped all that away, though. Once I was there, I loved the con without irony.

The mystery genre gives me that warm, fuzzy feeling more often than scifi stuff, but mystery readers and writers just don't have the kind of community that's grown around scifi. I want to be part of scifi fandom. I want to belong.