(by Steve Hopkins)

Earlier this month, Larry Hodges’ 10,000 word science fiction table tennis novelette was published by New Myths Magazine.  The story, “First Galactic Table Tennis Championships,” is online (and free to read).

A hundred years into the future, aliens are playing table tennis, and following a new round of Ping-Pong Diplomacy, the best players on this planet take on aliens of all shapes and sizes.

“I am Egrad from Itheru,” said a robotic voice from a black box that hung around the bottom of the alien’s neck. The words were slow and exaggerated. “I am also president of the Galactic Table Tennis Association and the Itheru Table Tennis Federation. My son is Egrayu.”

Egrayu! The greatest table tennis player in the galaxy. He’d toured Earth five years ago and nobody could challenge him. What chance did a human have against the Ith, who were faster, stronger, and had far better reflexes and hand-eye coordination? Their ancestors snatched flying insects out of the air for food. Smacking flying ping-pong balls was second nature for them. The irony was that table tennis originated on Earth before spreading through the Orion Arm of the galaxy.

Science fiction is a speculative fiction genre.  The best writers in this field combine their views of changing technology and societal norms – sometimes accurately predicting the future.  Like Hodges, most of us expect to see a future with more table tennis  (what Alien is going to go through the trouble of galactic travel for a game of pickleball, racquetball, or squash?).

Hodges is a USA Table Tennis Certified National Coach, an ITTF certified coach, and a member of the US Table Tennis Hall of Fame. Twelve of his 21 books are on table tennis, mostly instructional. He’s also a member of Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association, and has sold over 200 short stories and four novels. He’s also had over 2,200 published articles and nearly 2,000 blog entries, mostly on table tennis – his table tennis blog goes up on Mondays. Here’s his bibliography. He joking claims to be the best table tennis player in the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association and the best science fiction writer in USATT.