For many years I have liked the idea of sitting somewhere in a secluded place
to earn my living writing books. Perhaps it is just my inborn need for
recognition. My love for
printed books certainly plays a role as well.
Ideally, I would like to express my views on morality and humanity in
science fiction novels. Science Fiction is an underrated literary form.
By removing all or some of the context elements of everyday life, SF provides
possibilities of expression that make more "realistic" forms of writing feel
like straitjackets. When you read SF, your mind expects to be surprised and
becomes more receptive to new ideas. Quality hard SF stories are based on and
remain consistent with solid, clear, and reasonably credible premises. The
best stories raise questions and create stimulating (and/or disturbing)
thoughts in the reader's mind. This doesn't happen with Fantasy stories, even
if most bookshops and libraries have problems in distinguishing between the
two genres. Readers of Fantasy are fascinated by imaginary worlds and seek
evasions into realms that are removed from our lives. Fantasy can still
explore interesting aspects of our human condition, but has more problems than
SF to put across messages. You might disgree with me, but that's how I feel.
Incidentally, these views of mine on SF mean that I love Star Trek and get
annoyed by Star Wars, which I consider an intergalactic western with great
special effects but fairly primitive stories and characters. The best Steven
Spielberg & Co could come up with was "may the force be with you".
Pseudo-mystic crap, if you ask me...
Anyhow, over the years I made a couple of attempts at reaching some fame as
an author, with mixed successes.
Inner Control is a short story that
I submitted to a couple of SF Australian magazines. Both times it was
rejected. The first time, the editor had some words of praise for how it was
written but recommended to make a longer piece out of it, where the events
were narrated, rather than being reported by one of the characters. The
second time, the reviewer was quite negative. I know that reviews in the
entertainment industry can be quite scathing, but it wasn't pleasant to be
at the receiving end. Ah well, I suppose that this is part of the price one
has to pay for wanting to be a writer. Here is what the reviewer had to say:
Hated the beginning. Stories that start off with dialogue can work
brilliant, but the dialogue needs to be brilliant too. This is mundane
and structurally neuters the story right from the start. It removes much of
the dynamic between cop and killer and turns the interview into one big long
info dump. The cop plays no role. Technically there should be more than one
cop, I believe. The cop does nothing. This is a dumb cop who shouldn't be
interviewing on his own. Writer might say well that's all part of it -- if
so we need the build up. Some good SF ideas but not at all played out well.
I'll let you be the judge.
Anyhow, I have also written an SF novel between October 1998 and December
1999. Its title is:
Darwin's Child. Click on the
Darwin
button if you would like to know more.
Click on the
works button to see a complete list of what has been
published with my name.
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