Wow. So it has been a week since I left the UK for Thailand I can barely describe everything that has happened. Long haul flights, airport layovers, jet lag sleep deprivation and constant change have given the last seven days a hallucinatory quality. Arriving in Bangkok after dark felt like stepping in to Bladerunner. EveryContinue reading “Chiang Mai”
Author Archives: Damien Walter
Where in the world is Damien G Walter?
Since going nomad back in July I’ve been living out of a backpack and my trusty Macbook Air laptop. My first destination was France visiting my extended family. Now, after a month or so back in the UK sorting various work tasks, I am back on the road. But where am I? Thailand! At thisContinue reading “Where in the world is Damien G Walter?”
The revolution will not be realism
We live in times of immense change. Technology is a tool of change, but it’s the lives and desires of all seven billion humans on the planet really driving change. And, whether you welcome the change or not (I’m among those greeting it with open arms) you can’t doubt that it is very real. ButContinue reading “The revolution will not be realism”
Which dystopia are we living in?
It seems a bit rough to accuse modern Britain of being a dystopia when it’s also such an excellent source of tea, roast dinners and well-tailored clothing. But then the really disturbing thing about any dystopia is that for every Winston Smith resisting the machine, there are thousands of content consumers quite happy with BigContinue reading “Which dystopia are we living in?”
The Great Escape
Digital technology allows us to lose ourselves in ever more immersive fantasy worlds. But what are we fleeing from? The only people who hate escapism are jailers, said the essayist and Narnia author C S Lewis. A generation later, the fantasy writer Michael Moorcock revised the quip: jailers love escapism — it’s escape they can’tContinue reading “The Great Escape”
Going Nomad
Sometime in the last year or so I realised that my entire professional life fitted inside my laptop. I am a writer. The only tools I really need for my trade are a laptop and my big brain. (Arguably fingers etc as well but let’s not go there) In the digital age, that means IContinue reading “Going Nomad”
Five science fiction novels for people who hate SF
The genre’s denser stories can seem rebarbative to ‘general readers’, but these books tell immediately relevant, compelling tales. Science fiction is all around us, from clandestine electronic surveillance to robots taking our jobs, from death-dealing drones in the skies of Pakistan right through to the second industrial revolution unleashed by 3D printing. It’s more thanContinue reading “Five science fiction novels for people who hate SF”
On being bossed around by Neil Gaiman
I’ve been outlandishly busy in recent weeks. So much so that I haven’t been able to post anything personal here on my blog. One of the costs of having more freelance writing than you can do is that it squeezes out the personal projects that you love. So here’s a round-up on some of whatContinue reading “On being bossed around by Neil Gaiman”
Harlan Ellison : The Interview
Originally published in The Guardian. When Damien Walter tweeted he’d ‘literally kill’ to interview the multiple award-winning author Harlan Ellison, Neil Gaiman replied ‘What if the person you had to kill was … Harlan Ellison?’ Here Ellison talks about running away from home, the rights and wrongs of paying to read books and how hisContinue reading “Harlan Ellison : The Interview”
Does God have a place in science fiction?
If SF is grounded in hard scientific fact, and science is killing God, then what place does that leave for divine intervention in the pages of SF literature? When I tweeted this question, @MirabilisDave gave Arthur C Clarke’s famous dictum a twist, quipping that “Any sufficiently advanced technocrat will be indistinguishable from God.” Read moreContinue reading “Does God have a place in science fiction?”
Technology of the Gods
Technology can give us the power of gods, but can it help us become more human? The promise of technology is the promise of power. Power over the material world, and over our fates as humans. Power that was once the sole domain of the gods. It was from them that Prometheus stole fire toContinue reading “Technology of the Gods”
What critics really mean when they say…
Nothing in publishing means what it says. Especially book reviews and the stuff they put in blurbs. Renowned – unknown Bestselling – crap New York Times bestseller – utter crap Seminal – almost dead Legendary – actually dead Cult – only readable by drug addicts A powerful debut – you will never hear from thisContinue reading “What critics really mean when they say…”
Damien Walter 