Category Archives: Writing & Publishing

“The only people who hate escapism are jailers.” The quote is attributed to both C S Lewis and to J R R Tolkien. Whomever said it first, it captures the spirit that both wrote their fantasy stories in. A generation later, the fantasy writer Michael Moorcock revised the quip: “Jailers love escapism — it’s escapeContinue reading “Is geek culture mere escapism?”

I loved short form scifi storytelling. Mirrorshades, the anthology that defined cyberpunk, made me want to write SF. In my 20’s I published two dozen short stories. I really enjoyed subbing stories to these mysterious old magazines that – back in the day – often still demanded you send manuscripts in PRINT! In 2008 IContinue reading “We need the spirit of Dangerous Visions (but we don’t need Dangerous Visions)”

Much has been written about the origins of Star Wars in ancient mythology, via the work of mythologist Joseph Campbell. But the blockbuster movies’ origins in modern mythology are sometimes forgotten. The Foundation saga by Isaac Asimov is one of the most influential science fiction stories ever written. It inspired classic storytelling from Frank Herbert’sContinue reading “Is this the moment that inspired the Force in Star Wars?”

“Are you not entertained?” Roars a muscular Russell Crowe at the crowd being entertained by murder in a provincial Roman gladiatorial arena. Maximus Decimus is a soldier. To kill men is his profession. He’s better at it than any gladiator. But as a slave he is now reduced to killing for the lowest reason –Continue reading “Science Fiction is not here to entertain you”

Corporations took the intense, subversive, revolutionary force that was science fiction, and they turned it to trash culture. Today’s post is because I was thinking about the idea of the “scifi fan”. And how much I hate it. One thing that may not be apparent to people who don’t work in marketing, because it isContinue reading “How corporate marketing created the Geek identity”

Mid-way through Foundation and Empire, Asimov hits an entirely new note in his writing. For the first time he enters INSIDE one of his characters. We see the world as they see it. It’s probably significant that this is also the first major female character in the story. Asimov was a great writer on manyContinue reading “What do the literary folks mean when they say science fiction is “badly written”?”

An open call for non-fiction stories of up-to 600 words, to be published on the Science Fiction medium group. Rolling deadline. For 200 years science fiction has predicted the future. But what is the future of science fiction? The Science Fiction publication on Medium is seeking non-fiction stories in the following categories : ESSAYS –Continue reading “Call for Stories : What is the future of science fiction?”

One of the elements that makes Blade Runner so haunting. Deckard isn’t the protagonist of the story. Roy Batty is. The “hidden protagonist” is a technique in noir fiction. The character who ordinarily would be the emotional centre of the story is made background, and instead you follow the antagonist. In PKDs novel Deckard isContinue reading “Yes, Deckard is a replicant. But that’s not Blade Runner’s secret”

It’s not enough to build an impressive visual world of computer generated imagery. You need to tell the heart of the story. The new Dune trailer suggests Villeneuve has – once again – failed at the most basic task of the storyteller.

From the June 2019 interview with Liu Cixin in The New Yorker. “When I brought up the mass internment of Muslim Uighurs—around a million are now in reëducation camps in the northwestern province of Xinjiang—he trotted out the familiar arguments of government-controlled media: “Would you rather that they be hacking away at bodies at trainContinue reading “Does Liu Cixin author of the Three Body Problem support the Uighur internment?”