August 1st
There’s that standing joke about the writer sitting staring out the window ‘working’. Trying to figure out how I’m going to work the ‘all over the place’ timeline of the present book I did a lot of something similar this morning. Mainly it involved staring at a long list of single sentence descriptions of scenes, then lying on the sofa with my eyes closed trying to see the shape they must form. I had the whole lot whirling round in my head till they seemed to gain weight, then turned into a headache. I did a lot of brainwork this morning, and wrote only about 20 words.

August 2nd
Par for the course. I go out for a kayak run and it seems I’m paddling against the wind on the way out and the way back. A quarter hour after I get back and the wind just stops. Hard not to think it’s personal sometimes.

2,000 words this morning and another ‘piece’ written. I’m coming to the conclusion that resolving the timeline issues is not going to happen quickly. My subconscious needs time to mull it all over.

August 3rd
Gawd I’m knackered. I walked to Voila this morning, wrote 2,000 words, then down here in Makri attempted a kayak to Koutsouras but turned back at two thirds the distance because the waves looked like they might splatter me. But it is a satisfying knackerdom.

I commented to a neighbour a couple of days ago that, had I got a gun, I don’t know who I would shoot first, the owner or the dog. Howling yapping dogs in the village. Idiots with a dog they never disciplined because it is ‘their baby’ and when it was a puppy and started barking they went, ‘ooh, isn’t that cute’. Wankers. Of course it is no different in the UK, just that there we tend to have our windows closed for a larger part of the year.

Ah, the kind tourists feeding the cats. Two months later one cat is four cats. Yet strangely this place is not overrun with them for they disappear each Winter. I guess they’re transported off to the cat planet of scratching posts and endless tuna.

August 5th
Bugger. I didn’t know direct debits at my bank get cancelled if they’re not used for 13 months. Lots of messing about on the internet and over the phone required to re-establish currency transfer. I’m sure Yorgos and Kostis at Revans won’t mind if I run up a tab.

August 6th
Blustery day today. After being beaten about on a massage table I decided to swim rather than kayak. I didn’t like it yesterday, when it wasn’t so windy, getting skidded sideways across the ocean then having to beach the kayak because it was going backwards. Such trials I face.

August 7th
Perfect. 12K walk in the mountains, 2,000 words written and some major positive rearranging of the book, a 10K kayak on a lovely sea (with less wind than expected) and now a nice cool beer. Why would I want to add anything more? (he said, while eyeing some of the bikini-clad items on the beach).

And actual research done today. Well, I looked up ‘strangler fig’ on the internet to see if the things looked like I remembered. Yes they do and, of course, my version is mobile and hostile.

August 8th
The erstwhile (yes, I know I like that word) short story has now cleared 60,000 words. Interesting way to write something – not straight-line development of the plot but putting together pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Though I have to carve the pieces, and the holes they fit, and there are no edges, and no box picture, and. . .

Annoying. I can’t find red beans for chilli here (admittedly I haven’t looked very hard), so I’m trying gigantes. These are the big beans used in a dish here that goes very well with feta. They also have a marked effect on the colon – often a quite loud effect.

August 9th

And another 2,000 words done today. I’ll probably be two books in hand by the time it comes to discuss a further contract with Macmillan. Meanwhile I just received a contract from Analog for ‘Moral Biology’. Only drawback here is I’m not producing all those short stories I intended to write.

Okay. I’m a bit pooped today. I kayaked to a beach called Stousa. This is the furthest I’ve been. Upwards of 15K round trip. I must check it on Google Earth.

August 10th
2,000 words done on a Saturday morning, which makes up for a day missed in the week. I’ll may do another 2,000 tomorrow since I might avoid Makrigialos and its crowds. That being said, there are surprisingly few down here today. Perhaps an initial holiday rush is dying off?

The view has changed since four years ago. I think a TV aerial fell over.

4 years ago

Neal Asher
10 August 2015 ·
Yesterday it was cloudy and dull, and I’d also thought I’d returned to a more sordid area of Essex (y’know, where it’s necessary to keep a baseball bat handy). But this morning I look out and Crete is still there. Kalimera!

…
Like the name ‘Q-carbon’ and its properties. Definite grist for the writing mill.

Good grief Messenger collects a lot of crap over the years. I really wish it wouldn’t send that ‘Say hi to your new Facebook friend’. If I had wanted to I would have done so!

August 11th
2,000 words on a Sunday. I had to close the terrace door to cut down on the sound of the yapping, whining and howling dog at the bottom of the village. I went down to knock on the owners’ door to complain but they were out. The dog of course was on a leash in their yard. While there I saw another dog on a leash over the other side. It’s yap wasn’t up to much because it had grown old, but I recognised it as the constant yapper from years ago. Some people should have a ‘No Dogs’ warning tattooed on their foreheads.

August 12th
It’s noticeable with some expats here that they become more of what they were back home. Accents broaden, national and local traits are emphasised. It almost seems like a defensive measure. Whatever. In the spirit of all that, and having run out of washing powder, I had to buy this:

Interesting conversation this morning. A French couple with a smattering of Greek, a Greek woman who speaks English and me with my sub par Greek. Lots of hand waving. Amazing what can be conveyed with gestures.

August 13th
First time I’ve seen these covers.

Okay. Apparently today’s run was over 4 hours of kayaking. I went the furthest I’ve ever been to a beach called Stousa where I took a brief break. And I have to admit to not writing a damned thing today.

August 15th
The Gabbiano was busy last night with 50 or more people in it. It’s been busy for a while as I could tell the other day by Stelios’s yawns. I refuelled on piethachia meh scortho (garlic lamb chops) and Gabbiano salata then popped down to Revans. Full there too with people watching football. Not my thing so I buggered off home.

And another 2,000 words this morning. The book is zooming along nicely now and I’ve got most of the timeline issues sorted. Meanwhile in the village it seems the howling whining dog has been moved somewhere so it’s not so intrusive and has resorted to yapping, so no visit to the Sitia Police today as intended. Now I’m trying to decide whether or not another 4-hour kayak run this week will be too much.

July 1st
Here we go. I have photos now. This was the beach in front of Revans back in April.

July 2nd
And the path home. . .

July 4th
2,000 words this morning (the ‘short story’ is now at 26,000 words), 15k kayak this afternoon followed by two beers. I may snooze on the sofa. . .

June 1st
Morning views from my terrace. The first two to the left and forward, and then to the right where there used to be a nice old stone building. . . Funny, in a village a few miles down the road some people had all sorts of trouble with the ‘archaeology people’ because they had to renovate their house in keeping with the village. This obviously doesn’t apply in my village.

June 5th

The garden has achieved gardenness and now it’s time for another sideline: renovating a chair. I blame Ian M Banks ‘Use of Weapons’ for this obsession.

The start of my walk. I really should have taken pictures of the broom when it was fully in flower. Stunning.

June 6th
Iced glass in Revans Bar.

Another day of garden and then kayak – recent other work (writing) I dispatched yesterday. Time to get on with some short stories now everything is running smoothly. Meanwhile I’m drinking a beer and watching the pirate ship come in.

June 7th
Chair progress. It looks a bit crap at the moment but the final product will be good.

Yay! New seat for the kayak I must road test today. Thanks for dealing with the order Revans Bar!

June 11th
Been bollixed by what seems to be a bladder infection but, in retrospect, now seems likely to be lower back and groin pain as a result of exercising like I was in my 30s and not my 50s. So rather than kayak 10k or mountain walk 12k I stayed in my house to relax. This of course meant 20 to 30 hours of painting and cleaning inside. I think I have an off button, but I’m not sure where it is. I am now in Revans Bar for a pre prandial drink.

Meanwhile, the chair has also advanced. No human bones or skin included yet but some local bamboo. It amuses me to see this stuff everywhere knowing how much one must pay for it in a UK garden centre.

Busy in the Gabbiano, nice to see Stelios is busy.

June 14th
Chair completed (though I may have to do something with the feet). Okay, I’m running out of jobs to keep me from the keyboard. I’ll start with a blog post and move onto a short story.

It looks lovely but is a bad day for kayaking. The North wind is blowing, hopping over Makrigialos, hitting further out and either direction up the coast. Last time I went out in this I ended up hanging in the anchor rope of the moored ‘Pirate ship’ wondering how the hell to get to the beach. Tha kolimbiso simera, that is to say I will swim today.

Some have told me that they wish I would post more here than on Facebook. Apparently some people don’t like Facebook, who would have thought it? So I thought I’d post a selection of stuff here.

 

 

May 31st

Yes, good day for a kayak. The sea is warm too. Very few people on the beach here, however – result of transfer times.

And it’s early in the season.

Very hot today. A brief shopping trip to Sitia, some gardening and now I’ll go out and get boiled on the kayak. Work later: some alterations to some stories then moving on to writing the synopsis of The Human.

I will be signing copies of The Warship at Forbidden Planet London on Wednesday 1st May from 18.00 till 19.00. The link is here.

I’m happy to say Peter Noble will be reading the audiobook of THE WARSHIP. But, as Peter is booked up, the audio will be released a little after the physical book – on 13th June. But stay tuned for earlier extracts as soon as it’s recorded.

You can preorder this in the UK by clicking here.

I’ve written about this before but I think it worth going over again to clarify it in my own mind and for the interest of others.

Over the last few years I’ve read a lot about longevity and increasing healthspan. I’ll admit this is not for the usual reason I read science articles (grist for the writing mill) but for selfish reasons. Like anyone of my age (now 58) I am at the point where, for some years, I’ve noticed things are beginning to break down. Over five years ago I was a drinker and a smoker. In my thirties when I drank excessively and didn’t really suffer hangovers, but they came and steadily grew longer. At one time I smoked rollups without filters. Chest pains introduced filters, then nicotine gum in the mornings to delay the first cigarette, and an inhaler to open up my airways so I could sleep. Anxiety and depression kicked in after the death of my wife. This stopped the drinking because alcohol is a depressant with the aftereffect of anxiety, meanwhile a bigger focus on health along with the arrival of the electronic cigarette stopped me smoking.

My health improved markedly from stopping these and from years of exercise to counter the anxiety. My anxiety waned and this steadily revealed that even with the improvement in my health, aging was having its effects, of course. Throughout this time, for the anxiety and looking for health improvements, I investigated and took all sorts of vitamins, herbal remedies and nootropics. This led into reading about longevity and healthspan, whereupon I discovered stuff about senescent cells and the substances that target them, senolytics.

A senescent cell is a kind of zombie cell. It goes wrong and instead of entering apoptosis (cell death) it goes into senescence, which means it won’t die but it also won’t replicate. The theory is that it does not sufficiently broadcast its damage for the body to destroy it; that the partial shutdown is a response to prevent it becoming cancerous. However, in that state it produces inflammatory chemicals that disrupt healthy cells around it. More and more of these accumulate as we get older and scientists are steadily revealing them as a root cause of many of the diseases of aging. If only we could take something to kill them off. . .

A gobsmacking study on mice appeared. It had been discovered (somehow) that a combination of the cancer drug Dasatinib and the supplement quercetin were a senolytic. When given to aged mice their health improved markedly throughout their bodies and it extended their lifespan by 36%. Many people began experimenting with this combo and I too considered it. Unfortunately trying to get hold of Dasatinib is a risky business since it is prescription only. There are many places that sell it, especially in China, but will you actually be getting the real deal? I’ve also yet to see much on any positive effects from the self-experimenters. I put the idea aside, since I’m not dead yet, and continued reading.

After the success of the above combo (in mice) researchers began looking for other senolytics and testing them. Two were highlighted: fisetin, a flavonoid like quercetin but found in strawberries and piperlongumine a constituent of the long pepper. Fisetin it turned out was better than Dasatinib and quercetin, it also has no known ill effects when taken by humans and is a supplement you can buy. I read the mouse study and made the calculations – there is a formula to convert from a mouse to a human based on skin area. It turned out, that to do the equivalent of the mouse study in me, I would need to take (roughly) 640mg of fisetin per day, with some form of oil since it is lipophilic, for five days. I upped this to 1000mgs for maximum effect.

At this time I had also had further health improvements through fasting two days a week and dropping a lot of fat, getting some better sleep through using melatonin, and was still taking a variety of supplements on top of that. I also became a regular gym goer. So one must judge anything I write about this with caution. In no way have I conducted a carefully-moderated clinical trial. At the time I also found it difficult to recover from my work in the gym. I felt very tired all the time. I dressed up my response to this as ‘power napping’ but really it was an old bugger needing to take a snooze. I took a couple of courses of fisetin as detailed, over a few weeks, and felt particularly rough each time – like I was developing a cold – a had anxiety (maybe a nocebo effect since I aimed to kill certain cells in my body). Afterwards I just ate well when not fasting. Had it done anything? I thought not, and I thought that even if it had I might not notice effects. However, some weeks after this I noticed I no longer needed my power naps. This could have been an effect of fasting, or the melatonin or something else I was taking. It could all be placebo. But I found it encouraging enough not to dismiss it, and maybe try it again.

What percentage of my senescent cells did it destroy, if any at all? How quickly do senescent cells build up in the body? These are questions I simply cannot answer. I decided to try again on the basis that I probably still had plenty of senescent cells in me and the side-effects aren’t too nasty. Last Sunday night I took my first dose. On Monday I took another while fasting through till Tuesday (beginning with a dry fast of 16 hours) – 40 hours in total. I took doses through until Thursday. I felt particularly rough. I had symptoms of a developing cold again, a cold sore attempting to break out, feelings of extreme cold even when eating (so not an effect of fasting), a crappy mood and a lot of anxiety. I needed to have a sleep during the last day and that lasted two hours, followed by eight hours that night. I am now into my first day without a dose and am recovering quickly.

Again I must make the point that this is in no way scientific. However, I simply cannot put the nasty effects down to anything other than the fisetin. This is also confirmed by someone else who has done the same as me. Perhaps such large doses just fuck me up big time and kill no senescent cells at all. But worth a punt. I will see in the ensuing days and weeks if any positive effects are noticeable. Meanwhile I look to the increasing number of biotech companies developing their own senolytics and putting them through trials.

Interesting times.

Some may have noticed, if they follow me on Facebook or Twitter, that I’ve been wandering into a few art galleries and museums lately. The blame for this can be laid squarely at the door of one Julie Ann McCartney, and she’s also to blame for a change in my usual morning reading of ten science articles. They now make way for two or three articles on art and history. I know that some are a little concerned about this change: Oh hell, is he getting all cultural and artsy? Is he going soft on us? Never fear.

Right from when I was writing my first short autobiographies or answering interview questions, I told of how I chose to be a writer. When I was a kid I had interests in all sorts of things. These included biology, painting and drawing, electronics, sculpture, chemistry, writing of course and other things besides. However, in my early 20s (if not before) I decided I had to concentrate on just one of these if I was ever to achieve anything. If I did not I would be a Jack of all trades but master of none. I chose writing because in that I could incorporate all those other subjects. In the respect of my science and technology interest this was especially the case when it came to SF.

But all is grist to the writing mill in the end. I should also add that the mill needs feeding and often with something new. If you don’t feed it yes, sure, you can still produce but ideas might be lacking. And if you feed it the same old stuff all the time what comes out may well get stale. Please excuse the extended and increasingly contorted metaphor. But what I’m getting round to here is that new experiences, ideas and perspectives can be invigorating for a writer, and they have been.

As I said in previous posts I recently turned from writing novels to writing short stories (though am now back editing the latest novel). I started out with a fairly traditional alien contact story, got into some Polity biotech stuff that produced one story and germinated an idea for a novella. I then wrote another novella that concerned my recent reading on longevity and the new biotech start-ups we are seeing. Next I started writing a story about a woman with moveable tattoos that transformed into something strange about her skin having an implanted AI, and in this I found myself in the Polity art world.

Now I was really using those gallery and museum visits. That story completed I then had a seriously weird dream about a biotech future, sat to write that down before my morning visit to the gym while still in a bit of a dream state, and glanced at a book Julie bought for me for my birthday on the artist Hieronymus Bosch. It fit at once. This start has now turned into another weird one: far future biotech and the monsters of Bosch born to exact vengeance for a crime. I’ve completed that at 20,000 words and will finish editing it later.

Glad I visited those galleries.