Tag: Science Fiction

Forbidden Planet etc.

Posted on by Neal Asher

I am somewhat hung over today, which is wrong really, since it’s my 50th today and the hangover should be tomorrow. However, we got invited to a gathering last night in remembrance of Victoria Petrie-Hay who, along with her husband Howard Chadwick, was someone we used to meet on our yearly visits to Peter Lavery in Hastings. Victoria died of lung cancer recently. We went along.

Every time I go into London I always check up with Forbidden Planet to see if they want any stock signed, and they usually do. They’ll maybe be appearing on these pages or, if you’re in the area you can pop in. Here I am signing their stock, followed by a picture of a couple of the reprobates who work there.

After that we wandered around London trying to find the Phoenix Artist’s Club, finally locating it after a phone call to Peter. This was followed by a meal then an hour or so wait in a local pub before we went to the club. A good if slightly drunken time was had by all. Caroline told me that Richard Arnold was in the place, but my eyesight wasn’t so great by then so I’m not sure if I saw him. Meanwhile here we both are hobnobbing with fantasy royalty in the form of Tanith Lee and John Kaiine.
That’s all for now. I just want to doss about and sleep now.

Urbock Shabber Gurble Thoughts/Review

Posted on by Neal Asher

Here are the thoughts of Chris W on various reviews of The Gabble. Hobbesian, me? Then again, I can’t think of any SF story or novel to which the ‘Hobbesian’ label cannot be pasted. I would generally go for a less high-falutin description and use the words ‘realistic cynicism’.

And because I’m putting these up every time I write something about one of my books in this blog: here’s the Amazon link and here’s the Book Depository one.

Polity Agent Review — Walker of Worlds.

Posted on by Neal Asher

Here’s another review from Mark Chitty as he steadily works his way through his backlog of my books:

Polity Agent is the fourth book in the Agent Cormac series, a series I’ve been catching up with and thoroughly enjoying. The second and third books in the series, The Line of Polity and Brass Man, dealt with the emergence of Jain tech and Skellor’s use of it and was a fairly self-contained duology within the main story. Of course, just because that sub-story concluded it doesn’t mean everything is fine, far from it – Jain tech is still out there and Polity Agent hits the ground running.

As a runcible opens from 800 years in the future the team that were sent to return the Maker to its civilisation in the Small Magellanic cloud comes through in a panic, the Makers overrun by Jain tech. With runcible time-travel not recommended by the AI’s of the Polity due to the huge power requirements and dangers it involves, this situation is used solely to destroy the Jain infested Maker civilisation and most of the Small Magellanic cloud. This event raises many questions, most prominent of them being the purpose of Dragon, the huge bio-construct that the Makers created and sent to the Polity. Meanwhile an entity called Legate is distributing Jain nodes to certain people within the Polity, one of these being Orlandine, a haiman who takes a whole different approach to studying the Jain technology she has in her possession, while another is a dangerous separatist leader on the planet of Coloron. Meanwhile Horace Blegg, the infamous immortal of legend, is slowly learning more and more about jain tech and of himself, while Cormac continues to discover more about Dragon while trying to limit and eradicate the spread of Jain tech. And then there is the King of Hearts, a renegade AI whose journey out of the Polity leads him to discover something very dangerous indeed.

Polity Agent can be found here on Amazon and here on The Book Depository (free international shipping).

Outcasts.

Posted on by Neal Asher

So, the BBC is starting a major new drama series.

Set in space with the future of earth looking increasingly precarious, the race is on in Outcasts to find an alternative home in the universe.

Apparently, to get to this alternative home the outcasts travel through some kind of tranporter, but,

Outcasts is a tense and fast-paced series about co-operation and conflict, idealism and power, sexual competition and love. Most of all it is about our life’s big imperatives – cheating death, seeking suitable mates and surviving as a species.

And it is definitely not science fiction. According to the designer, James North, who previously spent 5 years designing sets for Dr Who, ‘…the BBC doesn’t want to give the impression it’s putting out a sci-fi show on prime-time BBC1. This is a futuristic drama with the focus on pioneering humans who, out of necessity, just happen to be living on a planet that is not Earth.’

Let me give my deeply considered opinion on the above statement: what a wanker.

Is SF Getting More Conservative?

Posted on by Neal Asher

Interesting article here at Pyjama’s Media, and a very interesting mass of comments ensuing. This is mostly American-centric so definitions of conservative, left, liberal etc are slightly different from the British version. I’d also submit that the question in the title is one that wouldn’t even be asked here. ‘One swallow does not a summer make’ would be the relevant proverb.

I am a complete science fiction geek.

It started when I was little more than a toddler. One of my earliest memories: sitting in the basement with my parents as they watched Walter Cronkite narrate one of the Apollo missions as it rounded the moon. (Which one? I couldn’t have been more than three or four, and I was born in 1971. You do the math.) It left an impression. I’ve been a fan ever since.

In the last few years, I’ve noticed more and more that science fiction has taken a bit of a turn to the right. I’ve also seen more than a few reviews lambasting those authors for their views — which seems to matter not a whit to their sales.

So I emailed four of them — two relative newcomers and two legends — and asked why.

The legends, Dr. Jerry Pournelle and Orson Scott Card, need no introduction. But it bears mention that Ender’s Game, Card’s best-known work, is on the Commandant of the Marine Corps recommended reading list as a treatise on what it means to be a leader. The newcomers, Lt. Col Tom Kratman (Ret.) and Larry Correia, both write for Baen.

The End.

Posted on by Neal Asher

Ah, there’s nothing quite like writing the two words above. They mean I’ve finished the first draft of the latest book, in this case, Zero Point. However, by no means has the work ended, only word-counts have ended. While writing a book I aim for 2000 words a day five days a week (a target I often miss), and I record the number of words to drive myself. That’s no longer necessary.

Zero Point is at 152,000 words and will probably grow as I have yet to write my characteristic chapter starts. It will be, as I’ve mentioned elsewhere, about the size of The Skinner. Hereafter I’ll probably be deleting as many words as I write as I apply a number of rules. If I’m waffling I delete it, if it’s not relevant to the plot, or to character or world building, I delete it. Time lines and timings have to work. Polemic, while fun, should be either discarded, or consigned to one of those chapter starts where the reader has the liberty to either read and enjoy it or ignore it. Mostly it will be discarded. The English will need tidying up. Lots.

It may be the case that during this process I’ll chop out some large chunks because they add nothing or need completely rewriting. These I’ll consign to the file with the title Jupiter War, where I may use bits of them. Time for a celebration now? No, because I’m still in temperance January. I’ll save up this thirst for next month.

Impending UFO/ET Disclosure by Obama Government.

Posted on by Neal Asher

Okay, not April 1st. I think that what must have happened is that I somehow did something or was involved in something that’s shoved me off main-line time down the probability slope into the Twilight Zone.

Chinese National Television Xinhua news is now reporting an impending extraterrestrial disclosure by the Obama administration.

The unprecedented national China TV news bulletin that U.S. President Barack Obama may be preparing to disclose U.S. relations with specific extraterrestrial races was broadcast on the official channel Xinhua on January 4, 2011 on the eve of China President Hu Jintao’s state visit to the United States.