Brexit and the writer - reality is stranger than fiction

I guess even if you don’t live in the UK you’ll be aware we’re going through something of an upheaval called Brexit.  Now, before I go any further I emphasise in this post I am not taking sides, or expressing a political bias.  These are my feelings, on those elected to represent us in this matter and how that relates to my own work.  I am intrigued as to how these political characters and the stories they are telling compare to any of my fictional characters and my stories in general. 

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Science fiction and the human tribe

As a science fiction writer I’m always imagining what the future might hold for us human beings. I imagine us travelling to the stars and new worlds.  It represents an almost unlimited opportunity for a species that has always had a thirst for the new, exploration, pushing the boundaries.  In scifi land we think of global societies or even multi-global societies.  However, what history tells us, along with what is happening in the world today, is that that may be incredibly simplistic or just plain wrong.  That human beings will never feel comfortable living in some form of global society.

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Science Round up Inspiration 14

As anyone who has read my science round-ups in the past will know I peruse a number of sites on a regular basis.  These are fascinating in their own right, however, as a scifi writer (and even if you’re not) I believe they are a great source of inspiration.  I know I haven’t done one for a while so I thought it was about time.

I normally start with items from beyond our planet and then come down to earth.  In this round-up however I will concentrate on efforts to solve some of the pressing issues that face us here on good old terra firma.

Trapping CO2 and turning it into stone.

While I fully support all efforts to reduce our global output of CO2, progress in setting and complying with any limits that will reduce the amounts we send into the atmosphere is painfully slow.  So to my mind we have to look at other ways of reducing CO2 in the atmosphere.  Researchers have succeeded in turning carbon dioxide (CO2) into solid rock.  They inject volcanic basalt rock with pressurised liquid CO2, chemical reactions then trigger the transformation.

This at least gives scientists another option for capturing and storing the excess CO2.   It might even be possible to scale up the process to take significant levels of carbon out of circulation.

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Meet "Bleak" - a human shapeshifter

One of the interesting things about writing any book is how the characters develop.  In some cases they become "friends", no matter how strange they might be.

So let me introduce the title character from 'Bleak - The story of a shapeshifter'.  He's complex and saddled with more than his share of hang-ups.

My latest blog: http://wp.me/p3ycbY-1p9

Science fiction and being human

In my last blog I discussed the science of science fiction and how as writers we deal with it or don’t deal with it.  Bottom line?  I know how to use my HD TV, my pc, mobile phone and digital camera.  I might have some very basic idea how they work, but that’s it.  So I think it’ll be the same in the future, we’ll know how to use all that incredible technology, but as today you don’t have to understand it.

One thing that’s for certain is that technology is going to evolve and advance in ways that even the best science fiction writers can’t predict.  But what about us humans?

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Writers - carry a camera

I’ve blogged before about the value to a writer of taking photographs, not just how they are good to refer to or use in a blog, such this one, but how it also makes you look at the world a little differently.  Following on from last week’s blog, writing turns you into an observer, I feel that taking photographs enhances that experience.  However, in this blog I’m making the case for carrying camera i.e. an actual device who’s raison d’etre is taking photographs.

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Writing makes you an observer

I started writing in the last year I worked before taking a package and leaving an industry I’d been in for thirty years.  Like big companies do they were reorganising which left me with little to occupy my time.  So I had no excuse but to do what I’d always said I’d do which was to try and complete some of those stories I’d started but never finished.

So I drafted that first book, then a second and a few years ago started this blog (also writing of course).  What I didn’t realise at the time was how all this writing would change the way I look at the world.  Or rather how it would make me an observer of the world around me, rather than being an on-looker as I pass through it.  Or how much joy that unexpected side-effect would bring.

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What would aliens make of us?

I find that being an author I have become a more diligent observer. So the upcoming UK/EU vote prompts me to ask what watching aliens might think of us? My blog: wp.me/p3ycbY-1l2