Words of Honour


A freedom of information request has revealed the list of people who rejected an honour from the Queen between 1951 and 1999. Literary names were prominent amongst those to have said no to CBEs, OBEs and knighthoods in the annual New Year or Birthday Honours list. I find this list very interesting. What particularly grabbed my attention was the number of speculative fiction luminaries on the list.

This is not to say that I find authors who have accepted Honours objectionable. Far from it. There are many deserving science fiction and fantasy authors who already have my respect, admiration and love of their literary works, regardless of whether or not they have accepted such royal recognition. A good example of this is JB Priestley, whose play An Inspector Calls is a masterpiece and often interpreted to hinge on fantastical or science fiction elements. Priestley - whose work often examines issues of class difference – was awarded an Order of Merit after refusing both a knighthood and peerage.

I do, however, reserve a special respect for those writers who have explored the problematic relationship between the ruling classes (or pseudo-ruling classes as the current Royal family might be considered) and those they consider below them in the social order – and translated these insights into action. Science fiction and fantasy texts often dramatise the concerns of the here and now. They remind us of important truths, deliver forgotten warnings and give fictional form to harsh realities that readers sometimes find difficult to appreciate and differentiate in their own worlds. One example of this might be the fact that human beings should long have learned that we are all equal citizens of this planet and the parts we choose to call individual ‘countries’. There should be no chosen or special peoples. One person’s blood is worth no more than another person’s. There are no names (especially made up ones – like Windsor) that make you more deserving of a spectacularly wealthy, influential and carefree existence, while everyone else has to work hard for their success. Science Fiction and fantasy texts are replete with examples of the parasitically powerful, who live off the ignorance of people they consider less than themselves and prosper from their underlings' lack of will to do act against such unfairness and inequality. Some authors have not forgotten the examples of their heroes and when offered knighthoods and Honours from such institutions have felt compelled to respectfully decline. They should, in turn, be ‘honoured’ by their readership for standing by the beliefs they communicated to us through their literary works. Five deserving science fiction and fantasy writers on the list cited above are:

Roald Dahl (From The BFG to Tales of the Unexpected)

CS Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia)

Aldous Huxley (Brave New World)

JG Ballard (The Crystal World and many science fiction short stories)

Robert Graves (The Greek Myths)

"Good Enough For Shakespeare"

This caught my eye. It is from a newspaper article by journalist Mathilda Gregory. It's nice to see "fanfiction" writers get a bit a love and respect.

"Fanfiction, playing with characters and worlds already created elsewhere, can be a thrilling creative outlet for all kinds of people. The most enjoyable works of fiction present us with convincing worlds; we believe our favourite characters existed before "once upon a time" and go on existing after the final full stop. It's not surprising then, that the best stories can be irresistible playground to some writers. Yes, quality varies. A lot of fanfiction is, indeed, terrible: it's amateur fiction published, unedited online. What were you expecting? But, like any kind of literature, fanfiction can be sublime or ridiculous. There are some real gems out there, that are every bit as original as works with no previous owners.

Isn't it time we gave the art of remixing stories it a little more respect? After all, it was good enough for Shakespeare."

Forbidden Lore

I don’t get very much opportunity to indulge in the aural aspects of the internet. The internet, for me, is largely words and images. When I do listen, it’s usually something on YouTube (accompanied by images). Podcasting, therefore, is not an area that I paid a great deal of attention to. There are some fantastic sites offering podcasts out there, so I’ve started to discover. One such place is The Independent Characters, where hosts Carl Tuttle and Geoff Hummel review and analyse new Warhammer 40,000 gaming and fiction releases. Listening to Carl and Geoff, it struck me what a professional operation The Independent Characters is and how informed and thoughtful the hosts are about the material they review.

I was thrilled to see that before Christmas, the pair devoted nearly an hour of one of their ‘Forbidden Lore’ podcasts to reviewing my novel Atlas Infernal. These guys gave the book the full treatment and talked in great detail about aspects of the novel and characters that they enjoyed. I want to thank Carl and Geoff for choosing Atlas Infernal for The Independent Characters, reading the novel so thoughtfully and taking the time to review it so extensively. Thanks guys. You can visit The Independent Characters here and tune into their weekly Warhammer 40K observations. They are a well deserving addition to my blog section ‘The Scene’ (on the sidebar) in which I am gradually placing sites worthy of attention.

The Atlas Infernal podcast can be found below. You can listen to it directly from the site using a bar near the bottom of the page. Carl and Geoff take care of some podcast housekeeping stuff right at the beginning but you can cut in at about 3 mins 50 seconds (what podcasters call ‘Time Stamping’) where the hosts begin talking about the novel. The review continues until the end of the programme. If you have a few minutes to spare, I encourage you to check it out.

Atlas Infernal - Forbidden Lore Podcast: The Independent Characters Podcast

Soundtracks to Write By 6#


I really enjoy listening to film soundtracks while I’m writing. There’s a lot of fantastic stuff out there. The trick is finding it or remembering it from a great film you have enjoyed. Films don’t always have to great in order to produce really stirring soundtracks. The Time Machine (2002) starring Guy Pearce is an enjoyable film that in fairness could have been a lot better. It does have some nice touches. Serious brownie points go to the film being helmed by director Simon Wells, who just happens to be the great-grandson of the writer of the original (and genre-defining) novella HG Wells. The film does, however, benefit from a seriously uplifting and epic soundtrack. A particular favourite of mine are several tracks that chart the time traveller’s genius and construction of his time machine. I also like tracks that celebrate the Eloi. Both are included in the suite below. The soundtrack was composed by Klaus Badelt, who was also responsible for some fine work on the soundtrack for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl with Hans Zimmer. Enjoy.

Science Faction: Unlikely Saviour

First things first. I’m not coming at this from the point of view of either an environmentalist or climate denier or anything like that. I find this story interesting from the perspective of a writer. The world is delightfully complex and news stories like these remind us not to get too entrenched in one position or another. It seems that even your survival might depend upon a completely opposing point of view to your own.


It appears that human pollution - essentially carbon dioxide emissions – is deferring the next Ice Age. In the journal Nature Geoscience, scientists write that according to their latest study the next Ice Age would begin within 1,500 years - but carbon emissions have been so high that it will not. The atmospheric concentration of CO2 would have to fall below about 240 parts per million before the glaciation could begin. The current level is around 390parts per million and even if we stopped our carbon emissions dead tomorrow, it would take about 1,000 years to drop.

The scientists behind the study said "It's an interesting philosophical discussion - 'would we better off in a warm world rather than a glaciation?' and probably we would."

Perhaps environmentalists wouldn’t agree. What is interesting about this is not whether one side is right or wrong. The environmental arguments are well known. It obviously does not make any sense to pollute your own environment. From a writer’s perspective, it’s interesting to look at the paradox here. Reducing carbon emissions, it seems, will lead to harsh existence for humanity and a world in which we will not be able to feed our populations. The environmental arguments will ring pretty hollow in a world where half the population is going to die. Forget humans for a moment – imagine the mass extinction of animal and plant species that an Ice Age will result in. Ironically, it seems poisoning our planet is acting towards the preservation of these species.

Ultimately, it probably comes down to the extent to which you pollute the planet. Environmentalists will rightly warn against complacency, but in a world where the arguments against climate change are almost a religion, it’s interesting for the advocates of these arguments to reassess their position: to not become complacent themselves. The planet is complex and we cannot hope to know everything about it. There’s nothing wrong with scientists and supporters of both sides of the argument admitting that when it comes the dynamics of an entire planet’s climate system – across a period of time much longer than humanity has been in existence – there are many things that they simply do not know.

Entering The Dark Fortress


I am in the middle of (slowly) building a section on the blog called ‘The Scene’, that can be found on the sidebar. The Scene identifies some blogs, review sites and interesting places on the internet that I've enjoyed devoted to Speculative Fiction, the Science Fiction and Fantasy genres and specific settings within – for example, Warhammer 40,000. Usually I come across these great places to hang out as a result of interest expressed in my creative work or reviews of my novels and short stories – and will continue to do so.

The Dark Fortress is one such place, and recently featured a review of my novel Atlas Infernal. I’d like to thank Isiah on The Dark Fortress for taking the time to write such a thoughtful response to the novel. The Dark Fortress can be found here.


"The Dark Fortress

Atlas Infernal Interview


Welcome to the insane world of High Inquisitor Czevak.

I've not read much 40K Black Library material recently other then the Horus Heresy books, so I was a bit skeptical when first starting this (a Christmas 2011 gift) as my 40K reading palate had become a bit jaded. But Atlas Infernal proved a real tonic.

As a reader you are following the frenetic journey of the likeable rogue of an Ordo High Inquisitor Czevak and his retinue in their mission to thwart the Thousand Sons' Ahriman and Sorcerer Korban Xarchos in re birthing the daemon Mammoshad to be used as their vassal of destruction.

Czevak is well supported by an interesting retinue of heretical characters including an Inquisitor Interrogator, a Relictors Chapter techmarine, a bound daemon within a daemonhost, a warp-seer navigator (and accompanying servo-skull) and various Salvar Chem-Dogs Imperial troopers, amongst others. All are aboard a rogue trader ship captained by a female ex-navy captain. The characters are well-formed, each having enough to make you think they are more than skin deep and you have a real empathy for their fates. No mean feat in a lively 402 page narrative.

It's a good old fashioned adventure story through the realms of the Eye of Terror that takes place during the Thirteenth Black Crusade. You'll have ship-to-ship battles aplenty, battle Khornate pirates, Nurgle Guard infantry, Grey Knight terminators and Thousand Son Space Marines, various daemons and eldar; and be constantly chased by eldar Harlequins and the Thousand Sons in their efforts recover the webway atlas that Czevak stole from the Black Library. Harried from all sides Czevak's retinue have no 'side' of their own, yet Czevak's self-belief that what they're doing is right for the Empire and possibly of great benefit to the ailing Emperor himself binds them together as a solid team.

There is a rich vein of interesting and ghoulish Dark Mechanicus cult and xeno artifacts littered throughout to play with as well as very strange worlds and civilisations to explore. The latter often depressing in their Nurgle-infested decay and atrophe. And everywhere the Thousand Sons are hell bent on killing billions to reach their ultimate goal.

The story is well written and thought through. The literary device of weaving the start of the story through the body of the book in Interregna 'Chorus' chapters is at first odd but makes total sense come the story's conclusion. At no time does it sink to the usual cheap-thrill common denominator blood-fest that is often the downfall of other BL novels. There's an integrity of vocabulary and thought that remains at the same high quality throughout — so full marks to the author and editor for that.

Conclusion
A fast-paced adventure that took me by surprise by its quality and intelligence if I'm honest by an author I haven't encountered before. It's very hard to put down once you get up and running with it. If he writes another in this series then I'd definitely buy it.
4/5"

Q & A


There is never a shortage of views around me - mine and other people’s - and it seems no shortage of interviews, either. January is the month of the Q&A. No sooner had I finished responding to an interesting set of questions for Civilian Reader, than new blog-on-the-block Imagined Realms asked me if I’d mind answering a few more. The more the merrier, as far as I’m concerned. Check it out.


Imagined Realms Interview

F is for...



You turn right. Unfortunately, you have disturbed a flesh-eating ghoul.

If you wish to crap your leggings, TURN TO PAGE 261.

If you wish to offer the ghoul some provisions from your backpack (or your body), TURN TO PAGE 32.

If you are thinking, 'Damn, should have turned left', then flick back to the PAGE you no doubt are still are marking with one finger and pretend this never happened.

Fighting Fantasy books. Looking back at these influences, it seems apparent that from even an early age I was a reader who wanted a degree of control over the characters and narrative. Between my love for the Choose Your Own Adventure books and the Fighting Fantasy books of my childhood, it appears obvious that I would want to take complete control of the reading experience as an author in my own right. Fighting Fantasy books were gamebooks set in a fantasy realm in which you controlled a character and could make decisions regarding how the character progressed through the story. Your character had recorded ratings for different skills (like combat) that were used to determine the outcome of certain situations as you progressed. The idea was not only to enjoy the story but also to be part of it and through a certain degree of luck and skill, get through to the end alive.

The significant difference between Fighting Fantasy books and Choose Your Own Adventure books was the introduced element of chance. A reader didn’t simply live or die on the basis of a decision. Dice introduced an element of luck that added an extra dimension to the experience of reading and narrative outcome. With these books you could choose to take items that might or might not have significance later on, choose skill sets that might benefit you and actually get legitimately lost on your journey, if you weren’t careful about the decisions you made. Another great addition were maps and an established background: a realm or range of interrelated realms in which a significant number of adventures took place. They also expanded to include classic science fiction and dystopian settings. I spent many hours with these books and found them to be highly enjoyable. Part game, part story – in which you are the hero.

While the Fighting Fantasy series were incredibly popular – a publishing phenomenon, really – an honourable mention should go out to some of the other series that helped to popularise the format. I especially liked the Golden Dragon series (that had their own punchy style), the humorous and engaging Grailquest (about a young hero called Pip in King Arthur’s kingdom), Lone Wolf (that developed a large, committed following) and The Cretan Chronicles (adventures in Ancient Greece).

I’m glad to say that the phenomenon remains with us today. My publishing company produced a gamebook only last year called Hive of the Dead by my esteemed Black Library colleague CZ Dunn. Jonathan Green, author of the popular Pax Britannia series, is the writer of many popular Fighting Fantasy gamebooks including his latest, the fun and inventive Night of the Necromancer. Jonathan has also moved with the times and made the transition to gamebook adventures as Apps for the iphone and ipad. His first one of these is called Temple of the Spider God and is already proving popular.


I leave you, however, with my top 5 Fighting Fantasy books from the Eighties. Honourable mentions go to Sword of the Samarai, The Citadel of Chaos, House of Hell, Caverns of the Snow Witch, Midnight Rogue, Battleblade Warrior and Freeway Fighter. See if you agree.


5.




4.



3.



2.




1.

E is for...

The Empire Strikes Back. Back to creative influences with one of the most influential pieces of cinema in the Science Fiction and Fantasy genre. For that reason alone, I won’t bother to provide a summary of the plot and characters. If you haven’t seen it – I advise you to do so: you’re in for a treat. It is by far the best of all the Star Wars films. It does everything right: the settings are varied and exciting; the main characters become as interesting as they ever get; the story gets darker and sheds earlier narrative naiveties; for its day (1979) the special effects and choreography are wonderful; the soundtrack was exhilarating; all the best aspects of the first film are retained and then further built upon.

I remember the first time that I saw this movie. As a child I had entered a corner shop video store (remember them?) with a couple of friends. There was a wall-mounted television set and the lady behind the counter had just popped a VHS cassette into the video player. The Empire Strikes Back started. Two hours later I became aware of reality again. My friends and I had been so enthralled by the beginning of the movie that we had sat down on the carpet and watched the entire film while other customers mooched about us, perusing the shelves and making their rental choices. The lady behind the counter gave us a kindly and knowing smile as the three of us got to our feet. We sheepishly made a pretence of looking around the video store, before saying thank you and leaving – stepping into the brightness of the daylight outside. The experience stayed with me, as did the film. I think that from a young age the film undoubtedly inspired and influenced me creatively. Check out the 1979 trailer for the film (that seems largely made up of explosions!)



As a creative extension of my childhood interest in the film, I also remember regular trips to the supermarket to buy Star Wars figures. The myriad of new characters The Empire Strikes Back introduced really gave the impression of a universe beyond the screen. My favourites were always the rarer figures, based upon characters only really glimpsed in the background of scenes from the film. I suppose that even then I revelled in the opportunity to imaginatively fill in the blanks, contribute to the character backgrounds and add a narrative of my own.

Civilian Reader Interview


A new year. What better way to start it than with an in-depth interview?

The Science Fiction and Fantasy genre is growing. It has produced its fair share of classics and has always enjoyed a robust core following. It also maintains a popular presence in the imagination of gamers and cinema lovers. The internet has provided a further springboard for the genre's interests, with a myriad of blogs, forums and websites devoted to championing speculative fiction.

Among these, Civilian Reader has emerged an important voice. I have long enjoyed Stefan Fergus' perspectives and feel that he has a real love for the genre. I find him to be thoughtful both in his reviews and also about the process of reviewing. You can imagine that I was thrilled when he contacted me, asking if I'd like to do an interview for Civilian Reader.

I encourage you to check out the interview here - in which I have a good deal to say on a range of subjects. I also encourage you to regularly check in with Civilian Reader and enjoy Stefan's views and recommendations.