Monthly Archives: November 2011

The long play

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So I’ve suspended two novel projects because of the “long play” I have in mind, where (as I’ve teased once or twice) everything’s connected.

Everything’s connected

What does that mean for projects moving forward? I have to create a several things:

  1. Firstly, a time line into which each and every novel I write from now on will have to fit within.
  2. Secondly, decide what technologies, scientific developments and social changes I intend dealing with, as continuous themes, interweaving and spanning the various novels.
  3. Thirdly, which characters or families bestride these novels, why, and how they interact and intersect with the aforementioned.

Now, I know none of this is entirely new, but it’s something I feel needs to be done, rather than writing one-off, disparate and disconnected stories.

Aim high and be bold!

Instead, I want a narrative that spans decades, and towards the end, centuries:

  • Earth Day, the first novel (or novella, if you like) is more of a fable than science fiction.
  • Stunned (presently on pause), is a comedy thriller with a political slant.
  • Wraith (also on pause and presently only provisionally titled), is a superhero story with a difference.
  • Perditions End is a time travel saga, where our protagonist is attempting to solve a series of murders that implicate him as the aggressor.
  • Ascending Angels (written but pending a complete re-write of Perditions End, the first, or “prequel”) is a very ambitious novel with several very well-defined threads, the first of which is a complex heist thriller, the second is a metaphysical exploration, including a search and rescue, while the third is a race against time scenario, to avert a global catastrophe, invoked by the a conflict between two alien races.
  • An as-yet untitled and only provisionally understood novel, tying together Ascending Angels and Aeon, which will, amongst other things, provide the story behind Bingley and Forsyth.
  • Aeon is something quite different and a departure from the usual science fiction subtleties, this time, we’re deep into the realms of science fiction proper.

Aim high and be bold! That is my mantra, and I shall not shy away from this agenda.

Life, the ultimate phenomena

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Whatever your thoughts on alien life or paranormal phenomena, there’s no denying that some truly strange things have taken place over the centuries. Question is, what are their origins?

“That is the great question of this age, and, like it or not, its resolution, when it comes, will restate the meaning of man in the universe, and inevitably lead to the collapse of the forces that now oppress and insult the human spirit with their obfuscations and lies.”

Whitely Strieber, like myself, has pondered the imponderable and emerged the other side with a healthy skepticism, but more importantly, perhaps, a wider pair of eyes.

While we’re all so keen and eager to look outwards and beyond, staring wide-eyed across the cosmos, let us not divest ourselves the responsibility of an insular gaze, delegating such tasks to the religious alone and neglect an inward inspection of ourselves.

In the end, life itself, found wherever or whenever, is the ultimate phenomena.