In dreams, you’re never alone.

“On the verge of a major breakthrough in sleep therapy, Barbara Ostermann, an expert in disruptive sleep disorders, uncovers a remarkable conspiracy that strikes at the very heart of her work and that of her colleagues, Martin — her occasional lover — and Anna — the gregarious though disillusioned young technical prodigy — who team up to help avert an international crisis.

Enlisting the help of her brother, Karl, Barbara seeks to disentangle this plot to assassinate the elusive and mercurial DeShaun Gates, a strident campaigner for racial equality, on a collision course with the authorities.

Tireless in his efforts, Karl finds himself in New York, where events are not as they appear and his dream of averting disaster skims along the abyss of a monumental nightmare.”

Lucidity is available NOW on Amazon

Lucidity is available to buy right now for Amazon Kindle.

So when I read science fiction and come across mention of rocket ships, or talk of clunky robots with tubular arms in the 23rd century I just switch off, because without authenticity or an attempt to explain why such incongruities or implausibilities should be believed, my ability to suspend disbelief is, quite frankly, severely impaired.

While I’m not looking for validation or vindication, it’s always helpful to know others agree with me, to help formulate a sturdy defence — a defence, ironically enough, coming from another science fiction writer:

“I work with a lot of scientists and one of the frustrating things they find is that all this fascinating stuff is being done which doesn’t find its way into science fiction. They say look at the science fact pages – they’re so much more imaginative than science fiction.”

Just like the science colleagues of Geoff Ryman suggest, I read huge amounts of science fact, and that’s the only fuel I need power my own person “What if?” engine.

I’ve written the first draft and sent copies off to friends for an examination. Also, because the principle characters are German, I’ve been in contact with a German acquaintance to ensure the cultural references and dialogue are consistent.

Just so you know, Lucidity is another novella, though less than half the length of Earth Day. Anyway, here’s the synopsis…

On the verge of a major breakthrough in sleep therapy, Barbara Ostermann, an expert in disruptive sleep disorders, uncovers a remarkable conspiracy that strikes at the very heart of her work and that of her colleagues, Martin — her occasional lover — and Anna — the gregarious though disillusioned young prodigy, who team up to help avert an international crisis.

Enlisting the help of her brother, Karl, they seek to disentangle this hidden and secretive plot to assassinate the elusive and mercurial DeShaun Gates, a strident campaigner for racial equality, on a collision course with the authorities.

Tireless in his effort, Karl finds himself in New York, where events are not as they appear, and his dream of averting disaster skims along the abyssal of a monumental nightmare.

Sound familiar? Maybe not to you, but to me, it’s nothing new or particularly ground breaking, as it’s something I wrote about many years ago, which I dubbed “pre-vision” because no one had yet coined the aforementioned phrase:

“Truly useful technology is often passive, working away tirelessly, doing whatever is required to be done, to be invoked at a time of our choosing.

An example of persistently good passive technology — both from a solutions and an ergonomic point of view — would be a pair of spectacles. These things have been around for centuries and their design has varied little, the same being true of our facial physiology, to which spectacles are specifically designed for.

Our view of the world is always a sensorial affair, but our world is predominantly defined by our view of things, in a very literal sense, which makes these remarkable gadget glasses so appropriate.”

More recently, I included my take on the technology in A Darkening of Fortune, my next science fiction crime thriller:

“Those from the affluent parts of Asia are often the most distinctive, as many would be seen wearing spectacles, though not for opthalmic relief, but as an aide to their viewing pleasure, supplanting hand-held devices and supplementing their vision. They instead see the always-on digitally augmented brave new world, an enriched sprawl of virtual overlaying the real, as street performers walk through imaginary rooms made visible, which slide about their bodies as if they were the centre of motion, and interactive banner adverts, hanging the length of buildings, billowing in the wind, with children jumping up to touch them, just to see the cartoon characters chase each other up the immaterial fabric, laughing as they go, advertising the culinary delights found within one of the many Asian restaurants.

A young girl ushers her friends into a giggling huddle as she stands before them, and with the thumb of one hand to the forefinger of the other, she makes a landscape frame in front of her, and with a blink, she takes a photograph. A human gesture, when observed by the ever vigilant gaze of technology, is empowered in a myriad ways these days.”

Welcome to an alternate, virtually real world…

Vladimir Manyuhin starts with real photographs, adding digital decay and overgrowth to create an eerily realistic sense of how the world might look long after most humans are gone.

Wonderful stuff, and very I Am Legend. And, if you like Vladimir’s idea of a world after humans have flicked the self-destuct switch, maybe you’ll enjoy my own take on a post apocalyptic world in Earth Day, my first novella.

However, I took it upon myself to digitise them (photographing them on my bed, if that even counts) .. and promptly forgot about those, just as I did the original dead tree format.

Well, I’ve decided to share those ancient scrawls and scribbles on DeviantArt, for your visual delectation / amusement.

By skirting some of the more obvious themes of science fiction, the idea appears to be “Oh, and by the way, there are aliens, too.” or “Uh yeah, this is twenty-five years into the future.” but without the heavier details that would betray a movie as being science fiction.

When trying to explain Ascending Angels, an in-development (written, but awaiting chronological tweaks) novel of mine, I am often inclined not to mention science fiction at all, since it falls into this hinterland of incidental science fiction layered just beneath the core action thriller threads with elements of fantasy. In essence, Ascending Angels is a heist, interwoven with abrupt action sequences and elements of sheer fantasia, but the feel isn’t that of science fiction at all.

So for me personally, this creeping motion of science fiction into mainstream is welcomed by me, as this will inevitably spill over into literary escapism, too.

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.

“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.