The Fantasy of Writing SciFi

I don’t write scifi.

That probably sounds weird, given that I’m publishing the 2nd book in my Time Traveller’s Best Friend series this month. Don’t worry, you didn’t imagine it; Memento Mori really does exist.

I don’t write horror, either; but I’ve published a short ghost story.

Nope, I’m not schizophrenic (not that you can prove, anyway); I just have a different world view.

Aliens, time travel, ghosts…

…those things don’t exist in my paradigm. I’m a Christian writer, so I believe in God. Any other supernatural or alien creatures other than angels or demons? I don’t believe in ’em.

So when I write about them, I’m writing fantasy. And I am a fantasy writer.

I came to this conclusion a few years ago when I first wrote A Time Traveller’s Best Friend–why it was that I found it so easy to switch to writing scifi when it wasn’t something I’d ever considered writing. Why I felt so much at home there with Kez and Marx. I’ve always been more interested in characters than genre (it’s the reason I read so widely across genres) and when Kez and Marx showed up there was no other setting for them than a Scifi one. They were time travellers, and could never have been anything else. I just wrote them into the fantasy world that was right for them.

So next time you read one of my scifi books–psych! You’re not really reading Scifi. It’s all in your imagination. You’re reading Fantasy.

Proofs Have Arrived!

Ladies and gentlemen, proofs have arrived for the paperback of A Time-Traveller’s Best Friend! They’re almost all gone, too; because as soon as they arrived, various family members began to claim title to them. (Actually, I went a bit crazy a la Ophrah: ‘You get a book! You get a book! Everybody gets a book!‘)

So if anyone wants me, I will be sitting in my writing chair with my remaining proof, and gloating. Also, pics!

Book Proof 1 Book Proof 2 Book Proof 3

Nothing New Under The Sun

So I was explaining the Really Cool Idea I had for a story structure to my writing group.

“I haven’t seen anything like it before,” I said. “It just seems to fit with the story I’m trying to tell. This is how I wanna do it-”

insert long-winded and overly verbose explanation with copious hand gestures here

“Oh!” they said. “Just like Dracula and Lady Susan and-”

“No,” I said, somewhat annoyed. “Mine is different. It’s sci-fi.”

“Oh, like Frankenstein!”

This required a pause for rueful contemplation. At last, I was forced to admit that yes, it had been done before. I felt like kicking something. It was my brand new bright shiny idea. How dare Jane Austen et al use it before I did?

 

I’m going to do it that way anyway. For starters, it’s a great structure. Also, my twist on it is still just slightly different. And let’s face it, there isn’t an idea out there that hasn’t been done and done over time and time again. It’s just a matter of who did it best, really. In writing, as in all life, there is nothing new under the sun: variations upon a theme are all we have to work with.

Clipping From ‘The Margaree Moocher’

Kez and Marx seem to have popped up on Seventh World, in the small township of Margaree . . .

Clipping from The Margaree Moocher, Community Column.

 

Law Enforcement in the community

Robbery at Margaree Downtown Drive-through Grocer.

At 3.57pm local time, officers were called to the scene of a robbery at the Margaree Downtown Drive-through Grocer. The offenders broke into the secure back room via the bolted back door, using a welding laser to cut through the 3-inch steel, and kicked free the safebox in the back room.

Fellow staff say that when a female staff member went to investigate the noise, the robbers held an industrial saw to her throat and threatened to decapitate her if she did not produce the key to the grocer’s strongbox.

According to witness statements, it was at this point that a small girl wriggled out the window of the next vehicle in line and through the drive-through window. Her co-passenger, described as a small, angry man, fell out the vehicle’s window while attempting to restrain her, and entered the grocer by kicking in the drive-through window.

The level of noise at this point became so great that surrounding houses as well as waiting customers pinged the Margaree Law Enforcement Office on their emergency frequency. Officers arrived on the scene to find a female staff member in hysterics on the floor, two bloodied and battered offenders handcuffed to the cool-room door, and several other staff members in the process of emptying a bottle of scotch between them.

The uninjured female employee was transferred to Margaree Medical Centre without comment, but other staff members were heard to comment: “She hit him in the head with a spanner. She hit him in the ******* head with a ******* spanner.”

Margaree Law Enforcement has taken custody of the offenders, though the rescuers were not found in the vicinity.

Anyone with information regarding these two persons of interest should comment on the Law Enforcement community board or ping the Office directly. The individuals are described as a short, sandy-haired male in his early forties, and a young, dark-haired female of ten to twelve years old.

Incident at the Margaree Local Library.

An incident at the Margaree Local Library has resulted in the re-appearance of several ancient book-form readers once catalogued as lost in the fire of 3069. The book-form readers have since been burned for safety reasons. Residents are reminded that travelling to points in time before the advent of time-travel is strictly prohibited and will be investigated by the Time Corp as a serious crime. Any information welcomed by the Margaree Law Enforcement Office and Time Corp.

Community Interest

*The Margaree Dramatic Society’s production of The Fall of Fourth World will be playing in Donovan’s Dimensions Playhouse all week. Attendees are reminded that outside snacks and drinks are not permitted, and that any devices interfering with the stage effects will be promptly confiscated.

*Enquiring minds wish to know if the overflow of stage effects in last night’s performance of the above was an attempt to make the performance more real to the audience, or if there was a malfunction with stage equipment. Complaints are already flowing in from Margaree’s leading ladies, who complain of ruined frocks and soggy shoes in the wake of an unexpected flood that deluged the audience.

Shorts & Excerpts!

Well, as promised, I have begun a new page.  It can be found at the top of my main blog page, and is entitled ‘Shorts & Excerpts’.  Despite this title, it has nothing to do with clothing or newspaper clippings, and is in fact the place to look for bits and pieces of my writing from upcoming books.  The first short is ‘A Time-Traveller’s Best Friend’, uploaded in the hope of whetting your appetite for ‘A Time-Traveller’s Best Friend: The Complete Adventures’, which is loosely scheduled for release on Kindle October 1, 2014. 

Enjoy.  More excerpts should follow in the weeks to come.

Oh, and if you’re too lazy/can’t find the main button, here is the link: Shorts & Excerpts

Don’t hesitate to comment, good or bad.  I can take it.  Really.  And if you see someone weeping messily in the corner IT’S NOT ME.

New Thing!

I have a New Thing.  It started out as a short story about two time-travellers, Kez and Marx, who travel through time and space in a stolen craft.  Then Kez clawed her way out and demanded another story.  Marx backed her up, of course.  

So I wrote them another story.  Then another.  Now excerpts and reports are popping up everywhere around the galaxy as my characters tinker with time, steal stuff from the Time Corp, and just basically cause annoyance around the galaxy.

Now I’m going to share some of those excerpts on my blog.  Yeah, that’s right, you’re all just THAT FLAMIN’ LUCKY.  

Words are being polished, the ebook cover is getting its (hopefully) final touches, and there will be an immense amount of formatting underway shortly: which all means that it will be at least a month before The Complete Time-Traveller’s Best Friend appears on Amazon Kindle.  But in the meantime, look out for excerpts and other fun stuff that will be popping up on my blog.