Inspirations
Inspirations
I started writing short stories in the eighties just for my own amusement. Most were just to explore ideas. Most of the ideas were whimsical... what if the shapes you saw in clouds were real? However, a lot of them were inspired by my reading habits.
Since an early age I was fascinated by Science Fiction. Maybe it was because it was always my ambition to be a scientist but the speculative stories of my early youth were often not about science but were ordinary schoolboy adventures set in space. After all, we used to go to the cinema on Saturday afternoons and sit through the adventures of Flash Gordon, Buster Crabbe and others and nobody tagged them as science.
I can remember the first book that got me into reading Science Fiction. I was about ten and my aunt, who was a Tarzan/John Carter Fan and would read anything written by Edgar Rice Burroughs took me along to the local public library. Here there were shelves and shelves of books, some intended just for children. The book was called Kemlo and the Space Pirates.
Throughout the following years I would visit the library twice a week and search the shelves for new books from Gollanz. At the same time I’d save my pocket money and buy the occasional novel.
In my teens, throughout college and when I started earning I would consume at least one or two books a week. The authors read like a who’s who of Science fiction; Adams,Aldiss, Anderson, Asimov, Ballard, Bear, Blish, Card, Cambell, Clarke…, The list is endless. Most of the books have been lost or discarded over the years but I still have 15 sealed dustbins full, just waiting on the day when I have enough space to build a library.
In parallel, I would read books of the epic saga (sword and sorcery) type; the Thomas Covenant series by Stephen Donaldson, the Amber series by Roger Zelazny and the Earthsea series by Ursula Le Guin. I read Song of Ice and Fire long before it became mainstream but none of the epic multi-volume stories ever really gripped my imagination with the notable exception of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings Trilogy.
Occasionally I would come across a gem like Zenna Henderson’s The Anything Box; not quite SF and not quite fantasy but somewhere in-between. I really enjoyed her writing and that of other female authors because Science Fiction and Fantasy has always acknowledged that imagination is not limited to any one gender or sexual orientation.
Somewhere in the seventies a new kid came on the block, I read his first story in 1978; the Dark Side of the Sun, and I thought he had something. I followed his career, buying books when I could, even the ones intended for children ; he was the first author whose books I went out and deliberately bought in hardback on the day they were published. The new kid was, of course, Terry Pratchett and, for me he is still the best writer of modern-day fantasy. I will never tire of re-reading his stories, they are superbly written, full of humour and have a generous spoonful of satirical social observation thrown in. As I write this I am currently re-reading Men at Arms for the umpteenth time.
By the time the mid seventies came around Science Fiction and Fantasy was mainstream, largely because it had graduated to the big screen (It had always been there since I’d been a child but it wasn’t taken seriously; Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman !!! really?) I remember being reluctantly taken to see Star Wars by some friends whilst I was working for a research establishment in Oxford; I was reluctant because I was an ardent Dr Who fan and there’d been so much hype about the movie that it had put me off. (The hype had been over-the-top including, from what I can remember, a musical.)
Never say that I cannot change my mind ; I watched and was enthralled… here was my imagination made real. I literally shivered when the Imperial Battleship pursuing the tiny freighter slid over the top of the audience and kept on coming for what seemed like forever during the opening scene.
Since then, Hollywood has found computer graphics and these days (2018) thirteen of the top twenty grossing movies last year were Science Fiction or Fantasy. Of Course, 'holy-wood' still won't admit they're Science fiction they are 'action' or 'adventure'.
Although the idea of a magical boarding school has been around since the nineteenth century and the worst witch books were written a good twenty years before, the Harry Potter series deserves a special mention. J.K.Rowling has made that magical world her own and there probably isn’t a child in the developed world who doesn’t know about Hogwarts. I’ve read the books all a dozen times each, seen the stage show and visited the Warner Brother's site three times. What’s different about her books, and the movies, is that they build from a fulfilment of the wish of every child to be ‘special’ to a story of ultimate sacrifice for the ‘greater good’. Say what you like; Science Fiction and Fantasy has come of age.
So, there you have it, a short essay on what inspired me to write fantasy. I’ve grown up with it, experienced it, dreamed it and now I want to share it. I have written these books because I wanted to. If only a few people enjoy them then I will have accomplished my goal.
Since an early age I was fascinated by Science Fiction. Maybe it was because it was always my ambition to be a scientist but the speculative stories of my early youth were often not about science but were ordinary schoolboy adventures set in space. After all, we used to go to the cinema on Saturday afternoons and sit through the adventures of Flash Gordon, Buster Crabbe and others and nobody tagged them as science.
I can remember the first book that got me into reading Science Fiction. I was about ten and my aunt, who was a Tarzan/John Carter Fan and would read anything written by Edgar Rice Burroughs took me along to the local public library. Here there were shelves and shelves of books, some intended just for children. The book was called Kemlo and the Space Pirates.
Throughout the following years I would visit the library twice a week and search the shelves for new books from Gollanz. At the same time I’d save my pocket money and buy the occasional novel.
In my teens, throughout college and when I started earning I would consume at least one or two books a week. The authors read like a who’s who of Science fiction; Adams,Aldiss, Anderson, Asimov, Ballard, Bear, Blish, Card, Cambell, Clarke…, The list is endless. Most of the books have been lost or discarded over the years but I still have 15 sealed dustbins full, just waiting on the day when I have enough space to build a library.
In parallel, I would read books of the epic saga (sword and sorcery) type; the Thomas Covenant series by Stephen Donaldson, the Amber series by Roger Zelazny and the Earthsea series by Ursula Le Guin. I read Song of Ice and Fire long before it became mainstream but none of the epic multi-volume stories ever really gripped my imagination with the notable exception of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings Trilogy.
Occasionally I would come across a gem like Zenna Henderson’s The Anything Box; not quite SF and not quite fantasy but somewhere in-between. I really enjoyed her writing and that of other female authors because Science Fiction and Fantasy has always acknowledged that imagination is not limited to any one gender or sexual orientation.
Somewhere in the seventies a new kid came on the block, I read his first story in 1978; the Dark Side of the Sun, and I thought he had something. I followed his career, buying books when I could, even the ones intended for children ; he was the first author whose books I went out and deliberately bought in hardback on the day they were published. The new kid was, of course, Terry Pratchett and, for me he is still the best writer of modern-day fantasy. I will never tire of re-reading his stories, they are superbly written, full of humour and have a generous spoonful of satirical social observation thrown in. As I write this I am currently re-reading Men at Arms for the umpteenth time.
In the early days, Science Fiction and Fantasy were seen as ‘geek’ genre’s and they were frowned on by the mainstream. They always occupied the bookshelves at the back of bookshops as though they were something to be hidden away.
Things started to change between the sixties and seventies when Science Fiction and Fantasy leaked onto television. I remember watching the first Episode of Dr Who when I was thirteen. Series like Quatermass, the Day of the Triffids and the Twilight Zone were niche viewing. Some one-off dramas began to be aired on the BBC; I remember a particularly chilling performance of The Cold Equations and the controversial This is the Year of the Sex Olympics. By the end of the sixties Star Trek had a cult following and was one of only three regular programs that packed the junior common room to capacity at college .
By the time the mid seventies came around Science Fiction and Fantasy was mainstream, largely because it had graduated to the big screen (It had always been there since I’d been a child but it wasn’t taken seriously; Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman !!! really?) I remember being reluctantly taken to see Star Wars by some friends whilst I was working for a research establishment in Oxford; I was reluctant because I was an ardent Dr Who fan and there’d been so much hype about the movie that it had put me off. (The hype had been over-the-top including, from what I can remember, a musical.)
Never say that I cannot change my mind ; I watched and was enthralled… here was my imagination made real. I literally shivered when the Imperial Battleship pursuing the tiny freighter slid over the top of the audience and kept on coming for what seemed like forever during the opening scene.
Since then, Hollywood has found computer graphics and these days (2018) thirteen of the top twenty grossing movies last year were Science Fiction or Fantasy. Of Course, 'holy-wood' still won't admit they're Science fiction they are 'action' or 'adventure'.
Although the idea of a magical boarding school has been around since the nineteenth century and the worst witch books were written a good twenty years before, the Harry Potter series deserves a special mention. J.K.Rowling has made that magical world her own and there probably isn’t a child in the developed world who doesn’t know about Hogwarts. I’ve read the books all a dozen times each, seen the stage show and visited the Warner Brother's site three times. What’s different about her books, and the movies, is that they build from a fulfilment of the wish of every child to be ‘special’ to a story of ultimate sacrifice for the ‘greater good’. Say what you like; Science Fiction and Fantasy has come of age.
So, there you have it, a short essay on what inspired me to write fantasy. I’ve grown up with it, experienced it, dreamed it and now I want to share it. I have written these books because I wanted to. If only a few people enjoy them then I will have accomplished my goal.