In the beginning...

It would be easy to bore people with the usual first blog introductions.  But it would be more fun and exciting to introduce myself over the coming days, weeks, months, years, decades, centuries, millennium and aeons.  So I will keep it brief, just give the very basic stuff and let other facets of my personality filter out in coming blogs.

I'm John, married, future father to be with baby Morg due to hit the world at the end of October. The rumors are indeed true, I am an Ironman, having completed the Ironman Triathlon in Wales last year.  All you need to know is, it was immensely tough, both physically and mentally.  I am a writer - nothing published but the great Iain Banks called himself as a writer before being published, and if it works for him, it can work for me.  That should be enough for now... just a hint of little old me.

Predominately I am looking at this blog as a tool to practice my writing.  It will probably be very poor early on, but time is a great healer (cliche alert!) and I can only get better.  I am working my way through the "writers bureau" writing course and one of the first things they suggest is a blog.  So here goes.  Now with the introductions over, lets begin.

With a geeky love of science fiction, I am working towards that genre as a writer with a short story in the works and plans for a set of books in a future universe - think Alistair Reynolds "Revelation Space" series.  But as the title of this blog asks, do I follow the faster than light route or stick to the strict laws of physics?  Both have their pro's and cons but for me it is the first decision any science fiction writer must decide on as it shapes their story and how it is told.  One idea may work with no FTL, but it may be awkward and impossible with no FTL to move characters and situations around.  Imagine "Battlestar Galactica" with no FTL - the 12 colonies would still be making their way from the original star system with the Cylons chasing them in a seemingly long and slow cosmic game cat and mouse.  But on the flip-side, would Joe Halderman's classic "The Forever War" have had the same affect if he had used FTL to get the UNEF to the various combat zones, to then return in the same amount of time they were away as they experienced, losing the relativistic effects that they experienced in the book?  The problem I have is being a stickler for accuracy means I tend to lean towards having no FTL, however, that doesn't mean I can't use the various theories on possible FTL (Alvubierre drive, Travesable wormhole etc) as a kind of poetic license.

Whatever route I go down in my science fiction writing endeavors  I am looking forward to getting the ideas littering my mind and in my dreams on to paper.  At least it will save on headache tablets!