Writing is much like the world of Triathlon and Running for
me. When I race, I do so having put the
training in. This training itself will
be also split into different periods of training from the all important base
period, where I get the base fitness or foundation to allow me to train and
race hard, to the build period where I take that base fitness and add speed up.
The Same process is in some ways done for writing. You can’t just jump into the process of
writing; you have to prepare for it properly from researching to planning the
particular piece. But the all important
base period of writing is reading. If
you don’t read you can forget about being a writer.
When I started reading science fiction a few years ago, I
simply purchased three books from Waterstones in their old ‘3 for 2’ offer to
give the genre ago – having always enjoyed it on TV and at the cinema. These three books were “Stealing Light” by
Gary Gibson, “Pushing Ice” by Alastair Reynolds and “Pandora’s Star” by Peter F
Hamilton.
What drew me to them is absolutely clear – I know I chose
“Pushing Ice” due to being fascinated by the idea of Reynolds sticking to the
laws of physics and this book seemed the “easier” of his standalone novels to
try. “Pandoras Star” had the vibe of a
Star Trek style story (although I didn’t realise it was part of a two book saga
with “Judas Uprising”). Whilst I had
been recommended “Stealing Light” via the Amazon email and the idea of Mankind
having to piggy back another Alien Civilizations FTL starships to get around,
seemed a novel idea.
From there my love of science fiction in the written form
exploded and I knew deep down that this was what I wanted to write. There would be no limit with this genre. A few years ago I had tried writing some
science fiction and thought it would be kind of ‘hip’ to become a science
fiction writer without actually reading it, but I was glad I didn't as I would
have failed miserably! Because to write
science fiction, you need to read and appreciated the man sub genres of it and
this is where I get the point of this blog.
After a while I became fascinated with the idea of reading the classics
of science fiction. So every so often, I
set out to read some and get a better understanding and appreciation for the
limitless potential of science fiction.
Over the last couple of years I have read American Military
Science Fiction classics like “The Forever War” (along with peace and free) by
John Haldeman and “Starship Troopers” by Robert A Heinlein. Both excellent reads, with “Starship
Troopers” a fascinating look at a military led government fighting a war using
cannon fodder and showing the fast rise through the command structure from
grunt to leader for one man who simply wanted a vote. Most people will know the very poor movie
adaptation (although it is fun in a silly way) but the book has a more serious
tone. “Forever War” was a book I very
much enjoyed; wrote at a time of the Vietnam War, this was a science fiction
novel with parallels to that war – young conscripts are sent across the stars
to fight against an alien race that aren't really a threat to Mankind. It also deals wonderfully with the effects of
time dilation due to near light speed travel as the lead character spends a few
years of subjective time whilst a thousand years pass on Earth and he
experiences huge changes in society.
Recently I completed “The foundation trilogy” by Isaac
Asimov, although written in the 1940s and 1950s, it hasn't aged one bit with
some ideas and theories still in use in today's science fiction – in fact if I
didn't know it was written all those years ago I would have thought it was no
older than ten years. This of course
answers that one question – what constitutes a classic novel? Is it that it is critically acclaimed? Or sold a lot of copies? Or is it simply that it still feels fresh
decades later? It would be the last one
for me, because critics thought “The Road” was great and I was bored senseless
by it!
At the moment I am reading “The Mars Trilogy” by Kim Stanley
Robinson. I completed the first in the
series – “Red Mars” and have just started the second “Green Mars” with “Blue
Mars” to come. This trilogy focuses on
the colonization of Mars and the eventual issues that would come about in the
near future. “Red Mars” had ideas that I
would never have dreamed of, but in hindsight are vital to a story like
this. The overpopulation of Earth due to
drugs making the life expectancy of people a lot more – it seems like common
sense, but in fact gets missed out of a lot of science fiction. Issues on immigration, the heavy influence of
transnational corporations over nation states and battle to keep Mars separate
from these Earth based problems are tackled superbly. I really can see why Arthur C Clarke
described it as the greatest novel on the colonization of Mars. I look forward to reading further into the
trilogy.
Of course one issue with reading classic science fiction is
when they get future dates very wrong.
“The Forever War” was written in the early 70s and has mankind able to
use wormhole technology to get to the stars in the late 1990s. Another example is Philip K Dick with “Do
Androids dream of electric sleep” set in 1992 and again has travel to nearby
stars. But these are minor details and
you just ignore it and concentrate on the actual story and writing. Talking of “Do Androids dream of electric
sheep,” this was my first ‘classic’ mainly because it was loosely adapted into
my favorite science fiction movie “Blade Runner. Dealing with android
technology, the breaking of their coding and a post nuclear war society this is
every bit as good as the movie.
Finally, I leave my favorite ‘classic” to the end – “Enders
Game” by Orson Scott Card and the subsequent Enders shadow saga that followed
and the parallel series “Enders Shadow.”
This follows a young child who is our last great hope as we prepare for
a final invasion by an alien race we only just defeated 70 years before. Ender is seemingly the perfect commander and
it follows his training, isolation from others as he becomes the perfect
commander. It was written in 1986 and
includes a future where we use a global communication network via tablet like
computers (much like today) and political commentators write blogs via this
same network to influence governments of Earth.
With the movie out now (I will see it on Sunday as we have the sister in
law babysitting!) I’ll write more on it next week and my love of the series as
a whole.
I know I have a lot of classics to read in the future to
give me that great “base fitness” for science fiction writing. Arthur C Clarke being a particular author I
should read. I also have “War of the
worlds” to read and should check out some Larry Niven.
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