Archive for January, 2008
One of the projects I'm proudest of is my free adaptation of Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene for BBC Radio 4 (to read a script, click here.)
I was asked in an interview recently about how the idea of Debatable Space came about, and suddenly I remembered how much I had been influenced by the heightened, exaggerative style of this radio play. The style came first, oddly enough, then the story followed.
For more on this, you can see an interview I did for Sci Fi Wire.
For my thoughts on Arthur C. Clarke's famous quote, check out The Book Swede's site.
Yesterday was the official UK publication date for Debatable Space...friends kept asking if I was having a launch party, but somehow that never came together. So instead my wife took me up the Hill and we had a launch coffee in the local Cafe Nero.
New on this site: Ariel has resdesigned the format of the two extracts on the Books page. He's modelled it on the Orbit extract page but decided to create an even better skull & crossbones....
And if you want to win a free copy of Debatable Space, click here.
It's one more day till the official UK Launch Date of Debatable Space, but I was delighted to find that the early editions at my local bookshop, The Bookseller Crow on the Hill, have all been sold. Some went to friends and neighbours, but the last book was sold to a reader of this blog based in Lancashire, who followed the link to Crow.
I'm a great believer in the value of local bookshops, and I love the fact that thanks to the wonders of the internet, my local bookshop can be your local bookshop too....
I've now signed a new batch of copies, so if you want a signed edition from the first print run, click here to order.
I was wandering aimlessly in central London yesterday, as I'm prone to do, and found myself in the SF section of Blackwell's, Charing Cross Road...and discovered several more rogue early copies of Debatable Space on sale. I was with my friend Emma who bought one (a loyal friend!) I also spent some time rearranging the shelves to make the Jennifer Rardin and Jeff Somers books more prominent, though apparently I'm not supposed to do that, so don't tell Blackwell's.
A better way to get the book early, and free, is to enter Fantasy Book Critic's giveaway competition, which you can do by clicking here and following his deucedly simple instructions.
The official UK publication date for Debatable Space is 24th January, but if you can't wait, there are some early copies available...My local bookshop The Bookseller Crow on the Hill, in Upper Norwood (aka Crystal Palace), has ordered some copies for me to sign and they've been delivered early. Hot foot it to Crystal Palace immediately! We also have great restaurants, and a wonderful park with life-size papier mache dinosaurs. (That is actually true, though I admit it sounds like another of my lies.)
The book has been available in bookshops in the US since 7th Jan, so I guess that means I'm a published author....
I saw I Am Legend last night. The reviews have been mixed, and I've read comments criticising the implausibility of the premise - if Will Smith is the only person in New York, where does the electricity come from?
But the film blew me away. Most SF movies are actually action movies, which are light on ideas, high on adrenalin. And this movie certainly delivers some great scary action sequences. But it's also a very brave piece of storytelling. For long long periods Will Smith is the only human being on screen, talking to his dog, living in a New York which is a wasteland inhabited by antelope and lions. And the film captures, beautifully, his despair, alienation, and growing madness. The man is so damn lonely it breaks your heart.
For reasons you'll discover when you see the film, New York is not a safe place to be in this (very near) future world. But though the Will Smith character is heroic and resourceful, he's not an exaggerated 'movie' hero. When he gets hurt, it hurts. He does stupid things. He exudes vulnerability. This is not The Matrix, where archetypal characters perform impossible deeds; it's an altogether more challenging piece of storytelling about a flawed and real central character. (And by the way, I love The Matrix!)
It made me think about the nature of the movie audience. We all know that Hollywood studios target their blockbuster at the 18-24 year old demographic; blockbuster movies are for 'the kids' (I have actually heard some producers use that phrase.) But as I recall (it's a long time ago!!!!) that period from 18 to 24 is very intense, emotionally and intellectually. At that stage in our lives, most of us are asking questions about identity, we have moments of loneliness and angst, and we have a burning curiosity about life, and its meaning, and whether it has a meaning. (And okay, partying and sex and drink and slacking come into the equation too....) But my point is, teenagers, and 18-24 year olds, think, and they think a lot, and they like movies which make them think.
The success of I Am Legend has been attributed to Will Smith's star power. And there's certainly some truth in that. But I think it's also successful because young audiences are up for seeing a movie which makes them imagine and then reflect on what it is like to be terribly, appallingly lonely.
The scenes of the desolate New York are superb. I was in Times Square very recently, so had a frisson at the scene where the antelope run past the poster of Legally Blonde.
I can't for the life of me remember if I've seen the Richard Matheson novel on which this is based. I suspect not, so I'll have to read it soon.
Answer to the question above, about the electricity: lots of buildings like hospitals have generators, so Will Smith must have installed a generator in his apartment block, fuelled by oil or some other easily available resource. The film doesn't bother to explain or show this, because it's a film - you can't waste time explaining every little thing! By the same token, no one tells us the lions have escaped from the zoo - but we, the audience, are smart, and we figure it out.
Critics can be so annoying sometimes....
Click here to see what Orbit have done on their website; a long excerpt in a Debatable Space in a special e-format, and the coolest banner I've seen. These guys have style.
I'd love to publish the entire book like this - with colours and flash images. And a real anti-matter bomb, concealed in a full stop, for the unwary reader.