A number of people have asked me - “You’ve been banging on about this book for a while, but what’s it actually about?”

Trouble is, if I write a comprehensive plot summary (which I will need to do for publishing purposes, but not for general consumption) and post that up, to my mind it gives the game away. What’s the point in reading a book when you know what the outcome is?

Having said that, I do want to give people enough flavour of the story so that they are interested enough to read it, and, one hopes, to buy a copy.

Perhaps if I explain ‘why’ I’ve written this and some of the major themes I’m exploring that will be sufficient for now.

The seeds of this book started back in the 1970s. I was taken along to my local village church (a classic Anglican Norman affair) for many years. At the age of 6 I was already a confirmed geek, and into science and space in a big way. By the age of 8, I’d figured out that what I was reading in science books and encyclopedias wasn’t jiving very well with what was being read out on Sunday mornings. I distinctly remember saying to the rector, “I’m going to find a way of making both of these make sense.” The reaction, as I recall, was polite amusement.

I found myself in a variety of churches and religious groups as I grew up. Baptist, Anglican, Methodist, Pentecostal, Charismatic. You name it, somewhere I’ve got a a membership card. Add to this Christian unions, at school and university. A huge variety of experiences, some positive, some negative, some plainly baffling, some scary.

My love of science has always been with me too, rankling with faith and belief and occasionally coming to blows. I don’t think it’s being to self-congratulatory to say that I have a half reasonable brain, and I always objected to having to ‘leave it on the shelf’ for the sake of a neat and tidy piece of religious reasoning. Many folks like things to be black and white, but I don’t think anything is; merely ’shades of grey’. I watch with interest, and some incredulity, the machinations of the Creationism and Intelligent Design schools of thought.

Yet, some Christian organisations are very draconian on what they believe, and the inflexibility demonstrated by some did force me into a choice between family and belief in the bible as a whole. I chose family. That was a tough one.

I’ve seen the church at large do hugely worthwhile things. Selfless giving for worthy causes, people who will stay with you in the dark small hours of a crisis, or just offer a simple “Let me help.” Friendship, companionship and life renewing change. I’ve also seen the dark sider: dogma, intimidation, politics, manipulation and gross injustice, bigotry, racism and the like.

With the birth of my own children, and increasing responsibilities at work and home, I was forced to take a good long hard look at what I did believe and didn’t believe. It takes an awful lot of effort and heartache to do this, as people have certain expectations of you, built up over years, and if you are planning a change of direction, it can come as a bit of a shock. Friends who really are friends stand by you, others disown you or betray you. Sad, but true.

So what is the book about? It’s the best and worst of church, religion and faith. The best and worst of science. It’s about wrestling with faith in a complex world. It’s about indoctrination, dogma and manipulation, even outright lies. It’s about family, expectations, mis-communication and betrayal. And it’s about love and hate.

It’s based on some real situations, and though there are no ‘real’ characters in here, recognisable traits from people I’ve met will doubtless be detectable, both laudable and otherwise. The characters in the story are deliberately clashed together to create conflicting situations that demand a painful resolution. At times I’ve felt I’ve had to scale back on the story in order to keep within the bounds of credibility, only to be confronted with a worst excess on an almost daily basis. It’s possible you may read this and think - “That can’t happen!” Let me assure you, it can; it does.

Religion and science may or may not be compatible, so I guess my book is my way of exploring what I think about all of this and the battle we all face in trying to seek real ‘truth’, despite the influences around us. Hopefully that gives you a bit of a clue…

I’ve just finished the first draft of my book, which, unlike my previous two, is a completely original and independant work, not based on any previous material. This means I may be in a position to publish it at some point.

I’m aiming to do this in order to find out whether or not I stand a chance of one day becoming a full-time writer. (once certain financial commitments are remedied!)

The first draft is a complete story, but it’s yet to be read from end to end. My next job is to re-read it from beginning to end to make sure it actually works. This might sound a bit odd, but I have written it piecemeal, often writing later parts of the story before earlier parts as I’ve felt inspired. I don’t know how many other writers do this, but I suspect it’s quite common. Given this, there is a clearly a danger that the story is a bit disjointed, and the scenes may have some continuity errors. Clearly I need to get rid of these.

Next up the usual grammar and spelling checks. Bound to be plenty of those!

Third is more difficult; revising the text to make sure you haven’t committed any of the various writing ’sins’. Top amongst these is “show don’t tell”. There’s a tendency to ‘info-dump’ about what is going on, rather than letting the reader figure things about by the way the characters react. Sometimes it’s unavoidable, but less is more! Then there is situation and descriptional stuff, ensuring the scene is visualisable. In other words, making sure the reader gets enough description of the scene to feel it’s a real place. I know I have a tendency to concentrate only on the dialogue and forget the scene. I need to make sure I add in the background and paint a canvas for the characters to ‘act’ against.

The avoidance of cliche is another one. Ensuring that the characters are not too predictable (unless that’s what you’re deliberately after), making sure their backgrounds are not too obvious, but also not being deliberately obtuse by making them act out of character either. I’ve also got to ensure the plot isn’t too predictable, nor is it unrealistic. This is a work of fiction, but it’s set in the here and now - it’s got to be plausible.

All this will result in a second draft, after which comes the most scary part… getting a team of willing, fair, honest and critical reviews to give me an opinion on it!

Wish me luck, it’s a long road ahead!

I finally got to see James Cameron’s ‘Avatar’ last night at our local cinema. Fortunately, Ashford is now blessed with a decent multiplex and we were able to enjoy it using the new ‘3D’ technology. This is fascinating in its own right, but back to the film…

There was still a queue, reason enough to make the film interesting, particularly since it’s been on show since last December. Most films have entered their ‘tumble-weed’ phase by this point, but Avatar was still packing them in. The Cinema was full. I haven’t seen a queue like it since Star Wars A New Hope in 1977.

Everyone I’ve heard talk about this movie has been raving about it, so it’s quite difficult to go in without raised expectations. However, as you begin to get immersed in the world of ‘Pandora’ (a slightly too obvious reference to there being ‘trouble ahead’) you can see what people are referring too. The CGI, the visual referencing from camera angles, depth of field and interpolation of forced perspective, the blend of reality and non-reality into a cohesive and absolutely convincing alien planet is staggering. At no point do you think “Ah, yes, there’s the CGI bit.” Finally, the technology to visually create anything we can imagine has reached its early maturity, where we go from here - God knows! - but it will be good.

Pandora is beautiful, there is no other word to describe it. From the gas giant planet hanging in space nearby (actually way too close, but I’ll forgive them) to the elegantly proportioned animals and planets suited to the low gravity, a marvellously interpreted collection of flora and fauna that, with the exception of the hammer-head rhinos, works in convincing you that Pandora could be real, it could exist. (Why have I singled out the rhinos? They’re far too stocky and dense, if you have low gravity there would be no evolutionary pressure to create such an animal. Evolution would favour light weight, agile creatures. The rhinos were far too agile for their build and ‘looked wrong’ to my eyes. A minor complaint overall.)

Next up, inspired touches around the bio-luminescence, a fantastic way for the film to get across the message that all life was connected to each other, which was a bit spoilt by the characters eventually referring to it. They stopped short of calling it the force or the circle-of-life, but it was a close call!

My particular favourite was the flying creatures. Usually dragons and similar creatures are portrayed with an inaccuracy that makes anybody even vaguely familiar with aero-dynamics and power-to-weight ratios cringe. In short, these creatures are too big and their wings are too small. Yet, the creatures in Avatar work. They are big, but we’ve got the bonus of low gravity. Clearly their bone structure is more akin to a bird, lightweight and agile, you can see that in their design. They ‘could’ work. They look convincing.

Clever ideas abound. The ‘brain stem’ that emerges from the hair of the Na’vi, allowing them to communicate directly with other creatures without relying on a telepathy ‘plot device’. The Na’vi have tails - perfect for balancing in their aerial homes. The creatures on Pandora have separate nasal passages in their chests, so they can keep their mouths closed when running or flying. All very clever indeed.

So impressed, was I? Astonished at the visual feast and enjoying the clever ideas - yes. Fantastic, enthralling, memorable. But the story…

Given the astonishing level of creativity depicted in the art of bring this film to the screen, the plot was a let-down. It’s effectively ‘Pocahontas on Pandora, with sci-fi helicopters.’ I know it has to appeal to a mass audience, I know it has to be acceptable to the xbox/playstation generation, I know it’s there to make money, I know there are people out there who can’t cope with more than a basic Disney experience… but if you’re going to do something of such grandeur, such majesty in the visual space, can’t we please have a plot to do it justice?

The characters intentions were so plainly obvious you knew exactly what they would be like and do from the get go. They were really paper thin. The bad-ass army dude who gets his come-upance, the jaded scientist who sacrifices herself in the end, the gung-ho tough but good hearted girl-pilot who goes down in flames fighting the fight, the irritating corporate sponsor who has a few doubts but doesn’t have the backbone to do the right thing. Cliche after cliche after cliche. Come on!

The plot telegraphed what was going to happen so obviously I was surprised that captions didn’t appear saying things like “This guy is the baddy, but don’t worry, he’ll be killed at the end <wink>”. You knew there was going to be a desperate battle, you knew there was going to be a moment where it all looked beyond help, you knew it would come good in the end. You knew our hero was going to be the ‘chosen one’ and that he’d be accepted by the tribe after overcoming hurdles. You knew there would be a tragedy half-way through. You were just waiting to see exactly how it panned out. There was no twist. Avatar deserved better. It was a missed opportunity.

Having said that. I will buy it on DVD. I might even buy it on Blu-ray if I ever get around to going HD. It is an amazing spectacle and I’d heartily recommend people see it in the cinema and in 3D. This is one that really wont be the same on the small screen.

When Pandora, in myth, opened her box and let out the calamities of the world, when they finally finished clearing up the chaos, there was one creature left. They called it ‘Hope’. My hope is that now we’ve got the visuals, the writers can be allowed to create a real story. Can’t wait!

Worked there a long time, during the noonday brightness and the warmth of the afternoon. Watched the clouds gather. Today, the Sun has finally set. A bit poignant!

http://www.sun.com

A sad piece of news today. Robert Holdstock, author of the Elite Novella ‘The Dark Wheel’ and the ‘Mythago Wood’ Sequence of books, passed away at 4am this morning, aged 61, after complications due to an E. Coli infection.

Unfortunately I never managed to meet him, but his Novella for ‘Elite’ certainly contributed to my own wish to start writing and I can trace my own ‘Status Quo’ and ‘Mutabilis’ for ‘Oolite’ directly back to Robert’s work.

For those not familiar with ‘The Dark Wheel’ it is possible to read it here online. It’s a great space yarn and set the scene for the most important computer game of the 1980s - ‘Elite’. It fleshed out the background to the universe of ‘Elite’, and made it ‘real’ for many thousands of us.

Thanks for the inspiration, imagination and the good times Robert. You’ll be sorely missed.

The members of The Dark Wheel salute you.

Right on, Commander.

I’ve long harboured the ambition to write a serious novel and have it published. I’m in the midst of trying to finish a book I’ve been putting together for off and on (mostly off) for the last four years.

Finally the manuscript is nearing completion. As I’m able to put in about twelve hours a week on it (commuting by train does have its benefits), I’m hoping to have it done by Christmas. Then I need to start getting serious with it.

First up - will it be any good? I’ve been advised that once I finish it, I should set it aside for a month and then go back and read it end to end, to see if I really think it’s a genuinely good story or not.

Second - editing. I’ve got to trawl through it and fix typos, bad grammar, poor sentence construction, dodgy dialogue, plot holes, trim for size etc.

Third - Prep the formatting. Sort the line spacing, fonts, borders etc.

Fourth - Then I need to get it proof-read by some critics, who will give me an honest opinion on the story overall, roll those changes back in and see if it still hangs together.

Only then will I have a finished manuscript!

And then to publish…

I could go the ‘vanity publishing’ route. Which is effectively where you pay someone to publish your book. You stump up all the money upfront and hope that people will buy it. Guarantees that your book gets out there, but it sort of fees like ‘cheating’.

You can use the ‘publish on demand’ route. I’ve already used this for my ‘free’ books. Effectively you submit your story and if anyone wants to buy it, it’s produced on demand. Cafepress and Lulu are good examples.

Third is the ‘proper’ route. Find an agent, get them interested and they will find you a publisher and you’re off. Easier said than done of course!

I want to go the third route,  so I’m going to have to put in the graft to polish up my story as much as a I can before I go hunting for an agent.

Even if I’m successful, and the book does get published, will I make a lot of money? Probably not. The absolute best I can realistically hope for is that the book sells a few hundred copies, perhaps a thousand or two. At that rate the likely income would probably be around the £5,000 mark, not much return on the effort invested.

So why bother?

Why does any writer bother? We have a story to tell, and it wont let us rest until it’s told.

I’ll keep you posted with my progress! Wish me luck!

I was lucky enough to have joined the 8-bit computer revolution rather earlier than most of my friends of the time. My Dad built a UK101 Compukit machine (based on the 6502 processor that was later to power the BBC Micro) in 1978. So I had a two year head start on my peers, I can remember the astonishment that greeted the acknowledgement that we had a ‘computer’ in the house!

As the 80s dawned the more primitive machines gave way to machines with colour and sound. The main contenders were the BBC Micro, Commodore-64 and the ZX Spectrum.

Originally the Spectrum was the cheaper machine, well supported by software and games. The Commodore was more technically capable, but lacked the software and the BBC was the one used by many educational establishments and, of course, the BBC themselves!

However, in September 1984, a game was launched that redefined the art of the possible on these primitive computers. Up until now, games had had 3 lives, a score and a typical five-ten minute playing time. Suddenly a game arrived with no score, a single life, open ended game play and immersive 3d graphics, its name?

“Elite.”

Here was a game that simply gave you a very basic spaceship, a small amount of money and set you loose in a universe filled with traders, pirates, police and alien warships. You simply ‘made your own way’ from here, trying to amass enough money to upgrade your ship with higher powered lasers, more cargo space, defensive systems, missiles, bombs and more energy. Whether you choose to trade honestly, or enter the blackmarket, or simply prey on other vessels was entirely up to you. Each route had its pros and cons.

Incredibly, there was a universe of systems to explore, 8 galaxies, consisting of 256 systems in each one and all this was, including the graphics, game and universe was crammed into 32k, (32,768 bytes of memory) - that’s about the same as this blog entry.

Originally only available on the BBC, the authors quickly bowed to overwhelming pressure to put this iconic game onto other platforms. I was able to play it shortly afterwards on my trusty ZX Spectrum…

I, along with many other members of the IT community, spent days, months and even years playing this game. Its compelling nature, inviting you to decide who and what you wanted to be, rather than simply shooting, finding or solving things, drove you further into the game, encouraging you to loose yourself in imagination.

In another clever move, the game was promoted with a Novella, called The Dark Wheel, written by Robert Holdstock. You can still read it here. This gave some important background on the social and political universe in which ‘Elite’ existed, giving you reasons why things worked as they did.

This week, Elite has reached its 25 anniversary. Elite 4, the much anticipated sequel has yet to appear, but tens of thousands of people are out there, patiently waiting for it. The interest remains astonishing after so many years have gone past.

Elite has inspired many imitations, but none have really managed to capture the essence of Elite. Today, there are a number of tribute games available in the public domain. My favourite is ‘Oolite‘, which updates the graphics for modern PCs and Macs, yet remains true to the original gameplay.

I have a particularly soft spot for this one, as I wrote a couple of novellas for it myself back in 2006.

Happy Silver Anniversary Elite - and thanks for the fun, games and memories. Looking forward to ‘Elite 4′!

Living in the dark and distant corner of South-East Kent as I do, we’ve long suffered the long duration travel into London. The fastest trains took an hour and ten minutes, while most took an hour and thirty.

Now we’ve got a super duper high speed train line which has been trumpetted left right and centre as the answer to everyones requirements, including a dramatic lift in house prices - Ashford to London in 37 minutes, wooo!

I’ve been trying it for the last month and it’s definitely “most impressive”. The train stops once on its journey into London, at some place called Ebbsfleet International, which appears to be a ‘Ghost Station’ as no one ever gets on or off here. Spooky.

You arrive in London when you’d normally be expecting to arrive in Tonbridge. It’s almost wierd.

Unfortunately, it’s on arrival in London that the whole ‘high speed’ thing falls apart.

Historically, Ashford trains have arrived at Cannon Street, London Bridge, Charing Cross and (occasionally) Victoria. Three out of four of these Stations are in the South East of the Capital, and service the City areas and down towards Westminster. Most commuters are therefore city types or politicoes of some kind or other. I, for example, have a ten minute walk from Cannon Street.

The high speed lines arrives into St. Pancras (or Kings Cross as most people will know it) and that’s in the North of the Capital.

It’s a mere four or five miles from the CIty or Westminister, but it might as well be fifty because it takes a ridiculous 25 minutes to make the journey by tube or overground train from St. Pancras back to the City or Westminster.

This is made up of 5 minutes (fast) walking from the highspeed platform to the underground, 15 minutes on the tube (on a good day) and then another 5 minutes walking back up to ground level.

Comparing like for like the highspeed service saves only 20 minutes each way door to door, yet costs an extra £110 a month (monthly fare) with the added hassle of switching trains and standing up for the last part of the journey on a sweaty unpleasant tube train.

It is SO frustrating to cover 60+ miles in 37 minutes and then find yourself taking 25 minutes to cover a mere 4.

So in summary the trains are a dream, unfortunately the journey is a nightmare. I’m going back to the old service. It might be slow, but it’s much more pleasant. Right now I can only recommend it for Friday afternoons to get home early.

ps. It may improve when the service to Stratford International opens, but that’s not until the new year. Will keep you posted.

I’ve bought a sports car.

This sort of thing happens to gents of my age, apparently. We’re trying to recapture our youth, and demonstrate a last gasp of vigour before we trail down the slope to retirement, golf and whist drives. It’s supposed to indicate we’re insecure about our increasing age and terrified of the future…

Well, that’s a load of old cobblers I’m afraid. Yes, I’ve got a few grey hairs, but at 38 I’m hardly over the hill and picking up speed. Why have I bought a sports car? Simple, because I want one and I can afford it. I don’t need a long distance cruising car anymore, and we’ve got a practical car already.

So the next accusation that gets levelled is that you’re trying to compensate for some kind of Freudian deficiency. Sorry, that doesn’t stack up either. My little car isn’t incredibly fast, in fact most modern hot hatches will completely outrun it. It’s not very big, it has tiny little wheels and it’s not full of gadgets either. What would Freud have made of that then?

Then you get told it’s a ‘hairdresser’s car’. Well, I don’t know many hairdressers who have a RWD drive car, with a limited slip differential and no traction control. It doesn’t cosset you, it’s not particularly comfortable and it mucks up your hair good and proper if you drive it with the roof down!

To be fair 95% of people are really enthusiastic about it, but some can’t seem to help but be disparaging, troting out these hoary old cliches. I reckon Freud would have them nailed down though… jealousy perhaps?

More pics on facebook btw!

Found this rather interesting diagram on the ‘thisismoney’ website. It shows how interest rates have varied since the Bank of England was founded. The last forty years look to have been the most irratic!