Why I love science fiction and why I write it
By Bryony Pearce
When I was growing up there were two bookcases in the spare
room full of my dad’s books. He had the full PERN series by Anne McCaffrey,
Harry Harrison’s Stainless Steel Rat, Frank Herbert’s Dune, Asimov’s Foundation
and books by Ursula Le Guin, Peter Hamilton, Robert Silverberg, Roger Zelazny,
Arthur C Clarke, Philip K Dick, Robert A Heinlein, Orson Scott Card, Larry
Niven and many more. It was a treasure trove.
The ideas that these authors used set my imagination on fire. This wasn’t writing in a
familiar setting, somehow these writers had created entire worlds, with their own civilisations, governments, natural laws,
science and nature. They had invented technology that didn’t exist yet – and it
made sense. They had explored what it
would be like to meet aliens, to deal with life on another planet, or in space.
This wasn’t just writing stories; this was universe-building.
I was awestruck by their genius.
It wasn’t just the world-building that gripped me, it was
the issues that these writers were dealing with. First contact with aliens: an
analogy for how Western civilisations deal with other cultures. A robot
revolution: man’s relationship with technology and ‘just because we can,
doesn’t mean we should’. These books dealt with politics, gender issues,
religion, racism. They worked through the possible ethics of new inventions,
the things that could go wrong in the case of an outbreak, what we could do to
prevent war, the list goes on. These books made me think in a way that I’d
never been made to think before. I was in love.
When I came to write my own novels, I started in the world I
knew, but added supernatural elements (Angel’s
Fury). I was still learning, I wasn’t yet brave enough to try and do what
my writing heroes had done – create a whole world from nothing. Once I had
learned how to write, I began to
teach myself how to put a world together.
My second book, The
Weight of Souls was set in London, but with elements of Ancient Egypt. Phoenix Rising was set on a
post-apocalyptic earth.
Then my imagination was caught by multi-universe theory and
so I wrote a book, Wavefunction, about a boy who can jump between worlds. In
that book I was able to come up with a different, earth-related, world for
every jump he made. I was able to consider what the earth would be like if we
had completely destroyed the ozone layer. Ask myself what if the polar ice caps
had completely melted? What if Christianity had never emerged? What if world
war II had never happened? What if the Cuban Missile crisis had resulted in
nuclear war?
I had a lot of fun. Science fiction had gripped me, just as
it had when I was growing up.
My most recent novel, Windrunner’s
Daughter, is finally set wholly on a different planet: Mars. I had as much
fun doing the research as I did writing the story.
I researched the planet of Mars, its terrain, gravity, light
levels, orbit, moons and so on, I researched terraforming – the possibilities
and ethics and I used this to create challenges for my characters.
Story remains key. Character and plot still drive my novels,
but now I am writing in the way I always hoped that I would when I was a
teenager and in awe of my dad’s bookshelves. I am world building.
***
Windrunner's
Daughter
Genre: YA Sci-fi
Release Date: February 4th 2016
Xist Publishing
Summary from Goodreads:
A sabotaged colonization attempt leaves the last humans in the universe stranded on Mars. Braving a half-terraformed atmosphere, terrifying indigenous species, and a colony government that is openly hostile, a young girl named Wren must defy tradition to save her mother and perhaps, every human left.
It is forbidden for women to steal the wings that allow a select group of runners to carry messages and goods between colonies. It is forbidden to cross the wastes with a sand storm on the horizon and it is certainly forbidden to share the secrets of the windrunners with those who spend their entire lives in the biospheres.
But what choice does she have?
Buy Links:
About the Author
I am an author of YA
thrillers and science fiction.
Angel's Fury (winner
of the Leeds Book Award and the Cheshire Schools Book Award),The
Weight of Souls, published in 2013, Phoenix
Rising, published 2015 (shortlisted for Cheshire Schools Book Award
and Wirral Paperback of the Year), Phoenix Burning, March
2016, Windrunner's Daughter, February 2016 and Wavefunction, April 2016.
Author Links:
Book Tour Organized by:
No comments:
Post a Comment
I always love to hear your thoughts.