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Archives for February, 2018
Telepathy (and super powers) in Stories
English: Example of a subject in a Ganzfeld telepathy experiment. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Following on from declaring Telepaths as hard science fiction I thought I would write about using Telepathy in stories and how to solve the problems. Telepathy is a super power, and with all super powers it brings a reduction in challenge for characters endowed with it. Writing a Story featuring Telepathy I mentioned two things I did in passing in the earlier post, but there's also a third. Set universal limits on super powers Give characters moral limits that stop them abusing their super powers Give the opposite side a (temporary) counter to the super powers Taken together these let you put the conflict and challenges back into the situations your characters find themselves in. We all know the equation: Conflict + characters = plot So this…
Themself Giveaway – 100 ebooks via Goodreads
As an experiment I'm running a Themself giveaway using the new e-book giveaway service on Goodreads. This is only available to people with Kindles registered with so do please share it with people you know living in North America. Also my apologies for not making the Themself giveaway available in the UK. I'll run a UK giveaway in the comments section below. If you want an e-book version leave me a comment before 21 March and I'll email you the e-book in return for an honest review. 100 e-book copies of Themself are available between now and the 21st March for users using the link above (or the button below). Themself Giveaway Themself is a collection of contemporary fiction, poetry and life writing reflecting on James Kemp's life experiences as a part-time student, father, cub scout leader, school governor…
Telepaths in Hard Science Fiction?
Science fiction television (Photo credit: Wikipedia) My NaNoWriMo 2017 novel, Lit By Another Star, features a telepath as the main point of view character. It also claims to be hard science fiction. How can this be? Aren't Telepaths magic rather than science, shouldn't it be a fantasy story? That's a good question, and I'm glad that you asked. Here's my take on it. Let's remember Clarke's Third Law, any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Defining Hardness in Science Fiction Hard science fiction requires that there's a sound explanation in our current understanding of the universe for the story. We don't have to have exploited that science yet, and there can be an element of handwavium provided the results are consistent with science as we currently understand it. The hardness of science fiction is a scalar thing rather than…
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone [Book Review]
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by Rowling My rating: 4 of 5 stars Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is possibly the book that I have read more than any other (the only other contenders are either The Silver Sword or The Facts Factory by Giles Brandreth - both of which fell apart in my primary school bag). It starts a fantastic world that I could happily live in, and that both I and my children love. If you haven't read Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone then you haven't lived. I started reading Harry Potter when there were only two sequels out, and have re-read each of the books before the next one was published. I've also re-read them after watching the movies. So I've re-read this one at least six times. It's an awesome universe with loads…