Science Fiction Books/Expert Profile

Expertise

I have read most of the short stories and books produced by the Top 80-100 authors in the SF field, as well as more obscure authors such as Robert Sheckley, and can answer any queries regarding author, title or theme of a science fiction short story(or novel). I can also answer questions on the history and influence of Science Fiction past to present, as well as on specific SF genres such as Cyberpunk,Golden Age SF, H G Wells-style scientific romances etc. I do not answer questions about books/stories set in the Fantasy genre.

Experience in the area

Am currently doing a writing course for writing Science Fiction Books, with the Writer's Bureau in the UK.<

Education/Credentials

Am considering becoming an amateur writer of Science Fiction. Other than that, no academic credentials, I simply have read a multitude of SF books and stories, with an emphasis on stories from H G Wells to the 1980s.

What do you like about this subject?

I love this subject as it allows authors and readers to use their imagination. In SF stories you can invent an entire world. Modern Literature is stuck with the same old social setting and therefore is often far too derivative and unoriginal.

What do you still hope to achieve/learn in this field?

I hope to become an SF writer eventually. Meanwhile I am collecting as many old editions of 1900-1990 SF stories as possible.

Something interesting about this subject that others may not know:

In the early 1940s the SF writer Cleve Cartmill wrote a science fiction story describing rather accurately how an atomic bomb works. The editor had to persuade the FBI not to arrest him!