Authors Electric

"If they're everywhere, then where are they?" Enrico Fermi probably didn't intended to coin an iconic paradox with his 1950 wisecrack, but it haunts us well into the space age despite astronomical projections and scifi tropes from Star Trek through the X-Files. The " Pope of Physics " and A-bomb enabler remains as famous for it as for his building of the world's first nuclear reactor under a Chicago football stadium in 1942.   Seek and ye shall find. Sure enough earthly UFO sightings are as plentiful lately as during the mid-century "flying saucer" heyday. Back then the US government kept track of sightings under its widely contested " Project Blue Book ," terminated in the '90s.    No solid evidence of alien visitors was ever found, according to Blue Book's records. But discoveries of earth-like exoplanets that could support the evolution of life have abounded exponentially in recent years thanks to the power of today's e...

A young Ellison, at his Olympia SG 3 Alas, we seem to be losing all the great ones lately. Well, this is a common illusion when some beloved figure dies. Last week it was Harlan Ellison, who died June 28, just a week ago in his sleep at 84, after suffering a stroke in 2014. Ellison was probably the least known famous writer in the world. To me and a lot of writers who were his fans, he epitomized everything the brilliant, provocative, flamboyant, prolific, wild-eyed writer ought to be - and usually fall short of. Whatever one thinks of his prodigious body of work, one could not fail to admire his ferocity as a creative spirit and human being. "Born without an off-switch," his friends said. He went, Energizer-Bunny-like, fully until he stopped. Jewish by birth, atheist by self-proclamation, Ellison lived consistently by the three great moral questions of Rabbi Hillel the Elder : "If I am not for myself, then who will be for me? "If I am for myself alone, t...

Me and horror writer Sam Stone I spent last weekend in the company of several incarnations of Dr Who, a few daleks, lots of stormtroopers, jedi knights and Chewbacca – plus various characters from Lord of The Rings, Batman and numerous other film and television shows. Not forgetting the creepy Pennywise the clown and other scary creatures. I was at Sci-Fi Weekender – an annual get-together of more than 6,000 fans of science-fiction, fantasy and horror in all media forms. At a Haven holiday park in North Wales, I stayed in a gorgeous caravan with stunning views of Tremaddog Bay and so close to the sea, you could hear it at night. And I was there as a “guest artist”, with an access-all-areas pass! With several other writers, I co-hosted a variety of panels on writing in the Author Zone – part of the Spaceport (aka the smaller of the two main areas on the site – with a stage, seating, bar etc). I somehow managed to get listed in the lovely, glossy, full-colour event guide on...