Authors Electric

  Can a casual tip from a driver for a new Lyft service called Pink add a bold new color to the palette of  your life? If that thought's not too absurd, could that color unify decades-long long skeins of thought into one powerful cord? And could  that cord help you harness a great force you'd hoped to believe in? Fear not. That's a lot to chew on for one blog, especially the short type I prefer to read and write, it's true. But I'll try to bring it home by starting near the middle...flashing back briefly with both art and speed...and then rocketing on to the finish. Step One: In media res One night a Lyft driver in Tucson recommended their new premium service called Pink. Regular passengers like myself, she said, could save up to $3 a ride at a cost of $10/month. The instant I got home, I began my research. The intel I'd been given had been both true and false. The savings did not come off the cheap Wait and Save fare, with its wait time of 5-15 minutes. No, the...

They say it’s odd how fiction mirrors life. But how about life mirroring fiction? I was mooching around on Amazon the other day – as you do – and   inadvertently  signed up (again) for Amazon Prime. This is the 4 th  time I’ve made that   mistake ; I use italics because I am convinced that periodically Amazon changes the code behind its buttons and signs up whoever it chooses in the hope that either you won’t notice, or if you do, you will love it so much that you’ll stay … So I cancelled (again) and thought I may as well enjoy my month’s free deliveries. Actually – come to think about it – maybe  that’s  why Amazon does it? They know you will order more if you have unexpected free delivery? And Andy is enjoying watching  The Grand Tour  on Prime, so everybody is happy. But while I’m mooching, I find that Matthew Reilly has a new book out and I wonder how on earth I missed it. If I haven’t already said (and I probably have), I adore Ma...

What makes us who we are? Nature or nurture? I don’t have any strong convictions either way, but I can identify pivotal points in my life – think Sliding Doors – when things could have gone either way. Not good/bad, or even particularly momentous, but just turning points. My writing roots are firmly embedded in the sf/fantasy part of the garden. Though I read and write predominantly crime and thriller stuff these days, I grew up on Robert Heinlein, cut my teeth on John Wyndham and moved swiftly into fantasy once I was aware of its existence. My university library had an amazing fiction selection and rooms full of pretty-much every fantasy paperback ever published, including all the US imports too. I was in heaven. Towards the end of my first year at university (Liverpool, 1982-1985, for those of you who like the details), I happened – for some long-forgotten reason – to be late into tea one Sunday afternoon. Back then, meals were provided in Halls, and Sunday “tea” consiste...