Tevun-Krus #57 - Colonisation SF

Spotlight Author: @Astronomicon

If you had to describe yourself in one word, what words wouldn't you use?

Normal?

What did you want your nickname at school to be? 

N/A

When you were a young 'un, what did you want to be when you grew up? 

Sadly, an author. By the end of high school, I wanted to be a programmer. After doing that as a career for a couple of years, I went back to wanting to be an author and still do.

What's your favourite quote?

"I would rather be confused for 10 minutes than bored for 30 seconds."

I first heard Russell T. Davies say it but he may have been quoting someone else.

Tell us about your reading/writing habits. If you're not a writer, then simply the former will suffice!

Most of my planning and notes are done in Word on my Lumia phone. This is a necessity as most planning happens when I'm out doing school runs or waiting for my kids outside martial arts lessons etc. Most writing and editing is done whenever I can on my old Toshiba laptop. I try to read, if only for a few minutes, every night. Some mornings, I wake up with a Kindle-shaped indentation in my face.

As your crew casts your lifeless body into the heart of the nearest star, list three pieces of music likely to be rattling the bulkheads of your beloved vessel!

Another tough one. My choices would be (and yes, I know I have a weird taste in music!):

 Symphony No.7 in A Major, Op. 92 II. Allegretto by Beethoven - Not sure my crew would like it, but I think it would sound awesome in space.

I Apologize - Five Finger Death Punch

Who Wants to Live Forever by Brian May - Piano solo version

Who is your all-time favourite author? How much, if at all, has their work influenced your writing style?

That's a nightmare question. I struggle with picking favourites as I can never remember all the authors I've read at the same time. One of my favourites and probably the greatest influence on my writing would have to be Arthur C. Clarke. He was the first science fiction author I read who presented totally plausible worlds which did not suffer from fantasy inventions. I've always striven to achieve the same in my writing.

Of everything you've written, which piece is your favourite?

It should be Sceptic (my most recently completed novel) but I still prefer Astronomicon 3: Those Left Behind. It has a much more emotive story than anything else I've written, riding on love, fear and desperation.

Pitch the above story to us. Make us really want to read it!

Caught up in the mayhem and destruction of the deadly invasion of his homeworld, an ordinary man strives to save both his children. Their only chance is infiltrating the secret evacuation fleet for the elite, but for that to work he must also ensure that the entire fleet escapes without detection.

To what extent does the mythical 'real life' influence your writing?

Two key ways: Firstly, real life hugely restricts my writing time so I've had to work hard to work around that. Secondly, all the character quirks and reactions I write are based heavily on people I meet in real life.

If you could have any superpower, what would that be and why?

Just one? Oh dear. That's going to be difficult. Invisibility always sounds good, but I would probably waste too much of my life misusing that. Immortality would be much more powerful in the long run. It would give me time to write all the books I've got planned!

What would you do if you woke up to discover you were Superman?

The scientist in me would spend days experimenting to work out how Superman's forward propulsion works when flying. I get the lighter-than-air and superstrength things due to coming from a planet with much higher gravity, but unless he uses superfarts as a propulsion method, that's a mystery that needs solving.

The Technological Singularity presents a rather daunting, some say inevitable, future. Does the prospect of that level of artificial intelligence excite you, or leave you quaking in your space boots?

My novel Sceptic is about just that. Personally, I think it is a terrifying prospect. The outcome is impossible to comprehend, let alone predict, and therefore there is no way to know it would be good for us. As soon as an AI which is above our level designs AIs which are above its level, the process will just accelerate and within a very short time AIs could exist whose thinking is way beyond the comprehension of the most intelligent people on the planet. Controlling them won't be possible. Their moral system, assuming they form one, may well not align with ours, at all.

Who was your first Sci-Fi crush? Who is your current one?

N/A

If you could experience the world of any Sci-Fi story on Wattpad, which would that be and why?

I'm assuming I should stay off my stories for this one. I'm going to make a rather odd choice. The world presented in "The Visitor" by Tony Harmsworth (https://www.wattpad.com/user/TonyHarmsworth).

It's set in the near future so the world is not too dissimilar to ours, but proof of alien life has been discovered in orbit around our planet. It would be great to know that we are not alone in the galaxy.

And finally, any words of wisdom to new and aspiring Sci-Fi writers? 

Write Sci-Fi because you love it, not because you want to make money. Several other genres are much better for that.