The Sci-Fi novel Green and the Green Movement

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Green and the Green Movement

The setting for this novel was in the distant future. The planet is heavily overpopulated and polluted. Nature has been ravaged.

I was exploring the philosophical nature of mind and whether the inner universe is infinite.

The other major theme was that of the Green Movement. In a last desperate attempt to safe Nature from complete destruction, they were trying desperately to get the government to take drastic action.

The Greens were split into three distinct factions who argued fiercely among themselves.

One faction believed they could gain public support and force the government to take action through the sheer force and rationale of their argument.

A second faction believed that big business was too powerful and that most people were simply not interested enough until things became so bad that it directly impacted on them, by which time it would be too late. They believed force was the only way to get big business and politicians to take notice. They were using terror and attacking the polluting industry.

A shady third faction believed that the problem was people. They hated mankind and believed that there was an inherent flaw in all people. There was no hope while humans were around. They believed it was only a matter of time before we destroyed the world. Consequently, the only way to save the planet was to eradicate mankind.

It set the background for the intrigue and drama as the two themes interweaved.

Why not give it a read?

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Star – the way the Sixties youth rebellion was incorporated into the story.

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Star – the way the Sixties youth rebellion was incorporated into the story.

The main idea that I was playing with in this book was the youth rebellion of the nineteen sixties.

Having lived through it and, as a student living in London, being heavily immersed in it, I felt that I knew a lot about the sixties phenomena. I found the idea of taking the underlying principles and applying them to the future quite inspiring and intriguing.

I set the book in the future in the sixties of the year 3167 AC. We had an intergalactic civilisation. Rock Music performed, not in stadia, but huge arenas in space on a gigantic scale.

There were a lot of elements to bring together.

The glue that held the sixties movement together was Rock Music. I had to create a band featuring a larger than life Rock Star – based on Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Arthur Brown, David Bowie and John Lennon.

The Civil Rights movement was an important element. I had to create an alien species who were subjected to abuse and yet were highly intelligent.

The antiwar movement was another. I had to create two competing powers and a proxy war being waged on a remote planet.

I then incorporated many of the events and people from the sixties in many guises. There was the Black Panthers, the Yippies, the Fugs, the Chicago riots, Peace Park, free festivals, Woodstock, Altamont, Games in May, Martin Luther King, the antiwar marches, the raising of the pentagon, the civil rights marches, Bob Dylan’s motorbike accident and many more.

My main story was the way the lucrative Rock Music business was being controlled by big business and the mafia. Behind the scenes, my Rock Star was subject to all manner of forces. His manager, based loosely on Albert Grossman, Peter Grant and Bill Graham, was caught up in the politics. My star was trying to remain true to his principles but the pressures were building.

Would the revolution change society? Or would it be incorporated into the money-making establishment?

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What readers said about New Eden by Ron Forsythe – a Sci-Fi novel.

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What readers said about New Eden.

‘The measured, seemingly almost real-time narrative made it even more chilling in its pragmatism. The glacial momentum carried over into the horror of unstoppable inertia. Who hasn’t contemplated the almost ubiquitous runaway human population growth and its sequelae for our planet? The meek shall inherit the Earth…and probably do a much better job.’

‘A great read of a disturbing future. Well written and delightful in places, shocking in others – all too real. It tells the story of over-population and a world government’s attempt to solve it. You could really identify with the characters and the scene were pictures in your head. You’ll cry in places. If you love good Sci-fi then you will enjoy this book.’

‘An incredible read! If you’re a fan of futuristic books I would definitely recommend this book. It is so realistic because a lot of the problems we face today are shown in the future that may just come true if we don’t solve them soon. Really loved reading this!’

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Is New Eden a possibility?

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Is New Eden a possibility?

Is it possible that a government, for political reasons, or to remove surplus population, might have a virus engineered in order to wipe out the ones it does not want?

I reckon so.

Is it possible to manufacture a deadly virus and put a vaccination programme in place for those you want to survive?

I think it is.

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The Gordian Fetish – is there, somewhere in the galaxy, a zoo dedicated to conserving intelligent aliens?

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The Gordian Fetish – is there, somewhere in the galaxy, a zoo dedicated to conserving intelligent aliens?

The Gordian Fetish

There is in my novel. It contains human specimens. The manager likes furry specimens and is fascinated because humans have sex.

My conservation institute is really a zoo for exotic alien life that is considered endangered. There are trillions of humans but a dodgy dealer manages to interest the manager in purchasing a pair.

I felt this was a good setting for a Sci-Fi novel with a bit of humour in it (as well as some more serious ideas).

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An Evening with Philip K. Dick.

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An Evening with Philip K. Dick.

In 1979/80 I secured a teaching exchange to the USA and ended up teaching in Norwalk in Los Angeles. Following an initial culture shock I had a fabulous year. My students were wonderful and I still think of them very fondly. It was a tough area, full of racism and gangs. But I digress already.

The people we exchanged with had a grown-up daughter. As we had exchanged houses and cars she had access to my library of books and discovered I had a whole row of Philip K Dick, one of my favourite Sci-Fi writers. Susan was a friend of Philip K. Dicks – or Phil, as she called him.

Around Christmas time she was returning to the USA and asked if I would like to go to meet him.

Would I? I would certainly have given a limb or two for the opportunity.

So it was that a young would-be Science Fiction writer (namely myself) found himself being escorted for an evening with the great man.

It all seemed surreal. I had so much to ask. I wanted advice. I wanted to ask him about his writing, where he got his ideas, how he set about it, how he became published.

When I found myself in his apartment in the presence of one of the greatest Sci-Fi writers of all time, I was too overawed to say much. Everything seemed blank.

We sat on sofas, drank beer and talked. The evening seemed a blur. All I can remember is him telling me that he had just been to the studio to see the rushes for a new film based on one of his books. It was called ‘The Claw’. He showed me a poster of this huge metal claw grasping a planet. It looked fantastic. He told me that seeing the rushes it was like looking inside his own head.

I have subsequently looked for the film and seen nothing that resembled the poster he showed me. Perhaps it was scrapped? Perhaps it later came out as Screamers – based on Second Variety? Or perhaps I imagined it? I was in such a state.

The only other thing I remember was that I asked him what he thought was the best thing he’d ever written. He laughed. He told me that he thought it was a scene of a gun duel between a gun shooter and a man with telekinetic powers. The gun shooter went to draw his gun and found himself holding his own pancreas.

At the end of the evening I thanked him and that was that.

I often look back and kick myself. If only I’d taken a book for him to sign, had a selfie that I could cherish, or relaxed enough to have a real conversation.

Never mind. I spent an evening with Philip K Dick. That’s enough.

Ron Forsythe on Science Fiction.

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Ron Forsythe on Science Fiction

General

I started reading Science Fiction novels when I was in school. At the age of fourteen, I was a bit of a rebel. We had compulsory Religious Education and I had no belief in God and regarded the R.E. classes as brainwashing. For some reason, my parents would not write me a letter withdrawing me from the class so I went and saw the teacher and explained my views. I told him that I had no intention of doing any work. I was adamant and dug my heels in. We came to an arrangement. I would give out the bibles at the beginning of the lesson and then sit quietly at the front and read. So it was that in R.E. I worked my way through the entire works of John Wyndham. In my view, a much better use of my time.

From that time on, Science Fiction became my preferred reading.

As a youth I read avidly, consuming three to four novels a week. My favourite writers were the likes of Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, James White, Arthur C Clarke, James Blish, Robert Sheckley, Philip K Dick, J.G Ballard, Ray Bradbury, Gordon R. Dickson, Jack Vance, C. L.Moore, A.E. Van Vogt, Fred Saberhagen. Aldous Huxley, George Orwell, Kurt Vonnegut jnr, and Larry Niven, though in practice I read any Sci-Fi I could get my hands on.

Every Saturday I used to browse the second-hand book shops and buy up any Sci-Fi books I didn’t have. They were dirt cheap and I soon amassed a sizeable library.

I still love those old books and that library has followed me around through move after move.

I suppose my favourite Sci-Fi writer is Iain M. Banks. It was so sad that he died young.

Looking back I realise that this love of Sci-Fi probably started as a boy when I was an avid reader of comics such as Wizard, Adventure and Eagle. I was drawn to the Sci-Fi.

What drew me in was a combination of the science and the world of all possibility. It unfettered the imagination. While retaining a grounding in the laws of science we were free to explore human nature in the future, the past, any part of the universe, and solve all the problems that held us back. On top of that one had adventure, intrigue, love, philosophy and the full gamut of human experience. It took writing into a new dimension.

It certainly stimulated my mind. I had a head full of ideas and, at the age of twenty, began to realise that I too could write novels. I had the ideas, I could invent the characters and settings. I could devise the plots. So I started writing.

I would say, to use a cliché, that I never looked back; but in truth, I looked back, forward, up, down and sideways. I became a Sci-Fi writer. There were no limits.

Welcome to my world

The Process of Writing.

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The Process of Writing.

Writing

I am certain that this process is different with all writers. We all have our ways of working. It is also clear that it is not always the same with me. Sometimes I have carefully plotted out a novel while at other times, I work with a vague idea and allowed it to unfurl as I progress.

I used the Butch Cassidy principle: there are no rules.

But always, as a novel progresses, as a character develops, a novel takes on a life of its own. It is a coalescence of ideas. I will wake up in the middle of the night with an idea and have to get out of bed to write it down or it is likely to go.

All my novels start with an idea. That might be sparked by a news story, a book I am reading, a programme I am watching or a train of thought. One idea is never enough though. It has to be married to others.

Often the end of the novel is what emerges first. I will often write the end first.

Always there comes that time when you sit at a computer (or a typewriter) and begin. You have a blank page in front of you and a head full of ideas. With me, there is excitement and anticipation.

The ideas have to have a setting and characters. With Sci-Fi, there are infinite possibilities.

I often write a beginning that is later superseded by another beginning. Once I get that first sentence down the rest seems to flow. The characters develop, the scenes change, the ideas flow. I struggle to keep up. It becomes like a line of dominoes. One knocks over another which sets two more falling over. I write quickly, trying to keep up with the ideas, following the characters and inventing settings. I work on the principle that with the first rewrite I can expand and fill everything out. It is as if the first draft is a rough sketch that gives the outline of the book. The rewrite starts to fill in the colour.

It is usual for me to increase the word by a good fifty per cent.

The second rewrite will again add a lot more.

The third rewrite is more of an editing process – changing words, altering sentence structure, correcting grammar.

The most important part for me in writing a novel is to get that first sentence down. After that, it is like an egg-timer. The sand grains are the ideas, characters and settings; I just allow them to trickle through until my head is empty.

New Eden – Who survives a pandemic?

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New Eden – Who survives a pandemic?

New Eden

We are very fortunate with the current Coronavirus pandemic; it only kills around 2% of the population, and they tend to be (though not always) the elderly or weaker members. Many pandemics are far more deadly. Bubonic plague killed off between 50% and 70% of the population, and Smallpox at least 20%. It is not inconceivable to have a new virus that kills 99.9% of the population.

In my story, New Eden, a government creates a deadly virus to wipe out the excess population.

The theory of evolution is widely misunderstood. It revolves around the selection of the fittest. The fittest are not always the strongest, most intelligent, the fastest or those with skills; they could be the slowest, most stupid, or the weakest. For example – faced with a terrible predator the one who faints might be left alone while those who fight or run away might be killed. The survivor selected might be the weakest member of the group.

Surviving a virus is mostly a question of luck. It is not whether you are clever, fit or healthy; it is merely whether you have the right antibodies to neutralise the disease. This is a quirk of fate.

So, evolution does not always produce bigger, stronger, fitter and more intelligent offspring. It produces offspring more suited to survive.

If a fatal virus was to wipe out most people on the planet the survivors would be the ones with natural immunity. They could be a group of people with a particular genetic ‘disorder’.

In 1986 I took this basic premise and wove it into a story. It is the story of courage, bravery, intrigue, misuse of power and hope. It has redemption, joy and tragedy.

It is also a story that could easily come true.

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Conexion – One of the major themes – Lust for power.

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Conexion – One of the major themes – Lust for power.

Conexion

A novel consists of many themes. Conexion had a number of these. One was the theme concerning the drug connexion. Another was the detection of three objects/asteroids heading on a collision course with Earth. The third theme was concerning power.

We see that playing out all around us. Leaders such as Trump, Johnson and Bolsonaro are consumed by gaining and exerting power. Everything is about votes. But behind these figureheads are the real, unseen powerbrokers. They are the seat of power and have, through generation after generation, exerted their influence to create the world how they want it to be. Their wealth and influence are used to bolster the leaders and parties they want in power as well as to manipulate the policies of their chosen people.

It was interesting for me to illustrate this element of politics.

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