Most of the time, when I get an idea that hinges on some science ‘thing,’ it will have been because of something I read or encountered months or years earlier rather than in the last few days. Alastair Reynolds Read Quote
What works for me is simply to read a lot of stuff throughout the year – not with a particular story or theme in mind, but just because you never know what might be useful or interesting in the long run. I much prefer to just absorb a lot of stuff and let the old unconscious chew down on it over time. Alastair Reynolds Read Quote
You have to be able to invest in your own creations, to suspend your own disbelief in order to be able to write them. We all have to draw the line somewhere. Alastair Reynolds Read Quote
Sitting here at the beginning of the 21st century, we’re only 200 years into the industrial revolution. We don’t have an enormous dataset to draw on, so whatever shaped curve we’re on, we’re only at the beginning of it. Alastair Reynolds Read Quote
I come at it from a different angle of attack with each novel, searching for the technological texture the story demands. There isn’t a recipe; it’s more of an instinct. Alastair Reynolds Read Quote
In crime, I like Ian Rankin and James Lee Burke. As for historical books, I enjoy Bernard Cornwell, Patrick O’Brien, and C. S. Forester – anything with battleships! Alastair Reynolds Read Quote
If there’s a story I absolutely cannot tell without faster-than-light travel, then I am quite prepared to accept it – even though I don’t personally believe it is possible. Alastair Reynolds Read Quote
No idea should be discarded completely, but – as one might imagine – it does take a degree of ingenuity to find a new spin on something as hackneyed as the ‘Adam and Eve’ story. But if you think you’ve got the chops for it, there’s no reason not to try. Alastair Reynolds Read Quote
There are similarities between historical novels and science fiction. Being thrown into the Napoleonic Wars is just as much of a different world as space. Alastair Reynolds Read Quote
