Inspiration
No author writes in a vacuum. Every writer, every artist really, stands on the shoulders of those who come before them. For me to list all the authors that have inspired me through the years would take way too long, so i'll just list a few. I'll even link to some of their books that you're sure to enjoy. But in the words of Reading Rainbow's LeVar Burton, you don't have have to take my word for it! Ha ha ha ha.... uh...
What is there to say about Robert A Heinlein except that he's the master? My favorite "classic" sci-fi author, he wrote one of my favorite books, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, the story of a libertarian revolution by "Loonies," human colonists on the moon.
Perhaps the greatest living short-story writer, Harlan Ellison started the "New Wave" of science fiction in the sixties. I remember when I was a younger man, whenever I was depressed, I would spend the day reading from Ellison's voluminous body of bizarre and sometimes frightening work. Then I would be even more depressed. Heh heh. But seriously, great writer.
Kurt Vonnegut is a fantastic writer. Unfortunately he's also become a total douche-bag recently.
In the eighties, William Gibson came and started a new revolution with his cyberpunk novels.
In the nineties, Neal Stephenson breathed new life into cyberpunk by not taking it so seriously. Snow Crash is funny and action-packed, one of my favorite books ever. His other stuff is awesome too.
Greg Egan is another author who wrote some great novels in the nineties. I especially liked Quarantine, Permutation City, and Distress, his "subjective cosmology" novels.
I also like to read comic books, or graphic novels, depending on how adult you're trying to sound. Alan Moore is one of the best comic book writers out there.
If I had to choose one author who's had the most influence on me, it would prolly be CS Lewis. Not just his fiction, but also his writings on faith. The main character of The Seventh Day is named after the main character of Lewis' Space Trilogy.
Finally, last but not least, let me mention Cory Doctorow. He's a great writer, though he didn't really influence me because I hadn't read anything of his until I was almost done with The Seventh Day. There are a few similarities between his first book, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, and mine. Both books take place in a future Central Florida, both of the main characters work in theme parks. But those are just coincidence. What inspired me was the way Doctorow published. See, Doctorow is an activist "copyfighter." He fights against corporate abuse of copyright laws, laws that were originally designed to protect creativity, but have been used to stifle it instead. Doctorow published his novel, and all his other novels and short stories as far as I know, under the Creative Commons license, a flexible copyright that allows his work to be distributed freely on the internet, and yet allows him to hold on to some rights over his work, specifically where profit is concerned. Though print books, "treeware," are going to be around for a while, electronic media will be the future of books. I believe the majority of books in the future will be published under the Creative Commons license, or similar variants. So I got a jump on the future and published my book, The Seventh Day, under the Creative Commons license. Therefore, anyone who comes to this thread may click on one of those links on the right and read my book absolutely free. *HINT HINT*
What is there to say about Robert A Heinlein except that he's the master? My favorite "classic" sci-fi author, he wrote one of my favorite books, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, the story of a libertarian revolution by "Loonies," human colonists on the moon.
Perhaps the greatest living short-story writer, Harlan Ellison started the "New Wave" of science fiction in the sixties. I remember when I was a younger man, whenever I was depressed, I would spend the day reading from Ellison's voluminous body of bizarre and sometimes frightening work. Then I would be even more depressed. Heh heh. But seriously, great writer.
Kurt Vonnegut is a fantastic writer. Unfortunately he's also become a total douche-bag recently.
In the eighties, William Gibson came and started a new revolution with his cyberpunk novels.
In the nineties, Neal Stephenson breathed new life into cyberpunk by not taking it so seriously. Snow Crash is funny and action-packed, one of my favorite books ever. His other stuff is awesome too.
Greg Egan is another author who wrote some great novels in the nineties. I especially liked Quarantine, Permutation City, and Distress, his "subjective cosmology" novels.
I also like to read comic books, or graphic novels, depending on how adult you're trying to sound. Alan Moore is one of the best comic book writers out there.
If I had to choose one author who's had the most influence on me, it would prolly be CS Lewis. Not just his fiction, but also his writings on faith. The main character of The Seventh Day is named after the main character of Lewis' Space Trilogy.
Finally, last but not least, let me mention Cory Doctorow. He's a great writer, though he didn't really influence me because I hadn't read anything of his until I was almost done with The Seventh Day. There are a few similarities between his first book, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, and mine. Both books take place in a future Central Florida, both of the main characters work in theme parks. But those are just coincidence. What inspired me was the way Doctorow published. See, Doctorow is an activist "copyfighter." He fights against corporate abuse of copyright laws, laws that were originally designed to protect creativity, but have been used to stifle it instead. Doctorow published his novel, and all his other novels and short stories as far as I know, under the Creative Commons license, a flexible copyright that allows his work to be distributed freely on the internet, and yet allows him to hold on to some rights over his work, specifically where profit is concerned. Though print books, "treeware," are going to be around for a while, electronic media will be the future of books. I believe the majority of books in the future will be published under the Creative Commons license, or similar variants. So I got a jump on the future and published my book, The Seventh Day, under the Creative Commons license. Therefore, anyone who comes to this thread may click on one of those links on the right and read my book absolutely free. *HINT HINT*
posted by Graham at 6:01 PM
1 Comments:
Hey Graham-
Nice to see yer still kickin & typin! Must be getting close to time for you to rotate back, yeah? They can't keep you in that hellhole indefinitely, can they?
Anyway just wanted to post a quick comment re yr list of influences/inspirations, all good, all kickass (and admirably eclectic).
I'm just now 3/4s of the way thru a novel called "Altered Carbon" that I can highly reccomend on to you- it won the PK Dick award & apparently was featured on NPR or something & is something of the flavor of the month, so apologies if yer already hip to it... if not, yeah: "altered Carborn" by Something Morgan, should be easy to track down- cyberpunk standard, sort of with a cross-ref of noir 50's detective fiction, but well plotted, inventive as fuck, and a pleasant distraction by anyone's yardstick. I give it extra credit on accounta it takes place in the nearfuture of my warped 'n lovely hometown San Francisco.
Anyway, hope all is well with you and yours over there, keep yer head down and balls covered, and yeah- any lurkers who haven't should order a copy of his bitchin' cyber-dysphoria magnum opus nowish!
Enough-
JK
aka Mark from Brooklyn
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