Harry's Blog

I fell asleep this afternoon, I must have only been unconscious for thirty minutes or so, but now I am not remotely sleepy even though it's bed time. So I'm sat here at the computer, half watching L sleep peacefully, the very image of beauty, and also listening to an episode of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue on my mobile phone.

But I do so like this time of night. I'm very much a night person and this post aside, it's when I feel most creative. For the past couple of months I've been mulling over a concept for a science fiction story, perhaps with enough legs for a novel, and so am considering setting some time aside each evening to work on it. Perhaps even at this time.

I won't go into too much detail at this stage but I will tell you a few things about the idea. The story begins in the present day and centres around dramatic events when first contact with an alien civilization is made. The events move at such a pace that the British government is quickly forced into a decision that shifts the global balance of power and alters the course of man's future among the stars.

I've pretty much got the first third of a novel mapped out in my head and it's about time I started writing it down. The broad strokes are pretty clear in my mind. I'll need to personalise the story with some interesting characters that ground the tale in reality. My only fixed character at the moment is a police officer in a northern English town who is involved in the events that are the centre of the first part of the story.

All the stories I've written until now are humorous in nature. While this new science fiction material does have the sort of wicked dark humour as War of the Worlds, the overall aim is to create a serious hard sci-fi story. I think what's likely to happen is that I'll write a short story as an introduction and post it on here and see what you folks think. Be interesting to see if it's worth taking any further.

Changing the subject slightly, it's rather warm right now. There's not a cloud in the sky and despite the witching hour arriving it feels like a balmy afternoon. For years southern friends of mine have made jokes about the weather being tropical down here compared to Manchester. It wasn't until I moved to London and then here to Essex that I believed them. I'm still not sleep and am rather warm. Thank heavens for the electric fan,

Right, time to try and get some sleep. Night folks.

If you're wondering about the post title, it's a phrase uttered by Bill Bailey in the episode of 'Clue I'm listening to.