| Alastair Reynolds | Contributor: Amfo | Posted: 14/02/07 | 22:52 |
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page 6 of 6 I think the answer to that is a writer can only write the ideas that come into his head, and for some reason whenever I sit down at a keyboard these horror elements keep coming out.
It works for me because I think horrific things always have a stronger impact. Dread is a strong emotion, and provokes a strong reaction. And then there's the way SF has a tradition of horror - all the best Doctor Who and Star Trek episodes are ones where there's a strong horror element. Some people have said my work has a Lovecraftian feel to it, and I got around to reading some Lovecraft recently, but another author I admire is Stephen King. I think he's a real master of the short form. Somehow, at this point, the interview diverges into an unsolicited discussion of Reynold's influences. I'm also a big China Mieville fan. I got a lot of excitement and enjoyment out of Perdido Street Station, I thought it had great page-turning drive.
The book also really opened up my eyes to fantasy. Previously I'd just dismissed it, but I saw in that novel that it could be as exciting and unexpected as SF. I read it with a sort of breathless enthusiasm, and it showed me new ways to look at ideas, really modified my approach to writing. Despite Mieville's impact, Reynolds says he doesn't read much SF when he's writing. But once a book is done, he gets three months a year to catch up on what else is happening in the genre. But at the end of the day, the schedule is king, and Reynolds is committed to that one book per year grind. In 2007, The Prefect will hit shelves, and dedicated fans and Reynolds completists should also seek out his US anthology Zima Blue, which isn't currently published by Gollancz. You might find some of his ideas overly familiar, you might not put his characters up there with the masters of the genre, but one thing's for sure: Alastair Reynolds knows how to keep you reading. So the only question is: will one book a year be enough? Discuss this interview in the SFFR forums...
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