Years ago, shortly after I’d read the original Dune series and the Hyperion Cantos, I decided that I wanted to write Science Fiction. I’d always loved science fiction: the idea of space and discovery, futuristic weapons and transport, aliens and new mysteries – what’s not to love? And there’s nothing like reading the absolute pinnacles of the genre to inspire you to pursue a near-impossible level of skill and talent. I mean, Frank Herbert and Dan Simmons’ series are unparalleled. 

They are unassailable books. Very different to one-another but undeniably spectacular regardless. Frank’s series captures everything I love about philosophy and mixes it in with intrigue and a universe so fleshed out that you really believe the Butlerian Jihad was terrible even though it’s rarely directly explored or discussed (I’m ignoring the prequels/historical pieces here). And Hyperion and its sequels are everything universe spanning epics should aspire to: there’s mystery, intrigue, action, thrills, poetic descriptions, and mind-boggling world-building. I mean, after reading them why wouldn’t I want to write science fiction? 

I imagined the writing process was like becoming a god – the power of creation and destiny crackling at my fingertips. 

So I tried it. Many many years ago I typed out about thirty thousand words of the beginning of my very own space opera. It had ships and mind-melding and a mysterious enemy and plots that spanned the stars- and it was crap. 

None of it carried any real weight. I couldn’t figure out how to capture any realism in my characters and the piece read like this great to-and-fro of conflicting ideas. In short, I was just writing about what I thought would be cool without having any real sense of what was necessary and where any of it was going. 

There are ideas in there that I still like. And there’s certainly things that I’ve modified and reworked in order to develop and detail the universe of The Divining Mind. But I like to think that I’ve come a long way since then. That being said, I know that I’ve got a long way to go before I could even hope to share shelf space with Simmons or Herbert – and that’s okay. I’m just glad that people seem to be enjoying what I’ve done so far.