After some 40 years promoting new authors, we regret to say that we are now closing down our business. We wish new authors every success in the future with new publishers.
This means I now have a handful of short stories to go towards another collection: Always with You, Blue Holes, Dragon in the Flower, The Gire and the Bibrat & Walking John and Bird. Other stories that could be made part of a collection include Shell Game, The Cuisinart Effect, The Rhine’s World Incident and perhaps some others sitting in my files that are unrelated to the Polity (as most of these are) or Cowl (the Rhine’s World one). The thing about The Gabble was that Peter Lavery asked me to confine myself to Polity stories so it fitted in with the rest of the Macmillan books, so I have plenty of other stories knocking about that don’t really fit anywhere.
Meanwhile, it’s lovely to discover that I’m right-wing (and probably a fascist) and that my writing is ‘a bit moronic’ and the ‘political anvils’ I drop into my work are naïve. This of course means that all of you who enjoy my books were too stupid to notice my obviously deep desire to stomp all over you with jackboots as opposed to, say, always protesting about big autocratic government. I never realized, but now it’s been made clear to me I will of course be off to get a swastika tattooed on my forehead. Surely it was clear that all the Polity books described the fascist state I wished we all lived in?
And meanwhile I’ll get back to Jupiter War, the last book in this Owner trilogy. I ask what I consider to be some serious questions, but these books are completely irrelevant. In failing to conform to correct political thought and not loving big state socialism I’m obviously as dumb as a box of spanners.
9 comments:
And here I was thinking that the concept of an AI-run government, that was 'technically' a dictatorship, but where people got to do pretty much what they wanted as long as it didn't hurt/affect anyone else, made for a great setting.
Make sure you get the swastika round the right way, you wouldn't want to be mistaken for a pacifist... or worse the Jain.
F..k em Neal..I try and ignore them even if its almost impossible.
Lets take recent history as an example on extremetism ...
On the left hand corner you have communism through the 30's 40s and 50's- result genocide by the millions. Be warned you socialists
On the right you have fascism through the 30's and 40's - result, genocide by the millions.
I would say your stance on your political views is old traditional conservative (less state influence and more private control) No problems there actually
The Polity i think is one giant metaphore for the riculous state of human affairs when it comes to politics. Because what is not in doubt is that humans, given half the chance, will seriously endeavour to fuck things up!! No one is immune..recent history as George Bush Junior and Tony Blair who contrived to use democracy to enforce their will...idiots that they were. Trouble was they managed to do so much harm as our elected leaders.
I say lets get to a Polity type government because one thing is for sure, I would trust a machine over a politician any day (MPs expenses as a recent example which shows all of them (Cons, Liber and Labour) were on the take)
Actually when you get down to it Neal, you are at least show independence of thought..probably very alarming for those leftie and righty twats who want total control!!
On th
You create times&spaces, new worlds, highly inspiring for fiction readers.
I think political ideologies from the future are beyond capacity of these morons. I lived 16 years under socialist regime, then 22 years with beautiful global-capitalist-wild-east new billionaires and multinational corporations, today I am curious what else will come. Happy reading to all...
And that's essentially what Banks' Culture is, Phillip, which goes a long way towards demonstrating the reality of a 'socialist utopia'. Of course one difference in my EVIL twin, the Polity, is that people can raise themselves up to the level of AIs, whereas in the Culture they are all on a glanded version of soma.
Graeme, I might just limit myself to bovver boots and braces for now. I wouldn't want anyone to get the wrong idea about me...
Arth, human nature is why I first went the 'AIs in charge' route. I couldn't see us building something like the Polity without it coming apart. Further thought, as I continued to write the books, added darker aspects and dispensed with the simplicity. One aspect of the criticisms seen on that page I find perpetually annoying. Do they think that, in the process of writing 20+ books, I haven't thought about this stuff?
DirkLevmilk, so after those 20 years I suspect you're a btter judge of the issues involved. I sometimes wonder how the many leftwing writers in the SF world today would get on with spouting their views to people formerly under the soviets. I don't suppose the reception would be all that good.
It never ceases to amaze me that people will read a work of fiction and believe the opinions of the major characters are those of the author, especially if the book is written in first-person.
I have a friend who does this. He'll say, "Wow, Stephen King must really hate dogs!" because someone kicked a mutt to death in The Dead Zone. Weird.
That and your AIs can be just as vicious and petty as humans.
I've not read all of the Culture
novels as yet, but I always got the impression of near godlike, benevolent deities.
Well, okay, except for the ones in Excession ...
Michael, certainly some of it is my opinion and some of it definitely is not. In my earlier books things were a bit more simple, but now they're getting complex as I try to peer into the minds of my characters, hence the Technician and The Departure. Some don't see that - just confirmation of their prejudices.
Phillip, as I recollect wasn't one of them called Meatfucker?
Yes! Definite candidate for best ship AI name.
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