I can still clearly recall my first
childhood experiences with science fiction. I was nine years old when my father
sought to broaden my literally horizons beyond graphic novels and fantasy
series such as the Belgariad or The Lord of the Rings. He bought me an old
cassette tape containing a BBC radio play adaptation of Arthur C. Clark's
'Childhood's End'. I was already deeply infatuated with the timeless
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy radio play, which is still the best adaptation
of Douglas Adam's work in my opinion. But I digress, taking the cassette I
asked him what it was about, and he replied: “It’s similar to the Hitchhikers
Guide, or Star Wars, except much more serious. It’s called Hardcore Science
Fiction. I think you'll like it.”
And thus it was that my young mind,
weaned on the humorous and witty works of Douglas Adams, tasted the fountain of
imagination that is science fiction, and found it spectacular.
However my literary fascination was
not to last. During the age of 15 to18 I started dabbling in many different
areas. Some of which I still hold dear, while others I now find unsavory. Heavy
video gaming, street graffiti and other more exhilarating, or carnal pastimes
began to turn my attention away from the page into the wider world.
Now, while every teenager should be
allowed to express and vent their passions during this period of life. It
should be done within reason, and without losing a sense of yourself. I
certainly don't intend to waffle on about how to, or not, live your life. All I
will say is that I made some bad decisions that caused me to lose faith in
myself, and my aspirations in general. It was only my voracious obsession with
exotic pet-keeping that kept my love and interest of the sciences and natural
world alive.
During this period I kept numerous
species of reptiles, invertebrates and tropical fish (the whole list I won't
bore you with) although I will gabble (just a little) about my favourites. The
Atlantic Mudskippers, Terrestrial Hermit Crabs, Colorado River Toads and my
heavily planted Neocaridina Shrimp tank. Not to mention my beloved kitties Jez
and Luna. Although an old favourite must still be “Hooder” a spear-limbed
Mantis Shrimp whose intelligence and viciousness kept me perplexed throughout
our time together. These animals gave my life purpose in more ways than I knew
at the time, forcing me to continuously learn, adapt and improve my animal
husbandry and knowledge, as they were both emotional investments and engaging
research projects.
And this is where the Polity comes in. I remember picking up the newly released Orbus in 2009 when I was 15. I was trying to get back into reading but had found no books that would grip my imagination as they used to. Orbus changed all of that within the space of a year. I did not read that book. I consumed it. Quickly recommending it to one of my closest friends. He too became hooked, and we spent the next few years taking turns in acquiring the rest of the Polity universe, having discussions long into the night about cannibalistic crabs, gallivanting gabbleducks, broken brass men, and the delphically dangerous desires of Dragon. These stories blew apart my perception of “light reading” as I found myself eager to feast on them. Hungry for more exotic tech; ravenous to put together the pieces of the Atheter's suicide of sentience; intrigued by the moral impunity of the Prador; endlessly contemplating the 4th dimensional mind of sector AI's. The list does indeed go on.
These stories invigorated a new
type of scientific thought in me, one that was not content to sit at home and
passively study my pets. But to go out and confidently seek, to experiment, to
test both established and assumed knowledge of zoology and the biosphere.
Asher's combination of compelling
narrative, well researched and plausible alien worlds, and the style of writing
that allows the reader to understand the story from multiple, often inhuman
perspectives, caused a bit of a scientific Renaissance within me. And for that
I am deeply grateful.
Not long after, I managed to land a
job at a bespoke aquarium store in London, and have just kept walking my path
from there.
Right now I’m studying Marine &
Freshwater Biology at Aberystwyth University. It may not be the oceans of Spatterjay
but it suits me just fine. Keep that keyboard typing Neal, at least until an
aug comes along.
2 comments:
If I were Mr Asher, I would be very proud of the range, depth and uniqueness of his readers, another fascinating character, good luck at Aberystwyth Caspian!
As a graduate of Aberystwyth Uni, may I wish you the very best of luck?
I might also advise that a marine biologist by the apt name of Dr John Fish is a chap with a certain sense of humour. Sooner or later, you will come face to face with the exceedingly famous piscean conundrum that is Heinkel's Arctic Trout.
It is an exceedingly strange animal, which lives in peri-arctic freshwater ponds and has a coat of fur to keep it warm (and to keep postgrads awake in demonstration classes).
Finally, beware the Mutant Son!
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