When I was growing up, I read every science fiction book and magazine I could find. Since then, I have developed an interest in many different kinds of literature, but still feel the irresistible pull from the vast area we call outer space.
Between earning a living, writing, and allowing time for my family, I allowed the subscription to my favorite magazine drop and did not read an astronomy magazine for over twenty years. Then as I passed by a magazine rack in my local supermarket a picture caught my eye. It showed an artist’s concept of what a newly discovered planet was thought to look like. I thumbed through the pages for a moment, and the magazine joined the rest of my purchases in my grocery cart. When I opened the magazine that night and started to read, I was enthralled to discover that space age developments had caused a quantum leap in our knowledge. Astronomy magazines a few years before, had theorized about out solar system ─ usually guessing with amazing accuracy ─ but they could offer few guesses about what lay beyond the nearer stars. Even with the best telescopes, they still had little to study beyond a pinpoint of light on a piece of film. What they could deduct from this usually involved nothing beyond the size of the star and its chemical composition.
Recently developed technology has made it possible to go beyond the theory stage. The vast store of knowledge concerning what the universe holds in store for us is growing daily. The link to the article below gives some information that has come from some of the most recent discoveries. It is almost breathtaking in what it suggests.
ET where are you?
http://news.yahoo.com/60-billion-alien-planets-could-support-life-study-121306170.html
I think you are correct in wanting to keep your books close to reality even though you are exploring the unknown. Unless you’re writing pure fantasy, where you create a world and all of the laws governing it, you are likely to get in trouble with your readers if you go too far afield. One of the things that occurs to me that might help a science fiction writer is reading articles in astronomy magazines. Astronomers assume (correctly I think) that the rules that govern the part of the universe we can observe, also applies to the far reaches of space. That is not to say that all life forms will be exactly like what we have on earth. After all, if we had never seen a fish, would we believe that one could possibly exist? I think the next few decades will be very interesting as we push outward into space. Who knows what new things we will discover, and the new developments in technology? Before the discovery of electricity, who could have predicted what we have today. There will be many other breakthroughs that might make things possible that are far beyond our imagination.
Good to hear from you.
In my first two novels, The Kaleidoscope Effect and Alone? I delved into these ideas without trying to spend too much time on fantasy. While fantasy drives much of what is considered “science” fiction today, I find much of it mostly just soap opera about human experience. Aliens are generally bad guys. Aside from some of the flaws from my bad writing, I have been asked to describe some things more thoroughly, i.e., the interstellar spaceship and its occupants. For that, I remained purposely vague, because we have no way of knowing what will really work when we travel to the stars.
In one chapter, I attempted to describe a planet, that while filled with life, was completely alien to human life. Attempting to physically explore such a planet, was a recipe for disaster.
Would like to see some of your ideas on the subject. I see you have written some novels, perhaps thrillers?
Ron