As Dave’s new SF book is released (SFFWorld review here) we also asked him that age-old question: “Why do you write SF?” Here’s his reply:
So, I have a new novel coming out. It’s called IMPULSE and it’s a sci-fi action/adventure story about mankind in a distant yet somewhat familiar future. So how does someone become an SF writer?
For me it was always part of my being. Some of my earliest memories are of watching first the Gemini and then the Apollo space missions to the moon. This led me to read anything science or space related I could get my hands on, starting with grade school. Stories like Asimov’s Lucky Starr series, Andre Norton, John Christopher’s Sword of the Spirits, and countless others. I was also watching TV, and shows like Lost in Space, Star Trek, Outer Limits and Twilight Zone were either in production or being shown in reruns. This just fueled my imagination, and I began to think up stories, and write them down.
Other genres interested me. Fantasy was OK. Horror could be scary and fun on shows like Night Gallery, and I had a penchant for war movies and TV as well through shows like Rat Patrol and movies like Patton.
But ultimately it always came back to science fiction for me. I remember seeing 2001 in the theater, as an 8 year old. An 8 year old. Sure, most of it went over my head, but I convinced my parents to let me see it at least 3 times. You see, I was a bit of an SF addict.
By the time I was old enough to read adult science fiction (I was trying to read Dune at age 12), I had read so much SF that my sixth grade teacher and the school librarian grew concerned that I was only reading one thing. I distinctly remember them taking me aside and telling me I should read other books, like Huckleberry Finn or Charlotte’s Web. I remember telling them both that day that I didn’t think it mattered what I read, as long as I was reading. Since I was reading at an 8th grade level by then, they mostly left me alone.
Through junior high and High School I probably read at least 500 SF novels, everything I could get my hands on. By the time I got to college, I was writing it, even for college credit. But I let so many other things in my life get in the way that it took me a long time to get serious about it professionally.
So when someone asks me why I write science fiction, I just tell them the obvious, I was born to do it.
I hope you enjoy reading IMPULSE and many more books to come.
And keep dreaming.
db
