Critters^TM Workshop

Richard C. J. Alison:

[email]

URL to WWW Home page:

SF/F/H preferences:

I aspire to write "transgressive SF", (as talked about by Claude Lalumiere in TTA31) - meaning SF which goes beyond established limits. SF is about potentiality for me. It is about possibilities. SF is a potentially such a powerful satiric device, as well as potentially mind expanding. I really enjoy "if this goes on" kinds of stories.

I have only been reading SF novels and short stories since c.2001 - I have only read at most a few books from any author I recommend but here are some authors I like: Geoff Ryman, Olaf Stapledon, H G Wells, Kim Stanley Robinson, Steve Aylett, John Sladek, Philip K Dick, Stanislaw Lem, William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, Alfred Bester, Kurt Vonnegut, Samuel R Delaney, Keith Roberts, Robert Silverberg, Jeff Noon... etc. etc.

Outside the SF genre, I quite like Chuck Pahlaniuk, Hunter S Thompson, Voltaire. I have a soft spot for H P Lovecraft in H, but otherwise haven't read much horror. I rarely read fantasy, though I like Borges' short stories. I read some non-fiction and politics too: John Pilger, Noam Chomsky etc.

A good story is a good story, and I appreciate that too.

Publications, if any:

No SF/F/H publications (yet).

Anything else you think would interest other members:

I'm 21, from Bristol, in the country which our rulers call the UK. I'm currently studying Development Studies at the University of East Anglia. (This is a hybrid course of Sociology/Anthropology/Politics, Economics and Ecology/Agriculture. The area of study is the 'developing world'. So I study poverty, and people's pretences at doing something about it.)

I'm interested in all kinds of things. Careerwise, ideally I would like to farm a smallholding on common land somewhere. Unfortunately the royal family of this country stole all this land from us about 200 years ago, so this is not an option. So at the moment, I'm practising my writing, my cartooning, my music (guitar/jungle crossover) so that I can whore my creativity (somehow!) for a living (until the revolution ;). And because it's fun!

You read all this! You must be crazier than I am. Have a nice life.