Keith Stevenson's Blog, page 17

Kresh - creating society from mythology

Any decent worldbuilding, particularly where it posits an imaginary alien species, needs to delve into the social structure and belief system that exists.

When I considered creating 'the alien', I knew I couldn't go 'too alien'. There are - no doubt - aliens out there in the vastness of space that we will never understand or be able to relate to because our frame of reference has nothing in

Kresh - plot and themes

One of the things I've realised in working through the development of this story cycle is just how malleable plot is. The genesis of the Lenticular books led me to write a bunch of short stories - a serial in fact - published on the Nuketown website in the late Nineties.

I look at those stories now with a somewhat embarassed sense, because the writing lacks nuance. Even so, the key plot

Kresh - the origins

While I'm working my way through the latest draft of the Kresh books, I thought I'd start an irregular series of posts covering aspects of their development. First up, where the hell the whole idea came from.

Way back in the 20th Century, 1996 to be exact, I was on a tram, riding home from the Aurealis Awards ceremony that was held that year in Justin Ackroyd's Slow Glass bookshop in Swanston

Why write?

I've been writing fairly steadily for nearly forty years now. What keeps me going? I used to think it was the desire for fame and fortune, but there's been none of that in all that time, although a minor ego boo from the odd short story publication has been very welcome. So why am I still doing it? I had to seriously consider this - along with all the other things we seriously consider when we

Major rewrites and other good stuff

Time flies and the blog looks like not much has happened since February, but I'm in full rewrite mode on the first book of the Lenticular series.

After the excellent feedback and crits I got I'm in the process of killing my darlings. Firstly I knew I had to up the human element and build more front story for my secondary protagonist, Rhees. After throwing a few ideas around, I have to credit my

Gathering momentum

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The year ahead

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Climate Scientists as Psychohistorians

The current state of affairs in Australia - where we have a government that refuses to accept the scientific evidence of climate change, that undermines that science and climate scientists whenever it can, and that is now dismantling the only proven method to effectively manage carbon emissions - made me think of a scientist who presented his government with another inconvenient truth.

The

Kresh book 3

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Sixteen years in the making - the final scene in the Kresh books

On a tram ride home from the Aurealis Awards in 1997, I had a vision of an alien held down on a table and having a vital organ sliced from its body. That's what started an (overly) long journey from a series of short stories to a novel about Jeldon, a Kresh terribly disfigured during an invasion by Earthers and his own personal quest to overcome adversity and reclaim his homeworld.
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