Matthew
asked
Keith Stevenson:
Hi Keith, What ideas spawned the creation of your novel Horizon? Were you influenced by the current political climate in Australia? And if I may be bold, what is your take on the current state of science fiction and fantasy in Australia as genres? Cheers, Matt
Keith Stevenson
Hi Matthew. Thanks for your questions.
For Horizon, the initial mental image I had was of an astronaut waking up from some kind of hibernation, and it made me wonder what was happening to them and where they were. It was likely they were travelling to another planet, so as I started to expand on the idea I began to research aspects of planetary development, which led to a deeper appreciation of how climates are formed and changed by natural and 'human-made' events. At the same time there was a lot happening in the real world about climate change: climate deniers, green movements, politicians of every colour getting into the fray, and a growing feeling that nothing concrete was being done, and that certainly fed into the work at a very early stage. I started writing Horizon over ten years ago. It's depressing to see that climate change as an issue has just gotten more and more serious in the intervening years and we have yet to see a concerted multinational response to the very real threat it represents. So, yes I was influenced by the debate in Australia, but it's a debate that has been going for a long time.
In terms of Australian sci-fi and fantasy, the genres go through cycles here just like anywhere else in the world and it feels like the next wave is upon us due, in no small part, to the rise of digital publishing. Certainly in the last couple of years small and independent presses have been moving firmly into the ebook arena with established publishers like Twelfth Planet Press, Ticonderoga and (my own) coeur de lion publishing utilising digital to cut costs and reach a global market far more cheaply than we ever could before. That’s encouraged newer players like Satalyte Publishing, Spineless Wonders and so on to enter the market, so we probably have more markets and outlets for Australian speculative fiction than ever before.
And now the big publishers are moving more strongly into digital. Pan MacMillan started its Momentum imprint a couple years back and that has a strong focus on genre fiction with writers such as Greig Beck, Amanda Bridgeman, Donna Hanson and Graeme Storrs, and now HarperCollins have started up Voyager Impulse, publishing Horizon, JJ Gadd’s Lunation Series, and Alice Through the Blood-Stained Glass by Dan Adams as just the first few of a much larger cohort of genre titles in the pipeline. Add to that indie publishing successes like Mitchell Hogan, whose Crucible of Souls, won the Aurealis Award last year and has sales in the tens of thousands, and I think you could say we’re in good shape. It’s a great time for Australian genre writers with so many options out there.
Thanks again!
For Horizon, the initial mental image I had was of an astronaut waking up from some kind of hibernation, and it made me wonder what was happening to them and where they were. It was likely they were travelling to another planet, so as I started to expand on the idea I began to research aspects of planetary development, which led to a deeper appreciation of how climates are formed and changed by natural and 'human-made' events. At the same time there was a lot happening in the real world about climate change: climate deniers, green movements, politicians of every colour getting into the fray, and a growing feeling that nothing concrete was being done, and that certainly fed into the work at a very early stage. I started writing Horizon over ten years ago. It's depressing to see that climate change as an issue has just gotten more and more serious in the intervening years and we have yet to see a concerted multinational response to the very real threat it represents. So, yes I was influenced by the debate in Australia, but it's a debate that has been going for a long time.
In terms of Australian sci-fi and fantasy, the genres go through cycles here just like anywhere else in the world and it feels like the next wave is upon us due, in no small part, to the rise of digital publishing. Certainly in the last couple of years small and independent presses have been moving firmly into the ebook arena with established publishers like Twelfth Planet Press, Ticonderoga and (my own) coeur de lion publishing utilising digital to cut costs and reach a global market far more cheaply than we ever could before. That’s encouraged newer players like Satalyte Publishing, Spineless Wonders and so on to enter the market, so we probably have more markets and outlets for Australian speculative fiction than ever before.
And now the big publishers are moving more strongly into digital. Pan MacMillan started its Momentum imprint a couple years back and that has a strong focus on genre fiction with writers such as Greig Beck, Amanda Bridgeman, Donna Hanson and Graeme Storrs, and now HarperCollins have started up Voyager Impulse, publishing Horizon, JJ Gadd’s Lunation Series, and Alice Through the Blood-Stained Glass by Dan Adams as just the first few of a much larger cohort of genre titles in the pipeline. Add to that indie publishing successes like Mitchell Hogan, whose Crucible of Souls, won the Aurealis Award last year and has sales in the tens of thousands, and I think you could say we’re in good shape. It’s a great time for Australian genre writers with so many options out there.
Thanks again!
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