Andrew Wallace Books

So a nice bit of news here - Imelda & the Horned Owl is #5 on the Most Gifted books in the YA Arthurian list. So if you're after a lovely pressie for your 7-12 year old (or any age really), it's only a tenner for the paperback - https://bit.ly/ImeldaHornedOwl

Celebrity Werewolf is JUST £1 FOR THE PAPERBACK!!! Get one here - https://bit.ly/CelebrityWerewolf

“Fang-sharp science fiction: witty, readable and simply bristling with lupine splendour.” – Adam Roberts, author of Jack Glass

“Droll, and very funny in places... I enjoyed this a lot.” – Dave Hutchinson, author of Europe At Midnight.

From Life in Sci-Fi - the real horror of 'Alien':

The real horror of ‘Alien’ I’ve been thinking about the difference between horror and thrillers, and how the two are often intertwined. It helps if we refine what ‘thrill’ means. It’s that surge of fight or flight energy tha…

I'm delighted to be included in the Best of British Science Fiction 2022. I was a fan of these collections long before I was published in one. My little story aside, the editor and publisher have a real knack for putting together unforgettable science fiction so do pick up one up asap -

Best of British Science Fiction 2022, Robert Bagnall, Stewart Baker, Brent Baldwin, Keith Brooke, Eric Brown, Alice Dryden, EM Faulds, J.K. Fulton, Liam Hogan, L.N. Hunter, Phillip Irving, Ida Keogh, Tim Major, A J McIntosh, Dafydd McKimm, Fiona... NewCon Press is a multiple award-winning independent publisher specialising in science fiction, fantasy, dark fantasy and horror.

Some thoughts about creativity and so-called ‘AI’. When Kubrick and Aldiss were talking about the early drafts of – you guessed it – the film A.I. (based on Aldiss’s ‘Supertoys’ short story) they got to talking about how to make the ultimate big daft science fiction movie, to the point of actually setting out a basic structure.
And what that structure was, was Star Wars. Ruefully, Kubrick and Aldiss realised what they’d done and moved on to make the A.I. film, which [spoiler alert] is about a robot boy bought to replace another child who is in a coma. The robot boy is programmed to receive love, and a tender relationship with the mother develops. Then the biological boy wakes up, and the robot boy is rejected. It is a genuinely astonishing first act, and apart from Jude Law as a s*x android and some weird robots in the future, is the only reason to watch it.
My point is that the robot boy CANNOT CHANGE. He is unable to move on and accept that he has served his purpose and is no longer required. This happens to humans all the time, and will happen a lot more thanks to the kind of upward-failing male psychopath loser who is always rewarded by our snivelling worship of economics, and who with the cunning of a rabid weasel sees the new algorithms rattling about as a way to stave off the day when his incompetence is exposed.
In other words, we evolve. And by evolve I don’t mean store or munch through data quicker, because that is unworthy of our genius. I mean genuinely change through a unique process of creation, suffering, illogical stupid hope, and bloody mindedness.
Which brings me back to Star Wars. The reason it is my favourite film is that its creation, theme, and emotional resolution are ALL THE SAME THING. It was put together by young people with no idea what they were doing, and who literally had to invent an entire industry as they went along just to realise some crazy stuff about a boy who can manipulate the fabric of the universe with his mind, filtered through a Western/Samurai/World War 2/Flash Gordon odyssey that breaks all the rules by not even letting us meet the hero until almost 40 minutes in.
At the moment of ultimate peril, the hero abandons his computer because screw that machine crap, listens to the voice of an old madman that ONLY HE CAN HEAR, and trusts his instincts, truth, and the magic of creation to save the day for everyone (including the machines). The whole thing fizzes with demented creativity, because that is what it’s about. Form and content are one in the way a machine would not have the wit to even risk.
See how much more love I have for it than for the overworked A.I. – which despite its pedigree and heavy-handed symbolism isn’t really about anything (eg there is no act two).
And from that rant back to the silly little programs we’re all so worried about. They will end up doing what Kubrick and Aldiss tried to do, but without the humour and wisdom to see the truth of it. Instead, what will be produced won’t even be a Star Wars knock off, but a frame-by-frame glossy remake, kind of like the 1997 re-release with computer graphics that somehow looked worse than a guy dressed up and some puppets. And… It will have all the soul of the prequels.
Now imagine that but for everything, not because database algorithms are bad, but because like all new technology only a few people know how they work, which makes stopping their abuse impossible until it’s too late.
The answer is, as always, rejection of false binaries and embrace of creative chaos. For the avoidance of doubt, ‘creative chaos’ isn’t a free for all that lets the N***s get even more power than they already have. It’s the ferocious creation of the genuinely new, which is only possible with… [drumroll]… humanity.

Amazing Dread & the Broken Witch artwork by Lana

Nice reviewlet on Twitter from a reader who picked up a load of indie books and tweeted about them under 'Indie Spec Fic Recs' -

'Love these Luna Novellas. Heightened reality desert setting and localised story give this one a unique vibe before you even realise you've never read a protagonist quite like the Broken Witch.'

Get your own copy here - https://bit.ly/BrokenWitch

Sad to hear about Jean-Luc Godard. I love how his originality was both disciplined and half-crazed. Here's Life in Sci-Fi from 2015 about the influence of Alphaville on Diamond Roads - http://bit.ly/2WuTPHe

NewCon Press is one of the most interesting science fiction publishers around and they're doing a flash sale for books inc hardback and paperback copies of CELEBRITY WEREWOLF here til 17 Aug - http://www.newconpress.co.uk/info/books.asp?offers=yes