As a writer and Internet enthusiast, I spend inordinate amounts of time sat on my ass in front of a computer. As a result, I’m not as fit as I could be. Therefore, I’ve pushed myself into taking some positive action, and I’ve signed up for a 10 week judo instruction course. I’m hoping it will give me some discipline and an incentive to improve my general level of fitness; not to mention some firsthand martial arts experience, which I can then mine for material while writing my next book.

This site has links to 100 blogs dealing with different aspects of creative writing, from checking your grammar to getting published.

Link:  top-100-creative-writing-blogs

So, I was chatting with someone and mentioned that I wrote science fiction, and they asked what kind of science fiction it was. Was it hard science fiction or soft? Was it cyberpunk or post cyberpunk? Was it Mundane or Space Opera?

The trouble was, I didn’t have a ready answer for them. I just did what I usually do in such situations – wave my hands around and mention “Bladerunner” a few times. But it got me thinking: on the one hand, these sub classifications are generally pretty meaningless to anyone outside the genre, but on the other, they can be useful descriptive shortcuts when talking to fans, agents or editors.

So, here’s my question: if you’ve read my book or some of my short stories, how would YOU describe them? Do they fall into a recognised category?

I’m currently reading a number of non fiction books for research and/or enjoyment:

1) The Paris Interviews Vol.1, ed. Philip Gourevitch – A collection of interviews from The Paris Review. Subjects include Ernest Hemingway, Truman Capote, Dorothy Parker, Saul Bellow, Kurt Vonnegut, and Joan Didion. A great book for anyone wantiing a glimpse into the minds and habits of these great writers.

2) The Art of War by Sun Tzu - Chinese political classic dating from around 403-221 BC and a huge influence on practitioners of warfare ever since.

3) Shaping Things by Bruce Sterling – If you’re at all interested in the relationship you have to the products you consume, and the way that relationship is going to evolve over the next ten years, you should definitely read this book.

4)45 by Bill Drummond - Entertaining memoir from the former KLF frontman and musical prankster, containing his thoughts on pop music, modern art, and Spice Girl tribute bands.

5) How To Live on Mars by Robert Zubrin – Written as a handbook for new colonists, How To Live on Mars manages gives you all the science you need to know to make a life on the red planet.

6) In Memory Yet Green by Isaac Asimov – A candid and absorbing autobiography from one of science fiction’s most famous “Golden Age” writers.

7) About Writing by Samuel Delany – I’ve been slowly working my way through this collection  of essays, letters, and interviews for months. This is not a quick-fix “how to write” manual, but an erudite and densely written series of deep meditations on the craft of writing and story-telling.