They say there is only a finite number of stories in the world. They say that as few as seven, or six, or three narratives exist and that these are simply told again and again, with the names and places changed to protect the storyteller from overly observant readers. They will tell you that the …
Author: davidjharrisonauthor
Thriller writer, author of Recursion. Likes existential horror, science and dogs.
Master and Commander by Patrick O’Brian
Trigger Warning: there are boats in this, and water, and people, but no dogs. This is about a bunch of people who like messing about on boats. It’s based in olden times, so the boats are wooden and hardly ever work properly. There’s not even any motors, and they have to go where the wind …
Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene
All very well, if you like vacuum cleaners. I don’t. There was a Hoover salesman in Cuba who became a secret agent but then he drew some pictures of a nozzle and pretended it was a communist death star. His masters in Blightly liked the look of it and sent him loads of money for …
ANOMALY by DJ Harrison
You know how there’s a nasty alien thingy in almost every part of space these days, well this is just like that, but completely different. The alien thingy isn’t what you expect. It lives inside a spaceship that likes bees and that, and it does lambing and it grows things. Mat Damon grew a potato …
DUNE by Frank Herbert
It’s really good this. It’s like Game of Thrones in space. There’s even the same characters, so it’s easy. There’s like that Drogo person, you know the one with the horse and the big pecs, except now he’s in a spaceship. The plot is really clever too. There’s this fat bloke right, who wants all …
What would your dog tell you if it had the chance?
My faithful canine makes herself clear on a large variety of matters. She tells me if she is happy or sad (easy - just a wag of the tail, or not), when she is tired (impossible not to catch the yawn), and when she is scared (jumps into my lap, winding me, or worse). She …
Continue reading What would your dog tell you if it had the chance?
I Think My Spaceship Knows Which Way to Go
The Bennets won't even see us coming I was with my father when he once asked Ian (M) Banks wether his preference was to write novels set in the real world, or to write his very much loved space operas. The cherished, but late, author replied that it was a constant effort for him not …
Humanity @ 13% – Chapter One (six of six)
‘I feel sick,’ Rosie said. ‘And it hurts when I breathe. What’s wrong with me?’ ‘You’ve been diagnosed with Chronic Pulmonary Obstructive Disease.’ ‘What’s that?’ ‘It doesn’t matter because that’s not what you have.’ ‘It isn’t?’ ‘No, the doctors believe that your respiratory system has had a severe reaction to the nitrogen oxides in the …
Humanity @ 13% – Chapter One (five of six)
Nurses came and went. They wore blue uniforms and mostly revolved around a chaotic, unorganised desk, littered with papers and folders. What I assumed to be a doctor appeared, and she was immediately surrounded by an explosion of activity, as the nurses and other staff vied for her attention. I gathered from the exasperated whispers …
Humanity @ 13% – Chapter One (four of six)
Dishevelled nicotine addicts besmirched the white-walled arch of the main gates of the hospital. A crumbling statue of a dead king stared down as I approached a black woman in a blue uniform. She sucked on a short pipe and when she exhaled, great plumes of cold white vapour poured out of her mouth and …
David J Harrison 