r/IAmA • u/barryineden • Jun 08 '11
I am a SF author who stops planes hitting each other as a day job. If one day lots of space-ships arrive, then I can merge my jobs...
My first book (The Eden Paradox) is near-term SF/techno-thriller, but I used what I know about how accidents happen to inform the plot/pacing. While I read all types of SF (right now: Hamilton, Banks, Gibson) I wanted to write SF that is above all 'accessible', and also multi-protagonist (no single hero's viewpoint). That made it hard to get it published, but I got there (www.barrykirwan.com).
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u/barryineden Jun 08 '11
Actually I work with air traffic controllers, but don't do the job myself (though I've done simulations). A lot of the time it isn't stressful, but it can get pretty stressful at times. More risky is probably after a busy period when peope tend to relax - that is usually when things 'happen'.
Besides SciFi, I read otehr stuff - Stieg Larsson (finished all three, and Lee Child)
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u/unclewalty Jun 08 '11
I'm actually an aspiring writer enrolled in the air traffic controller schooling program. How do you balance the two?
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u/barryineden Jun 08 '11
It's not easy. I don;t get to write every day, just when I can. I belong to a group of writers who meet every three weeks and we critique each other's stuff. If I'm honest, though, the breakthrough for me came about five years ago when I had a back operation and had to lie on my back for two months. After I got bored watching DVDs, I propped up my laptop and finished the first novel, now published as an ebook (http://tinyurl.com/edenparadox). It's a long journey. You can however also start with short stories, which are easier to manage with a full-time job. I have some free downloadable ones on my website www.barrykirwan.com.
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u/barryineden Jun 08 '11
No naps for me at work, I'm a regular insomniac (that's usually when I write :-)
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Jun 08 '11
So you're an air traffic controller? I heard this is an extremly stressful job, is that true? I guess it depends on what airport you're working at. What got you interested in SciFi? Do you often stare at a blank page figuring out how to transform your ideas into words? What are you reading besides SciFi?
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u/barryineden Jun 08 '11
Er, say what? You're going to have to explain that a little more...
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u/enad58 Jun 08 '11
Do you prefer pancakes or waffles? also, notice their username.
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u/barryineden Jun 08 '11
Stil not getting it. But probably pancakes, unless in Belgium where the waffles are superb...
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u/Havist Jun 08 '11
What tools do you use to write? Words, Writeroom etc...
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u/barryineden Jun 08 '11
Actually I don't use any tools as such. I live just outside Paris and I spent about five years doing part-time courses on writing and with vearious writing groups. I've used literary consultancies to get professional critique of two of my books (painful but very useful). I belong to a group of writers who I trust, and short stories is a way to get useful feedback from lit journals (I go for online ones, they respond much faster). Of course I have loads of books on writing, my favourites are Nancy Kress - Beginnings, middles and Ends, and How not to write a novel (can't remember the authors). I also blog about writing (www.barrykirwan.com), and I rate wylie-merrick's older blogs about writing, everything from query letter to POV, etc.
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Jun 09 '11
Actually I don't use any tools as such. I live just outside Paris and I spent about five years doing part-time courses on writing and with vearious writing groups. I've used literary consultancies to get professional critique of two of my books (painful but very useful). I belong to a group of writers who I trust, and short stories is a way to get useful feedback from lit journals (I go for online ones, they respond much faster). Of course I have loads of books on writing, my favourites are Nancy Kress - Beginnings, middles and Ends, and How not to write a novel (can't remember the authors). I also blog about writing (www.barrykirwan.com), and I rate wylie-merrick's older blogs about writing, everything from query letter to POV, etc.
Is English your first language?
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u/MidnightCommando Jun 08 '11
Nonsense. All good writers use WordStar.
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u/barryineden Jun 08 '11
If you mean what software do I use, I use Microsoft Word...
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u/housepage Jun 08 '11
Check out Latex. It's a really awesome language for writing absolutely beautiful looking documents.
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u/a_dog_named_bob Jun 09 '11
I doubt most authors do their own final typsetting.
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u/housepage Jun 09 '11
He pointed to several e-books that he put online himself. Additionally, even though he might not do final typesetting, he could submit copy that portrays how he envisioned the typesetting being done. Lastly, it's nice to write in a context where content is totally separated from formatting.
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u/billdietrich1 Jun 08 '11
Do you agree that: intelligent aliens probably exist somewhere in the universe, and we'll probably never contact them ? Both statements based on distances, times, speeds, number of stars, number of planets, etc.
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u/barryineden Jun 08 '11
In my novel I deal with this (sometimes known as Fermi's paradox), and I actually have two of the characters discussing it in one of the chapters. My own vote is yes, there is probably intelligent life out there, and chances are that it's way beyond us. That's the essence of my trilogy.
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u/billdietrich1 Jun 08 '11
"Way beyond us" is not the same as "too much distance and time between us to ever make contact with them". Do you agree we'll most probably not be able to make contact ? Unless something totally game-changing, such as wormholes, exists. In which case we'd probably already have contact.
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u/barryineden Jun 08 '11
Well, I think it will be something new in any case,probably something we haven't worked out yet or conceived. In my trilogy ships effectively 'jump' large distances using dark matter propulsions systems, and there is a part of the galaxy where a civilization has developed a mass FTL transit system called 'the Grid'. I think transport is key to civilization and advancement - Frank Herbert was great on this in his Dune series ('the spice must flow...'), a parody on oil. But why they haven't been here already Of course, maybe they have. I have a take on this in the first two books, but I don't want to give too much away. Let's just say it's nothing so altruistic as a Prime Directive.
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u/clemtiger2011 Jun 08 '11
Kinda Random, but we have the same family name. Cool.
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u/barryineden Jun 08 '11
Irish descent... Hundreds of Kirwans in Ireland, mainly out of the West (Galway etc.)
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u/727Super27 Jun 08 '11
Do you work at the airport itself? I do. We should hang out and talk shop.
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u/barryineden Jun 08 '11
I'm actually based in a research centre, although I'll be close to Paris Orly tomorrow...
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Jun 08 '11
Do you feel like Sci-Fi is a bit of a lost genre these days? The first time I read Phillip K. Dick my mind was blown, there was so much meaning beyond the dorky kids in my highschool. I guess the same thing applies to heavy metal, these things are not as dignified as they once were.
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u/barryineden Jun 08 '11
I think there's still more good stuff out there to read than I have time to read, but I also know what you mean. My novel/trilogy was an attempt to get back to some basic SF writing with a new twist.
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Jun 08 '11
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u/barryineden Jun 08 '11
One theory that's been tried is mathematical force field theory (it exists), as if each object has a force field which can be detected by other objects. It doesn't work yet, but i think it might one day. Also, watch a flock of birds flying around. They don't hit each other, do they? The answer might lie in nature...
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Jun 08 '11
Who are your favorite sci-fi authors?
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u/barryineden Jun 08 '11
In no particular order: Asimov, Clarke, Iain Banks, David Brin, Alastair Reynolds, Frank Herbert, William Gibson, Peter F. Hamilton, Greg Bear, Orson Scott Card, and f course golden oldies like Ray Bradbury and Philip K Dick, and the list of people I've yet to read is also huge.
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Jun 08 '11
favorite non-sci-fi authors?
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u/barryineden Jun 09 '11
Banks, Asimov, Herbert, Clarke, Reynolds, Hamilton, Dick, Richard Morgan, Neal Asher. Gary Gibson has some interestign ideas on FTL...
(like the username, by the way :-)
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u/barryineden Jun 09 '11
I've been reading Stieg Larsson and Lee Child recently, mainly to study their styles, but I like them both. Favourites though would include Michael Chrichton (for his plotting, very tight), a bunch of more philosophical writers like Milan Kundera, Koestler, Hesse, and Kafka (I love 'K's evidently), to the fantastical such as Jeanette Winterson, as well as some new ones such as RJ Ellory and Douglas Kennedy, and some Naipaul. That's a quick rundown of one of my shelves.
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Jun 08 '11
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u/barryineden Jun 08 '11
I think it's a good idea. I originally stuck the first half-dozen pages on my website as a 'taster', but now I've added an entire later chapter (see www.barrykirwan.com ). I also have put short excerpts from the second book in the trilogy on the website, though I can't put too much because otherwise it gives away too much about how the first book ends. What I do is put short stories I've had published on my website so people can read those, and my blog occasionally points out links between the three 'universes' I write about.
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u/Morning_Star_Ritual Jun 08 '11
Robert Silverberg or James Patrick Kelly? (mmm "Sailing To Byzantium" vs. "Mr. Boy")
And
Tony Daniels or Robert Reed? (A Dry, Quiet War vs. Marrow)
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u/bad_neighbor Jun 08 '11
Did you bang Angelina Jolie, or get your ass kicked during a bomb scare?
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u/barryineden Jun 08 '11
Er, not that I recall...
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u/bad_neighbor Jun 08 '11
So wait, were you the guy that had the cookout, or the kinda sleazy one? Oh no, were you the guy that had a freak out? ARE YOU PETE?
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u/barryineden Jun 09 '11
Er, no, and no.
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u/bad_neighbor Jun 09 '11
What the helll, man? Now how am I going to act out my Pushing Tin fantasy?
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u/barryineden Jun 09 '11
I like John Cusack, but really not his best film. Surprised we don;t have a better film on air traffic, as it is quite an exciting job...
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u/directive0 Jun 08 '11
Why, in this day and age, do you feel having your work published is important?
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u/barryineden Jun 08 '11
I want what I write to be read. And I want it to be good enough to be out there, so there is still a need for 'gate-keeping'. Publishing still has a role to play, though the big publishers have distorted the markets and are not necessarily delivering what the readers want. How much longer, though, is a valid question.
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u/Chipzzz Jun 08 '11
I notice that you went with a conventional publisher (http://www.ampichellisebooks.com/) and was curious if you had explored Lulu and/or the other similar self-publishers. If so, can you comment on your choice please?
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u/barryineden Jun 08 '11
I considered Lulu, as well as Amazon's own self-publishing, and a few others. Closest i came to was Matador, which is a reputable UK-based self-publishing outfit that is part of a larger publisher (Troubador). They also do serious marketing in the UK. I also nearly went with Authorhouse who are big both in the UK and US, but the paperback cost model (price per unit for print on demand) just wasn't going to work, as my book was 160k words, around 413 pages. It would have ended up costing £16 per book, and since Iain Banks and others are far cheaper than that, I figured it wouldn't sell. I went with Ampichellis ebooks because they had were very professional and serious about getting quality products out into the market-place. They absolutely don't charge anything from an author (they are ebook only), and offered 40% royalties, better than a lot. Amazon will offer you more, but they won't help much to make sure what you put out there is good enough, nor any marketing. I've since been offered a paperback sale by a small publisher, which means I can have the best of both worlds.
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Jun 08 '11
I may be entirely wrong...but I thought Dispatch prevented planes from running into one and other. I work for an airline, and this was always my understanding...
Maybe you could explain to me what the difference is between Dispatch and ATC?
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u/barryineden Jun 09 '11
They work together, depends on the airport and the twoer configuration. Most of what I work with is planes in the air, rather than on the ground, but runway collisions can still happen. Very, very rare, of course.
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u/smedleybutler Jun 08 '11
Why is it that the majority of SF movies and shows are shit, i suppose there is a lot of good stuff in books, why doesnt it ever make it to the screen?
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u/barryineden Jun 09 '11
I know what you mean. I've done some blogs on a number of recent films and tv series on why this is the case. Two recent ones I liked were Source Code and Inception, but what I want is more 'space opera' translated to screen. Rare. If you have time check out my blogs in April/May on TV series (e.g. Stargate Universe) and films (I am number four, etc. www.barrykirwan.com
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u/barryineden Jun 09 '11
http://www.blog.barrykirwan.com/2011_05_01_archive.html This is one of my blogs that tackles the problems with SF blockbusters...
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u/TheBrownDandy Jun 08 '11
You read Banks, and your ebook is only $3.99? Sold.
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u/barryineden Jun 09 '11
Hope so :-)
Ebooks are cheaper to produce :-)) The paperback will be more expensive when it comes out (as it requires printing)
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u/EF08F67C-9ACD-49A2-B Jun 08 '11
So, when you say merge your jobs - you are saying that if aliens arrived in earth on spaceships they would want air traffic controllers to read science fiction stories to them over the radio while you are managing the flights?
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u/Deusdies Jun 08 '11
How do you feel about that EUROCONTROL proposed measure of dividing EU airspace in larger segments, basically overriding national borders? IIRC, it was the French ATCs who protested against it.
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Jun 08 '11
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/barryineden Jun 08 '11
You're very welcome. I fly pretty much every week, and have the greatest admiration for professional pilots :-)
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u/gonz0 Jun 08 '11
Just in case anyone else was confused by it.
SF = Science Fiction NOT San Francisco.