Stuart Jeffries, The Guardian, Dec. 2004

This quote by Stuart Jeffries obviously applies to a lot of members of this esteemed co-op of writers but in stark contrast to all our non-E2 brethren out there, we here have the opportunity and possibilty (and listening to Dem Bones these days, the prerogative!) of publishing our efforts on our favourite font-cluttered website. Why send hundreds of copies of the result of hours of work of our feeble minds to literary agents, publishing houses or critics, when you can have a review (and rejection and humiliation, no doubt) of your work instantly, here and now and only after 20 minutes waiting, by the esteemed minds of Dannye, Halspal, successful author Braunbeck and thousands of other great noders. So, by initially skipping the boring snail mail publishing process and dumping it all on E2 we can have all the excitement of novelwriting without the boring wait and the destruction of another forest in Malaysia. And who knows, one might even get a /msg from Amnesiac.

Like everybody else, I wanted to write a novel for quite some time, though recent world events and me reading a heap of Jared Diamond books made me want to have a go a bit sooner than anticipated, as my perception of earth turning into some sort of dystopia sharpened a bit. And this from someone who lives pretty much in paradise. So a dystopian novel it is. There's only one problem (well, there are actually quite a bit): A dystopic novel has to play either in an alternative reality when it's supposed to be in our times or automatically become Science-Fiction when you place it a couple of years in the future. And labelling one's dystopia with the dreaded S-F concept makes it automatically only readable for an audience consisting mainly of men with fuzzy beards, B.O. and a weight problem (although if Margaret Atwood is allowed to get away with it, why not me?).

The next problem is a technological one: Say, the child of my brain's loins is set in 2030. Flying cars? Spaceships? Laserswords? Mars Colonies? Women with pretzels on their ears? Or maybe just computers, planes and trains that are a bit faster, proper speech recognition and wearable technology. Just go over the top a little bit and you're the biggest loony in the world. Comparing my current technology park to the ZX 81 I owned in 1981 I can make a couple of assumptions, but still, technology remains a tricky issue. Fortunately reading Slashdot on a daily base can give you a decent idea where we're heading (or maybe not!).

Problem numero tres is making predictions over the the future biosphere: IANAMOBOG (I am not a Metereologist or Biologist or Geologist) but at least I have a remotely scientific postgraduate degree, and reading Jared Diamond and a weekly dose of the New Scientist can at least give you an idea of what can happen, so I'll take my chances. Remember, it's fiction.

Problem nummer vier is obvious: there have to be villains. And in a global dystopia, there have to be global villains. I find that rather easy, but then I'm a green social democrat with neo-liberal inclinations (yes, there can be such a thing) who reads The Economist weekly, so my dystopia will probably be caused by somebody who does not have the same political view as I have, but reading Kim Stanley Robinson's Antarctica, you can do these things without being too partisan, although I'll find that tough. So, cut me some slack and remember: it's fiction.

Lastly, how am I going to do this on E2? The novel (called "Qaqortoq", btw) is still very much a work in progress, although the plot is hanging on the wall in front of me on a big piece of cardboard and most of the research has been done. The prologue and the first chapter are finished and if my significant other finally picks it up, reads and critiques it, I'll post it on E2. I just have to get my rear and gear and bloody well write something.

Thank you for your attention,

Heisey, May 2005

Qaqortoq: Prologue