Samhain Publishing Ltd Weblog

Why I love Sci-fi

I’m a geek and I’m not ashamed to admit it. Nothing gets my blood pumping harder than an epic space battle or hurtling through galaxies at faster-than-light speeds. Too bad this is only possible while watching a movie/television or during submersion in my favorite sci-fi novel. I just can’t seem to get enough of it.

What makes the thought of distant worlds so appealing? Why do the socioeconomic or geopolitical crises on a space station thousands of light years from earth appear more interesting than our own tribulations here on the big blue marble? The answer for me is easy: Problems are always more attractive if viewed from a distance.

The sci-fi worlds I create are complex places with flawed governments and imperfect religions. Oftentimes the flawed governments are the imperfect religions — it just helps to keep things interesting that way. Also, I find blending other genres with sci-fi a fun exercise and a good way to get an interesting twist on what might be tired or cliched plot lines. Let’s face it, you can only be a alien-out-of-water so often before it gets old, so make the alien a lone unicorn breeder on a planet where unicorn horns are the only real cure for a deadly wasting disease and you’ve got quite the little intrigue set up. Pulling the unexpected out of a magic literary hat is fun and exciting to both write and read.

I love finding new authors (new to me anyways) who aren’t afraid to break the conventional rules of their genre in order to put a great new spin on an old theme. I love picking up a book and saying..“How did they think of that?” – And being jealous I didn’t think of it first. : )

You can check out some of my forthcoming Samhain titles, Dragon Tamer and Solarion Heat, which are both at their core examples of my love for futuristic gadgets, distant worlds and a bit of cross-genre pollenation thrown in for good measure.

-Kathleen Scott