Analyze This with author Tony Thorne

Meet author Tony Thorne 

today on the Book Boost & find out 

about a chance to win FREE books!

GENRE FICTION WRITING, a therapy? 

The occupation of writing Genre Fiction, to many non-professional enthusiasts, is a serious hobby, and mostly unpaid labor. To genre editors nowadays, it must seem there are more writers around now than readers.

Perhaps it's a way to express and analyze one's feelings about the world, and where it's heading, and one’s place in it. Years ago, to become your own psychiatrist, all you needed was pencil and paper; but nowadays, your laptop is more convenient. Anywhere can become a couch and writing is more socially acceptable than talking to yourself.

I had some initial success as a budding Sci-Fi writer but then gave it up to spend thirty five years as a design engineer and business executive, starting an R & D company in England, then developing  product lines. The Queen awarded me an MBE for one of them. Then I began setting up marketing outlets, crumpling the competition, getting the best out of my staff, listening to their problems, and solving them, even my own when I could find the time, and if I could.

Then I became brain-drained to an American Corporation, and set up all their international operations, based in Switzerland. It was an offer I could not refuse. Eventually however, I began to resent the rat-race, the never-ending battle just to stay level, let alone to advance, and I was filled with remorse at the neglect of my home-life and family. My conscience simply refused to believe my contrived excuses and justification for what I was doing.

So, one day I threw it all in and went to work for myself, back in England. Not as a writer of fiction, but as a computer programmer, specializing in developing AI software, to generate business programs.  However, with no more international traveling I had more time to start writing fiction again. The day came when my first acceptance arrived. I knew I was progressing when, on re-reading the item, I found I was dissatisfied with it. The magazine printed it in its last ever issue, but it did pay me.

More of the smaller magazines and genre websites began to take my work. I’ve published several collections of speculative tales, appeared in many anthologies, and won a couple of awards plus a few competitions. I had my first novel published in the US by Eternal Press, last year, and have received a contract for the first sequel to it.

To conclude this therapeutical discussion, I confess I still crave to be recognized as a really successful writer, but I’m not getting any younger and time may be against me. However, I believe I may have discovered that there can be contentment in researching the limits of one's abilities, without necessarily reaching them. It seems the trick is to get almost as far as you believe you can, and stop just before that.

A Note from the Book Boost:  I totally agree that writing is a form of therapy.  Where else can we calm the voices in our head?  Nice, insightful post there Tony and I wish you best of luck in achieving your writing goals--it is never too late!


Blurb:

Thirty speculative yarns, with a twist in their tails, selected from the original award winning trilogy. Almost anything can happen in that magical tropical Canary Island, and in these quirky stories it usually does. Includes an introduction by the legendary SF writer, Harry Harrison, plus a bonus new tale to both chill and entertain you.

Excerpt:

A few months later, the local Tenerife newspaper came out with the news that a JURASSIC MICRO PARK would be open for business the following holiday weekend. The rest of the newspapers and TV channels soon picked up the story and, on the opening day, the queues were enormous.  Extra railings had to be placed around the access area, to cope with them.

The long impatient wait to get in was well worth it though. The viewing area comprised a large glass walled enclosure containing a miniature jungle with several open pasture areas inside it. Little herds of tiny vegetarian dinosaurs browsed happily, feeding on the clumps of fast growing genetically modified Bonsai trees. There was also a miniature lake in one of the open areas, where the occasional miniature diplodocus could be seen paddling around  from time to time, with its long neck mostly up out of the water.

For the benefit of the public, there was a large raised observation gallery all around the enclosure, with closely placed sets of binoculars around it. Viewers were able to see the fantastic creatures in detail. There was also a large transparent roof held up in position over the enclosure. It was suspended from a set of computer controlled apparatus, and could be lowered and effectively sealed if for any reason the environment needed modifying, such as for climate control in the winter.

The whole project was a huge success. Viewing became only possible by purchasing reserved tickets, timed and dated. The money rolled in and the stockholders, and the employees, were delighted; until one day, when unexpected problems began to happen. The first was, when it was realized, that something very hungry was devouring the vegetarian dinosaurs. An unknown predator was at work.


 

Want More Tony?

 

Visit the author on the web today:   www.tonythorne.com

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Contest Time:

There's a deliberate error somewhere in The Best of The Tenerife Tall Tales.  The first person to spot it and send me an e-mail gets three free e-books of any of my titles (see www.tonythorne.com). The second person gets two books, and the third lucky winner gets one..! The contest stays open until the third one is in.