A funny thing about near-future stories: the future catches up to them. If the author is unlucky, the future catches up faster than the book can get out the door. Edward M. Lerner More Quotes by Edward M. Lerner More Quotes From Edward M. Lerner The biggest fatal flaw in most fictional portrayals of nanotech - what sends those books arcing across the room - is ignoring that the nanobots need energy to do... anything. Edward M. Lerner energy book needs I was only eight when Sputnik was launched, and at that age the boundary between science and fiction is pretty blurry. Whichever way the process ran, I've been a fan of science and SF ever since. Edward M. Lerner eight fans age Science works as a way to make sense of life and the universe. Hard SF as my preferred fictional genre just feels natural. Edward M. Lerner genre natural way The scope of what I have to say determines the length of what I write. Edward M. Lerner length scope writing One doesn't just wander unvetted into someone else's epic interstellar future history. Edward M. Lerner interstellar wander epic Collaboration is a nice change of pace from the often solitary nature of the writer's craft. Edward M. Lerner collaboration pace nice The medical nanobots in my novel 'Small Miracles' tap the energy sources that the patient's own body provides. That is, they can metabolize glycerol and glucose, just as the cells in our bodies do. Edward M. Lerner small medical body energy Time travel offends our sense of cause and effect - but maybe the universe doesn't insist on cause and effect. Edward M. Lerner time-travel universe time travel One of the bedrock principles of physics is the conservation of energy. In this universe, energy can be neither created nor destroyed. Edward M. Lerner universe physics energy principles Anything that can unambiguously represent two values - while resisting, just a wee bit, randomly flipping from the state you want retained into the opposite state - can encode binary data. Edward M. Lerner you values data want The challenge - and much of the fun - of writing in an established future history lies in incorporating new knowledge while remaining true to what has gone before. Expanding and enriching, not contradicting. Edward M. Lerner challenge future history knowledge Some books are serials, not to be mistaken for anything else. 'The Two Towers,' for example, ought never to be read in isolation. Edward M. Lerner some never isolation two Readers and viewers will differ about what's totally standalone, what's totally serially dependent, and what's merely enriched by reading/viewing in a particular order. Edward M. Lerner about will dependent order Authors like reading. Go figure. So it's not surprising that we sometimes bog down in the research stage of new writing projects. Edward M. Lerner down research reading sometimes Happily, researchphilia is not the problem it once was. The Internet makes just-in-time research very practical. Edward M. Lerner practical internet problem research Too much detail can bog down any story. Enough with the history of gunpowder, the geology of Hawaii, the processes of whaling, and cactus and tumbleweed. Edward M. Lerner down story enough history History buffs expect historical background in historical fiction. Mystery readers expect forensics and police procedure in crime fiction. Westerns - gasp - describe the West. Techno-thriller readers expect to learn something about technology from their fiction. Edward M. Lerner mystery police technology history Lots of science fiction deals with distant times and places. Intrepid prospectors in the Asteroid Belt. Interstellar epics. Galactic empires. Trips to the remote past or future. Edward M. Lerner places future science past The distinguishing characteristic of the techno-thriller is technical detail. Edward M. Lerner characteristic technical detail I like to think readers appreciate a well-drawn near-future as well as a well-drawn far-future. Edward M. Lerner well like think appreciate
