I'm an individual. I do not want to get into a pissing match with an organization that is a de-facto gigadollar-turnover multinational! Charles Stross More Quotes by Charles Stross More Quotes From Charles Stross My favourite movie is: "Dr Strangelove". (I haven't seen any films released in the past 2-5 years, I'm afraid: I don't do TV/cinema). Charles Stross drs past years I am a lazy, cynical, middle-aged guy who has long since come to the conclusion that most historical periods really sucked, for most people, most of the time. Charles Stross i-am time long people Pubs are, disturbingly, where I hatch most of my best idea-sculptures: possibly it's something to do with the disinhibiting effects of alcohol, or maybe it's just having company to yack at. Charles Stross something best company alcohol It turns out that the killer application for virtual reality is other human beings. Build a world that people want to inhabit, and the inhabitants will come. Charles Stross will reality people world Science fiction was rocket-mad for about 40 years until aerospace hit a brick wall about 1970. I would not write off space colonisation or exploration completely, but we are profoundly ill adapted for going boldly into outer space. Charles Stross exploration space science years If you're going to write for a living, you should find something fun to write. Charles Stross find you living fun The real challenge in this line of work is being able to weed the productive ones from the chaff, to decide which you're going to spend the next six to nine months turning into something that people will pay for. Charles Stross challenge you work people Many science fiction writers are literary autodidacts who focus on the genre primarily as a literature of ideas rather than as a pure art form or a tool for the introspective examination of the human condition. I'm not entirely at ease with that self-description. Charles Stross focus science ideas art Novels are one of the few remaining areas of narrative storytelling where one person does almost all of the creative heavy lifting. Charles Stross person where storytelling creative I think that if there's one key insight science can bring to fiction, it's that fiction - the study of the human condition - needs to broaden its definition of the human condition. Because the human condition isn't immutable and doomed to remain uniform forever. Charles Stross uniform think study science My books are published by Hachette. My books have been blacklisted and blocked on Amazon on multiple occasions. Charles Stross books been amazon blocked I suspect political fiction is at its best precisely when it doesn't preach, but restricts itself to showing the reader a different way of life or thought, and merely makes it clear that this is an end-point or outcome for some kind of political creed. Charles Stross best political life way The business of fiction is the study of the human condition, and gender is something that many humans are obsessed with, thus making it rather difficult to ignore when studying the human condition! Charles Stross studying ignore gender business I don't do villains often enough. There are two approaches: give them sympathetic, reasonable motivations for doing the most unspeakable things, or get inside heads that are interestingly broken. Charles Stross inside doing broken enough History is another country and might be full of fascinating incidents and places to go visit - but as a destination for emigration, it has some problems! Charles Stross problems destination country history I have a low taste for urban fantasy and paranormal romance. Charles Stross low urban fantasy taste Britain is relatively compact and much closer to the borders of the U.S.S.R. than anywhere in North America. Charles Stross closer than borders america Luckily, I'm not a stand-up comedian, so I don't get the fear of standing on stage in front of a dead audience: my humorous pieces have to make it past an editor before they get exposed to the public. Charles Stross dead standing fear past Fiction is the study of the human condition under imagined circumstances. Charles Stross condition human study circumstances I tend to work on the principle that much humour relies on cognitive dissonance - on the foreground not matching the background, on the protagonist's response to a situation being inappropriate, and so on. Charles Stross being matching situation work
