Shadowmagick

Science fiction classics: sci fi books that inspired The A-Men novel

There is a wealth of great science fiction literature and compiling the best sci fi classics that inspired my writing and the creation of The A-Men trilogy (The A-Men, The A-Men Return and Forever A-Men) was difficult at best. With its mix of cyberpunk, neo-noir dystopia and urban fantasy elements, there were just too many classics to choose from. Here is the final list, but expect it to change!

1
A Clockwork Orange: Anthony Burgess (1960)
Set in a dystopian socialist welfare state of the future, the novel fantasises a world without religion. Alex is a juvenile delinquent who lives for sex, violence and subcult high fashion. The narrative takes the form of a memoir, in Alex's distinctive gang-slang.
The A-Men inspiration: gangs, slang and ultraviolent world beyond religion.
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2
Neuromancer: William Gibson (1984)
This classic of cyberpunk won Nebula, Hugo and Philip K Dick awards, and popularised the term "cyberspace", which the author described as "a consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions". A fast-paced thriller starring a washed-up hacker, a cybernetically enhanced mercenary and an almost omnipotent artificial intelligence, it inspired and informed a slew of films and novels, not least the Matrix trilogy.
The A-Men inspiration: cyberspace, AIs, noir elements.

3
Starship Troopers: Robert A Heinlein (1959)
A pivotal book in the history of militaristic sci-fi. After some seriously gung-ho training, a space-marine is thrown into a war against some really nasty and violent alien bugs. Duty and country (i.e. America) are of paramount importance. Deadpanned by many critics for its right-wing content, a 1997 feature film sparked a revival of interest.
The A-Men inspiration: military focus.

4
The Many-Coloured Land: Julian May (1981)
May writes in the time-honoured tradition of pure pulp and does it well. The first instalment of the Saga of the Pliocene Exile finds a host of misfits and mavericks from the next century passing through time doors to the distant past in search of happiness. Of course, they get much more than they bargained for. Combines sci-fi and fantasy elements.
The A-Men inspiration: mixing of science fiction and mythic fantasy elements.

5
Brave New World: Aldous Huxley (1932)
Justifiably famous dystopian discourse on the dangers of technology and hedonistic pleasures. VR movies ('feelies') and a psychedelic drug ('soma') keep people in check, babies are genetically engineered, and human relationships lack intimacy. Two humans from the Savage Reservation cop fatal doses of mainstream society.
The A-Men inspiration: Technologies and people as slaves.

6
The Road: Cormac McCarthy (2006)
McCarthy's most acclaimed novel is a tale from the near-future and a possible foretaste of things to come. In stark, bare-bones prose, it describes a father and son's trudge across a nation devastated by an unspecified environmental calamity - an endless valley of ashes dotted with desperate, deadly survivors. These two figures are pushing south towards the sea, but the sea is poisoned and provides no comfort. In the end, all they have (and, by implication, all the rest of us have) is each other.
The A-Men inspiration: bleakness of survival after fall of civilization.

7
Otherland: Tad Williams (1998)
Tad Williams made his name in fantasy with the immense "Memory, Sorrow and Thorn" trilogy (1988-93). His "Otherland" quartet, opening with City of Golden Shadow (1996), is mid-21st-century SF set in an ultra-sophisticated software universe containing countless worlds. This episode features a deadly nature reserve of giant insects, a poisoned Oz, a madcap cartoon reality, London as in The War of the Worlds, 16th-century Venice, Xanadu, ancient Egypt, the Odyssey's Ithaca and the Drones Club. Otherland is the playground of the monstrously rich and unscrupulous Grail Brotherhood, who hope for on-line immortality and are abducting children's souls into their VR system. Opposing them is the enigmatic "Circle", plus a handful of ordinary folk who've penetrated Otherland and are trapped there, floating from world to world on the digital river of the title. There's a spy in this group, though; Otherland's operating system is becoming unstable; the Nemesis program that hunts down software anomalies seems murderously out of control.
The A-Men inspiration: alternate computer-based realities.

8
Snow Crash: Neal Stephenson (1992)
Fast, furious and containing more ideas in a single sentence than most writers manage in an entire book, Snow Crash has been credited with helping to inspire online worlds such as Second Life and established Stephenson as a cult figure. Featuring SF's most ironically named character, Hiro Protagonist, plus skateboards, mafia-employed pizza delivery men, weird drugs, computer hacking and a thousand other cyberpunk tropes.
Buy this book at Amazon.
The A-Men inspiration: Wild neo-punk fiction.

9
Spares: Michael Marshall Smith (1998)
Talking fridges, human clone farms, flying shopping malls -- we must be in the Michael Marshall Smith zone. It’s the story of Jack Randall: burnt-out, dropped out, and way overdrawn at the luck bank. But as caretaker on a Spares Farm, he still has a choice, and it might make a difference if he can run fast enough. Spares -- a breathless race through strange, disturbing territories in a world all too close to our own.
The A-Men inspiration: anti-hero in frenetic world.

10
Altered Carbon: Richard K Morgan (2008)
Richard Morgan's debut SF thriller Altered Carbon isn't for the faint-hearted. Its noir private-eye investigation races through extreme violence, hideously imaginative torture and many ultraviolent set-pieces. This is high-tension SF action, hard to put down--though squeamish readers may shut their eyes rather frequently.
The A-Men inspiration: Noir elements mixed with hard sci fi.

You can read more about The A-Men at www.trevillian.com.
Or contact: john@trevillian.com

The Talliston tree: the all-pervasive Tree of Life

The motifs of the world tree, or axis mundi, appear many times throughout folklore, often relating to immortality or fertility. Here’s a few that I found in my brief researches:

Assyria
The Assyrian Tree of Life is represented by a series of nodes and criss-crossing lines and is often attended to by eagle-headed gods.

China
In Chinese mythology a carving of a Tree of Life depicts a bird and a dragon. There is also the Taoist story of a tree that produces a peach every three thousand years. The one who eats the fruit receives immortality.

Ancient Egypt
In Egyptian mythology, the first couple, apart from Shu & Tefnut (moisture & dryness) and Geb & Nuit (earth & sky), are Isis & Osiris. They were said to have emerged from the acacia tree of Saosis, which the Egyptians considered the tree of life, referring to it as the ‘tree in which life and death are enclosed’.

Norse paganism
In Germanic paganism, the tree of life is called Yggdrasil and is considered a yew or ash tree

Hebraic
The Kabbalah Tree of Life is mentioned in both the Books of Genesis, in which it grants immortality to Adam and Eve, and Revelation, in which it is referred to as the Wood of Life. The Tree of Life sometimes refers to Jesus, as he died on a cross (often symbolically referred to as a tree in Christian imagery) and is understood to bring new life through the Resurrection.

Mesoamerica
Among pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures, the concept of world trees is a prevalent motif in Mesoamerican mythical cosmologies and iconography. World trees embodied the four cardinal directions, which represented also the four-fold nature of a central world tree, a symbolic axis mundi connecting the planes of the Underworld and the sky with that of the terrestrial world.

Talliston seen as Tree of Life

When engaged in a long-term project there are plans and then there are surprises; things that emerge from the simple act of creation. At Talliston there were always the themes and the motifs linking all the rooms (butterflies, lions, the use of red and brass throughout, and so on). But one of the major emerging themes binding the entire project together is the tree. From the trunks and leafy canopy of the Treehouse Sanctuary attic, through the great two-tonne beam across the Watchtower living room and Canadian wood cabin, to the Hall of Mirrors ideas of roots and Alice’s rabbit hole, the entire house is one great big tree metaphor. And looking into this I was struck by the eternal concepts of the Tree of Life.

It is tree as gateway (To pass through the gateway of a tree is to explore the ways between its roots, to find its heart and travel in the darkness of its labyrinth).

It is tree as holder of memory (Every part of the tree is enlocked in one of its many seeds. Hold the seed and you hold the entire power of the tree, and not just this one, but all trees right back to the first).

It is tree as lone guardian (Lone trees grow without restrictions; they grow naturally and are not affected by other trees, by shade or confining barriers like houses or walls. They grow on all sides equally, their branches spreading as one on every side. The lone tree teaches the lesson that being alone and being as one is a state to aspire to, for in this way we grow how life intended and not as other factors shape us).

The spirit of the tree lives in every inch of bark, in every leaf, in every blossom and seed. It looks like nothing more than an essence of what it is; green and sap and heartwood melded into something other.

Which is in essence what Talliston (the ‘hidden place in the wood’) is fast becoming.

Sunday carvery lunch for my Daddy’s seventieth birthday

Sunday carvery lunch for my Daddy’s seventieth birthday saw me lose it big time and sit there in tears --- of laughter. Fahams Hall Hotel in Hertfordshire was the venue and was magnificent. Very my style, but the food was a beautiful spread of fresh vegetables, salad, fish and the most gorgeous sweet onions I have ever tasted. The reason I was in fits of apoplexy was because of the questionnaire left for us to fill in on the table. In true capriciousness, here’s what I wrote:

We are contemplating extending the hours we open for Sunday Lunch, please help us make the right decision by answering the following questions.

• What time do you feel is the most suitable for your Sunday Lunch?
Sunday lunchtime.

• If we were to extend the opening times of Sunday Lunch to 4pm, would that be of interest to you?
Only if you called it Sunday Dinner.

• What is the latest time you would consider eating Sunday Lunch?
Thursday.

That last one was the one that did it. There was something so banal about it that it struck my funny bone and I had to head to the reception to weep it off.

Creating Bixby, the laboratory Komondor

When I was aligning the characters of Benjie, Elliott and Bixby for The A-Men novel, I wanted Dr Glass’ laboratory dog to be an unusual breed, preferably one that would create a descriptive framing reference for the scenes where the canine is floating in the gelatinous fluid of the X-Isle tanks. It didn’t take me long to choose the Komondor.

Of all the world’s dog breeds the Komondor must be the most visually spectacular. A large, muscular breed of dog, the distinctive white, corded coat can reach the ground by the time the dog’s five to six years old. Komondors are also said to be protective and assertive, and will think for themselves. This also means they are not the breed for everyone and are probably best-suited to experienced dog owners. Longtime owners say their dogs are quite devoted and will monitor their every move.

Despite their appearance, owners maintain Komondors are a low-to-medium maintenance breed, as the dogs don't need brushing or blow drying, and unless they are being exhibited, are not bathed frequently as this can weaken the coat. When bathed, however, it can take 24-48 hours for a Komondor in full coat to dry.

Developed to guard flocks of sheep and goats in its native country, Hungary, the distinctive corded coat acted as armour against attack by wolves, which should only get a mouthful of matted hair.

Odd day

Odd day. All of it. A transition from one world into another. Everything smarts. Like salt in a shallow wound. I am left with a feeling of wanting to progress but of being unable. For now forced to stop. I run along the hard ground, on the stones, and find that while I can, it is incredibly difficult. I listen to my self-constructed Steinman’s Neverland on the Radio Shack Walkman. Fitness. Diet change. Trying to break the mould into which I have fallen. The whole of my life in a cycle and yet here I force myself to make decisions based upon unknown elements. Arranging the days ahead, organising and setting to rights.
Uncertainty breeds nothing in me except a clamouring for structure. A purpose.
Even the prospect of unwinding seems full of terrors.

Consulting the I Ching

Found a book in a big box called Destiny and Your Dreams which has a section about the I Ching oracle. I asked:
“Should I pursue the completion of the Talliston building project?”

I threw my coins and the two trigrams were K’an which is water, a pit and K’un, earth. PI – Union was indicated, and in the book it said:

“There will be success and good fortune if you re-examine yourself for rightness of thought and action. Others will come to you for help with their problems, and cooperation, trust and goodwill under your coordination will bring good results, a group consciousness from which latecomers will not benefit.”

The Earth speaks: natural communication in the ancient world

With the second novel due to arrive from the publishers very soon, and the official launch date set for 29th March, I have begun editing the third novel, Forever A-Men for submitting to the editor in the next month or so.

Have been spending time researching and honing some of the central themes of the book, including the way the elements play a bigger part in the story. The elements offer a direct channel of communication with the natural world. Earth, air, fire and water can all be used for healing and divination, and elemental scrying is one ancient craft practiced by many seers across all traditions. Knowledge of weather-lore was undoubtedly a fundamental pre-requisite when attempting to scry from the elements. Movements of animals foretold shifting physical conditions such as earthquakes, heavy rain, thunder, drought, and so on.

The manuipulation of the elements or weather-witching was a skill employed to great effect. Raising winds, fashioning cloaks of invisibility, summoning fogs, bringing forth magical hedges between armies – all these are told in the stories and legends of the Celtic peoples.

Developing energy

“…learn of the spiritual intelligence of the night.” The Book of Taliesin.

The night often symbolises the unconscious. One of the difficulties in living in the now is that our consciousness tends to be dominated by the analytical, left-brain, linear male consciousness at the expense of the more wholistic, artistic, right-brain, inclusive feminine consciousness.

Meditating last night, I became aware of the night sky and opened myself up to the influence of the stars, sensing their energies. As the real body enjoys sunbathing, I feel the benefits from bathing in the moonlight and under the stars. The constellation I am particularly drawn to is Orion, especially Orion’s Belt, which I have used in poetry (as in Winter the constellation sits directly above Talliston):

Bound up within the midnight between Orion’s belt
I no longer have to second guess how long eternity felt
So I take the day and stab it
Stab and stab its radiant breast
And when it’s dead, it rises as a ghost and humbly joins the rest.

Dead of Night, John Trevillian

Sister Midnight’s sermon in The A-Men

The core of Esther’s speech at the close of the first A-Men novel is taken from Matthew 18:1-4 of the Bible, which basically says that to enter the kingdom of God you have to become again as a child:

Matthew 18

1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

2 He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them

3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

4 Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

She delivers this line in her native tongue, that of Tok Pisin of Papau New Guinea:

Na em i tok, 'Mi tok tru long yupela: Sapos yupela i no tanim na i kamap olsem ol liklik pikinini, bai yupela i no inap i go insait long kingdom bilong heven.’

The reason behind this is the central religious theme of the novel, that of the creation of a child-like state in which to encounter eternity. More simply, unless we change we cannot achieve greatness. Esther realises through Jack’s Forevermore faerie tale book that she has spent most of her childhood trying to grow up too fast. We don't want to be children. Children are the ones hurt by divorce, abuse, abandonment, poverty, and predators. Children can't vote, can't drive, can't date, and can't choose at different points in their childhood. While on one hand children rule the day because of permissive or non-involved parents, on the other hand they are in more danger and suffer more abuse than ever before. Who wants to be vulnerable, powerless, and humble like a child? Yet here she revels in the paradox and knows that Jack, in all his self-hatred and tough-love, is actually onto something.