Clayton Graham: My Books and Writing @CGrahamSciFi

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‘Milijun’ is my debut Science Fiction novel [published in 2016] and ‘Saving Paludis’ is my second [currently on Pre-Order from Amazon; publish date June 8, 2018]. In between the two novels, I have sandwiched a collection of short stories: ‘Silently in the Night’.

I have been writing for quite a few years now, but it is only recently that I found the time and the energy to pursue publication of a novel. I guess my work as an aerospace engineer took precedence, and that’s fair enough as it fed and clothed my immediate family. I’m sure there are many writers out there who are familiar with this scenario, and I can only step back and admire those daring enough to throw away their bread and butter and try to earn income from being a full-time author. I have worked in the United Kingdom, Europe, the USA and Australia – and every location was a blessed and treasured experience.

Many of my earlier attempts at writing were handwritten – I guess that gives away my generation – and some of them were produced on a typewriter. You will remember typewriters; they were like computers but without the electricity. They were also a lot noisier! The advent of the computer was great – until everybody got one! Then it was information overload with vengeance.

As a teenager, I read authors like HG Wells, Jules Verne, and John Wyndham. I suppose it was a way of escaping the starkness of post-war Britain where I was born; an escape to other worlds.

Writing novels is a labor of love. It’s not easy, but neither is it hard. Science Fiction is a love of mine and has been since I was a teenager, escaping to new worlds in the back streets of Stockport, England, where I grew up as a child. Halcyon days, when education and school milk were free, and summers were real summers. My childhood was set in a background of cobbled streets, ration books, terraced housing [think Coronation Street, if you have ever seen the English soap], milkman’s horses, coal dumped in the cellar, fish and chips on good days, bread and dripping on not so good days, free school dinners (at lunchtime) and low paid footballers.

I remember the nuclear attack four-minute warning and the ever-present threat of devastating war. As children, my friends and I did not have much, nor did we need it. We were content to kick a ball against a wall, play hide and seek for hours on end, explore the countryside on second-hand bikes, keep outside until called in when nighttime descended, and do the best we could at school (probably in that order). And this was a time when companies and businesses funded education for their own employees. I was a ‘Student Apprentice’, my company totally funded my degree studies over five years. As a bonus, I also got some work experience thrown in.

Have things changed? You bet they have. We know more about some things but we know less about others – the important things. If you have to ask what they are, you’re too young to be reading this.

I now live on the beautiful Mornington Peninsula, south of Melbourne, Australia, surrounded by vineyards, sandy beaches, rolling hills and, perhaps, unfortunately, other houses. Australia is a long way, by terrain standards, from where I was born in England, but that matters little as the universe is large and we are but small.

No doubt stemming from my initial reading, I have always had an interest in Science Fiction and where it places humankind within the universe we know and love. Not that we know much about our cosmic surrounds – they remain as mysterious as ever. But we are getting closer.

‘Milijun’ is about more than an alien incursion into the vast Australian outback. It asks questions about our place in the universe, or multiverses, as we are now led to believe, may be a possibility. The novel explores the relationship between a mother and her son. How far can it be stretched before the links break? How far would a mother go to save her son? Would she be prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice, or undertake actions she would never have deemed possible prior to the alien incursion?

Above all, ‘Milijun’ explores the question – what would mankind do when faced with an intelligence it cannot comprehend? It’s a good question, for it may happen someday. We are not currently prepared, of course, we are light years away from understanding how we should behave in such a circumstance. ‘Milijun’ challenges our mindsets through the eyes of a mother and son, and as such is perhaps more powerful and meaningful than if that challenge was through the eyes of the United Nations or the President of the United States.

In the end, Milijun probably asks more questions than it answers. But it does raise the questions. Laura and Jason Sinclair are just ordinary people, caught in a web of mystery and intrigue with an invisible spider somewhere on the threads.

Latest novel ‘Saving Paludis’ is light years away from ‘Milijun’, but occupies the same fascinating space between Science Fiction and the paranormal. The planet Paludis sits in the Pisces constellation, on the frontier of human exploration. It is a verdant planet, a beautiful planet. It has also been scarred by wars of colonization. Human invaders control the planet and have done so for hundreds of years. Paludis is the planet’s Earth name; the indigenous population calls their home Musk.

The Muskans are now restricted to a remote peninsula in the north-east of the main continent. Humans have taught the aliens their language and some of their ways, but the Muskans prefer the traditions of their ancestors. Or do they?

So what can go wrong? Well, quite a lot actually.

‘Saving Paludis’ is not just an interstellar war novel. It reflects human nature in all its extremes: hate, jealousy, control, love, and sacrifice. And what about the aliens – do they share these traits? In some ways yes, in others no. They are, after all, alien. But retribution is high on their agenda; an overwhelming desire to regain their planet. Quite how they attempt to do that must remain a secret!

I invite you to enter deep space, use the Einstein-Rosen bridges, and touch down on Paludis. Join Stefan and his friends to help save their world. You’ll love it!

If people get a good and satisfying experience from reading my work, then I am happy. I love creating the written word, especially if it gets readers to think outside the square and beyond the humdrum of daily life. Why not ponder upon what’s beyond our Earthly shores, what it’s all about? What would we do when faced with intelligent alien life? Would we open our arms, or would we run? Talk to Laura and Jason.

Best Wishes to all readers out there, on Earth or elsewhere.