Aldiss’ New Wave masterpiece is Report On Probability A. … The minutiae of all the involved’s lives are the only thing; the act of observation is the only plot. The science fiction happens when it becomes apparent that there are Other watchers, and watchers watching those watchers, stretching back to what seems to be citizens of our own reality. Report On Probability A is about the metaphor of circular vision, manifested in the narrative by the round fields of view of the various optical devices and windows through which S, G, and C observe their world, expanding macrocosmically with the vast circle of observers observing the observers. As banality merges with paranoia, drawn only by whatever the reader brings to the narrative, there is no conclusion, no story, only facts. The story returns over and over to the painting The Hireling Shepherd by Holman Hunt, which becomes a recurring unresolved image which has no final meaning, only whatever speculation it’s benighted observers bring to bear on it. Every character is searching for a meaning which may, or may not, exist as actual Truth. Behind each level of truth lies another; who is to say how far the chain goes or which part of it is more Actual? … The simplicity of the “story” masks an investigation into uncertainty and the nature of reality itself. The seeming bankruptcy of plot opens the reader to question the act of observation, of reporting, of writing itself. Truth is what Report On Probability A is all about, and Aldiss points out that it is a plastic thing that depends on who is trying to figure it out, and an ambiguous thing that may, at it’s root, be unknowable.

Aldiss’ New Wave masterpiece is Report On Probability A. … The minutiae of all the involved’s lives are the only thing; the act of observation is the only plot. The science fiction happens when it becomes apparent that there are Other watchers, and watchers watching those watchers, stretching back to what seems to be citizens […]

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by Suhel Ahmad | Last Updated on July 2, 2020 | Created on July 2, 2020

Most of my poetry lies beyond the SF field, yet here I am corralled into ‘SF poetry’ as part of this poetry weekend. Of course, some might say, ‘you’ve made your own bed — now you must lie in it!’ But, while fully accepting that dictum, I’m not yet quite prepared to lie down…

Most of my poetry lies beyond the SF field, yet here I am corralled into ‘SF poetry’ as part of this poetry weekend. Of course, some might say, ‘you’ve made your own bed — now you must lie in it!’ But, while fully accepting that dictum, I’m not yet quite prepared to lie down…

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by Suhel Ahmad | Last Updated on July 2, 2020 | Created on July 2, 2020

Digging deep in a Martian desert men discovered an enormous brain. It suddenly started to think at them — So they covered it up again…

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by Suhel Ahmad | Last Updated on July 2, 2020 | Created on July 2, 2020

I was hardly fit for human society. Thus destiny shaped me to be a science fiction writer.

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by Suhel Ahmad | Last Updated on July 2, 2020 | Created on July 2, 2020

Whatever creativity is, it is in part a solution to a problem.

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by Suhel Ahmad | Last Updated on July 2, 2020 | Created on July 2, 2020

Writers must fortify themselves with pride and egotism as best they can. The process is analogous to using sandbags and loose timbers to protect a house against flood. Writers are vulnerable creatures like anyone else. For what do they have in reality? Not sandbags, not timbers. Just a flimsy reputation and a name.

Writers must fortify themselves with pride and egotism as best they can. The process is analogous to using sandbags and loose timbers to protect a house against flood. Writers are vulnerable creatures like anyone else. For what do they have in reality? Not sandbags, not timbers. Just a flimsy reputation and a name.

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by Suhel Ahmad | Last Updated on July 2, 2020 | Created on July 2, 2020

There has always been a belief in miracles in the popular mind. As L. Sprague de Camp once said, the public would rather be bunked than debunked.

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by Suhel Ahmad | Last Updated on July 2, 2020 | Created on July 2, 2020

All of which makes one feel that the centuries of science upon which our western culture is based have travelled unmarked through the popular mind. A surprising number of people are willing to junk the entire accumulation of knowledge since Ancient Greece after watching Uri Geller perform for five minutes on their twenty-three inch screen.

All of which makes one feel that the centuries of science upon which our western culture is based have travelled unmarked through the popular mind. A surprising number of people are willing to junk the entire accumulation of knowledge since Ancient Greece after watching Uri Geller perform for five minutes on their twenty-three inch screen.

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by Suhel Ahmad | Last Updated on July 2, 2020 | Created on July 2, 2020

Aldiss’s second law of thermo-linguistics states that what is most popular is rarely best and that what is best is rarely most popular.

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by Suhel Ahmad | Last Updated on July 2, 2020 | Created on July 2, 2020

One of the objections I have against Campbell’s Astounding was that there was too little love in it. It was a very loveless magazine. They never took enough account of the feeling that is always in SF.

One of the objections I have against Campbell’s Astounding was that there was too little love in it. It was a very loveless magazine. They never took enough account of the feeling that is always in SF.

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by Suhel Ahmad | Last Updated on July 2, 2020 | Created on July 2, 2020