Real SF

I've been reading some ancient sf recently, mostly from around the 1920s and 1930s. In those days, the main writers of sf were science students. Many later became scientists, and used their foresight to write their novels. Asimov was another of the type, but I read most of his when younger, especially the robot books. Some stories are a little cheesy, and lack imaginitive plots, but they describe the science in layman's detail while trying to look ahead. Television was just on the horizon, so some stories include comms using the tv, but electrical inventiveness is a little lacking. They use high-power equipment with heavier and larger radio tubes and relays, little expecting the transister and everything that followed, like solid state.
Great though, and gives another viewpoint on which to build.
Sadly, writers are still held in the grasp of limited genres, and these change little. Fantasy and sf now seem to cover a wider range simply due to the lack of being able to assign it to a more suitable genre. People buying a title from the sf or fantasy shelf expect either the old-style sf or Hobbit-type fantasy, so can be disappointed with a really good book that is out of the standard genre.

New Crime Mystery

Hung, Drawn and Cured is now available on Amazon for the kindle.
The place: Great Yarmouth. The time: 1899. The event: Murder most foul.
Douglas Knight saved Edgar from the gallows. Because this act cost Douglas his career as a London police detective, Edgar is now his faithful associate. However, finding the real murderer was only a small part of the conspiracy he uncovered. When the new Special Branch begin to investigate the pair, they have no alternative but to discover the organisation that has ruined their lives. They have one clue - a fish curer in Great Yarmouth named Thomas Atherton.
The pair leave London and start a new life in Great Yarmouth. Among the investment properties they purchase is one half of Atherton’s smokehouse, which he leases. Before they can find the proof they need to destroy the organisation, somebody murders Atherton inside the locked smokehouse and steals the evidence.
Time is now against Douglas and Edgar. They have to solve the murder before the police arrest them, or call in his estranged friends from Scotland Yard for help. Also, Special Branch now know they, and the link, are in Great Yarmouth and could suspect the pair. Another problem is the discovery that the detective in charge of the murder investigation is Douglas’s boyhood friend who married his intended fianc
é when Douglas moved to London. Their mutual distrust can only hinder the investigation. Douglas must try to renew their friendship if they are to solve the crime.This is the first book in The Great Yarmouth Murders series. Each book will give Douglas Knight and his friends a new murder to solve.http://www.amazon.co.uk/Douglas-Knight-Yarmouth-Murders-ebook/dp/B00CX6U7UC/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1369229214&sr=1-1&keywords=hung%2C+drawn+and+cured

Historical Crime Series

The first novel in the new historical crime series is almost ready for launch.

Hello

Alan G. Brown is an author and currently has 14 novels available on Amazon for the kindle.

Hi! I hope to write about books, movies and writing in the near future.