Writing rambles

So the mood is descending again (the weather’s starting to turn cold again, thank goodness), and I’m in the mood to write some science fiction. I have this notion of writing about the era following our breaking out of the light prison that is Sol system, about the discovery that we have been trapped in a light speed inhibited zone because millennia ago the remains of an exiled race were sent here to die for their crimes. Of course, there’s more to it than that, but I don’t want to give too much away here.

But my thoughts keep returning to an Asimov quirk, reminded by watching episodes of Firefly. The gist of it is pretty simple: Man is a complex enough creature without trying to introduce some alien element to it all. Just about anything you can imagine using an alien to introduce, a man could do in the story too (n.b. – man refers to the species, not the gender; n.b.2. – if a man can think of it, then it isn’t that alien, is it?).

Yes, some stories can only exist with the introduction of an alien, non-human interaction. But, and I do believe this was part of that Asimov note, if only I could remember where I read it – aliens are too easily used as a escape device. Can’t explain it, blame the aliens, the perfect scapegoat in a story.

And believe it or not, I have some stories in my head, and some of them just might be original. Maybe.