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| Garry Abbott, Author THE DIMENSION SCALES AND OTHER STORIES |
British
author Garry Abbott brings us THE DIMENSION SCALES AND OTHER STORIES, 14
short “speculative” fictional stories. One reviewer said, “The
overwhelming feel of the book… is the interconnectedness between the large and
the small, the mundane and the fantastical, the personal and the political.”
Abbott himself says that his stories are “concept driven” with a “what if”
approach that require a setting in the future.
A
professional musician, Abbott plays guitar with a band. He is a published poet
and has written jokes for the BBC. He lives with his fiancée and two cats in Staffordshire
in the UK, enjoys playing board games, and is currently working on a
full-length novel and maybe another group of short stories.
Q: Your
reviewers praise your short stories in THE DIMENSION SCALES for a different approach to dystopian
science fiction. Do you agree? How are your stories different from the “typical”
world-building stories? Where do you get your “creative” ideas?
Garry Abbott: It may be
because I didn’t set out to write a ‘science-fiction’ collection as such and
was more focused on concept driven short stories. As it happened, many (but not
all) of those concepts required some kind of future setting, or just a ‘change
of rules’ for a contemporary backdrop. So I never felt I needed to ‘build
worlds’ in that way as the point of many of the stories is how the exaggerated
and expanded concepts relate to present-day issues in our world. I also don’t
deal with space exploration, planetary colonization or alien contact at all in
this collection. I think that kind of science fiction tends to lend itself more
to world-building than my more earth-bound ‘speculative’ fiction.
My
creative ideas come from a ‘what if?’ outlook on concepts and stories that
catch my attention in the media, in my life, or from conversations with friends
and colleagues. I also study philosophy so I am concerned and interested in how
we consider ourselves personally and as a species. I tend to over-think things!
Q: One of your
reviewers described your book as “forebodingly nuanced.” Would you characterize
your stories as optimistic? Or pessimistic? Why?
Garry Abbott: I am
pessimistic about many aspects of how things are currently in the world,
especially the relationship between political and capitalist forces, inequality,
and intolerance. Those themes motivate my writing a lot. However, I am optimistic
that we have the power to remedy these problems and pick a better path as a
species, and I believe that needs to start from individual introspection. Many
of my stories show the extreme outcomes of our current trajectory in order to
highlight them and hopefully provoke thought and discussion.
Q: How do you
engage readers to care about your characters?
Garry Abbott: I try not to
create characters that I cannot understand myself. Even if I disagree with a
character’s ethos or actions, I try to empathize with how they came to be like
that and find a spark of common ground to work with. I don’t think there is
such a thing as being ‘normal’ but many of us do live similar lives, so I try
to bring out the character by placing them in extraordinary circumstances.
Q: Did you
write these stories to entertain? To educate? To deliver a message? Do you
think it’s important to both entertain and educate readers?
Garry Abbott: First and foremost
it is about entertainment, and my stories are often described as ‘cinematic’
which I’m really happy about (as that’s what I intended). There are certain
common themes that come up and relate to my outlook on the world, but I try to
make sure these don’t get in the way of telling an engaging story. At best I
hope my stories spark some new ideas and considerations for my readers, but I’m
certainly not trying to educate them as such – they probably know more than me
anyway!
Q: Is the
concept of “villains” and “heroes” relevant to your stories?
Garry Abbott: I was happy to
find that two of the longer stories ended up with strong female ‘heroes’ as the
central character. This wasn’t intentional, it just turned out that these stories
centered around female characters who take matters into their own hands. Mostly
the true villains of the stories are unseen – some secret authority or other causing
trouble! I did this to reflect the universally disturbing feeling that those in
control haven’t always got our best interests at heart, and that we can never
quite be sure who those people are.
Q: Reviewers
were impressed with your writing saying that it created pictures, i.e., “vivid
imagery.” Does this picture-building increase suspense and character
development? How do you accomplish it?
Garry Abbott: It’s nice to get that feedback because
I actually try and leave quite a lot of the imagery to the reader’s
imagination, only prompting here and there with a few key details to set the
scene. I really try hard not to over-describe, especially when writing short
stories, so I hope that the vivid imagery they evoke is due to the active mind
of a descriptively unconstrained reader! I also prefer a good novel analogy to
minute detail. As a reader I prefer to be given the responsibility to see a
world in my own way with just enough detail to get me started. Doing this well
means you can focus on the characters’ journey, so hopefully it all adds up to
increased suspense and development.
Q: How important is credibility or
believability to your stories?
Garry Abbott: It really
depends on the story! I try to make sure that the actions and reactions of the
characters within all the stories are credible and believable. But as I am
writing science/speculative fiction, sometimes the worlds and what happens in
them are extraordinary, and in which case it is my job to bring the reader
along and believe in that world for the short time they are there, even if it
is a little crazy.
Q:
Do your characters ever take over your writing and make you say something you
never intended?
Garry Abbott: I’m not
sure how much I go in for the idea that characters can transcend a writer’s
intentions and control, but I do believe they can tap into unexpected aspects
of an author’s psyche. It’s more of a feeling of “okay, let’s go with that, see
what happens” rather than looking at the page and saying “where did that come from!?”. Maybe with writing
short stories I haven’t yet spent enough time with one particular character to
find out if this will happen. I’m open to the prospect!
Q: What’s next?
Will you write more short stories? A novel?
Garry Abbott: I’m working on
my first full-length unified novel. I’m writing it in first person perspective
from several characters points of view, so it’s a challenge, but it’s coming
together. It centers around two friends whose lives are being pulled in
different directions by competing and powerful ideologies. There’s a touch of
the surreal and more humor, but it still deals with dystopian fears, so I’m
hoping my readers will take to it.
I’ve
also built up a few more short stories, so there’s a chance that I might also
put out another collection when I have enough that feel right side-by-side
under one title. I quite like the idea of focusing on a paranormal and/or
horror collection this time, but we’ll see!
Q: Tell us about
Garry Abbott. What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
I’m
a musician, both professionally and as a hobby. I play guitar and sing in an
original band called ‘Gravity Dave’ (so called because our guitarist, Dave,
fell through a roof once and we needed a name for the band). I also compose and
produce music for arts and commercial projects and do some sound editing work
for radio productions.
I’m
just finishing a University degree with the Open University (a respected
distance learning establishment here in the UK) in philosophy, creative
writing, arts history and social science. That’s kept me quite busy for the
last four years!
I
live with my fiancée and my two pesky cats in Staffordshire in the UK. We like
getting out to old country houses, castles and nature reserves when we have
spare time (that’s me and my fiancée, not the cats).
I’m
also a bit of a board game geek and will happily while away an evening with
friends playing Monopoly, Risk, Carcassonne – or just whatever I can convince them
to sit down and play! I like games: games are good.
About Garry
Abbott
Garry
Abbott is a writer and musician who lives in Staffordshire in the UK with his
fiancée and two cats.
Garry is a published poet, has written jokes for the BBC, scripts for major community arts projects, a children's story for an audio adaptation and now a collection of speculative fiction short stories: THE DIMENSION SCALES AND OTHER STORIES available from all major eBook retailers.
When Garry isn't busy writing words or music he enjoys beating his friends at a variety of popular board games and getting out into the countryside.
Garry is a published poet, has written jokes for the BBC, scripts for major community arts projects, a children's story for an audio adaptation and now a collection of speculative fiction short stories: THE DIMENSION SCALES AND OTHER STORIES available from all major eBook retailers.
When Garry isn't busy writing words or music he enjoys beating his friends at a variety of popular board games and getting out into the countryside.
“A
theory emerged, with testable predictions, and there, like a candy apple, hung
the omega symbol that unlocked it all. He knew what he needed to do...”
Garry Abbott’s THE DIMENSION SCALES AND OTHER STORIES is a collection of fourteen short speculative fictions based around themes of malevolent and secret authorities, metamorphosis, survival and projections of contemporary fears into near-future realities.
From worlds inhabited by murderous animals, inept time travelers and clandestine, suburban social experiments—to the sentience, love and moral awakenings of artificial intelligences—THE DIMENSION SCALES invites you to explore the twists and perils of extraordinary moments in disturbingly familiar universes, linked together by one devastating epiphany:
“Something happened, and the world splintered…”
Garry Abbott’s THE DIMENSION SCALES AND OTHER STORIES is a collection of fourteen short speculative fictions based around themes of malevolent and secret authorities, metamorphosis, survival and projections of contemporary fears into near-future realities.
From worlds inhabited by murderous animals, inept time travelers and clandestine, suburban social experiments—to the sentience, love and moral awakenings of artificial intelligences—THE DIMENSION SCALES invites you to explore the twists and perils of extraordinary moments in disturbingly familiar universes, linked together by one devastating epiphany:
“Something happened, and the world splintered…”
Author and
Purchase Links
Purchase Links:
B&N Nook (US)
Author Links:
Twitter:
@Garry_Abbott
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