The Orion’s Belt Trilogy
As a science fiction editor, I try to keep up with trending news that can jump start the creation of imaginative new books. After all, many authors brainstorm a fiction story by reading about nonfiction events. For all of you sci-fi writers, an article in the BBC might serve as inspiration:
CIA releases 13m pages of declassified documents online
This treasure trove of some 13 million — yes, million — pages of declassified documents from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency have been released online, covering all kinds of science fiction potential from a full archive of 800,000 files.
• UFO sightings
• Psychic experiments
• The Stargate Project
The CIA archive also includes other governmental and political information that was released, apparently, after a prolonged series Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) queries. Some of it might be terrific fodder for your next novel because, as we all know, truth can be stranger than fiction.
In fact, several renowned writers have weighed in on this notion of truth and fiction.
In Mark Twain’s book entitled Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World (published in 1897), we find the words: “Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t.”
In Lord Byron’s poem “Don Juan” (published in 1823), we find the words: ‘Tis strange—but true; for truth is always strange, Stranger than fiction: if it could be told, How much would novels gain by the exchange! How differently the world would men behold!
Science Fiction Editor Projects
I’ve worked with authors for several decades, some with sci-fi projects. New York author and client John Peter Ferris wrote the Orion’s Belt Series, which I blogged about years ago after editing two books in the trilogy, Orion’s Belt: Baptism Under Fire and Orion’s Belt: Birth of the Hunter.
Canadian Author and client C. Elizabeth has written several sci-fi novels, which I touched upon in a recent blog post including Absolute Obsession, Absolute Obstruction, and Soul Control.
There are many “flights of fancy” and “out of this world” projects I been privileged to partake in, so watch for future blog posts. I’ll share news stories, as well, that might serve as a muse to science fiction writers.